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The History of West Africa has been divided into its prehistory, the Iron Age in Africa, the period of major polities flourishing, the colonial period, and finally the post-independence era, in which the current nations were formed.
Sep 27, 2019 · Collection. The ancient and medieval Mediterranean might have been a bustling stage of ever-changing empires but, across the inhospitable barrier of the Sahara Desert, West Africans were equally busy building up and toppling down their own kingdoms and empires.
- Mark Cartwright
- Publishing Director
- The Salt Mines of The Sahara
- Transportation
- Worth Its Weight in Gold
The necessity for salt in ancient West Africa is here summarised in an extract from the UNESCO General History of Africa: In addition, salt was always in great demand in order to better preserve dried meat and to give added taste to food. The savannah region south of the western Sahara desert (known as the Sudan region) and the forests of southern ...
The salt slabs, relatively durable but unwieldy, were loaded onto camels, each animal carrying two blocks that weighed up to 90 kilos (200 lbs) each. A camel caravan could be composed of anywhere from 500 to several thousands of camels in their heyday. The first caravans likely crossed the western Sahara in the 3rd century CE, if not earlier, but t...
Salt was a highly valued commodity not only because it was unobtainable in the sub-Saharan region but because it was constantly consumed and supply never quite met the total demand. There was also the problem that such a bulky item cost more to transport in significant quantities, which only added to its high price. Consequently, salt was very ofte...
- Mark Cartwright
- Mark Cartwright
- West African Gold in Antiquity. The trade of gold in West Africa goes back to antiquity with one of the earliest examples being the voyage of the Carthaginian explorer Hanno in the 5th century BCE.
- Medieval West Africa. The Islamic North African empires of the medieval period had an insatiable demand for gold because it was needed not only for making precious manufactured goods (e.g.
- The Ghana Empire - 'Land of Gold' One of the first sub-Saharan states in West Africa to gain attention in the wider medieval world was the Ghana Empire (6-13th century CE), located in modern-day southern Mauritania and Mali.
- The Mali Empire - The Riches of Mansa Musa. The Mali Empire (1240-1645 CE) gained access to new goldfields on the Black Volta (modern-day Burkina Faso) and in the Akan Forest (modern-day Ghana), and its kings became even wealthier than their regional predecessors in the Ghana Empire.
Oct 31, 2023 · Ancient West Africa: An Introduction, designed for the middle grades (6 – 8), uses a humanities approach. The three areas of focus are physical geography, the gold trade of ancient West Africa, and the epic of Sundiata of Mali. The unit applies the Five Themes of Geography throughout.
Mar 22, 2024 · Tools to Teach about Three Medieval West African Kingdoms. Ghana, Mali and Songhai: Enduring Understandings; Trade across the Sahara (ThoughtCo article) Ancient West African Manuscripts of Timbuktu: An Introduction (Library of Congress site) West African Kingdoms (BBC – The Story of Africa)
History of Africa. Contemporary political map of Africa (Includes Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa) Map showing the states, people, and material cultures of the African continent c. 1800 BC, but missing the Kintampo civilisation and Tichitt culture in West Africa. Obelisk at temple of Luxor, Egypt.
