Lesson 4.

West African Islamic Civilizations

Note. Only countries in Africa will come (all countries coming inside the blue
box only)
Summary
1. Islam spread into Africa through several separate phases of development

2. Islam spread through the West African states and East Africa through

merchant contacts and long-distance caravan routes to Arab Muslim cities

of northern Africa.
3. By the 11th century, Islam reached the Senegalese coastal region and vast

areas of the Sahel across to Sudan

4. By the late 13th and 14th centuries, well-established cities in the Sahel and

Mali had large Muslim institutions. Mosques at Timbuktu and other cities in
Mali reflect this development.
5. Timbuktu was a prominent city and the cultural centre of Mali and the

Sahel region.
6. The Great Mosque of Timbuktu. The building style is typical of the people of

Sudan and Sahel of the time. The style originated from the King of Mali,
Mansa Musa, who went the Hajj in Mecca and brought back a famous
architect to design the mosque.
7. Mansa Musa ruled and established the Kingdome of Mali.

8. In Cairo, he spent so much gold that the value of gold fell throughout Egypt.

9. The library of Arabic manuscripts in Timbuktu shows how its cultural

heritage has been connected to the Arab Muslim world.

10. One of the famous visitors was the traveller, Ibn Battuta, who wrote about

his visit to the cities.

11. Djenne became a market centre along the trans-Saharan gold trade routes.

12. Its traditional mud houses and its large mosques make use of the local

materials of mud from the nearby river.