PresentationExpress

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Objectives

• Describe the development and cultural
  characteristics of West Africa in the fifteenth
  century.
• Summarize the events that led to contact between
  Europeans and West Africans.
• Explore the roots of the system of slavery
  practiced in the Americas.

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Terms and People

• Ghana - prominent kingdom in West Africa, known
  for its wealth and trade in gold, lasting from
  A.D. 800 to A.D. 1050
• Mali - West African empire lasting from 1200 to
  the 1400s that prospered from the gold trade
• Mansa Musa - king of Mali in the early 1300s who
  expanded the kingdoms domain, increased the role
  of Islam, and promoted scholarship
• Songhai - large West African empire lasting from
  1460 to the 1600s

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What was life like in West Africa before the age
of European exploration?
The early civilizations of West Africa grew into
great trading empires with rich and varied
cultures.
Trade between West Africans and
Europeansincluding trade in slaveswould shape
the future of both peoples for years to come.
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West Africa is a land of varied geographic
features.

• The Sahara Desert dominates the northern part.
• To the south of the desert lies a broad savanna.
• South of the savanna is a lush region watered by
  the Niger and Senegal rivers.
• Valuable natural resources such as gold and salt
  are found in West Africa.

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A thriving trade network promoted
the growth of trading towns.
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• Ghana
• Mali
• Songhai
• Other, smaller kingdoms

Trading towns eventually grew into great and
powerful empires.
In time, the trading routes of these empires
linked West Africa with North Africa, the
Mediterranean, and Asia.
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West African Kingdoms, A.D. 800A.D. 1600
Trade promoted rich and thriving cultures.
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The earliest kingdom, Ghana, supplied much of the
gold for the Mediterranean region by the 11th
century.
A thriving caravan trade with African peoples
across the Sahara to Morocco resulted in
extensive Muslim influence in North Africa.
Ghana had large towns, beautiful buildings, a
system of commerce, and a complex political
structure.
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Attacks from outsiders weakened Ghana until it
was supplanted around A.D. 1200 by a new kingdom
known as Mali.

• Mansa Musa, who reigned in the early 1300s,
  expanded Malis domain.
• His promotion of Islamic scholarship led to the
  founding of the famous university at Timbuktu.
• Mali weakened after his death in 1332.

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By the 1400s, the Songhai empire emerged.
Education and Trade Songhai sustained an Islamic system of education based at Timbuktu. Like Ghana and Mali, Songhai grew rich from trade.
Conquest In 1468, Songhai conquered Mali. As a result, Songhai became the largest and most powerful kingdom in West Africa.
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West African Trade Routes, A.D. 800-A.D. 1600
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West African societies were diverse.
Spiritual Beliefs Islam had a strong influence, although many held traditional beliefs about the spirit world and the influence of ancestors.
Land Land belonged to extended kinship networks. People often farmed the land in common and divided the harvest.
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Slavery was common in West Africa, and slaves
were often used as items of trade.
West African rulers sold about 1,000 slaves
annually to Arab traders, who took them to the
Mediterranean.
The slave trade was an important part of West
Africas economy.
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West African slavery had developed as a system
with unique characteristics.

• It was not based on racial superiority or
  inferiority.
• Prisoners of war and criminals often became
  slaves.
• Slaves were usually adopted by their owners, and
  their children usually did not inherit slave
  status.
• Slaves could become wealthy, important officials
  and soldiers.

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Throughout the 1400s, the Portuguese explored
farther south along the West African coast.
Initially, they acted as pirates, seizing gold,
pepper, and slaves.
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The Portuguese greatly expanded
the slave trade.

• Some slaves were shipped to Europe.
• Most worked on sugar plantations on islands in
  the East Atlantic.
• Growing numbers went to new plantations in the
  Americas.

By 1500, Europeans purchased about 1,800 African
slaves a year, nearly doubling the trade between
the West Africans and the Arabs.
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Thus began the brutal exploitation of West
Africans enslaved by Europeans.
This fate would befall millions more African men
and women in the centuries ahead.