1. Famous Empires of Africa
Aksum, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali and Songhai

3. Aksum: ~100-940 AD Geographically Lucky: Political Structure:
Environment allowed for farming
Near the Red Sea (easy to trade)
Political Structure:
King only could directly control people in the city of Aksum.
Forced tribute from surrounding areas
Religion:
King Enzana converted to Christianity (around 300 AD)
Downfall:
Fell to invading Muslims between AD

4. Ethiopia: ~1100-1974 Created from ancient Aksum
Christianity was a unifying force
Solomonid Kings – claimed to be descendants from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
One of the only areas of Africa to never be colonized by Europeans

6. Ghana ~
Traded salt from the north for gold- then traded salt with southern civilizations - kings made money by heavily taxing the salt
Kings also kept the location of the gold mines a secret and outlawed the ownership of gold – this kept the supply scarce and the price high
Decline:
Used military force to maintain safe trade routes
This started a conflict with a northern Berber empire that eventually captured Ghana’s capital city in this was the beginning of the end

7. Mali ~
Rose from the ashes of Ghana – also traded gold and salt
Notable Leaders:
Sundiata (Soohn-jaht-ah) ruled for 25 years.
Mansa Musa:
Hajji of 1324
gold impressed the world – soon Europeans were searching for this wealthy, exotic land
Decline:
Weak leadership
Invasion of the capital, Timbuktu, signaled the end was near

8. Songhai ~
Survived as a tribute kingdom among Ghana and Mali for hundreds of years
Traded along the Niger River
Sunni Ali –
Created a fierce cavalry and “navy”
conquered others to create his empire
Askia Muhammad
First Muslim Ruler
Hajji to Mecca created better trading roots
Overthrown by his son who was not a good ruler
In 1591 Morocco conquered the empire