Cultural Exchange In Africa

It helped spread knowledge of Mali,

In early Africa, the kingdom of Ghana was prosperous due to the trade of salt and gold. Ghana’s location benefited it in many ways. First Ghana’s location allowed them to be the center of the Gold/Salt trade. Since salt was so valuable at the time, the people of Ghana were able to sell salt for gold throughout Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Middle East. Ghana also made a lot of revenue from taxes on the Gold/Salt trade route. Since they were the center

A developed government was another achievement to Africa before the arrival of the Europeans. Ghana, a strong African city, had military forces to maintain peace and

How did all of the scholars, government bureaucrats, merchants, and architects and Mansa Musa’s wealth contribute to Mali becoming a site of cultural exchange and what were the effects of them going to Mali? Because of the massive amount of gold that Mansa Musa had, he was able to create people to construct mosques and universities. “Mansas also used their wealth to build mosques and madrassas in the cities. One of the major trade cities of Mali was Timbuktu” (Ucdavis). As a result of Mansa Musa large amount of money, he used a large portion of it to build mosques, religious centers, and universities, learning centers. These buildings are a result of Mansa Musa’s wealth. Mosques, or religious center were a place where religion was spread and people were free worship whichever god(s) they wanted.

In the empire Ghana, they worked with iron, and traded it for gold and salt. Because of trading iron for salt and gold, the empire prospered. The empire of Mali prospered from trade and that was one of their key accomplishments. In Songhai, a key accomplishment was that it was the largest empire of West Africa. You can infer that because Songhai was the largest empire, trade was very important to Songhai.

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.

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

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,

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.

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.

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

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

Ghana was no exception to this, as they were said to have food for all its citizens, advanced weapons, and a good government (doc 3). They were more than capable of living good lives and thriving. The city of Timbuktu in the empire of Mali valued written manuscripts and sold them for a higher price than that of any other good (doc 5). Mali also viewed security and justice as very important things to include in a society (doc 6). They were always fair and the citizens and tourists were never afraid. Finally, bronze was important, and went through a very lengthy process to make beautiful and amazing figures (doc 7). Aspects that make a society complex were valued and used during the reign of African

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