Section 1

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• Africa is the second-largest continent on earth
• High mountain ranges such as the Atlas Mountains, and the
Drakensberg Range
• Rifts: long, deep valleys formed by the movement of the earth’s crust.
• Great plateaus and wide, low plains make up much of sub-
Saharan Africa
• Huge Sahara desert in the north.
• Many mighty rivers crisscross the land such as the: the Congo, the Zambezi, the Nile, and the Niger.

• Early settlers lived along the banks of the Niger
River.
• They used it as a source of food, water, and transportation.
• Animals, such as crocodiles, geese, and hippopotamus live along the banks of the Niger
River in what is called the Inland Delta.

• Four different regions make up the area surrounding the Niger
River.
• These regions run east to west and are like broad stripes or bands across West Africa.
• The entire area is warm, but rainfall varies from north to south.
• The northern band across West Africa is the southern part of the Sahara
• Largest desert in the world
• Temperatures can reach above 120 degrees!!!
• The next band is the Sahel
• Fairly dry but has enough vegetation to support grazing animals.

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• With its many climates, the land can produce many different crops such as dates raised in desert oases to kola nuts; used for medicines, from the forests’ trees.
• Minerals, such as salt, come from the Sahara and gold can be found in the southern forests of
West Africa.

Section 2

• West African societies live in extended family units: father, mother, children, and close relatives in one household.
• Age-sets: men who had been born within the same two or three years formed special bonds and had a duty to help each other.
• Loyalty to family and age-sets was important.

• Men hunted and farmed crops such as millet and sorghum.
• Women farmed, collected firewood, ground grain, carried water, and cared for children.
• Elders taught the family’s traditions to younger generations through songs, dances, and stories.
• Children learned about hard work and began working beside older family members as soon as they were able.

• Honored the spirits of ancestors by marking sacred places with carved statues and would gather in these places and share news and/or problems with the ancestor’s spirits.
• Animism: the belief that bodies of water, animals, trees, and other natural objects have spirits.

• Iron: heated certain kinds of rocks and produced a very hard metal, which could be shaped into useful tools and weapons.
• The Nok were the earliest group of people to utilize iron.
• Used for farming hoes, arrows and spears, and art.
• Were able to clear more land with iron tools and population began to grow.

• As communities grew, trade began to increase
• Desert Trade: People began to use camels to transport goods through the desert.
• Camels could store energy and water in their bodies longer than horses.
• West Africa’s gold and salt mines became a source of great wealth.
• Camels carried salt from the mines of the Sahara to the south to trade for gold.
• Traders then took the gold north, to Europe and the Islamic world.
• Along with gold and salt, traders carried cloth, copper, silver, and other items.
• They also brought and sold human beings as slaves.
• Timbuktu: began as a camp for traders in about 1100 and would become a bustling city and a center of culture and learning.

Section 1

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• In around 300 AD, tribal farmers called the Soninke banded together for protection from nomads.
• The society they created became known as Ghana
• Learned how to use iron tools to farm their lands and for weapons which they used against neighboring villages.
• Herded cattle for meat and milk
• Because they were such effective farmers, the Ghana population grew.

• Ghana is situated in between the Sahara Desert in the North, the Niger River in the East, the
Senegal River to the West, and rain forests to the South.
• This location put them in an ideal location to trade the region’s most valuable resources, gold and salt.
• Silent barter: a process in which people exchange goods without ever contacting each other directly.

• As trade in gold and salt increased, Ghana’s rulers gained power and wealth.
• Over time, their military strength grew as well.
• Koumbi Saleh: Ghana’s capital, gained a reputation as a great trading center.
• Items such as wheat, sheep, cattle, honey, leather, cloth, and golden tassels were traded in the city.

• By 800, Ghana had firm control over West Africa and its trade routes.
• Traders were protected from bandits and traded more since it was now safer.
• Ghana’s rulers began to force taxes on all traders.
• Had to pay a tax on importing and exporting of goods.
• The people of Ghana also had to pay taxes to the rulers.
• The kings of Ghana owned the gold mines and would not allow anyone else to own a piece of gold.
• Citizens could at the most own gold dust, which they used as money.
• This ensured that the king was richer than his subjects.

• With their wealth, Ghana’s kings expanded their military and took over neighboring territories.
• Ghana’s kings knew they couldn’t govern their huge empire efficiently so they allowed conquered kings to retain their power.
• These kings then acted as governors of their territories, answering only to the Ghana king.
• Tunka Manin: the Empire of Ghana reached its peak under this king.

• Three factors contributed to Ghana’s demise:
• Invasion: A Muslim group called the Almoravids attacked Ghana in the
1060s.
• Fought for 14 years
• The Almoravids finally won and destroyed the city of Koumbi Saleh
• Formed new trade routes that no longer went through the Ghana Empire.
• Overgrazing: During the war with the Almoravids, herds of animals were allowed to eat all the grass in the pastures.
• This exposed the soil to the hot desert winds and made it worthless for farming and herding.
• Internal Rebellion: In about 1200 the people of a country that Ghana had conquered rebelled.
• Within a few years, the rebels had taken over the entire empire of
Ghana.
• Once in control, the rebels found out they could not keep order in Ghana and the empire fell apart.

