Ghana had many Silk road trade routes that ran through and around its empire.The Silk road is any road that ran between Rome and China. Many different cultures, ideas, and goods were traded through the Silk road. The silk road was impacted by Ghana's trade, geography, and history. The Silk road was not one road, in fact it was several different roads with many routes. To begin with, the Silk road was any route that ran from China to mideast Rome. Therefore, it was roughly 4,000 miles long. On the route you could encounter deserts, mountains, rivers, and terrible snow storms. Hence, no merchant traveled the whole route. Each merchant stayed in their own region. Bandits, corrupt officials and wars were also dangers you face on the Silk road. …show more content…
Particularly, the Silk road brought wealth to many civilizations. In fact, many of these civilizations would not be known without this trading route. Because of the riches the Silk road brought the empires. The empire of Ghana had a lasting impact of many of its surrounding empires. When it would take over these empires it would change that empire for ever. Not only would it not exist anymore but also, it was taken over. Which means that these empires were weak and not powerful enough to overtake Ghana's kingdom. Ghana also had an impact of the Silk road and the merchants who traded on it. As the empire grew bigger and richer, tensions with merchants along the Silk road grew too. Meanwhile, trading became dangerous and hostile. In the end, most of the other merchants and traders hated Ghana's power. Finally, Ghana and the Silk road were connected in many ways. Many trade routes of the Silk road ran through and around the empire of Ghana, so the Silk road helped Ghana's success. The empire of ghana had a lasting impact of many of its surrounding empires. China was the only empire that new how to make Silk. The silk road had a lasting impact on many of Africa's civilizations. To conclude, the Silk road was impacted by Ghana's trade, geography, and
The Silk Road made sure if you didn’t trade items you can hold, then you can trade items you can cherish. Finally, in the western civilizations (Rome), it was accessed by boat. Boats could carry a ton more items and it was less of a walk for the merchants/traders. However, the Silk Road did lead a small backup path up north of Parthia. Around 27 B.C.E., the Roman Empire had only begun, but the silk road had been a thing for a very long time before that.
The African empires, kingdoms, and cities had many achievements before the arrival of the Europeans. Some of these achievements had influences many other places in the world. Three major achievements were the trading systems, their military forces and strengths of its people, and the wealth and success.
...e, unlike the surrounding nations which were powerful, rich empires, Africa consisted of small tribes and kingdoms. These kingdoms’ greatest exports would consist of gold, salt, and slaves, in exchange for the goods imported from the surrounding empires.
African society used bodies of water such as the Nile, the Red Sea, and many more to transport goods across the continent and generate profit. For example, the city of “Aksum reached its height between 325-360. Aksum’s location made it an important international trading center.” After analyzing the map of trade routes in Document 1, it is clear Aksum was strategically built to have ties to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. These two bodies of water give the city the freedom to import and export goods. Additionally, this work of trade did not come without reward. Cities who succeeded in the business became overly wealthy and had surpluses of gold and other riches. A king, Mansa Mansa, who expanded the Mali kingdom to be twice the size of Ghana, was not afraid to show his wealth as he showered other cities in riches out of generosity. In Cairo, Egypt, “there was no person, officer of the court, or holder of any office of the Sultanate who did not receive a sum of gold from him.” This is just one of the many examples of wealth in african cities and empires. What is impressive is the fact that before European trade became an influence, African people had already created a successful and very profitable system of
There was also a Kingdom called Mali that broke off from the Ghana Empire. At this time they had embraced the religion of Islam and had been under the great rule of Mansa Musa. This empire had the job of protecting the caravans or shipments carrying the goods, so that they can trade. They helped towards the function of trade so that both the importer and exporter gained something. In document 3 it explains how their wealth was great because of their trade. The document also talks about the fact that they had exhibited the characteristics of an advanced divination like sufficient food to feed its people, a strong army equipped with advanced weapons and income derived from taxes. Even though the Mali Empire had wealth there was very little corruption if there was with the ruler. He did not go mad with power but he was generous. In document four it states they there was no person who did not receive a sum of gold from him.
Nomads were credited with being a large part in the spread of religion, languages, currency, teachings/educational techniques, between regions. New advancements also promoted regional interactions between Africa, Asia, and Europe. For example the invention of printing in China changed life in China but also in places that it spread to westward. Europe was one of the places that cultivated the advancement of paper and printing, causing an intellectual uprising in Europe and Asia. Gunpowder is another Chinese invention that has now made its way around the world and has changed the way we fight wars and use weapons in general. Technological advancements discovered and cultivated changed the economy and agriculture between Europe, Asia and Africa promoting more forms of trade and commerce. Trade between regions was practiced on a massive scale, routes were developed such as the Silk Roads, that furthered trade and regional connections. New forms of trade became popular such as slaves from Africa along with gold and fine art or glass trinkets. This is why there is much similarity in artwork between regions. For instance Europe mimicked a lot of Asia’s art techniques,
As the world of trade developed over time, goods were not the only things that were traded throughout these routes. With the merchants that traveled the world, were the ideals and religions that had learned from foreign lands, and the major religions of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, spread like wildfire throughout the regions of Eurasia and Africa because of this. The spread of Islam throughout the continent of Africa acted as a major influence both politically and socially. After 1600, Islam began to make its mark on the newly centralized states in Africa and was spread through western land trade, and through merchants on the Swahili coast. The major gold trading center of the Kingdom of Ghana, attracted merchants, and was a center for the Muslim community . By the 10th century, the kings of Ghana had converted to Islam in order to improve the relation between the kings and merchants. The early converts of Central and West Africa did not e...
