Brigitte Ascencio

4/5/09
Africa Before European Arrival
The Africans had achieved a lot before the arrival of the Europeans during the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. Aksums kingdoms, empires, and cities located in East Africa during the 300s
arose and declined. Controlling the gold and salt trade were three empires in West Africa named
Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. Cities on Africas east coast gained wealth and power through trade as
well. Between 300 and 1400 some of the cities in Africa had very advanced civilizations.
Starting with Aksum; Aksums location was actually very resourceful. The reason for that is
because its location made it an important international trading center. Aksums location was near the
red sea and it had trading routes going to different cities in the area. This made it very easy for Aksum
to trade with everyone. Also Aksum controlled trade in and out of the Red Sea. All these benefits led
Aksum to become a powerful trading empire known for iron, ivory, textiles, wine, and olive oil.
When the Kingdom of ancient Ghana rose in power between 700 and 1067, it gained control
over the gold and salt trade. This brought great wealth to Ghana as well as an advanced political
structure. The people of Ghana took advantage of their wealth because they included gold in almost
everything! They had gold embroidered trappings for horses, gold decorations for shields and swords,
hair mixed with gold, and even dog collars made of gold! They also had a king, governor, and
ministers which proved that they had an advanced political structure.
Ghanas role in the gold and salt trade was one of the reasons for their success. What they did
was control the land that the Arabs and Wangara traded on. By maintaining peace in the area Ghanas
military forces made sure that the Arabs and Wangara had a safe trade. Ghana also had a very strong
empire making it an advanced civilization. Ghana had wealth based on trade, enough food to feed its
people, income taken from taxes, a social organization that made sure there was justice and political
control, a strong army equipped with advanced weapons, and a foreign policy that led to peace and
cooperation with other people.

Eventually the Ghana empire was replaced by the Mali empire which was created by Mansa
Musa. Mansa Musa made the Mali empire twice the size of the Ghana empire. He was also very liked
because of his generosity towards his people. Everyone going from the lower class to the higher class
(people, officers of the court, or any holder of any office of the Sultanate) received gold from him. The
people of the Mali empire were described (by a traveler named Ibn Battuta) to be very strong on
justice and ensuring that justice was served. They had the most hatred towards injustice then any other
people. For example if someone was guilty they showed no mercy for that person. They were also very
strong on security. Their security system was so strong that no one ever had to worry about robbers.
One of the most successful cities in the Mali empire was Timbuktu. Timbuktu had many
doctors, judges, priests, and other important men that were all very well maintained by the king. There
were many mosques, schools, markets, and shops in Timbuktu as well. Also different types of
manuscripts and written books were brought to Timbuktu and then sold for more money then any
other merchandise.
The first Europeans to arrive in Africa were the Portuguese in 1471. After their arrival things
drastically started to change for the Africans. The Portuguese became attracted to all of the gold, ivory
and timber so they started to attack the Africans. When other European groups started to arrive they
became attracted to all of the gold, ivory, and timber as well. The Europeans soon became involved in
what was known as slave trade. Around 1650 the last of the Europeans arrived and they were the
Danes. Slave trade grew to be even more important then gold because they were needed to work on
plantations. Africans were no longer at peace. African empires, kingdoms, and cities were doing very
well before the arrival of the Europeans who took over everything and everyone.