table of contents

Unit 5 - Topic 3: Overview............................................................................................................................................1

Unit 5 - Topic 3: Goal, GLEs, & Description.................................................................................................................2

• Essential Content - GLEs

• Ancillary Content - GLEs

Homework: What Did you Learn in Unit 5 - Topic 2.................................................................................................3

Student Strategies.......................................................................................................................................................4

• Caterpillar Writing

• Thinking Like a Historian

• R.A.C.E. Strategy for Reading

• C.E.R. Strategy for Reading and Stating Claims (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning)

Introducing the West African Empires......................................................................................................................5

Lesson Activity: Vocabulary Words - Homework.....................................................................................................6

Lesson Activity: Prior Knowledge - Physical and Political Maps............................................................................7

• Political Maps of Africa.................................................................7A

• Physical Maps of Africa.................................................................7B

• Major Mountains and Major River Maps....................................7C

• Climate Zone Map.........................................................................7D

• Time Zone Map..............................................................................7E

Lesson Activity: Developing a Claim/Formative Assessment................................................................................8

Lesson Activity: Building Context.............................................................................................................................9

Lesson Activity: Developing a Claim/Formative Assessment................................................................................10

Lesson Activity: Building Context - Africa 979 AD...................................................................................................11

Lesson Activity: Developing a Claim/Formative Assessment - Role of Geography.............................................12

Lesson Activity: Building Context - West African Trade.........................................................................................13

Lesson Activity: Building Context - Ancient West Africa........................................................................................14

• Ancient Ghana, Mali, and Songhay...........................................14A

• Economy of African Kingdoms...................................................14B

Lesson Activity: Developing a Claim/Formative Assessment................................................................................15

Lesson Activity: Building Context - Characteristics of Civilizations......................................................................16

Lesson Activity: Building Context..............................................................................................................................17

Lesson Activity: Summative Assessment..................................................................................................................18

Unit 5 Description: Students explore the role of trade in the advancement of civilization by examining the development of civilizations in Asia and Africa. Students investigate the role of trade in the advancement of societies and how trade is responsible for the exchange of more than just goods.

Topic 3: Goal

Students will be able to identify factors that led to the rise in power of West African Kingdoms.

Topics (GLEs) for the unit & pacing:

Unit 5: Approximately 7 weeks

Topic 3: 12 class periods

Connections to the Unit Claim:

Students examine the development and expansion of the West African kingdoms. Students also consider the role of trade in the expansion of an empire.

Key Connections:

• Resources and land use contributed to the development and expansion of trade between civilizations and world religions.

• Economic motivations influenced territorial conquests and led to the success of kingdoms.

• Territorial expansion and the growth of trade and taxation influenced migration patterns and the spread of cultures, ideas, and religion.

Claim:

• Is trade necessary for advancing civilizations?

Sub-claim:

• What are factors that led to the rise in power of West African Kingdoms?

6.2.6 Analyze the origin and spread of major world religions as they developed throughout history

• Explain factors that influenced the spread of Islam in West African kingdoms (trade, Mansa Musa).

6.2.7 Summarize key features of ancient West African kingdoms (Ghana, Mali, and Songhai)

• Describe the characteristics of West African Kingdoms (Ghana, Mali, Songhai)

• Explain how the development of West African kingdoms was influenced by trade with different regions and how trade was carried out (trans-Saharan, salt, gold, cultural diffusion, camels, caravans).

• Compare and contrast the political, social, cultural, and economic features of the West African kingdoms under key leaders (Mali: Sundiata, Mansa Musa, Ibn Battuta. Songhai: Sunni Ali, Askia Muhammad)

• Discuss the rise and decline of the West African kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai

6.3.3 Compare and contrast physical and political boundaries of civilizations, empires, and kingdoms using maps and globes

• Use maps to locate major physical features associated with the West African kingdoms and surrounding areas, including bodies of water (Atlantic Ocean, Lake Chad, Mediterranean Sea, Niger River, Senegal River), deserts (Sahara), and mountain ranges (Atlas).

• Explain how physical features and climate conditions influenced settlement, including major cities where settlement occurred in West Africa (Djenne, Gao, Koumbi, Saleh, Timbuktu).

6.4.2 Explain how world migration patterns and cultural diffusion influenced human settlement

• Explain the connection between trade routes, cultural diffusion, and settlements in West African kingdoms (Timbuktu, trans-Saharan trade).

6.4.3 Explain the connection between physical geography and its influence on the development of civilization

• Explain the importance of geography and environment to the development of the societies in West Africa (Mali, Songhai, and Ghana).

