Rise of West African Empires

Rise of West African Empires

7.23 Analyze the growth of the kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai, including cities such as Djenne and Timbuktu as centers of trade, culture, and learning. 

-The largest hot desert and third largest desert after Antarctica and the Arctic worldwide

-The size of the entire United States
-To the south, it is bordered by the Sahel, a belt of semi-arid tropical savanna around the Niger River valley and Sudan Region of Sub-Saharan Africa

Sahara Desert

-rarely travel faster than the walking speed of a man
-ability to withstand harsh conditions

​​Camel Power!

The Sahara, The Camel, & Caravan Trade

Read the sections:
-The Sahara Desert
-The Camel
- The Ultimate Desert Technology
- Caravan Trade

Home

Open in new tab

Copy link

Multiple Choice

Camels store water in their humps

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

What was the average size of a desert caravan?

• 50 camels

• 400 camels

• 1,000 camels

• 5,000 camels

• 12, 000 camels

Multiple Select

What things were commonly carried and used for trade through the desert? (Select all that apply

• pepper

• Pokemon cards

• gold

• polyester

• salt

Open Ended

What difficulties might the people of Africa face in trying to establish an empire across the Sahara?

Resources

-Salt is mined from the desert.

-Gold is mined from lands near the coast of Africa.

Poll

What do you believe would be more important to the people of West Africa?

• Gold

• Salt

Salt

-In the kingdom of Ghana, slaves were forced to cut large blocks of salt before camels hauled them to the savanna.

Salt is more important than gold to the people of Africa. Without salt, they could die.

Multiple Choice

Why would salt be important to the people of West Africa?

• It can be used to preserve meat.

• When we sweat we lose salt from our bodies, which can cause dehydration.

• Without enough salt in our diets, you could die.

• It was worth its weight in gold.

• All of these.

Multiple Choice

How much gold would 1 lb of salt be traded for?

• 1 oz

• 1/2 lb

• 10 oz

• 1 lb

• 10 lbs

Multiple Select

How does salt make food last a long time? The salt ________.

• attacks the bacteria in meat and kills it.

• pulls out the moisture and dehydrates it.

• makes the food cold like a refrigerator.

• starves the bacteria in meat by taking the water away.

Gold

-In the kingdom of Ghana, women and children crawled deep into the gold mines to bring up gravel.

-Kings and rulers taxed gold before it could be traded.

Multiple Select

What words come from the Latin word 'sal' meaning salt?

• salami

• salute

• salary

• salvation

• sauce

Ghana lies between where the gold and salt are mined. They don't own either the gold or the salt.

Ghana Grows with Taxing Traders

-They owned the land where traders would meet.

-They placed a tax on traders coming through the city.

-Over time, Ghana becomes extremely wealthy.

Multiple Select

What natural resources helped the Ghana kingdom become wealthy?

• gold

• grains

• salt

• copper

Multiple Choice

In the kingdom of Ghana, __________ were forced to cut large blocks of salt before camels hauled them to the savanna.

• slaves

• kings

• women

• queens

Multiple Choice

In the kingdom of Ghana, __________ and children crawled deep into the gold mines to bring up gravel.

• kings

• women

• slaves

• queens

Multiple Choice

Who taxed gold in Ghana?

• kings

• queens

• slaves

• children

Kings in Ghana

-Used money to buy a large military

-Allowed conquered kings to remain in charge of their territory

-Tunka Manin

What happened to Ghana?

-Invasion by a Muslim group called the Almoravids who destroyed the capital city, but established a connection to larger Muslim groups.

-Overgrazing

-Rebellion

Multiple Choice

Which of the following was NOT a reason for the fall of Ghana?

• Overgrazing

• Invasion

• Ancestor Worship

• Rebellion

BONUS video!

Video Response

You have 30 seconds to share your thoughts using 3-2-1!

3 things you learned

2 thoughts you have

1 question you still have

Open Video Recorder