Empire of Ghana

Empire of Ghana

gold-salt trade

Land of Gold

Islamic Influences

Spread through North Africa by conquest

By the year 800, Ghana had become an empire.

Social organization

In the third century AD they discovered camels were much better for trade

Trade was difficult because animals couldn't travel far in the harsh conditions of the Sahara desert

Included multiple people groups

How did limiting the supply of Gold nuggets prevent their price from falling?

muslim merchants and teachers settled in states south of the Sahara and introduced islam religion there

had own customs and languages

concept: conquest... spread islamic religion through control and force

Because Ghana's king controlled trade and command, he could demand taxes and gifts from other lands

Ghana rule strengthened

the empires' cities connected

as long as the chiefs made their payments, the king left them in peace to rule their own people

Why would the disruption of trade destroy Ghana's power? Answer: Ghana's power was based on wealth that they gained from controlling trade

administrative class

In the kings palace he stored gold nuggets and slabs of salt (collected as taxes)

Miners, craftsmen, blacksmiths, leather workers,

Ghana's rulers converted to islam

only the king had the right to own gold nuggets, although gold dust freely circulated in the marketplace

many people kept their animistic beliefs and practices

many kept their old beliefs and mixed it with Islam

concept: diffusion... combined their old practices with the new practices

the king limited the supply of gold and kept its price from falling.

son of the King's Sister was Heir

converts had to study the qur'an and had to learn arabic

Ghanas African ruler

Muslim Almoravids completed their conquest of Ghana, eventually withdrew from Ghana, and the war badly disrupted the gold-salt trade.

Ghana never regained its power and helped Islam gain a foothold in the region

trade routes shifted, but Ghana's trade they developed continued

How did temporary control by the Almoravids cause the decline of the kingdom of Ghana?
Answer: weakened Ghana and collected tribute from Sudan

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the demand will be high and the supply was low so the price of it was very expensive.

acted as a religious leader, chief judge, and military commander.

They could plod steadily over much longer distances, travel more than 10 days without water

he headed a large bureaucracy and could call up a huge army.

in 1067, a muslim geographer and scholar named alBakri wrote a description of Ghanas royal court.

two most important items were salt and gold.

gold came from savanna between the niger and segal river

How did the king run things?

Concepts

Authority: this section is about Ghanas king

Ironmaking technologies also increased trade by using the tools and weaponry to keep order on the trade routes, increase agricultural production.

with the camel, nomad used more routes and trade increased

miners dug gold as deep as 100 feet or shifted it from fast moving streams

ancient-ghana

trade: because they were trading valuable items

sources estimates until about 1340, two thirds of the worlds supply of gold came from west Africa

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GOLD

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SALT

west africa savanna and forefs lacked salt, a material essential to human life

Trade//It is based around how they improved trade using camels and ironmaking technologies

Sahara contained deposits of salt

workers built their houses from salt blocks because it was the only material available

Without the discovery of camels in trade do you think they would have advanced as much as they did?

arab and berber traders crossed the desert with camel caravans locked down with salt.