West African Empires Mural Activity
Lessons 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
OBJECTIVE
You will be learning about the geography, people and civilizations of early West Africa through a mural
drawing assignment. This will be an activity that will be done both at home and in class. You may
physically paste pictures and text, but you are not allowed to print directly to your paper.
Note: there will a short Africa unit test. [15 points x 4 = 60 points]
REQUIREMENTS
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Your name(s), date and period must be written in the upper right hand corner of the assignment
All information must be clearly included on one side of one 8 1/2” x 11” sheet of paper
This project is an exercise in space management & time management so work efficiently
You will be creating four murals that are one page each.
Professionalism is always required so do your best work and label your sections!
o One page on each of the following civilizations or topics:
1. Ghana
2. Mali
3. Songhai
4. Traditions
 Each of the four murals will contain written descriptions of the following
(Unless illustrations are required instead):
o Title: There must be an appropriate title that STANDS OUT on each mural
o Map of Africa highlighting where each topic took place (i.e. in 6-1, show where Ghana was).
o Important Dates and a small timeline if applicable
(Ex. If it’s an early civilization, what was their date range?)
o Illustrations of very significant topics of the lesson – there should be at least two.
(They should be related to the thesis sentence about the lesson)
o Farming methods and/or crops (if mentioned)
o Leadership / Government (if mentioned)
o Social Life (if mentioned)
o Achievements
o Use “The Big Idea” at the beginning of each lesson to create one thesis sentence that sums up
and explains what this lesson was about. Your thesis sentence must stand out from the other
information on the page and be easy to find. Do not start it off by saying, “This lesson…..”
Get to the point from the start.
Be sure to include and explain all of the following VOCABULARY/TOPICS for each lesson
Ch 6-1
Empire of Ghana
- Center of trade
- Gold and Salt
- Silent Barter
-Koumbi Saleh
-Taxes and Gold
-Expansion
-Tunka Manin
-3 factors for
Decline
Ch 6-2
Empire of Mali
- Sundiata
-Improvements
-Slaves
-Mansa Musa
-the Hajj
-Timbuktu
-Islam
Ch 6-3
Empire of Songhai
- Islam’s Influence
-the Berbers
-Sunni Ali
-Askia the Great
-Education
-Trade Centers
-Moroccan Invasion
Ch 6-4
Traditions
-Oral History
-Griots
-Proverbs
-the Dausi & the
Sundiata
-Muslim Histories
-Sculpture
-Masks & Clothing
-Music and Dance