Events in West Africa 700-1550

1. Events in West Africa (700-1550)
By Jack Garrity

2. Week of November 14th, 2021
• Compelling Question: How did cultural diffusion
affect developments in Africa?
• Objective: We will examine the spread of Islam
to West African and evaluate its’ impact.
• Individual Work/ Homework: C-3 Mali, Read 2.4

3. West Africa had been isolated from the
main world trade routes.

6. The Sahara Desert covers most of North
Africa.

7. It is the largest hot desert in the world

8. The Sahara is 3.552 million mi²

9. The Sahara only gets between 4 inches
to less than an inch of rain a year.

10. • Las Vegas gets around 5 inches a year.

13. Mountains The Atlas Mountains
Are Africans longest
Mountain range

14. • The North side gets enough rain for good farming.
Atlas Mountains

15. • Average height of 13,671′. They run about 460
miles.
Atlas Mountains

16. Climate Regions
• Africa can be broken into regions by climate.

17. Climate and Vegetation
• In many places in Africa south of the Sahara, water
is such a precious resource that rain and life are one
and the same.

18. Climate Regions
• In West Africa, the climate shows great
variety.

19. Tropical Dry
• Savannas get 35-100 inches of rain a year

20. Tropical Dry
• Savannas have a 6 month rainy season and 6
months dry season.

21. • During the wet season, May to November, the
savanna receives a total of up to 100 inches of rain..

23. River Basins
• The Niger River (great river) runs for 2,600
miles.

25. River Basins
• It splits into a 150 mile delta at Aboh.

26. • Delta A triangle shaped end or mouth of a
river.

27. River Basins
• The Congo River (great river) runs for 2,920 mi
through this Tropical wet Climate zone.

28. Tropical Wet
• It rains all year round, sometimes more sometimes
less.

29. Tropical Wet
• Shrubs, ferns, and mosses grow from 6-10 feet tall.

30. Tropical Wet
• Palms and trees 60 feet tall.

31. Tropical Wet
• Palms and trees 60 feet tall.

32. Tropical Wet
• Leafy trees up to 150 feet tall.

33. Tropical Wet
• Orchids and ferns grow everywhere.

35. • Tropical Wet (Rainforest)
HDTV.BBC.Planet.Earth.08of11.Jungles.720p.Xvid.Ac3.www.mvgroup.org.wmv

36. • Nok culture had flourished along the Niger from
500 BCE to 200 CE. Nok culture developed
farming, yet did not develop writing, or
monarchy.

37. • In contrast to most Asian or European societies,
those in Sub-Saharan Africa did not centralize
power under one leader or central government.

38. • Instead, communities formed kin-based networks,
where families governed themselves.

39. • A male chief mediated conflicts and dealt with
neighboring groups.

40. A group of chiefs decided among themselves how to
solve the district's problems.

41. In the 700’s, the Arabs Conjured a
great Empire ruled by the Umayyad
and Abbasid Caliphates.

42. • During the 700’s, Great West African states grew
along Islamic trade routes.

43. • West Africa had been isolated from the
international trade routes before this time.

45. • In West Africa, Islam and its culture spread by
cultural diffusion, helping the creation of the
Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

46. • cultural diffusion is the spread of the
beliefs and social activities of one
culture to different ethnicities,
religions, nationalities, and places.

47. • The spread of Islam to the rest of the world could
be represented as a functional or nodal region.

48. • Functional or nodal region: are centered on a
place that influences many places connected
to that center place.

49. • With trade came a new culture, giving African
kingdoms not just a new religion but Islamic
literacy, trade, methods of statecraft, and art.

50. • The changes in crossing the Sahara is an example
of spatial reorganization.

51. • Spatial reorganization happens when things
change in a place.
• Spatial reorganization is a fancy word for
changes in the way geographic places are
organized, they are caused by of economic,
political, and cultural interactions

52. • By 700, Arabs establish
trade routes with Sub-
Saharan west Africa.

53. • The Africans traded gold for salt to the Muslims.

54. • The trip across the desert took 3 months, according
to Ibn Battuta, the Arab Marco Polo.

55. • Ibn Battuta tells of caravans of up to 20,000 camels
at a time.

56. • Ibn Battuta tells that the camels would have to rest
for 6 months at the end of the journey.

