Africa

• Merchants and traders spread Islam into West and East Africa, influencing rulers
• In West Africa during 800-1500, the empires that developed were: Ghana, Mali, and Songhai
• Trade networks developed in Africa because different regions had items that other regions wanted
• African city-states and empires that controlled and taxed trade became wealthy and powerful
• • Timbuktu was a great trading center in Africa
  • Kilwa was a trading center in East Africa
• Trade benefits both sides by exchanging goods for mutual gain
• To survive the Sahara journey, traders stopped at oases for water
• Muslim rulers based their government on Islamic law and relied on religious scholars as advisers
• Empire of Ghana:

  • By the 700s, Ghana was a kingdom, and its rulers were growing rich by taxing goods carried through their territory
  • Gold and salt were the two most important trade items
  • Ghana's king controlled trade, commanded a large army, demanded taxes and gifts from surrounding chiefs, and stored gold nuggets and slabs of salt in his royal palace
  • Ghana's African ruler acted as a religious leader, chief judge, and military commander
  • Muslim Almoravids completed their conquest of Ghana in 1076, disrupting the gold-salt trade
• Empire of Mali:

  • By 1235, Mali emerged as a kingdom built on gold wealth
  • Sundiata, Mali's first great leader, became the emperor (mansa) and conquered the kingdom of Ghana and trading cities
• Empire of Songhai:

  • By 1500, the Songhai empire existed in West Africa
  • The empire of Songhai was wealthy and powerful due to controlling trade routes
• Islamic Influences:

  • Islam spread through trade south of the Sahara
  • Muslim merchants and teachers settled in states south of the Sahara and introduced Islam
  • Ghana's rulers converted to Islam by the end of the 11th century
  • Muslim advisers helped the king run his kingdom
  • Islam's growth encouraged the spread of literacy among the upper class
  • In 1076, the Muslim Almoravids completed their conquest of Ghana, disrupting the gold-salt trade
• Sundiata became Mali's mansa, or emperor, through a series of military victories
• Sundiata put able administrators in charge of Mali's finances, defense, and foreign affairs
• Sundiata promoted agriculture and reestablished the gold-salt trade from his new capital at Niani
• Mansa Musa, a devout Muslim, ruled Mali from about 1312 to 1332
• Mansa Musa expanded Mali's empire to roughly twice the size of the empire of Ghana
• Under Mansa Musa's rule, the empire was divided into provinces with appointed governors
• Mansa Musa went on a hajj to Mecca and ordered the building of mosques at Timbuktu and Gao
• Timbuktu attracted Muslim judges, doctors, religious leaders, and scholars from various places
• Ibn Battuta visited Mali and praised the people for their study of the Qur'an
• Mali's justice system greatly impressed Ibn Battuta for its security and lack of injustice
• Mansa Musa's wealth became known to Europeans after his hajj to Mecca in 1324
• Mansa Musa's kingdom was illustrated on a Spanish map in 1375, showing his wealth and territory
• Mali's wealth influenced interactions between Africans and Europeans
• Mali's decline began within 50 years after Ibn Battuta's visit
• The Songhai people broke away from Mali as it declined in the 1400s
• Sunni Ali, a ruler of Songhai, built a vast empire through military conquest
• Askia Muhammad succeeded Sunni Ali and proved to be an excellent administrator
• The Songhai Empire lacked modern weapons, leading to its defeat by Moroccan forces in 1591
• The collapse of the Songhai Empire marked the end of a 1,000-year period of powerful kingdoms in West Africa
• Kilwa grew rich because it was as far south on the coast as a ship from India could sail in one monsoon season
• The Portuguese conquered Sofala, Kilwa, and Mombasa in East Africa in 1488
• Muslim traders introduced Islam to the East African coast, and the growth of commerce caused the religion to spread
• The vast majority of people along the East African coast held on to their traditional religious beliefs
• • The trade in slaves did not increase dramatically until the 1700s, when Europeans started to buy captured Africans for their colonial plantations
• Africa's connection to the rest of the world through trade:

  • Muslim states of North Africa
  • Gold-salt trade
  • Empires and kingdoms of West Africa
  • East coast trade cities
• Trade networks:

  • Merchants traded local products for those from distant places
  • Trade networks in the Arabian Peninsula, Asia, the Mediterranean Sea, the Sahara, and the Indian Ocean
• Trade goods:

  • Products become trade goods when one region lacks them and another has a surplus to sell
  • Trade goods may be valuable because they are rare, useful, or beautiful
• Modes of transport in trade:

  • Caravans of camels, mules, or other animals carried trade goods over land
  • Vessels like the dhow shipped trade goods across seas