Regional Civilizations - Review
West African
Kingdoms and
Trading
States in the
East
The Kingdoms and Trading States
of Africa
(750 B.C. – 1500’s A.D.)
Essential Question*
How can economic
links lead to
cultural diffusion?
*
Ch 12 VOCABULARY – Due Friday April 11
*Create a CROSSWORD puzzle for all 15 vocabulary terms using the
definitions as the clues.
WHO?
1. Sundiata
2. Mansa Musa
3. Sonni Ali
4. Askia Muhammad
WHAT?
1. Swahili
2. Sahara
3. Desertification
4. mansa
WHERE?
1. Timbuktu
2. Gao
3. Ghana
4. Nubia
5. Benin
6. Ethiopia
7. Great Zimbabwe
DBQ 8 – Africa BEFORE European Arrival
Doc 1
*Summarize each document and briefly explain its significane (so what?)
Doc 2
Doc 3
Doc 4
Doc 5
Doc 6
Doc 7
Doc 8
SO…..
DBQ 8 – Africa BEFORE European Arrival
Doc 1
Doc 2
Doc 3
Aksum located near Red Sea,
with ports and coastline.
Trade by land and sea
Ghana – gold in horses’
equipment, dog collars.
Advanced political system =
ORGANIZATION
(governors and ministers)
Ghana – controls land
Doc 4
Mansa Musa -
Doc 5
Timbuktu = a center
of “learned men”,
books valued
Doc 6
Ibn Battuta impressed
with justice and
security
Doc 8 – Map
SO? The African
Empires/Kingdoms
and trade cities were
impressive BEFORE
the Europeans arrived
in the 1500s
impressive b/c of wealth
and generosity
Doc 7
Bronze making
process is impressive
Sea routes connect Kilwa to
Red Sea (Arabia), Indian
Ocean (India & far East) and
Arabian Sea…Gold, ivory &
animal skins from interior get
out
(routes) and maintains peace.
Advanced civ. = food, $, gov’t
African Kingdoms (West Africa)
= GOLD and SALT
1. GHANA (800-1200) = profited from Gold-Salt trade;
influenced by ISLAM
2. MALI (“where the king dwells”) 1200-1400 = expanded
gold-salt trade; Timbuktu = capital city
*Mansa Musa was the greatest emperor of Mali –
converted to Islam, used Koran for laws and even made
the pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca.
3. SONGHAI (1400 – 1600) = largest and most powerful
of the kingdoms. Gao = new capital; wealthy trade city.
Sonni Ali and Askia Muhammad (like Mansa Musa)
*with the fall of Songhai (by Moroccan invaders)
West Africa is splintered into smaller kingdoms
African Kingdoms - Ghana, Mali, Songhai
• Trading states of West
Africa
• Controlled the Gold-Salt
Trade
– Salt was worth its
weight in gold
– Very important part of
a desert-climate diet
– Prevents dehydration
• Islam was the dominant
religion
Great Mosque of Djenné in Mali
200 – 300 miles to the horizon
A Berber guide
consults a cracked,
WWII-era compass
amid the sands of the
Sahara desert. To
navigate the 500-mile
salt trade caravan
route between Taudeni
and Timbuktu, Mali,
guides use more timehonored pathfinding
methods: reading the
stars, wind patterns,
sand dune formations,
even the color of the
sand.
Salt blocks are 4 feet long & 2 feet wide. If they
break, their value goes down.
West African
Kingdoms and
Trading
States in the
East
Imperial Mali is best known to us through three primary sources: The first is the account of Shihab alDin ibn Fadl Allah al-'Umari, written about 1340 by a geographer-administrator in Egypt. His
information about the empire came from visiting Malians taking the hajj, or pilgrim's voyage to Mecca. He
had first hand information from several, and at second hand, he learned of the visit of Mansa Musa.
The second account is that of the traveler Shams al-Din Abu Abd'Allah ibn Battua, who visited Mali in
1352. This is the first account of a West African kingdom made directly by an eyewitness, the others are
usually at second hand.
The third great account is that of Abu Zayd Abd-al-Rahman ibn Khaldun, who wrote in the early 15th
century. While the accounts are of limited length, they provide us with a fairly good picture of the empire
at its height.
Sundiata
• Sickly child spared by evil
tyrant
• “The Lion King” –
becomes a hero
• Established the
Mali Empire that
lasts for 200 years
Mansa Musa:
Pilgrimage of
Gold
Mansa Musa: Pilgrimage of Gold
In 1312 Mansa Musa, the most legendary of the Malian kings, came to the throne. Mansa Musa was a
devout Muslim who built magnificent mosques throughout his empire in order to spread the influences
of Islam. During his reign, Timbuktu became one of the major cultural centers of not only Africa but
of the entire Islamic world.
When Mansa Musa came to power, the Mali Empire already had firm control of the trade routes to
the southern lands of gold and the northern lands of salt. Under Musa's reign, the gold-salt trade
across the Sahara came to focus ever more closely on Timbuktu. The city's wealth, like that of many
towns involved in the trans-Saharan trade route, was based largely on the trade of gold, salt, ivory, kola
nuts, and slaves.
Mansa Musa expanded Mali's influence across Africa by bringing more lands under the empire's control, including the
city of Timbuktu, and by enclosing a large portion of the western Sudan within a single system of trade and law. This
was a huge political feat that made Musa one of the greatest statesmen in the history of Africa. Under Musa's patronage,
the city of Timbuktu grew in wealth and prestige, and became a meeting place of the finest poets, scholars, and artists
of Africa and the Middle East. Mansa Musa brought the Mali Empire to the attention of the rest of the Muslim world
with his famous pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324. He arrived in Cairo at the head of a huge caravan, which included
60,000 people and 80 camels carrying more than two tons of gold to be distributed among the poor. Of the 12,000
servants who accompanied the caravan, 500 carried staffs of pure gold. Musa spent lavishly in Egypt, giving away so
many gold gifts—and making gold so plentiful—that its value fell in Cairo and did not recover for a number of years!
