Midterm Paper: The Empire of Mali and Songhai Diversity is essential for nations to thrive. West Africa, like Africa as a whole, was physically, ethnically, and culturally diverse. While diversity did lead to conflict in the early history of these empires, diversity is also the foundation of their great success. Through diversity kings were able to establish trade, create economic stability, and educate their nations. History of the Nations Before Mali and Songhai, there was another well-known Kingdom
West African societies, such as the Songhai Empire. Like most empires, the Songhai Empire participated in acts of trade to provide more wealth for their kingdom to build larger empires and armies for protection from competition. Through contact with the world outside of Africa, involving many European civilizations, the Songhai Empire was capable of conquering areas such as Timbuktu, a primary city for general acts of trading. This strategic move lead to the empire 's advancement in finance, wealth
Prior to the arrival of European traders, the continent of Africa had developed sophisticated society as it demonstrated its ability to maintain advanced civilizations, withhold three major empires, and gain wealth through trade. Although European traders did advance organized society in Africa, it would be false to say that prior to their arrival Africa was underdeveloped. Before the arrival of European traders, Africa had successful in maintaining complex civilizations. The cities of Timbuktu
Origin and Fate of the Empire of Mali Introduction In its peak, the people of Mali occupied land as far west as the Atlantic Ocean. They also traveled as far east as Gao, the capital of the Songhai, as far south as the Niger bend, and as far north as the Sahara desert. They built a great empire between 1240 and 1337 that underwent a course of slow decline until the seventeenth century. History The empire of Mali originated from a small country known as Kangaba. Its people where known
Songhai: How to make Askia’s Tomb (Tomb of Askia) Who was Askia? Before we find out how to build Askia’s Tomb, which was built in Gao, Songhai in the year 1495 we need to know who Askia was and why his Tomb is important. Askia was a West African Statesman who usurped the throne of Songhai, and greatly expanded the empire. It is believed that he is from Tukulor origin, a Senegalese family that settled in Gao. After Sonni Ali’s death, the ruler that had solidified Songhai, his son, Sonni Baru, came
Songhai became the greatest commercial Enterprise of their time with rich commodities of salt, gold, ivory, numerous spices as well as slaves (eventually slaves became worth more than gold) their primary source of income. Trading was far and wide to Arabia, Egypt, Morocco and even to Europe. In 1464 the Gao people of the Niger river under Sudanese general Sunni Ali-Mar/Ber, is responsible for first establishing the Songhai kingdom; he was a powerful stern and
decline, most parts of the area were swimming in wealth. Cities including Ghana, Mali and Songhai were situated upon an area swarming with gold, salt and even iron specimens waiting to be retrieved. Al-Bakir observed in The Book of Routes and Realms: “...He sits in a pavillion around which stand ten pages holding shields and gold-mounted swords: and on his right hand are the sons of the princes of his empire, splendidly clad and with gold plaited into their hair” (Document 1). In this quote Al-Bakir
People don’t know much about the History of Kingdoms in Africa. There was three main kingdoms in Africa at different time periods. We had the Kingdom of Ghana, The Kingdom of Mali, and the Kingdom of Songhai. The main one I will focus on is the Kingdom of Mali. It was located in Western Africa, established around the mid 1200’s. Mali was the greatest Kingdom founded in Africa at the time. The man that founded it was Sundiata Keita. The founder of Mali defeated Ghana and captured their capital in
During the 13th and 14th centuries, it was the Mali Empire, also known as the Manden Kurufa, stood as West Africa’s eminent civilization. It was twice as big as any European Empire of its time, being roughly as large as the whole of Western Europe. But, like all other empires, it met its own fate. We will be exploring the epic story of this empire, from its rise to its fall. Who were the people of Mali Empire: The Mali Empire comprised of many different African Ethnic Groups. Much of their original
Malian-Mauritanian frontier the empire of Ghana, one of Africa’s first empires, was prospering. As Ghana continued to reign over western Africa another empire was beginning to emerge. Under the leadership of Sundjata Keita the Malinke Empire, otherwise known as the empire of Mali, was being formed around the upper area of the Niger River. When the empire of Ghana was overtaken by Muslim Almoravids during the 11th century, the Malinke Empire was more than ready to take it’s place. Sundjata’s empire continued to develop