• Explain the relationship between physical geography and the development of West African kingdoms (plentiful resources influence management of people in West African kingdoms).

6.6.2 Analyze the progression from barter exchange to monetary exchange

• Analyze the progression from barter to monetary exchange in the West African kingdoms, including the benefits of monetary exchange as opposed to bartering

6.6.3 Describe the economic motivation for expanding trade and territorial conquests in world civilizations using economic concepts

• Use economic terms to explain why West African kingdoms expanded trade (terms include: goods, services, producers, consumers, supply, demand, scarcity, shortage, surplus, markets, import, and export).

• Explain reasons for the expansion of trade by the West African kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai and the benefits of expanding trade

6.6.4 Explain how the development of trade and taxation influenced economic growth in the ancient world

• Explain the reasons for and effects of trade and taxation for the West African kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai

6.1.1 Produce clear and coherent writing for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences by completing the following tasks:

• Options to address 6.1.1 in Unit 5:

  • Use technology to research the impacts of trade in West Africa

  • Compare and contrast the impacts of trade on West African Empires

  • Produce written claims on the necessity of trade in advancing civilizations

6.1.2 Construct and interpret a parallel timeline of key events in the ancient world

• Create parallel timelines of West Africa and the rise and fall of the Mali, Songhai, and Ghana empires

• Create a timeline using appropriate dates, including B.C.E./B.C. and C.E./A.D.

6.1.3 Analyze information in primary and secondary sources to address document-based questions

• Analyze writings and artifacts from West African civilizations to answer questions about the impact of trade on each empire

6.1.4 Identify and compare measurements of time in order to understand historical chronology

• Identify historical timer periods and eras

• Review terms related to measurements of time as needed (B.C.E./B.C., C.E./A.D., circa or c.).

• Examine timelines of key Unit 5 content recognizing measurements of time, sequencing, chronology, location, distance, and duration.

6.3.1 Identify and label major lines of latitude and longitude using a world map or globe to determine climate zones and time zones

• Review the location of major lines of latitude (the Equator, Tropic of Capricorn, Tropic of Cancer, Arctic Circle), climate zones and types (tropical, dry, mild, continental, polar), and the relationship between latitude and climate as necessary.

• Using a climate map, describe the type of climate(s) present in West Africa.

• Review time zones as necessary.

6.3.2 Plot coordinates of latitude and longitude to determine location or change of location

• Review how to find latitude and longitude as necessary by using maps to plot coordinates of latitude and longitude for important locations in West African kingdoms, and recognize hemispheres, continents, and oceans.

6.3.4 Determine world migration patterns and population trends by interpreting maps, charts, and graphs

• Use maps to analyze migration patterns in West African Kingdoms

Ancillary Content not addressed in the textbook at this time. Teachers should include Ancillary Content with the Topic.

west african empires - introduction

Africa is the second-largest continent in the world, after Asia. It is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the south and west, the Indian Ocean on the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea on the north, and the Red Sea on the northeast. Trade between North Africa and Europe travels over the Mediterranean Sea. The Red Sea aids trade between North Africa and the Middle East.

Much of North Africa is covered by the great Sahara Desert. The area south of this desert is known as sub-Saharan Africa. Its more varied geography includes rain forests, great rivers, grassy plains (savannahs), mountains, and deep valleys. Natural barriers make land travel difficult, while powerful rapids and steep waterfalls impede the navigation of the rivers. Because of the diversity of environments and the natural barriers that separate one region from another, the cultures of sub-Saharan Africa have developed differently through the centuries.

The Egyptian civilization was not the last great one in Africa. South of the Sahara Desert, other major civilizations also developed. Few written records about these civilizations still exist. Most of what we know about them comes from the reports of travelers and traders from Europe and the Middle East.

Between A.D. 300 and 1500, three large empires arose in West Africa. They carried on a brisk trade with the Romans and later with the Muslims. The wealth of the rulers of these African empires amazed the traders from the north.

Physical maps illustrate the physical features of an area such as the mountains, rivers, and lakes. Topographic maps include contour lines to show the shape and elevation of an area.

West Africa was one of the world's greatest producers of gold in the Middle Ages. Trade in the metal went back to antiquity but when the camel caravans of the Sahara linked North Africa to the savannah interior, the trade really took off. A succession of great African empires rose off the back of the gold trade as salt, ivory, and slaves were just some of the commodities exchanged for the precious metal that eventually found its way into most of southern Europe's gold coinage. Gold attracted unwanted attention and competition, too, with the Portuguese the first to exploit West Africa's coastal resources from the 15th century CE, and in their wake followed others.

