West Africa Civilizations

Introduction While the Almoravids and Almohads were in North Africa, other groups were forming empires in West Africa They were Ghana, Male, and Songhai

Ghana Trade had existed along the edge of the Sahara for years Most pack animals could not travel far – ox, donkeys, horses Then came the camel – it could travel 60 miles in a day and go 10 days without water This allowed for more trade route options

A group of people – the Soninke – called their ruler Ghana When Muslim traders came along they became calling their region “Ghana” after their ruler By the 700’s – Ghana was a kingdom The 2 most important items that they traded were salt and gold Until 1350 – 2/3 of the worlds gold supply came from Africa By 800 it was an Empire Next, Islam began spreading to Africa through trade

Eventually, Ghana's ruler converted Much of the population never converted In 1076, Muslims took over Ghana and it lost its power

Mali Emerged by 1235 Its wealth was built on gold New sources for wealth were needed so they moved east A new group of people emerged called the Mali Their first ruler was Sundiata – he became the “mansa” or ruler He died in 1255 and the next rulers were all Muslim

The most famous Muslim ruler was Mansa Musa He ruled 1312 to 1332 Mansa Musa made a hajj to Mecca from 1324 to 1325 When he returned he ordered the building of mosques in Mali He also established a major city – Timbuktu

Songhai Mali declined in the 1400s The people began to break away and some of them were the Songhai They moved even further east They had 2 extraordinary rulers – Sunni Ali and Askia Mohammad They captured Timbuktu The Songhai empire lacked modern weapons

In 1304, the Arabs had guns which shot arrows In 1591, the Moroccan fighting force fought the people of Songhai – they had sticks and the Moroccans had guns The people of Songhai lost