known name, and many more interesting facts. Ancient Ghana was located just south of the Sahara Desert. It was mostly dry savanna grasslands. The Ghana empire was located in Western Africa, in what is modern day Mauritania, Senegal. Ghana was located by two rivers, the Senegal River and the Niger River. Ghana was the first ancient trading empire of Western Africa (7th-13th century). Even though Ghana had not been discovered until around 300 A.D., it was founded in the 7th century. The population
Known as the richest man on Earth, Mansa Musa took the famous pilgrimage to the Muslim holy city, Mecca, from his empire, Mali. The journey required trained men as well as skill to protect the king. The pilgrimage proved important to Mali’s great wealth as well as increased awareness to the world of the great kingdom of Mali. Mansa Musa positively and negatively changed the empires he traversed. On the journey, Mansa Musa traveled with many pounds of gold showing the world his wealth. Musa was the
Mali Empire accidentally had the first contact with India (Mali Empire). The people from Mali Empire landed on Calicut and Quilon, two coast cities of India. Within its first contact, Africans discovered that India possessed something that made food tastes better – Spices (Trade Goods from the East: Spices). In the early 15th century, the power of Mali Empire waned. Songhay Empire started to grow stronger and stronger (Mali Empire (ca. 1200- )). Songhay Empire was once a part of Mali Empire, they
In today’s age, there are several controversies surrounding the religion of Islam, however, looking back on history, that was not always the case. Like every other religion, not everyone accepted it with open arms, but for some, it was a refuge. One such example was in West Africa. To better understand, it is important to understand what Islam stands for. Islam basically translates to mean submission and is a religion that stands for absolute monotheism. Unlike the other religious traditions such
trade and education for over 225 years. Mali is an Arab version of the Mandinka word that means, “Where the king dwells”, and was vitally important in spreading trade, education, religion and culture along the Niger River. The rise of Mali into an Empire occurred in the early 13th century, when Sundiata defeated his enemies and won control of the West African gold mines. In 1312 Mansa Musa became ruler of Mali. During his reign which was known as Mali’s, “Golden Age”, he introduced Islamic beliefs
: The Hausa Kingdoms The Hausa Kingdoms were a grouping of west African states that were located between Lake Chad to the west and the Niger River to the east. The African ethnic group which populated these kingdoms and the area in general from 700 AD are known as the Hausa people with one of the oldest kingdom being Daura located in modern-day northern Nigeria. The Hausa Kingdoms included Kano, Katsina, Zazzau, Gobir, Rano, Daura and Biram and were founded in 1000 AD. The kingdoms are also known
population was excluded from any significant control over political decision-making and tended to acquiesce in the old, established patterns of rule and deference" (38). From 1918 to 1944, Eastern Europe was dominated by great empires, such as the Habsburg and Ottoman empires, but almost overnight, that structure toppled, leaving a power vacuum. During the years between World War I and World War II, Eastern Europe looked to the West for a suc... ... middle of paper ... ...ge Anglo-Soviet relations
Over a thousand years ago, China navigated its surrounding waters and was able to create the most accurate maps at the time (Knox 12). Exploration was on the rise in the 1500s because of Europeans’ discovery of America and maps were needed by these empires. In the next few centuries, mapmaking became more accurate because of the ever-expanding knowledge of information about geography. As the methods of mapmaking improved during the years prior to the 20th century, advancements were made in cartography
"Media do not simply present cultural products for consumption; they provide much of the stuff of every day life through which we construct meaning and organize our existence."--Michael R. Real, Super Media DEFINING MOMENTS IN MASS MEDIA Newspapers. Media began with the written word . . . To date, the oldest existing written document dates back to 2200 B.C. By 500 B.C. Persia had developed a form of pony express and the Greeks had a ¡§telegraph¡¨ system consisting of trumpets, drums, shouting, beacon
Early empires By the time of the European Renaissance, the islands of Java and Sumatra had already enjoyed a thousand-year heritage of civilization spanning two major empires. During the 7th to 14th centuries, the Buddhist kingdom of Srivijaya flourished on Sumatra. Chinese traveller I Ching visited its capital, Palembang, around 670. At its peak, the Srivijaya Empire reached as far as West Java and the Malay Peninsula. Also by the 14th century, the Hindu Kingdom of Majapahit had risen in eastern