West Africa

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West Africa

• 100 BCE till 1200 CE

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West African Kingdoms
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Greatest Extent Ghana kingdom 11th century
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Niger River Uplands and Delta
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W. African Trade routes pre-Atlantic System
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Ghana 4/5th century -1076-1200s

• Little is actually known about Ghana sources
  are scarce
• Monopoly over notoriously well-concealed gold
  mines.
• possed sophisticated methods of administration
  and taxation, large armies
• Kumbi Saleh is capital
• Traders brought Islam with them had a separate
  community in the capital with its own mosques and
  schools.
• Later kings used Muslims as scribes in government
  and administration.

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Ghana

• Decline is due to
• drought in the 11th 12th century
• New gold fields mined out of reach of Ghana
• 1054-1076 Almoravids from Morocco attack Ghana to
  gain control over Ghanas dominace of
  trans-Saharan gold trade .

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Al-Bakri on Ghana 10th C Geographer
The king adorns himself like a woman wearing
necklaces round his neck and bracelets on his
forearms and he puts on a high cap decorated with
gold and wrapped in a turban of fine cotton. He
holds an audience in a domed pavilion around
which stand ten horses covered with
gold-embroidered materials and on his right, are
the sons of the vassal kings of his country,
wearing splendid garments and their hair plaited
with gold.
The city of Ghana consists of two towns situated
on a plain. One of these towns, which is
inhavited by Muslims, is large and possesses
twelve mosques in one of which they assemble for
the Friday prayer. The king has a palace and a
number of domned dwellings all surrounded with an
enclosure like a city wall. Around the kings
town are domed buildings and groves and thickets
where the sorceres of these people men in charge
of the religious cult, live.
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Spread of Islam in Africa
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Mali

• 1235-1390s-1490s
• Founded in 1235 by Sundiata
• Focused on agriculture and control of trade
• Like Ghana all gold nuggets belonged to the king,
  but gold dust could be traded
• Gained control over the salt trade
• Improved agriculture on the Niger by planting
  rice, beans, yams, onions, grain and cotton
• A class of professional traders emerged in Mali
• Cowries shells were established as a currency for
  trading and taxation in the 14th century.

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Greatest extent of Mali
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Mali and gold

• Greatest source of gold for the west for
  centuries
• Mansa Musa 14th century king goes on pilgrimage
• 100 camel loads of gold300lbs each
• Value of gold is said to have dropped 20-30 in
  Cairo
• 500 male slaves each carrying a 5lb gold staff
• 14,000 slave girls

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Culture

• Fine pottery, iron work, jewelry
• Music poetry and art
• Mosques and schools
• The Epic of Sundiata
• Visited by Ibn Battuta during Mansa Musas reign
• He is a miserly king, not much giving is to be
  expected from hmi. It happened that I stayed this
  period and did not seen him because of my
  sickness.

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Mansa Musa a European map
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Djingareyber Mosque Jingarey Mosque - Timbuktu
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Djenne, Mali city founded in 800 ce
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Songhay -1591

• Conquered Mali
• Used the power of the empire to spread Islam in
  the area
• Timbuktu is the center for learning and education
• Defeated by invaders from Morocco using guns.

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Songhay at its greatest extent
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African Art / Nok Terracotta Head Origin
Northern NigeriaÝDate 500 BC to 200 CE
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African Art / Nok Terracotta Sculpture of a
Horned Head Origin Northern NigeriaDate 500
BCe to 500 ce
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Nok Terracotta Figure Origin NigeriaCirca 300
BCe to 200 ce
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Nok Terra Cotta Sculpture Origin Northern
NigeriaCirca 400 BCe to 200 ce
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Nok Terracotta Seated Male Figure Origin
NigeriaCirca 100 BCe to 300 ce
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African Art / Bura Conical Vessel with a Face
Origin Burkina Faso/NigerDate 3 rd Century ce
to 11 th Century CE
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African Art / Cross Rivers Terracotta
Anthropomorphic Vessel Origin Calabar,
NigeriaDate 10 th Century ce to 11 th Century ce
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African Art / Tenenkun Terracotta Zoomorphic
Sculpture Origin Central MaliDate 12 th
Century AD to 14 th Century CE
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African Art / Komaland Terracotta Sculpture with
Two Heads Origin Northern GhanaDate 12th
Century AD to 16th Century ce
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Ife / Benin Bronze Mask - LO.1313Origin
NigeriaCirca 14 th Century to 17 th Century
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Sources

• www.artofancientafrica.com/
• http//www.metmuseum.org
• http//www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/
  storyofafrica/4chapter3.shtml