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.