Section 2

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• Took over Ghana’s old gold and salt mines, and improved agricultural techniques.
• Introduced new crop to the empire – Cotton.
• Made clothing and began to trade

• Sundiata took power away from local leaders, mansas.
• He did this to keep order and protect his authority.
• Mansas had both political and religious roles in society, and by taking on the religious authority of the mansas, Sundiata gained even more power in Mali.
• Religious beliefs of Mali – people believed ancestors had made an agreement with the spirits of the land to provide food.
• By keeping in touch with their ancestors, the people could contact these spirits.
• Sundiata died in 1255. His successors would keep the title
Mansa but most would become Muslim.

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• In 1324, Mansa Musa left Mali on a pilgrimage to Mecca
• He traveled with nearly 100 camels, each loaded with 300 pounds of gold, and about
60,000 men!
• Through his journey, Mansa Musa introduced the empire of Mali to the world.

• Mansa Musa supported religion and education
• Established schools to study the Qur’an throughout the empire
• Stressed the importance of reading and writing
• Hired Muslim architects to build magnificent mosques throughout the empire.

• The reign of Maghan
• Mansa Musa’s son
• Was a weak ruler
• Couldn’t stop invasion of Mali by desert raiders.
• Empire was too large
• Government could not function effectively
• Parts began to declare independence and break away.
• Invasion
• In 1431, the Tuareg nomads of the Sahara attacked and seized Timbuktu
• Gradually the people living on the edges of the Mali Empire broke away.
• By 1500, nearly all of the lands the empire had once ruled were lost.

• On his famous pilgrimage to Mecca, Mansa Musa passed through several kingdoms in North Africa. From his capital of Niani on the
Upper Niger River, Mansa Musa and his entourage of thousands traveled north to Walata, to modern-day Algeria, and then to Cairo,
Egypt. From Egypt, Mansa Musa traveled to Mecca in Arabia.
• According to chroniclers of the time, Mansa Musa was accompanied on his journey to Mecca by some 60,000 people. Of those people:
12,000 were servants to attend to the king, 500 were servants to attend his wife, 14,000 more were slaves wearing rich fabrics such as silk, and 500 carries staffs heavily decorated with gold.
• Activity: Using your notes, calculate the worth of the gold that
Mansa Musa’s caravan was carrying. Assume that a pound of gold is worth $7,000 in today’s money.

• (100 Camels) X (300 pounds per camel) X
($7,000 per pound) = value of gold
• They were carrying $210,000,000 of gold in today’s money!!

• Mali reached its height during the reign of Mansa Musa.
• With your partner and using your books, complete the chart shown below.
• Identify what actions Mansa Musa did to enhance the Empire of
Mali.
Trade
Religion
Education

• Captured important trade cities of
Timbuktu, Djenne, and Gao
• Encouraged study of Islam
• Built schools for the study of the Qur’an.
• Built mosques
• Built schools
• Encouraged study of Arabic for government and trade.

Section 3

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• Became wealthy and expanded
• Sunni Ali: ruler of Songhai in 1464
• Unified, strengthened, and enlarged the empire
• Took over lands once controlled by Mali
• Conquered Timbuktu
• Participated in both Muslim and local religious ceremonies in an effort to promote religious tolerance

• Sunni Ali died in 1492 and his son, Sunni Baru became king.
• Sunni Baru didn’t support the Muslim religion and the people rebelled against him.
• The leader of the rebellion was named Muhammad
Ture.
• He would win the rebellion and change him name to
Askia.

• Askia the Great took his Muslim beliefs very seriously and like Mansa Musa, made a pilgrimage to Mecca.
• Supported education by building universities, schools, libraries, and mosques.
• The city of Djenne under Askia the Great’s rule would become a center of medicine.
• Doctors there would discover the cause of malaria.

• In order to maintain order, Askia set up 5 provinces within Songhai.
• He removed local leaders and appointed new governors who were loyal to him and Islam.
• Also created special departments to oversee certain tasks, which worked much like the government offices of today.
• Established the first professional standing army of
West Africa.

• Morocco, northern neighbor, wanted to control the
Sahara salt mines and invaded.
• Had a new weapon, arquebus, early form of a gun.
• Army of Moroccans, and Portuguese and Spanish prisoners of war.
• Songhai army no match for the Moroccans.
• Looted Timbuktu and the city of Gao.
• Songhai Empire would never recover.

Section 4

• None of the major West African societies developed a written language.
• Most work was done in Arabic
• The task of remembering West Africa’s history was entrusted to storytellers or griots.
• Griots were highly respected in their communities.
• Entertaining as well as informative.
• Told of past events and people’s ancestors.
• Recited proverbs, short sayings of wisdom.
• Used proverbs to teach lessons to the people.

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• Common West African art forms included sculpture, mask- and cloth-making, music, and dance.
• Best known for their sculptures.
• Used for religious ceremonies and rituals.
• Sculptures were highly respected.
• Detailed masks of hyenas, lions, monkeys, and antelopes
• Kente: a hand-woven, brightly colored fabric.
• Music and dance used to help people honor their history and ancestors.