Medieval West Africa

The Islamic North African empires of the medieval period had an insatiable demand for gold because it was needed not only for making precious manufactured goods (e.g. jewelry, vessels, embroidered clothing, and illuminated manuscripts) but also to mint coinage to pay armies.

The great problem for the North African states was that to obtain the gold of West Africa they had to first cross the Sahara desert and then deal with the African rulers who monopolized the gold trade.

Ghana - 'Land of Gold'

One of the first sub-Saharan states in West Africa to gain attention in the wider medieval world was the Ghana Empire, located in modern-day southern Mauritania and Mali. The empire became famous for its gold, earning itself the nickname the 'land of gold.' The metal came from the goldfields in Ghiyaru, Galam, and Bure on the upper Niger River, and via traders who brought it from the goldfields of Bambuk at the meeting of the Falémé and Senegal Rivers. Gold was largely found in alluvial deposits where it was easily panned to find gold dust and grains or in veins in relatively shallow mines. Most gold was not refined - although its purity was high anyway - but was melted down to cast it into convenient bars for transportation.

The most common commodity that gold was used to purchase was salt, a mineral that was always in great demand in order to better preserve dried meat and to give added taste to food. Camel caravans brought great slabs of rock salt to the south across the Sahara and took gold back in the other direction as well as other valuable goods like ivory and slaves. By the time the salt was passed on down to the southern forests of lower West Africa, the mineral could be literally worth its weight in gold.

The Mali Empire - The Riches of Mansa Musa

The Mali Empire gained access to new goldfields on the Black Volta and in the Akan Forest, and its kings became even wealthier than their regional predecessors in the Ghana Empire. Mali probably did not directly control the southern gold-bearing regions, but, rather, extracted from them the precious metal as tribute.

Mali's most famous ruler was Mansa Musa I. News spread far and wide that this exotic ruler was perhaps the richest man in the world. The consequent stories of a city paved in gold somewhere in the heart of Africa, the fabled Timbuktu, would tantalize many an explorer and adventurer for the next four centuries.

Salt from the Sahara desert was one of the major trade goods of ancient West Africa where very little naturally occurring deposits of the mineral could be found. Transported via camel caravans and by boat along such rivers as the Niger and Senegal, salt found its way to trading centers like Koumbi Saleh, Niani, and Timbuktu, where it was either passed farther south or exchanged for other goods such as ivory, hides, copper, iron, and cereals. The most common exchange was salt for gold dust that came from the mines of southern West Africa. Indeed, salt was a precious commodity that was quite literally worth its weight in gold in some parts of West Africa.

The Salt Mines of the Sahara

Salt was always in great demand in order to better preserve dried meat and to give added taste to food. The savannah region south of the western Sahara desert (known as the Sudan region) and the forests of southern West Africa were poor in salt. Those areas near the Atlantic coast could obtain the mineral from evaporation pans or boiling seawater, but sea salt did not travel or keep well. A third alternative was salt derived from the ashes of burnt plants like millet and palms, but again these were not so rich in sodium chloride. Consequently, for most of the Sudan region, salt had to come from the north. The inhospitable Sahara desert was the chief natural source of rock salt, either acquired from surface deposits caused by the desiccation process such as that found in old lake beds or extracted from relatively shallow mines where the salt is naturally formed into slabs. This salt, which was a creamy-grey color, was far superior to the other sources of salt from the sea or certain plants.

When exactly salt became a trade commodity is unknown, but the exchange of salt for cereals dates back to prehistory when desert and savannah peoples each looked to gain what they could not produce themselves. On a larger scale, camel caravans were likely crossing the Sahara from at least the first centuries of the 1st millennium CE. These caravans would be run by the Berbers who acted as middle-men between the North African states and West Africa. Salt was their major trade good but they also brought luxury items like glassware, fine cloth, and manufactured goods. In addition, with these trade goods came the Islamic religion, ideas in art and architecture, and cultural practices.

Salt may have been a rarity in the savannah but at desert mining towns like Taghaza (the main Sudan source of salt up to the 16th century CE) and Taoudenni, the commodity was still so abundant slabs of rock salt were used to build homes.

