Cross-curriculum Priorities

The course developers have attempted to integrate the Cross-Curriculum Priorities with Content Descriptions and scope and sequences where ever possible. Consider the opportunities to develop Cross-Curriculum Priorities when teaching to the Content Descriptions. 

• provide students with the tools and language to engage with, and better understand, their world

• provide national, regional and global dimensions 

• addressed through learning areas -not curriculum on their own

• embedded in Content Descriptions where appropriate

• considered and focused content that fits naturally within learning areas

Example One

Debating the Arabic influence on Ghana is important in establishing the logic of the idea that the original Kings of Ghana were Muslim. A few fragments from Arabic historians such as Ibn Sa’id state the first kings were Muslim,. For example, "There the Sultan of Ghana resides. He is a descendant of al-Hasan, son of “Ali” (peace be upon them both) Indeed evidence shows Islamic influence on Ancient Ghana as literate Muslims were employed as secretaries and ministers to keep financial records. Written accounts and Archaeological evidence indicate Arabs living in the kingdom had their own capital city of Ghana. Al Bakri records the capital city as two towns 6 miles apart, one for Muslim merchants and the other for the King and aristocrats. The Archaeology is an excavated Arab city, discovered in 1913, called Koumbi Saleh. Radiocarbon dating indicates occupation from between the 9th and 14th century. As such, while the Arabs influenced the Soninke of ancient Ghana, there was segregation. A level of separation that may not have been required if the King of Ghana wasn’t Soninke.

Example Two

Ghana was established about 700 AD, though others argue its older. The date is unknown as to when it emerged in now modern day Mali, though actually it was called Wagadugu, since Ghana was actually the title of the king. The first time it was used as a city rather then either a kingdom or a title was Al-Khuwarizimi who died around 846 AD but two centuries later it was used again in another book called Kitāb al-Masālik wa'l-Mamālik In arabic or its english translated title Book of highways and kingdoms written by Abu Abdullah al-Bakri, based on the accounts of traders, and the writings of Muhammad Ibn Yusuf Al-Warraq and Abraham Ben Jacob. Yet, the book exists in fragments. The Name Ghana for the city is also sometimes used in place of Koumbi Saleh, believed to be the capital of the empire. Though if the capital might have been moved from the north side of the river to the south side of the Niger river. Another theory suggests two cities being merging.

Example Three

The exponential growth in trade with Wagadou also spread Islam to the city. Islam was introduced into the kingdom by the Soninke traders and warriors in 1066, a Saharan ethnic group that followed Muhammed. The religion helped form the Kingdom of Ghana, first by ‘early rulers claiming descent from the clan of Muhammed’. From the first interactions with Islam by the Soninke people, it soon spread quickly through Wagadou. As a result Ghana kings had to embrace Islam and be Muslim to have power with the Sonninke. Mahmoud Kati states that Ghana was first founded by white Muslim dynasty, traditions of the founding of Sijilmassa. Kati wrote that there was no possible way that Sijilmassa was founded by negro dynasty, due to incompatibility. This theory is then backed up by Ibn-Said, stating that the dynasty “were of white race”. However, stated in The Traditions of the founding of Sijilmassa and Ghana, Mahmoud Kati's account was already a form of myth-making, due to his manipulation of kings in the story of Hegira. Kati had written that there were 44 kings in the Wagadou dynasty, this then being proved false by later investigations into the Kingdom of Ghana. Kati had also written his recordings 800 years after the empire and had retracted some of his evidence orally, proving to have minimal accuracy. and less accountability. Ignoring the theories of race in terms of the Muslim dynasties, Wagadou was still greatly grown by the introduction of Islam, which supports an idea of the kingdom originating due to Islam itself. 

Example Four

The Arab origin theory for the origins of Ancient Ghana/Wagadou has many weaknesses due to the poor evidence, as well as contradictions from other contemporary sources. This theory is placed in major doubt. Al-Bakri, an Arab historian, wrote that the capital, Koumbi-Saleh, is ‘inhabited by Muslims, is large and possesses twelve mosques’. Indeed, a Muslim presence  in Ghana is clear, and if Al-Bakri’s statements would suggest quite a large population of Muslims. Other evidence is that Al-Bakri adds that ‘the king’s interpreters’, treasurer and the ‘majority of his ministers are Muslims.’ Ibn Sa’id also stated that the king of Ghana, at the time of his writing: ‘He is a descendant of al-Hasan son of ‘Ali.’ The ruling class claimed descendance from Muhammad proves that they were or became Muslim. It is, at this point, indisputable that there was Muslim influence in the capital of Ghana. This is further evidenced by archaeological studies at the archeological site thought to be the Ghanan capital which has mosques, as described by Al-Bakri. It is possible that the strong Muslim influence on the later empire led to claims of Muslim origins. However, this is doubtful due to evidence from the 16th and 17th century. The Tarikh as-Sudan, written by Abderrahman as-Sadi in 1652, states that ‘this kingdom existed before the Hegira, and that twenty-two kings reigned before it’. If Abderrahman’s claims are true, it would not be possible for the origins of Ghana to be linked to an introduced class of Muslims if Islam itself did not exist yet. Levtzion presents a reason for the confusion on a Muslim origins theory, arguing that the well documented Almoravid conquest of Ghana spread Islam through the existing ruling class and installed invading Muslims into the aristocracy, which continued even after Ghana re-gained their independence. She states that ‘The most remarkable change...was the spread of Islam: the king and many of his subjects were Muslims.’ The confusion of this theory could be because the contemporaries, Al-Bakri and Ibn Sa’id, wrote their accounts on Ghana after the invasions of the Almoravids, and so thought that Ghana had always been Muslim, when in fact it likely had not. Although the contemporary sources write about a large Muslim influence as well as a Muslim ruling class, which is backed up by archaeological studies, this Muslim influence was not the results of a founding Muslim class, but rather a class later introduced from Almoravid invasion. 

Example Five

There are, however, other explanations for the origin of Wagadou/the Kingdom of Ghana. For example, Al-Kati genealogies linked the people of Wagadou to the Berbers of the desert. Similarly, Min al-Sawadin states of Wagadou: “what is certain is that they were not Soninke”.  Yet, few other argue this and because it was in the 16th century, there were gaps in the research Al-Kati did. The other origin theory is that the Sahaja Muslims moved in and took over. For example, 11th-century al-Idrisi and 13th-century ibn Said wrote that the rulers of the Kingdom of Ghana (Wagadou) descended from either Prophet Muhammad’s protector, Abi Talib or his son-in-law, Ali. This statement led later scholars to conclude there was a foreign origin of the Kingdom of Ghana, or just its ruling class in the 12-13th centuries. Even so, Levtzion and Spaulding argue that al-Idrisi’s testimony should be looked at very critically. This is due to the fact al-Idrisi demonstrated gross miscalculations in geography and historical chronology and so there might also be flaws in otehr parts too and cannot be regarded as reliable. Although, modern historian Abu-Abdullah Adelabu wrote that European scholars ignore the contribution of Islam to West Africa, he suggests that Arab sources should not be dismissed as they were respected scholars of their time. That makes discounting al-Idrisi a bit harder. Nevertheless, counting his inconsistencies as a reason that his work isn’t reliable enough, the foreign origin theory is less likely than an indigenous origin.