1. Mansa Musa and Islam Ghana, Mali, and Songhai

2. Objectives and State Standards
I can explain the importance of Mansa Musa and his pilgrimage to Mecca. (7.17)
I can analyze the growth of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai kingdoms. (7.13)

3. What is this a picture of? How would it be a major indictor of wealth?

4. Sundiata: The Lion King
Prince of the Mandinka people, who were conquered by cruel Susu
In 1230, he conquered the Susu people
Under Sundiata, Mali prospered
Died in 1255

5. Mansa Musa Several kings ruled after Sundiata’s death
Mansa Musa was grandson of Sundiata’s half brother
He became the greatest king of Mali in 1312
Under Mansa Musa, Mali became a great trading center
MiniFact: Mansa means Emperor or King

6. The Hajj Mansa Musa was a devout Muslim
Muslims must make a journey to Mecca called a ‘hajj’
Mansa Musa crossed Africa to reach Mecca
He took a huge caravan with him in 1324
After that, everyone knew about
the wealth of Mali (Is this a good or bad?)

7. A Muslim church is called a Mosque
This is the mosque at Djenne in Mali. It’s built of mud! Click for a movie

9. Just how wealthy was Mansa Musa?

10. The Emergence of States in Africa

11. African Trading Kingdoms
Background The African Trading Kingdoms consist of three main cultures, Ghana, Mali, and Songhai, all located in West Africa.  All three kingdoms maintained vast trading networks across the Sahara desert and into the Middle East and North Africa.  The main export was gold, which made each kingdom wealthy and strong, and provided them with the conditions necessary for cultural and intellectual achievement Islamic Influences Ghana, Mali, and Songhai were all influenced by Islam to different degrees.  The kings of Ghana often had Islamic advisors, while Mali and Songhai established Islamic Empires after converting.  In Mali, the emperor Mansa Musa was famous for his pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the Five Pillars of Islam.  This pilgrimage gained Mali closer ties with the Islamic world, and increased trade and cultural diffusion between Mali and the Muslim Empire.
Spread of Ideas During the 1400s, Timbuktu became a center of learning under the leadership of Mali emperor, Mansa Musa. Again, this is the influence of Islam, with Islamic scholars traveling from around the Muslim world to study and teach and the University of Timbuktu.  This interaction helped to spread ideas about Africa to the outside world.
Commerce Ghana, Mali, and Songhai established trade routes that were in use for centuries.  Early trade networks were setup inside of Africa.  As these networks grew and became more prosperous, they expanded to include the Mediterranean and then eventually Europe.  Trade goods included gold, salt, cooper, iron, various minerals, and agricultural products.  A negative effect of this interaction was the start of the slave trade, when Europeans needed a cheap, reliable labor source for their New World colonies.

12. Ghana Empire : A.D.

13. Ghana Empire
The Ghana Empire was the best known and most powerful of the medieval trading empires in West Africa
Ghana became very rich as a result of the “salt-gold trade” between West and North Africa. This trade
was very important, and Ghana came to control not only gold and salt but also the trade routes that went through their land.

14. The States of West Africa
Expansion of Islam has impact on political system
Introduction of Arabic for a writing system
Ghana
Majority of people were farmers
Primary reason for Ghana’s growth was gold
Trans-Saharan trade with Ghana becomes very important
Divine right monarchy assisted by hereditary aristocracy
Kings did not convert to Islam, but many of their subjects did
Mali
Ruinous wars by the twelfth century in Ghana
New states of Mali, Songhai, Kanem-Bornu, and Hausa states
Greatest state was Mali
Gold trade
Farming in the savanna region
Mansa Musa ( ), king, encouraged Islam
Timbuktu becomes center of trade, religion and learning

15. Mali Empire : 1200- 1500 Land of Gold & Griots gold earrings
A pair of gold earrings from ancient Mali
Mali mudcloth
A griot (storyteller) present day Mali
Lead-in to next slide: Mali is a very old country. It has had many kings but there were 2 especially important kings.
A griot of today
mudcloth

16. What did Mali trade? Gold The dotted lines are trade routes from
Mali to other
parts of
Africa

17. What else did they trade?
Camels, the ships of the desert, traveled in caravans bringing to Mali:
Salt
Copper
Ivory
Cloth
Kola Nuts
Slaves
Books
Shells
MiniFact: This was before Columbus even sailed to the New World!

18. Why was Salt Important? Mali often traded its gold for salt
Salt was sometimes more valuable than gold!
People’s bodies need salt to live
In the desert heat, salt is lost through perspiration
Salt was used to preserve food
Salt was brought in large slabs (coins)
The man is holding a slab of salt mined recently near Timbuktu
MiniFact: The picture behind these words is also a slab of SALT!

19. Timbuktu A very important city in Mali Center of learning for Muslims
Universities and schools
Largest trading center in Mali
On the Niger River
Trade
Food
Washing
Timbuktu
19th century traders in Timbuktu

20. The Griots Storytellers were called Griots or djeli
They were important people in Mali
They told the land’s history
Most of what we know about ancient Mali came from the storytellers
They were advisors to the kings
This is a 19th century griot of Mali with his instrument

21. Mali Today

22. Songhai Empire (ca )

23. The Songhai Empire was the largest and last of the three major pre-colonial empires to emerge in West Africa.  From its capital at Gao on the Niger River, Songhai expanded in all directions until it stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to what is now Northwest Nigeria and western Niger.  Gao, Songhai’s capital, which remains to this day a small Niger River trading center, was home to the famous Goa Mosque and the Tomb of Askia, the most important of the Songhai emperors. The cities of Timbuktu and Djenne were the other major cultural and commercial centers of the empire.
 Under the Askias, the Songhai empire reached its zenith, Timbuktu and Jenne flourished as centers of Islamic learning, and Islam was actively promoted.

24. Sometimes history seems to repeat itself
Sometimes history seems to repeat itself. The rise and fall of two medieval kingdoms of West Africa is an example of this. Mali and Songhai, as well as the smaller kingdom of Ghana before them, were once great trading kingdoms famous for their gold. Yet despite their greatness, they each declined for similar reasons.
The rise and fall of Mali and Songhai
The empire of Mali, which dated from the early thirteenth century to the late fifteenth century, rose out of what was once the empire of Ghana. Mali had been a state inside of the Ghanaian empire. After Ghana fell because of invading forces and internal disputes, Mali rose to greatness under the leadership of a legendary king named Sundiata, the "Lion King." Later, another great leader named Mansa Musa extended the empire. After his death, however, his sons could not hold the empire together. The smaller states it had conquered broke off, and the empire crumbled.

25. As Mali's power waned, Songhai asserted its independence and rose to power in the area. Songhai had been an important trade center within Mali's empire, just as Mali had once been ruled by Ghana. Great Songhai kings such as Sunni Ali Ber and Askia Mohammed Toure extended the Songhai kingdom farther than Ghana or Mali had before it and brought an organized system of government to the area. It was the largest and most powerful kingdom in medieval West Africa. The riches of the gold and salt mines drew invaders, though, and in the late sixteenth century a Moroccan army attacked the capital. The Songhai empire, already weakened by internal political struggles, went into decline.

26. STOP! Collaborate and Answer
Name the two major resources that helped Ghana, Mali, and Songhai become major empires.
How wealth was Mansa Musa compared to Bill Gates?