The Mongols influenced the world in many great ways, one of them was their vast trade system. They relied quite heavily on trade, not only to gain resources, but also to get their inventions and objects to the Europeans and then hopefully spread from there. The Mongols enhanced the trading system by composing the “Silk Road”. The Silk Road was a path/road that the Mongols had control of and it was a trade route that many travelers and traders took. Along the Silk Road, the main resource that was traded was silk, hence the name “Silk Road.” The
According to, Culture of Silk Road. (n.d.). Retrieved February 04, 2016, from http://www.travelchinaguide.com/silk-road/culture.htm the technology that was brought by the Silk Road was that of silk worms. The process behind the silk worm was a guarded secret, but it was soon handed out to the world by a princess smuggling the silkworms and mulberries out of China. Other technologies that were brought to the world by the Silk Road were printing, paper, paper making and gunpowder. Bringing these technologies gave a new expansion through the west. It was printed that was used in Germany to print the Bible. Gunpowder became a new weapon in the further expansion of the
Road network was one the main factors for economic growth in ancients Rome. As Rome became powerful, the continued to add new provinces (conquests) and construct new road network to connect those provinces to each other and to Rome. You can do further reading about a saying "all roads lead to Rome". The conquests of Egypt, Sicily and Tunisia in North Africa were of paramount importance in the processing and shipment of grain to
The Silk Road is trade route that connected east and west. Inaccurately named by Ferdinand von Richthofen in the 19th century, it is actually a collection of roads. Traders didn’t usually traverse the whole length of the route, however. Goods were usually traded multiple times before they reached the final destination. Items leaving from Asia and China were goods such as: silk, spices, textiles, ivory, jade, bronze objects, ceramics, lacquarware, flowers, furs, paper, jewelry, minerals, horses, and exotic plants and animals. Goods from the west were: wool, linen, coins, bullion, ambergris, gold, ivory, amber, coral, other precious stones, beads, and glass (a commodity that China has not been able to produce at this point). Goods originating from India were:...
During this time in China the Han dynasty was responsible for the greatest expansion of China, to what is now southern China, northern Vietnam, and parts of Korea and had trade with Central Asia, India, Persia. Because of the expansion of the territory they were able to trade with more countries. This was furthered by the discovery of the Silk Road in 2nd century BC. The Silk Road, discovered by a Chinese ambassador Zhang Qian, was a series of trade routes from China to the Mediterranean Sea. The Silk Road got its name from the amount of silk used for trade during the Han dynasty. This route was used to travel from West to East on land they traveled to India, Persia, Arabia, and Europe, while traveling by sea they traveled through Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. These paths were used by merchants, pilgrim, monks, soldiers, nomads, and urban dwellers.
In this paper I ask, how did slavery begin in Ghana? What impact did it have on Ghana? How badly is Ghana underdeveloped due to this enslavement that took place? Lovejoy, Northrup, and Rodney argue that the transatlantic slave trade did in fact contribute to the underdevelopment of Africa. I support their arguments and believe the trade didn’t exactly “destroy” Ghana, but it did affect it by not letting the country improve faster, although eventually Ghana was able to depart from that “underdeveloped” category.
The term Silk Road does not refer to a single, clearly defined road or highway, but rather denotes a network of trails and trading posts, oasis and markets scattered all across Central Asia. All along the way, branch routes led to destinations off to the side of the main route, with one especially important branch leading to northwestern India, and thus to other routes throughout the subcontinent. The Silk Road network is generally thought of as stretching from an eastern station at the old Chinese capital city of Chang'an to westward stations at Byzantium (Constantinople), Antioch, Damascus, and other Middle Eastern cities. But beyond those end points, other trade networks distributed Silk Road goods throughout the Mediterranean world and Europe, on one end, and throughout eastern Asia on the other end.
Ghana: The Gold Coast of Africa The Gold Coast, now known as Ghana, is one of many civilizations of Africa. It was a British Colony until March 6, 1957, when it became independent as the State of Ghana. In 1471, the Portuguese invaded this area and became involved in gold trade, giving the region the name, The Gold Coast.