What Are The Achievements Of African Kingdoms Before Americans

The trans-Saharan trade network changed Northern and Western Africa from an isolated hunting-gathering society to a major trade center that boasted economic and political power headed by Islamic empires and city-states.

It would seem like Europe has been a much more developed and unified country than Africa over the years, but really in the past they were forced into communism and into a command economy. Almost twenty years after the fall of communism, the governments of Eastern Europe are all trying to transition away from a command economy and move toward capitalism. Many of these countries are trying hard to establish stable democracies while also building a market system. To the people of Africa, the traditions of their ancestors are still a very important part of daily life. Ghana was one of the most powerful empires in Africa for hundreds of years. The kingdom used metals and had laws and an economic system and, in fact, was more developed than other European countries at the time. Modern Mali is a unique nation due to the blending of Islam and Black African traditions from the Middle Ages. After years of domination by the French, Mali has also been influenced by those European traditions as well. The Songhai is an ancient empire of western Africa found in present-day Mali. Songhai society was traditionally highly structured.

Ghana’s capital is described as a large city with twelve mosques where the kings took an active role in day-to-day affairs.” The common misconception of Africa being underdeveloped is proven untrue by the advanced civilization of Ghana which thrived on trade, was led by intelligent kings, and influenced the spread of the Islamic Religion. The mining and trade of gold, iron, and slaves further prove how Africa was developed as a continent. Ancient Ghana, “...Controlled the flow of goods coming in and going out of the area and managed the export of gold and the import of salt from the north of the Sahara desert.” They did this by creating land routes which they were able to traverse using camels.

European countries such as Britain and France, which they owned most of the African land, they had the most power during this period of time but Germany was a rising power during this period of time. During 1500 to 1800 Europeans used Africa for its resources, for example the Europeans gathered gold and ivory, which was very important at that time. One of the big questions in this article is “how did European countries cooperate with each other?” this is a good question because they shared most of the land with each other. The three main reasons why this was unfair was because first of all European countries took over native lands without permission and second of all they took all their valuable resources and last but not least they destroyed their homes and forced them to work.

The Malian leader planned accordingly to make sure that Mali benefits from this trade, gaining in materials and expanding its borders. During the informational video Mansa Musa, one of the wealthiest people who ever lived, it mentions that “Mansa Musa, or King of Kings, amassed a fortune that possible made him one of the wealthiest people who ever lived. By strategically annexing the city of Timbuktu...he gained control over important trade routes between the Mediterranean and the West African Coast, continuing a period of expansion, which dramatically increased Mali’s size. The territory of the Mali Empire was rich in natural sources, such as gold and salt.” Mansa Musa, being the king of a nation rich with natural resources such as salt and gold, exchanged salt to the countries that needed them for more gold. As this was happening, Mansa Musa gathered an abundant amount of gold for his kingdom and himself. Using this gold, Mansa Musa used 30,000 pounds of gold to give out to people while on his pilgrimage to

Africans had trading centers that you can export and import goods throughout the world. African people were very wealthy due to how much gold they had trading for salt because salt was very precious. They created many buildings and sculptures that impacted people's lives and had many resources back then. Before the arrival of the Europeans, the people of Africa had many achievements throughout their history.

The major contributions I viewed through our textbook of the trans- Saharan trade on African civilizations started out with a simple ordinary life, dealing with agriculture and livestock breeding as a way of life for many people. Except, “wherever regional states and kingdoms overlaid the village life, trade was one of the primary bases on which kingly or queenly authority relied. Africa exported few manufactures internationally, but local production and export of high-value commodities such as gold, ivory, animal hides (processed and unprocessed), dyes, gums, and aromatics-as well as the traffic of human beings-created a lot of wealth. (Alder & Pouwels 2015, p. 232). Another major contribution was the power they used to control and tax their

Europe and Africa had been linked together for hundreds of years, influencing each other for the better or worst. Europe influenced many countries in many ways like the way they trade and the routes they use. Europe was known for being advanced in multiple categories like trading and conquering other lands. Also, Europe was known for having one of the largest civilization and controlling a lot of lands. They had a lot of lands and all surrounded by water meaning they could trade a lot with outside countries by ships making it be able to grow faster in economics. Also, Europe traded a lot with outside countries for material they didn't have on their own meaning have a lot of outside resources. The Europeans influence Africa in many ways like trading, culture, and economics.

