Ghana

1
Ghana

• Section 2

2
Standard 7.4.2

• Analyze the importance of family, labor
  specialization, and regional commerce in the
  development of states and cities in West Africa.

3
Background Knowledge

• North African traders crossed the vast Sahara
  seeking goods from West Africa. In time, empires
  grew rich from this trade. This section, will
  cover Ghana, the earliest African trading empire.

4
Section Focus Question

• How did the people of Ghana use their resources
  and skills to build a wealthy empire?

5
The Rise of Ghana

• Ancient West Africans left no written records,
  the regions historians have had to rely mainly
  on
• archaeology and oral history.
• Oral history is an account of something passed
  down by word of mouth from one generation to
  another.

6
Ironworking Technology

• Metal tools and weapons were sharper and stronger
  than those made of stone, wood, or bone.
• The people south of Egypt on the Nile River,
  Kush, or Nubia, were the first Africans to
  develop ironworking skills.
• West Africans were making iron tools by 350 B.C.
  in a place called Nok.
• With iron tools, the people of West Africa could
  grow more food. Populations and food supplies
  increased.

7
Ancient Ghana

• The kingdom was founded by the Soninke people
  between the Niger and Senegal rivers around A.D.
  300.
• their power based on their superior weapons.
• They had iron swords and spears, while their
  neighbors still used wooden clubs.
• Their kingdom grew to be the empire known as
  Ghana.
• Labor specialization - The division of jobs and
  skills in a society.
• Each clan, or group of related families,
  specialized in a certain craft or trade.
• The Sisse clan, for example, focused on
  government. Its members became Ghanas emperors
  and officials. Other clans specialized in fishing
  or cloth making or cattle raising.

8
Checkpoint

• How did increased food supplies benefit Ghana?

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The Gold and Salt Trade

• The peoples who settled Africas deserts,
  savannah, and forests had different resources.
  They also had different needs. Such differences
  encouraged trade among these regions.

10
Trans-Sahara Trade

• People north of the Sahara needed gold. It was
  the basis of the currency of most countries. West
  Africans were rich in gold, but they needed salt.
  

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Trans-Sahara Trade

• Not only does salt add flavor to food, it is also
  essential for good health. Mines in the Sahara
  produced lots of salt. North African traders
  brought large cakes of salt to West Africa to
  exchange for gold.

12
Trans-Sahara Trade

• The peoples who settled Africas deserts,
  savannah, and forests had different resources.
  They also had different needs. Such differences
  encouraged trade among these regions.

13
Trans-Sahara Trade
14
Trans-Sahara Trade

• The North Africans brought steel swords, copper,
  and silks to West Africa. They returned with
  ivory, local crafts, precious woods, and enslaved
  people. North African merchants also brought the
  new religion of Islam to West Africa. Islam
  spread south along African trade routes, changing
  West African history and culture.

15
Silent Barter

• Merchants from Ghana kept the source of Ghanas
  gold a secret from North African traders.
• The North Africans were not allowed to visit the
  gold mines or communicate with miners that traded
  with Ghana.
• Gold and salt were exchanged between Ghana and
  the miners through a process known as silent
  barter, trading without words.
• When both sides were satisfied, the traders left
  with their gold and the miners with their goods.
  The traders from Ghana then used the gold to
  purchase salt from North African traders.

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Wealthy Rulers

• The kings of Ghana grew rich from the gold-salt
  trade.
• two sources of revenue - income to run the
  government.
• The first source was taxes on trade.
• The other source of revenue was the kings
  control of the gold supply.
• only the king could own nuggets, or chunks, of
  gold

17
Islam in Ghana

• For centuries, Ghana welcomed North African
  traders but did not adopt their Muslim faith.
• the capital of Ghana, Kumbi Saleh, was actually
  twin cities.
• One was the commercial capital,
• the royal capital,

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Islam in Ghana

• In about 1050, a new Muslim religious movement
  known as Almoravids.
• preached holy war against all non-Muslims.
• In 1076, an Almoravid army invaded Ghana and
  captured the capital.
• The leaders of Ghana converted to Islam. Ghana
  never reestablished its prosperity

19
Checkpoint

• Why did the ruler of Ghana limit the gold supply?

20
Looking Back and Ahead

• This section covered, Ghana, the first trading
  empire in West Africa. We learned how Ghana
  prospered from the gold and salt trade. The next
  section will introduce Mali, the second empire to
  appear in West Africa.