Transportation

The salt slabs, relatively durable but unwieldy, were loaded onto camels, each animal carrying two blocks that weighed up to 90 kilos (200 lbs) each. A camel caravan could be composed of anywhere from 500 to several thousands of camels in their heyday. Their first caravans likely crossed the western Sahara in the 3rd century CE, if not earlier, but the practice really took off in the 9th to 12th century CE. When the caravans arrived at the trading center or major settlement in the Sudan region, the salt was exchanged for goods to carry back across the desert on the return journey; typically such loads included gold, leather, animal skins, and ivory. The salt could be used in the communities around the trading centers or simply transported by boat along such rivers as the Niger, Senegal, and their tributaries. Finally, the salt was cut up into smaller pieces and porters carried it on their heads to its final destination -- the villages of West Africa's interior.

The Songhai Empire replaced the Mali Empire as the most important state in West Africa. Originating as a smaller kingdom along the eastern side of the bend of the Niger River c. 1000 CE, the Songhai would expand their territory dramatically from the reign of King Sunni Ali. With its capital as Gao and managing control trans-Saharan trade through such centers as Timbuktu and Djenne, the empire prospered throughout the 16th century CE until ripped apart by civil wars, it was attacked and absorbed into the Moroccan Empire c. 1591 CE.

The Decline of the Mali Empire

The Mali Empire, located along the savannah belt between the Sahara desert to the north and the forests of southern West Africa, had prospered through its control of local and international trade, especially in gold and salt, since the mid-13th century CE. However, the empire began to collapse in the 1460s CE following civil wars, the opening up of competing trade routes elsewhere, and attacks from the nomadic Tuareg of the southern Sahara and then the Mossi people, who at that time controlled the lands south of the Niger River. Worse was to come, though, with the rise of the Songhai Empire, an ancient kingdom but now more powerful than ever. The Mali Empire would cling on to the western corner of its once vast territories, that is until the Moroccans arrived in the 17th century CE.

King Sunni Ali

The kingdom of Songhai dates back to at least the 9th century CE and was contemporary with the Ghana Empire further to the east. It was dominated by and named after the Songhai, a group of Nilo-Saharan-speaking peoples. Although conquered by the Mali Empire, the Songhai people would prove troublesome and powerful because they controlled river transport on the Niger. The Songhai kings made regular raids on Mali urban centers from the early 15th century CE and ultimately won their independence as the Mali kings lost their grip on several smaller subjugated kingdoms on the periphery of their empire.

Around 1468 CE, King Sunni Ali changed the traditional Songhai tactic of small and sporadic raids on its enemies to a more sustained campaign of permanent territorial expansion. With an army equipped with armored cavalry and the only naval fleet in North Africa, which he deployed on the Niger River, Sunni Ali was able to conquer the rump of the old Mali Empire.

Sunni Ali's battle tactics of attacking the enemy with overwhelming force and utmost speed were highly effective. Conquered territories fell like dominoes and were divided up into provinces and ruled by a governor appointed by the king. Tribute was extracted from local chiefs, hostages taken, and marriages of political alliance arranged.

Trade

By 1469 CE the Songhai had control of the important trade 'port' of Timbuktu on the Niger River. In 1471 CE the Mossi territories south of the Niger River bend were attacked, and by 1473 CE the other major trade center of the region, Djenne, also on the Niger, had been conquered. Unfortunately for Sunni Ali though, all this new territory did not give him access to the goldfields of the southern coast of West Africa that both the Ghana and Mali rulers had grown rich on. This was because a Portuguese fleet had, in 1471 CE, sailed around the Atlantic coast of Africa and established a trading presence near those goldfields.

The opening up of the sea route to the Mediterranean would also mean the trans-Saharan camel caravans now faced serious competition as the best way to get trade goods to North Africa and Europe. However, the Portuguese were not quite so successful as they had hoped in exploiting Africa's resources. Certainly, the Songhai in any case managed to monopolize the Saharan caravan trade which brought rock salt and luxury goods like fine cloth, glassware, sugar, and horse to the Sudan region in exchange for gold, ivory, spices, kola nuts, hides, and slaves. Timbuktu, with a population of around 100,000 in the mid-15th century CE, continued to thrive as a trade 'port' and as a center of learning into the 16th and 17th centuries CE when the city boasted many mosques and 150-180 Koranic schools.

Directions: In your NOTEBOOK you will develop a claim that discusses the impact trade has on civilizations. Remember to use the conversation stems during the discussion and provide evidence from the sources and outside knowledge to support your answer. Listed below are questions to consider when developing your claim:

• What were some similarities between each of the empires' economies?

• What were some differences between each of the empires' economies?

• How did trade impact each of the kingdoms?

Directions: In your NOTEBOOK, write an essay that answers the following prompt: Using the sources and your knowledge of world history, write an essay that examines at least 3 factors that led to the rise in power of West African Kingdoms.

Use information from the task as well as background knowledge to complete this activity.