57. • The Arabs traded salt and
finished goods for African gold,
ivory, cloth, and slaves.
• Slaves cut rock salt into slabs,
strapped it onto camels and
shipped it south.

58. • The Sahel had gold deposits. Scholars estimate that
by the 11th Century, they exported 9 tons of gold
annually to Europe alone.

59. • People could just pan gold in the Niger River.

60. • This led to the region being know as “the Gold
Coast”, a perceptual region.

61. Perceptual or vernacular regions are
defined by the beliefs, perceptions
people have about a place, like a
nickname.

62. • West African Kingdoms also traded ivory along
the caravan routes.

63. • This led to the region being know as “the Ivory
Coast”.

64. • Although ivory is no longer exports of the
region, the nickname remains

65. • So perceptual regions change a lot and do not
reflect areas accurately sometimes.

66. • West African Kings and Queens sent criminals into
slavery rather than execute them.

67. • Slaves, the next biggest export, filled the homes of Muslims
everywhere.
• In Morocco and Egypt they filled the army (the Marmaluks).
• At least 4 million people enslaved from 650-1500.

68. • Manumission freedom on conversion. Muslims
thought Northern Europeans the best slaves.
• Slav=Slaves.

69. • This spatial reorganization helped three
powerful Kingdoms arose Ghana, Mali and
Songhai around the Niger River.

70. • With trade, The “Kingdom of Gold” inhabited by the
Soninke people flourished.

71. • Koumbi Saleh benefited from the trade routes, the
King of Ghana raised an army and subjugated the
region.

73. • Ghana society developed monarchy, adopted
Islam, and Islamic literacy, trade, methods of
statecraft, and art.

74. • The Ghana culture with high quality iron weapons,
horses, and sophisticated farming replaced the
Nok.

75. • In 992, they captured Berber towns and took
over the trans Saharan trade routes, which led
to the spread of Muslim culture into Ghana.

76. • Al Bakri (Muslim geographer) wrote the Ghannise
had 22 kings before the Muslim arrival.

77. • Ghana traded iron, gold,
ivory, and fine cloth with
Muslim merchants.

78. • Ghana adopted the Muslim diwan for record
keeping, the king held all justice, and kept its
indigenous religion.

79. • The Kenite cloth woven in silk or cotton by the
Ashanti people of Ghana prized then and now.

81. • By the 12th century, wars with neighboring
societies had permanently weakened the Ghanaian
state. In its place arose several new trading
societies, the most powerful of which was Mali.

82. • From 1250-1460, Mali reigned as the most powerful
West African state, Timbuktu the trade capital.

83. • Sundiata (1230-1255) founded the dynasty and
mixed tribal religions with Islam.

84. • Sundiata (1230-1255) cultivated a thriving gold
trade in Mali. Under his steady leadership, Mali's
wealth grew tremendously.

87. Griots and Griottes
• Griots, or storytellers, continue to be conduits
of history for a community.

88. Griots and Griottes
• Male and female Griots possess encyclopedic
knowledge of family lineages and the lives and
deeds of great leaders.

89. Griots and Griottes
• Griots sing stories and play instruments especially
drums and a 12 string harp called a kora.

90. Griots and Griottes
• The griots were both venerated and feared as
they held both the power of language and of
story. People said that a griot could sing your
success or sing your downfall.

91. Griots and Griottes
• Griots preserved history , and Kings often
sought their counsel regarding political
matters.

92. Griots and Griottes
• They sing at special occasions, such as before
a wedding. For example, the griotte would
counsel the bride to not talk back if her
mother-in-law abused her or reassure the
bride that if things got too bad, she could
return home. Griottes provided women with a
sense of empowerment in a patriarchal
society.

93. From 1250-1460, Mali reigned as the most powerful
West African state, Timbuktu the trade capital.

94. • The government of Mali profited from the
gold trade, but it also taxed nearly all other
trade entering West Africa.

95. • Mali became even more prosperous than
Ghana had been.

96. • Mali had a professional army filled with
knights called Mandukala.

97. • Mali Kings had armies of 100,000, which dominated
West Africa, and kept the trade flowoing to
Timbuktu.

98. • Although most of Mali's residents were
farmers of sorghum and rice, the merchants
class soon amassed huge amounts of wealth.

99. • Mali’s merchants used gold, salt, cowrie shells,
and cotton cloth for currency.