A time of expeditious colonization of the African continent by European power is better known as ‘the scramble for Africa’. The European nations involved in the scramble were Germany, France, Britain, Belgium, Portugal, and Italy. The economic, social, and military evolution Europe was going through at the time allowed for this to happen. In 1870, only 10 percent of Africa was under European control. However, over time European rivalries intensified which caused a mad scramble to rule as much of the continent as possible. By 1914 the only states European nations did not control were Ethiopia and Liberia. (1) (Robert R. Edgar, George F. Jewsbur, Neil J. Hackett, Barbara S Molony, Matthew Gordan, Civilizations Past & Present - 12th Ed. - Vol. II (New York: Longman, 2007), 738) The scramble for Africa cannot be explained by just one cause. It looks indisputable that although the specific reasons that set forth the scramble were wide ranged throughout the continent the action was determined by a state of the expanding international economic and political rivalry caused by the unequal growth of industrial capitalism.

One achievement made by western african empires in economics were their trading. This allowed people from other tribes to trade with them so that they could make money or gain resources. One political achievement that these empires had was that all of these civilizations had remarkable rulers. Mali had Mansa Musa, Ghana had Kaya Maghan, and Songhai had Sunni Ali. Also, people never tried to rebel against these rulers. One cultural achievement these empires had is that they were able to convert to Islam. Mali, songhai, and Ghana were able to convert their religion to Islam without any major disputes between the people.

Gold was plentiful and enabled Ghana’s rulers to engage in years of prosperous trading. Ghana soon became a leading force in the trans-Saharan trade network. The “trans-Saharan trade was the transit of goods between sub-Saharan Africa and the northern Arab and European worlds. Goods included precious metals, such as gold, as well as slaves. The trade route was in operation between the seventh and 14th centuries, expanding the more established trade route of the Silk Road between Europe and the Middle East”. (Reference.com)

Once the Portuguese heard of the gold centered around West Africa, they were eager to gain access to it. They established trading stations and built forts along the coast, and it was well protected from the rival European traders. Coming in contact with some of the African kingdoms, instead of fighting them they

The Empire of Ghana was the first trading empire of western Africa. This Empire is located between the Sahara Desert and the rivers of Sénégal and Niger. Otherwise known today as part of Mauritania and part of Mali. It thrived through the years of 700-1200 B.C. They are highly known for their production and trading of gold because they lived on top of a gold mine. They were also known for trading in salt and ivory. Some of Ghana’s achievements was how near and far their trading destinations were. Also their large amounts of gold and other resources. Because of their good amounts of gold it made Ghana have a more powerful and dominate kingdom compared to those around Ghana.

The land and climate of West Africa had a big effect on the developing Kingdoms. Ghana was the first of three West African Empire to exist. The land occupied by the Kingdom of Ghana had so much gold that Arab merchants from North Africa carried salt, copper, clothing, tools and dried fruits to Ghana by camel caravans to trade. Due to its hot climate, developing the cities there was difficult because there was no good form of building other than sun-dried mud. By Ghana becoming a trading center, the power of the Kingdom grew. Taxing people on entering and leaving the country was one way the Kingdom got richer. Ghana’s monarch had laws stating that people were not allowed to own any form of gold, except gold dust. So it was really the climate

While the Niger River and the Western Sudan remained key geographical factors of the Mali and Songhai kingdoms, the thirst for more resources and larger trade networks caused each kingdom to expand its territory. The Niger River was an useful and efficient way to transport goods across the kingdom, as the river passed through many major cities such as Djenne, Timbuktu, and Gao. However, without outside trade, the river was only useful for circulating resources that were already in the kingdom, such as gold. Given that not every resource was found naturally in West Africa, the empire had to trade with the outside to obtain these materials. One example of this is salt, which is a human necessity. Since it wasn’t naturally found in the kingdoms,