Cultural Exchange In Africa

Africa, like many other continents, was a very tremendous and a very diverse civilization that is very complicated to introduce due to all its wonderful but also diverse features and beliefs. From the differences between its society and language to its religion and politics, Africa always had the reputation that its empires, cities, and kingdoms never progressed in the developments and achievements for their civilization. Many people believed that the Europeans were actually the cause of Africa’s achievements and advanced developments for their civilizations. However, this is further than the whole truth. Before the arrival of the Europeans between the 15th and 16th century, African kingdoms, empires, and cities had many achievements and accomplishments

“West African societies were shaped by competition for wealth and the search for independence from more powerful kingdoms” (History 2011). Most of Africa’s oldest kingdoms originated from West Africa. These old kingdoms contributed to the development and growth of Africa in many ways, especially trade and economic growth. As the new kingdoms replaced the old ones, they experienced a vast change. Conquest and warfare along caused these transformations to occur. It was also influenced by the patterns of trade. The earliest civilizations were in West Africa south of the Sahara desert. These civilisations grew at a time when most of the outside countries were experiencing The Dark Age. “After the fall of the Western half of the Roman Empire around

Therefore, both Mali and Aztec Empires benefited from trade but they received different responses from it. Mali was introduced to Islam from trade because of trading to other societies. Aztecs did not experience any change in culture because they traded locally. Women roles were different in both societies, women of Mali enjoyed more rights in comparison to the women of Aztec society whom received little to no rights. The social structure of Mali was generally a more

After the fall of Ghana, a Black state called Mali became the successor power in West Africa. The king of Mali formed alliances with other Islamic rulers, and this military and religious strength made him the most powerful ruler in Africa. Mali was founded by the Mande people of the upper Niger River, famous for their weaving, mining and architecture. By the close of the fourteenth century, the Mali empire had achieved greater wealth and power than Ghana. Civil warfare, attacks from Mossi and Songhay, and the arrival of the Portuguese in Africa mortally reduced Mali's power.

Even before Europeans came to Africa, the kingdoms in Africa were quite wealthy. As previously mentioned, Ghana was a very strong kingdom in which its people were also incredibly wealthy. Their government appeared to be wealthy as well, which assisted Ghana in being able to control the gold and salt trade. An Arab scholar, Al-Bakri, wrote about the king’s court and how basically everything that the court had was gold (Document 2). The point of view of this document was also positive, and that is because scholars are usually upper class, just like the king’s court. Al-Bakri thought very highly of the court, and explains in detail how every person has some gold on them and how their surroundings also possessed gold. Ghana had a strong army and an intelligent political counsel, which made other countries fear them. Nations around Ghana did not want to start problems and usually just maintained peace with Ghana (Document 3). Ghana was not the only successful kingdom, one of the leaders of Mali, Mansa Musa,

Africa transcended before European arrival for many reasons such as their wealth, trade, and developed government.

WH9 Kaulike Jansen Africa DBQ January 6, 2016 Before the Europeans arrived to the empires, kingdoms, and cities of Africa, the African civilization flourished in many achievements with Art, political status, trade, and culture. The Africa we know today is not like the Africa we knew before the Europeans arrived in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Africa traders have used their skills to trade with other lands. Beautiful cities were built with an advanced political structure like the city of Kilwa. They even maintained a thriving culture.

African Kingdoms were civilized prior to the accession of Europeans in the 15th century. African Kingdoms, such as Ghana, Mali and, Aksum were already progressive in the areas of trade, wealth, and overall advancement. Aksum’s location benefited the region’s advancement by making it a trading center. Mansa Musa was one of the most generous people who expanded the Mali empire through wealth. Through trade and wealth came overall advancement, which brought the rise of literature and art.

A lot of Mali’s success came from their very generous and humble ruler named Mansa Musa (Doc.4). Mansa Musa took a hajj to Mecca to learn and give a chance to the monotheistic culture of Islam. When he returned to Mali, he spread Islam throughout it and eventually it spread all throughout Western Africa by merchants bringing their culture and religion with them when they traded and spreading their beliefs. The capital of Mali was Timbuktu, a very successful city that produced many of Africa's greatest scholars at the time and had a library with many books and manuscripts that would have sold for a fortune (Doc.5). The government of Mali also had a very strict set of laws, most similar to Hammurabi's code of laws from ancient Babylonia. Its laws were very harsh and they showed no mercy for any crime. Even if you stole the littlest thing you would still be punished greatly. Mali also had very great security from outside invaders. These two things impressed many other rulers of similar kingdoms, and made people not commit any crimes in Mali

The Kingdom of Ghana was a rich and mysterious country. The Ancient country lay where Maturia, Mali, and Senegal are to day. The kingdom existed from 700-1200 A.D. but people had been living in the area since the Fourth century A.D. Ghana's Golden age was from the Ninth to the Eleventh century A.D. During this time gold was abundant along with salt and other valuable goods. These items made Ghana a rich nation where the primary income was made from trading with the Arabs and other African nations. Even though trading was the main source of income, most of the common people were farmers. These farmers grew crops like corn, wheat, and rice. All of these reasons make the Ancient Kingdom of Ghana a desireable place to move to.

We begin with the early origins of Africa, and the civilizations in place before, the Western world had an influence on them. Africa like the other continents had its array of civilizations set up in the different nation states, their own power systems, economy, and way of living, ways that differed, but resembled other civilizations as well. In validating this claim, I will be looking and analyzing the source, Ibn, Battuta, Visit from Mombasa and Kila, Rhila (c. 1358). The source is an account by Ibn Battuta, who was a scholar from Morocco, who is known for his travels to different lands, over a 30-year period of time. In this source, he visits the Swahili coast of Mombasa and ends his trip in Kilwa, a city in modern-day Tanzania. It is here we see the initial state of some of the nation-states in Africa, Battuta described the two cities “the city of Kulwa is amongst the most beautiful of cities, and most elegantly built” (57). The description

Ancient Africa held many treasures like gold and salt that could be used to build a large empire. A few men did exactly that. African empires were wealthy and great before men from Europe came onto the scene. Before the arrival of the Europeans, African civilizations from 300 to 1400 CE were wealthy, flourished in trade, and encouraged things like education, the arts, and security.

The histories of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai are not well documented. Much of what we know is a mixture of legend, stories and secondhand accounts. North Africa has small coastal areas, some savanna areas, but it is mostly made up of the sahara desert. It is a very dry and hot region. West Africa has some desert areas, wet and dry grasslands, small rainforest, and long rivers, like the Niger River. It has some vegetation areas, but it also has some dry and hot areas. According to legend, Ghana started when a foreigner named Dhinga had to kill a goblin, and marry the goblins pretty daughters. Their offspring became ancestors of the ruling Soninke clans. After he died, his son Dyabe defeated his brother and founded the empire of Ghana somewhere

In villages they had traditional beliefs and values based off kinship. People that lived in your village were your family and friends. The government in the clans were made up of the oldest man in each family. In the traditional part of Mali trading was the main economic activity in the villages. This is because farming was the most important activity in villages. Wherever you go you would farm to trade for spices and goods

As the contact between Europeans and Africans grew, parts of African culture assimilated into that of the Europeans. Europeans would bring home treasures found in Africa on