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Africana HISTORY

A look at histories and historical narratives of people around the Africana World.

The Empires of West Africa

10/2/2015

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West Africa gave rise to many powerful kingdoms, including the Ghana Empire and the Ancient Kingdom of Mali.


Ghana is understood to have been founded between the ninth and thirteenth centuries. The empire of Ghana was sometimes referred to as “the land of gold”, a very fitting name for the abundant amount of gold found in the region. This gold was responsible for the increased trade that ultimately developed the region into a powerful empire.  The creation of this empire marks the beginning of an economy based on trade.


Mali’s power is understood to have been developed during the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Kingdom of Mali included the region that the Ghana empire once controlled due to Sundiata Keith’s conquest. The Mali Empire controlled all of the surrounding land, almost doubling the area of the previous Ghana Empire. Mali came to control the Ghana’s gold trade, increasing that trade and developing many others. The empire created great trade relations with Egypt.


The most well known emperor of Mali is Mansa Musa. He is believed to have had an incomprehensible amount of wealth. Mansa Musa greatly expanded the territory of the Kingdom of Mali, even further than Sundiata.  Mansa Musa also spent his wealth in enormous amounts, so much that it caused inflation in Egypt for years after he left the kingdom.


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HISTORY TEACHES US TO BEWARE OF THE EXCITATIONS OF THE LIBERATED AND 
THE INJUSTICES THAT OFTEN ACCOMPANY THEIR RIGHTEOUS THIRST FOR JUSTICE. 

                                                                                          - wole soyinka