Mali Study Guide Geography ` Trading Routes Ancient Mali Modern Mali Africa Most of Mali is a hot, sandy, rocky desert. The Niger River runs through Mali. Mali is landlocked; it doesn’t touch an ocean. Gold was located to the south of Mali. Salt was located to the north of Mali. The people adapted to their environment by being farmers, miners and traders.

Economics Salt and gold were traded. Mali was at the center of the trade routes where salt and gold were traded. The trading cities were located on the Niger River. Mali was a wealthy empire because of this trading. The trading was an example of economic specialization, economic interdependence and supplying goods and services. Economic specialization means focusing on making one product or providing one service. Economic interdependence means depending on others to provide goods and services. Griots A griot was a historian (a keeper of history). Griots kept history and family records with stories and songs because there was no written language before Mansa Musa. Men and women could be griots. Sundiata Sundiata was the first king of Mali. He is most famous for uniting and enlarging Mali. He was called a lion as a child because he crawled rather than walked because his legs were weak. He was called the lion king as an adult because he was a strong king. Sundiata was a follower of Islam.

Mansa Musa Mansa Musa was another great king of Mali. He was the grandson of Sundiata. He was a follower of Islam. Mansa Musa made a hajj to Mecca. He is best know for putting Mali on the map; people knew about the country of Mali after he made the hajj to Mecca. Mansa Musa started universities and built mosques in Timbuktu making the former trading center a center for worship and learning. Architecture Buildings in Mali were made of mud because they had a lot of mud and not much wood. The churches in Mali were called mosques. They were very large and were made of mud. The sticks on the mosques were used like ladders. People climbed up the sticks after every rainy season to put another layer of mud on the mosques.