Ghana

Section 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.

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.

Section Focus Question

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

The Rise of Ghana

• Ancient West Africans left no written records, the region’s 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.

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.

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 Ghana’s emperors and officials. Other clans specialized in fishing or cloth making or cattle raising.

Checkpoint• How did increased food supplies

benefit Ghana?

The Gold and Salt Trade

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

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.

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.

Trans-Sahara Trade

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

Trans-Sahara Trade

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.

Silent Barter• Merchants from Ghana kept the

source of Ghana’s 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.

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 king’s control of the gold supply.

• only the king could own nuggets, or chunks, of gold

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,

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

Checkpoint• Why did the ruler of Ghana limit the

gold supply?

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.