100. Kings and Queens of Mali relied on Islamic law and
scholars to make policy, and expand the Kingdom.

101. Timbuktu

104. • Plenty of food and wealth
from trade (cause) has the
affect of population
growth. An educated
population may result in a
golden age, much like
Song China and Abbasid
Baghdad.

105. • Timbuktu had 150
Islamic schools, its’
library and book trade
the largest in the world.

106. • People came from all around the world to study and
trade in the city.

108. • Uli his son converted to Islam.

109. • By 1320’s Abu Bakr II ruled Mali.

110. • Abu Bakr II wanted to sail west to China from
Mali.

112. • We belong to a house which hands on the kingship by inheritance.
The king who was my predecessor did not believe that it was
impossible to discover the furthest limit of the Atlantic Ocean and
wished vehemently to do so. So he equipped 200 ships filled with
men and the same number equipped with gold, water, and provisions
enough to last them for years, and said to the man deputed to lead
them: "Do not return until you reach the end of it or your provisions
and water give out." They departed and a long time passed before
anyone came back. Then one ship returned and we asked the captain
what news they brought. He said: "Yes, O Sultan, we traveled for a
long time until there appeared in the open sea [as it were] a river with
a powerful current. Mine was the last of those ships. The [other] ships
went on ahead but when they reached that place they did not return
and no more was seen of them and we do not know what became of
them. As for me, I went about at once and did not enter that river." But
the sultan disbelieved him. Then that sultan got ready 2,000 ships,
1,000 for himself and the men whom he took with him and 1,000 for
water and provisions. He left me to deputize for him and embarked on
the Atlantic Ocean with his men. That was the last we saw of him and
all those who were with him, and so I became king in my own righ

113. • That King was Mansa Musa (1317-1337).

114. • Mansa Musa (1317-1337) expanded the empire
and controlled fabulous wealth.

115. • Mansa Musa (1317-1337) was the richest
person to live ever.

116. • In 1324 he made a pilgrimage to Mecca, on the
way he visited the Egyptian sultan.

117. • On entrance into Cairo, 500 slaves each carrying a 3
kilo staff of gold preceded him, he was followed by
a vast host of retainers including 100 elephants
each carrying 110 pounds of gold.

118. • Gold is $22,392 per pound

119. How much Money did he have?

120. How much Money did he have? 400-
800 billion!

121. • The Songhay people had been trade people
centered on the city of Gao since the 10th
Century. .

122. • Caravan routes ended at Gao, making it a center
for trade with the Abbasid Califate and Europe.

123. • Although the royal family of Gao had converted to
Islam by 1019. African traditions alive at the
famous Rose Dune (Koima) , a place where
sorceress and griots met

124. • Gao’s wealth from trade (Venician and Turkish
cloth, Spanish horses, salt, gold, weapons, ) soon
gained Mansa Musa’s attention.

125. • In 1325, Mansa Musa sent his armies against Gao.

126. • Mali had an army of 100,000 solders, 10,000
knights, and Gao becomes part of Mali empire.

127. • In1353, Ibn Battuta visits listing Gao as one of
finest and richest cities in Africa.

128. • In1337, Mansa Musa died, resulting in a
succession crisis in Mali.

129. • Royal succession problem, West African Kings had
4 wives with many sons and brothers with
ambiguous complicated law of who would be the
next king.

130. • When Mansa Musa died, his Megan and brother
Suliman both claim the throne.

131. • Megan rules for 4 years, then Sulliman kills him
and takes the throne. The Mali army takes sides
and fights itself

132. • Then, the Massi tribes south of the Niger attack
Timbuktu with fast calvary raids.

133. • The Kingdom of Jelof declares independence.

134. • When Suliman dies, his sone claims throne, but he is
killed by on of his brothers. Whom is killed by a
cousin, whom is killed by one of his brothers, etc.

135. • Gao and other cities stop paying tribute, declare
independence from Mali.

136. • King Mansa Musa 2nd and his counselor Mari
Djata dispatches Mali army to Gao, and they
retake the city.

137. • However, Gao continue to resist, using gorilla
warfare and boat raids, forming a rebel alliance
against Mali.

138. • In 1387, Mansa Musa 2 dies, the advisor Mari
Djata kills Musa’s brothers and takes the throne of
Mali.

139. • Mari Djata rules Mali for a year, then is assassinated.

140. • More provinces rebel, and the desert tribes of
Tuareq people take Northern Sahara trade
routes…. Mali has complete chaos for the next
century 1430’s.