In Cairo, the Sultan of Egypt received Musa with great respect, as a fellow Muslim. The splendor of his
caravan caused a sensation and brought Mansa Musa and the Mali Empire fame throughout the Arab
world. Mali had become so famous by the fourteenth century that it began to draw the attention of
European mapmakers. In one map, produced in 1375, Musa is shown seated on a throne in the center of
West Africa, holding a nugget of gold in his right hand. [in your textbook]
After visiting the holy cities of Mecca and Medina on his pilgrimage, Musa set out to build
great mosques, vast libraries, and madrasas (Islamic universities) throughout his
kingdom. Many Arab scholars, including the poet and architect, Abu-Ishaq Ibrahim-esSaheli, who helped turn Timbuktu into a famous city of Islamic scholarship, returned with
him.
Musa had always encouraged the development of learning and the expansion of Islam. In the
early years of his reign, Moussa had sent Sudanese scholars to study at Moroccan
universities. By the end of his reign, Sudanese scholars were setting up their own centers of
learning in Timbuktu.
He commissioned Abu-Ishaq Ibrahim-es-Saheli to construct his royal palace and a great
mosque at Timbuktu. Still standing today, the Djingareyber Mosque consists of nine rows of
square pillars and provides prayer space for 2,000 people. Es-Saheli introduced the use of
burnt brick and mud as a building material to this region. The Djingareyber's mud
construction established a 660-year-old tradition that still persists: each year before the
torrential rains fall in the summer, Timbuktu's residents replaster the mosque's high walls and
flat roof with mud. The Djingareyber Mosque immediately became the central mosque of the
city, and it dominates Timbuktu to this day.
During Musa's reign Timbuktu thrived as a commercial center and flourished
into a hub of Islamic learning. Even after the Mali Empire lost control over the
region in the fifteenth century, Timbuktu remained the major Islamic center of
sub-Saharan Africa.
Mansa Musa
• a famous Mali ruler
• Made hajj to Mecca in 1324
– Did it in style
– 500 slaves each w/ a golden staff
– Gold-laden camels
• made ties with the Mid-East
• Long-term cause for exploration
of Africa (he put Africa on the “map”)
• He died after his horse tripped &
fell into the Niger River on his
way back
Friday April 11, 2014
1.Crash Course World History
– Mansa Musa
2.Quiz – Chapter 12, Section 3
3.Freedom!
– Hint: You could complete homework such as
VOCABULARY crossword puzzle and/or PHOTO
CAPTIONS for Chapter 12
TRADE and
CULTURAL DIFFUSION
(like religion)
A. Kingdom of Axum = excellent
location for trade in East Africa
(Africa, India and Mediterranean
world.)
B. Trade helped build strong city-states
and blend cultures (languages).
Trade to India & ME
East African Kingdoms and Trading States
Religion played an important role in the development of Axum
and Ethiopia.
In the 300s, Christianity took hold in Axum.
After Islam began spreading across Africa in the 600s, Axum
became isolated.
Ethiopians were descendents of the Axumites.
Despite their isolation, Ethiopian Christians kept ties with the
Holy Land.
p.s. - The kings of Ethiopia claimed to be descendents of Israelites.
One group of Ethiopians, known as Falasha, practiced Judaism.
East African City-States
When Axum declined, a string of commercial cities, like
Mogadishu gradually rose along the East African coast.
• Trade helped local rulers build strong states.
• Under the protection of local rulers, Arab and
Persian merchants set up Muslim communities
in East Africa.
• International trade (map from DBQ) created a
rich and varied mix of cultures in East Africa.
– Example = Swahili, a new language that mixed Arabic and
the native language, Bantu.
Great Zimbabwe
Massive stone ruins discovered in the south testify that a powerful and
prosperous empire once existed there. Today, these impressive ruins are
known as Great Zimbabwe, which means “great stone buildings.”
Little is known about how this early civilization developed.
Scholars believe:
• The people were Bantu-speaking peoples who settled in
the region between 900 and 1500.
• They brought improved farming skills, iron, and mining
methods.
• They raised cattle and produced enough food to support
a growing population.
• Great Zimbabwe was part of a trade network that
reached across the Atlantic Ocean.
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Abdullah
Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta
Arabic:
• Ibn Battuta (1304 – 1368 or 1369) was a Muslim
Berber, scholar and traveler who is known for the
account of his travels and excursions called the Rihla.
His journeys lasted for a period of nearly thirty years
and covered almost the entirety of the known Islamic
world and beyond, extending from North Africa, West
Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe in the West,
to the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Central Asia,
Southeast Asia and China in the East, a distance readily
surpassing that of his predecessors and his nearcontemporary Marco Polo. [BUT…he was travelling in
the Dar-al-Islam, or Muslim world]
Travels of Ibn Battuta
DIVERSITY of people and traditions
• adapting to the land – nomadic lifestyle
• family patterns – nuclear vs. extended;
patrilineal vs. matrilineal
• religion – Animism (spirits in nature),
Islam, Christianity and even Judaism
• Art and architecture – art tied to religion
and/or community (MASKS), ORAL
traditions were strong (GRIOTS)
Chapter 12 – Kingdoms and Trading States of Africa
TEST – FRIDAY APRIL 23
• Mostly sections 2 &3, but a little on Sections 1 &4
• Matching – VOCABULARY!
• Mult. Choice
–Map included
• Short answers – reading passage