1. The Gold-Salt Trade
Ms. Baquedano

2. Wangara Mines Secret mines in Ghana forests
No one but Wangarans knew where it was
Some miners would be captured, but no one ever told
The mine location is still unknown

3. Taghaza Location of salt mines Salt was valued for three reasons
Used to preserve food
Used to season food
Humans lose salt by sweating in hot environments

4. Taghaza (cont.) No crops or vegetation in Taghaza
Houses made of salt blocks
Residents relied on caravans to bring food
If no trade caravan came, miners would starve

5. Salt Production Evaporation
Water is poured into holes in the salty ground
Water draws out salt, and evaporates in the hot sun
Only salt remains and is collected
Mining
Salt minerals were 3ft below ground
Slave miners dig tunnels and holes and cut it out of the ground

6. Ghana Tax System Traders pay taxes on good entering and leaving
Salt taxes:
Charged 1/6th of an ounce of gold for each salt load going in
Charged 1/3 of an ounce of gold for each load leaving
Other taxes:
5/8th of an ounce of gold for copper
1 ounce~ for other goods
Helped pay for armies, made trade safe, helped pay city expenses
Draw a diagram of the salt taxes using arrows

7. Kumbi Ghana’s capital and first caravan stop
Busiest market in West Africa
Sold: iron weapons and tools, jewelry, clothes from Spain and Morocco, sheep, cows, honey, etc.
Also a huge slave market
Raiders caught people from southern Ghana and sold them to Arab merchants
Merchants then sold them to North Africans or Europeans

8. Wangara’s Silent Barter System
After Kumbi, traders went south to Wangara
Used silent bartering system
Caravans brought goods and laid them on river banks
Used a drum to announce trade and left
Wangarans come, leave gold dust by things they want, beat the drum, and left
Traders come back, take the gold, and leave the goods
Why do this?
Allows people of different languages to trade
Lets Wangarans hide mine locations

9. End of Ghana War Natural Resources
Muslim Almoravids attack Ghana and capture Kumbi, empire breaks
Natural Resources
Population too big for amount of resources
Not enough trees or water
With Kumbi weak, the Mande people took over
This began the rise of the kingdom of Mali