Aim: Why were ancient African trade kingdoms so

important to the development of Africa?

 Do-Now: Follow directions on the board for visual analysis
 L.O: Students will be able to analyze the rise of Trading kingdoms in Africa.
 Students will be able to identify the origins of early colonialism in the African continent..
 Students will be able to analyze the major kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

Today:
 1. Do-Now:
 2. Mini Lesson: African Trade Kingdoms
 3. Reading: Oral Tradition/ Ghana
 4. Discussion/ Summary of Findings

Homework: Test corrections

 Do Now: Take a look at the map below, and make
observations. What do you think is going on here? Identify all
the elements (items, people, or actions). What do you think
that this map represents?
Western African Civilizations:
Ghana, Mali, & Songhai
Bantu
 Group of people who
originally live in West
Africa
 Migrated in search of fertile
land
 Spread their knowledge of
farming, ironworking, &
LANGAUGE across the
continent
 Today almost 1/3 of
Africans speak a language
derived from the Bantu
Ghana

 The first of the West African trading kingdoms

 Through weapon making technology (iron smelting),
Ghanaian warriors expanded boundaries
 Gained control over trade routes
Ghana

 Gold Salt Trade

 Location! Location! Location!
 Ghana was located in the midway between Saharan salt mines
and tropical gold mines
 Caravans of Muslim merchants brought goods, which
Ghanaian people exchanged for gold
 Trade conducted via the silent trade
 Muslims brought their religion to the people of Ghana
Aim: What was so different about Mansa Musa’s
Kingdom of Mali from other West African Kingdoms?
 Do-Now: Follow directions on the board for visual analysis
 L.O: Students will be able to analyze the rise of Trading kingdoms in Africa.
 Students will be able to identify the origins of early colonialism in the African continent..
 Students will be able to analyze the major kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

Today:
 1. Do-Now:
 2. Mini Lesson: Mali and Mansa Musa
 3. Reading: Mali and Songhai
 4. Discussion/ Summary of Findings
 Do Now: Take a look at the map below, and make
observations. What do you think is going on here? Identify all
the elements (items, people, or actions). What do you think
that this map represents?
Mali

 Mansa Musa
 Devout Muslim king
 Bases legal and justice system on the Qur’an
 Makes hajj to Mecca, but stops in Egypt first
 Gives Egypt so much gold that the value of gold declines for
10 straight years
 Traveled with 12,000 servants each wearing silk & carrying
gold bars, which were given to the poor
Mali

 Mansa Musa
 Brings back Islamic scholars and architects to Mali
 Has Timbuktu built
 Timbuktu
 Center of learning and art
 Increased Islamic influence in West Africa
 Use of credit
 Written contracts
 Education for many classes
Timbuktu
Timbuktu
Ibn Battuta

 Moroccan born traveler and explorer

 Travel the Islamic world from North Africa to China
 Spent 30 years traveling
 His primary source writings inform historians about the
Muslim world in Africa
Songhai
 The largest of the 3 major West African kingdoms
 Took control of Timbuktu
 Expanded trade to Europe and Asia
 Time of great cultural diffusion
 Askia Muhammad sets up high functioning bureaucracy

 5 provinces each with

 A governor
 Tax collector
 Judges (Like Mansa Musa, had laws based on Qur’an)
 Trade inspectors
Aim: How were the Kingdoms of East Africa
different from those of West Africa?
 Do-Now: Follow directions on the board for visual analysis
 L.O: Students will be able to analyze the rise of Trading kingdoms in Africa.
 Students will be able to identify the origins of early colonialism in the African continent..
 Students will be able to analyze the major kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

Today:
 1. Do-Now:
 2. Mini Lesson: Aksum
 3. Reading: Aksum
 4. Discussion/ Summary of Findings
 Do Now: Take a look at the photo below, and make
observations. What do you think is going on here? Identify all
the elements (items, people, or actions). What do you think
that this photo represents?

These gigantic monuments made

from a single piece of granite of
smooth gray stone stand as high
as 82 feet. The obelisks resemble
buildings with intricately carved
cross-shaped windows, and rows
of long ends dividing each story.
The 108 feet
long Aksum obelisk  lies shattered
across the ground allowing a close
up view of the magnificent
architectural creation. If it were
still standing it would have been
the tallest obelisk in the world.
The East African Kingdoms:
Axum, Nubia & Kush
Axum (Aksum)

 Religions
 Christianity made the official religion after
shipwrecked Syrians introduced it
 However…
 Both Axumites & Egyptians viewed Jesus differently
than Rome
 Jesus was completely divine. Not human; 100% godly
 Started a new Christian Church  THE COPTIC CHURCH
Axum

 Religions
 Muslim merchants brought trade and Islam
 Christian and Muslim merchants fought over control of
trade routes
 In order to ensure Islam did not spread into Axum
 Government reorganized to extend into outlying areas
 Monasteries built to teach the Coptic Christian faith
 Built churches
 More churches per square mile in Ethiopia than any other
country in the world today
Axum

 Architecture
 Used stone instead of mud bricks to construct
buildings (unique for this part of the world)
 Stelae  obelisk shaped pillars built to celebrate
king’s conquests and Axum’s greatness
The Shona of Great Zimbabwe
 Rise to Power
 Originally derived wealth
from herds of cattle
 Then found gold in
central part of kingdom
 Location, Location,
Location
 Like Ghana located
between trading posts,
but on Indian Ocean
 Evidence of trade with
Syria, and Persia
The Shona of Great Zimbabwe

 The Great Enclosure

 Massive wall 4-stories high and 15 feet thick
 Protected the king
 Stonework so precise that no mortar was needed
The Shona of Great Zimbabwe
 Cities
 Consisted of two parts
 Residences for the elite
 Homes made of stone
 Residences for the
commoners
 Homes made of mud
and thatch
The Shona & Great Zimbabwe

 Disappearance
 Left the Great Enclosure for reasons unknown
 Historians best guess…
 Cattle overgrazed and the Shona need to find new land to
feed it’s people