Get Worksheet 6 1 African Empires Map And Questions Answers Key

In this unit we will focus on three West African empires: Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. Each of these was located in the Western Sudan. This is a broad area stretching in an east-west direction across West Africa, south of the Sahara desert, and north of the rainforest regions to the far south.

In this unit we will focus on three West African empires: Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. Each of these was located in the Western Sudan. This is a broad area stretching in an east-west direction across West Africa, south of the Sahara desert, and north of the rainforest regions to the far south.

All three of the Western African kingdoms depended on the Gold Salt trade and control of the Niger River to dominate West Africa.

The three kingdoms were Ghana, Mali, and Songhay.

Ghana's imperial era has been theorized to have initiated around 100 CE to 300 CE then come to dominate the region between about 750 and 1078. Smaller states in the region at this time included Takrur to the west, the Malinke kingdom of Mali to the south, and the Songhai Empire centred on Gao to the east.

While knights rode around medieval Europe, the three great empires of West Africa prospered through unimaginable wealth. Ghana, Mali and Songhai controlled more gold and conducted more global trade than any European power at this time in history.

In this collection, we examine the big three of the Ghana Empire, Mali Empire, and Songhai Empire as well as the lucrative trade connections they made with West and North Africa.

The land between the Upper Niger and Senegal Rivers was rich in gold, which allowed Ghana to become a leading force in the trans-Saharan trade network. 4. The king of Ghana spread his power through trade. Gold, ivory, and slaves were bartered for salt from the Arabs.