141. Benin art
• The Yoruba people at Ife (Nigeria) produced
wonderful bronze sculptures.
• These reached an artistic peak in the Benin style of
West Africa.
Gao benefited and became rich again. And art
flourished.
Bronze casting and artistic production increased. By
1440, artisted created what what is regarded as the
golden age of Benin.

142. Benin art

146. • In 1464, the Songhay people of Gao led by Sonni
Ali (1464-1492) conquered Mali.

148. To the Griots,, Sonni Ali is one of the greatest West
African Emperors, but to the Scholars of Timbuktu
he is “ the great tyrant the accursed, the oppressor,
cold hearted, notorious evil doer”
Sonni Ali (1464-1492)

149. He starts horse breeding in Africa, so the army no
longer has to import them Europe an Arabs
Sonni Ali (1464-1492)

150. He increases iron plate and mail production, and
expands the navy to a 400 ship fleet.
Sonni Ali (1464-1492)

151. His 40,000 infantry and 20,000 calvary army
conquers ruthlessly.
Sonni Ali (1464-1492)

152. Some say he was not a real Muslim, as he could
not read and hated learning.
Sonni Ali (1464-1492)

153. In 1468, he attacks Timbuktu. He sent a messenger
ahead, arrived midday drum beaned this sword of
Suni Ali cut the throat of anyone staying in this
town, ….. people flee.
Sonni Ali (1464-1492)

154. Ali marches into Timbuktu, gather all books and burn
them in great bonfires, and executed scholars on the
spot.
Sonni Ali (1464-1492)

155. He repeated this in 5 purges city over the next 24
years
Sonni Ali (1464-1492)

156. Many people wanted change and Askiya Muhamed
represented change.
Sonni Ali (1464-1492)

157. Askily was a Songhai general in charge of the
mountainous southern district that had spoke out
against Ali’s brutalism.
Askiya Muhammed 1443-1538

158. In 1492, when Ali died in a flash flood and his son
Baru became king, Songhai people rallied behind
Askiya Muhhamed.
Askiya Muhhamed 1443-1538

159. Muhammad marches on Gao and defeats Baru’s
much larger army.
Askiya Muhammed 1443-1538

160. Aski Muhammad’s reign becomes a golden age for
Songhay.
Askiya Muhammed 1443-1538

161. Aski Muhammad’s reforms the army into a
professional army, which expands the empire
greatly.
Askiya Muhammed 1443-1538

162. Aski Muhammad was the opposite of Sunni Ali, an
excellent diplomat and administrator
Askiya Muhammed 1443-1538

163. Aski Muhammad supports scholars, improves
everyone's life, and includes all ethnic groups in the
government.
Askiya Muhammed 1443-1538

164. Aski Muhammad brings all ethnic groups with him on
his pilgrimage to Mecca.
Askiya Muhammed 1443-1538

165. Aski Muhammad develops a multiethnic state that
unites the Heart in Gao with the brain in Timbuktu
and Griotts with Islam.
Askiya Muhammed 1443-1538

166. Aski Muhammad standardizes weights, organized
taxes, divided empire into provinces.
Askiya Muhammed 1443-1538

167. Aski Muhammad appoints minister of taxes,
agriculture, and trade.
Askiya Muhammed 1443-1538

168. However, when Aski Muhammad became blind
(age 70) his 37 sons and vizier started to fight over
the throne
Askiya Muhammed 1443-1538

169. His son Musa deposes Askiya and banishes him to
an mosquito infested island.
Askiya Muhammed 1443-1538

170. Musa’s brothers upset, civil war erupts, and Musa is
killed in 1531 by Askia Ismail.
Askiya Muhammed 1443-1538

171. In 1531 by Askia Ismail lets Askiya Muhammed
return, but Muhammed dies a year later, followed
by Aski, plunging Songhay into 20 years of civil war.
Askiya Muhammed 1443-1538

172. • Songhay would come into conflict with Morocco
in the North and Europeans during the 16th
Century.

173. • The caravan trade declined as ships took over the
salt trade, which Europe soon dominated.

174. • In the 15th Century, the Portuguese set up forts
along the coast .

175. In the 15th Century, the Portuguese set up forts along
the coast .

176. By 1591, Arab Morocco took control of the gold and
salt trade and Songhay fragmented more and more…