The Ghana Empire: Mansa Musa

Mansa Musa set off on his hajj and traveled thousands of miles through deserts, and strange cities to get to Mecca. Although this was a very religious journey, was this pilgrimage really all for religious purposes? Religion may have been a large motivating factor for this trip, but Mansa Musa did not journey on his hajj just for religious purposes. There were many other motivating factors for why Mansa Musa took this journey. Some motives were to set up better trade for the future, and gain popularity for his kingdom Mali and himself.

The empire of Mali was established around 1235 C.E. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita, when he united the tribes of Malinke. He then led these tribes to overthrow the ruler Soso. The empire then became stronger, and took over many surrounding areas. When Mansa was the emperor he made many changes to the way he ran the society. ”

Mansa Musa’s hajj influenced the world’s perception of West Africa because it showed how many people were Muslim and the amount of resources West Africa had. One perception of West Africa was that it was a very religious place. Many people believed Islam was important because of the amount of West Africans that went on Mansa Musa’s hajj. There were 60,000 people that attended hajj in the fourteenth century with Mansa Musa (Document A). Document B shows

In History of Africa, Shillington focuses on many aspects of African culture and factors that made Africa to be the continent that it is today. Chapter 5 primarily focuses on the Northern region of Africa and how empires took over and spread their ideology technology, and culture all through out the region. Even today some remnants of the Roman and Greek empire live on to this day (Shillington, 69.) Despite many people getting the impression that Northern Africa is only influenced by Arabic and Islam, these empires and their conquests are best understood through topics like intricate trading routes, farming, and the spread of religion. Shillington provides an in depth analysis of how many of these conquests affected Northern Africa centuries ago and today.

Another result of the Trans-Saharan trade and the increasing spread of Islam is that Mansa Musa, the king of Mali was able to become extremely wealthy and rule over a large empire. Mansa Musa was a very wealthy man who

Mansa Musa, king of the Malian empire, in specific was a large influence on the religion of the population. Other pieces of Muslim architecture, such as the great Mosque of Djenne, are evidence of the religion’s dominance in Sub-Saharan Africa. Along the Indian Ocean trade routes, we also see Islam as a dominant religion, but there is much more of a variety. Evidence of Islam in Eastern Africa can be found in the language itself. Swahili, the dominant language of the region, is influenced heavily by Arabic.

Mali and Ghana Essay Ghana and Mali were one of Africa’s greatest ancient civilizations. The Ghana kingdom was founded around the year 750, and developed between the Senegal and Niger River, while the Mali kingdom came about in 1240 after taking over Ghana. Rich in trade and supplies, their empires flourished under their rulers. The Ghana and Mali empire had a series of key similarities and differences throughout their years as a civilization, such as education, their culture, and their resource for trade.

Student Name: Shornaiter Richards Student Identification Number: AC1207313 Course Number & Title: AR300 Art History Assignment Number & Title: AR300C Assignment 08 Date of Submission: 26/08/2015 Assignment: Part A 1. Read the following article and analyze the expert’s opinion that art can be a generator of “identity” for a community, and examine what is meant by the statement that “public art ‘humanizes’ cities.” Haley, C. (2014, Mar 14).

Amadou Hampaté Bâ is extremely detailed throughout the book, The Fortunes of Wangrin, in explaining the colonial world in West African societies. He provides multiple examples in this work of fiction that precisely describe the factual aspects of African colonialism that we have discussed in class. I will point out a few of the examples that Bâ uses such as: limitations colonial governments set on Africans, the Métis relationships within colonies, and issues that arose, not only between Europeans and Africans, but within the native African communities as well. I will then point out certain details from the book that do not perfectly reflect the components of colonialism that we have studied in lecture.

So Europe invaded Africa, took possession of Africa, and divided Africa into colonies of Europe. The period of invasion, lasting some twenty years, was more or less completed by 1900. There followed a longer period, between sixty and ninety years, of direct European rule, called colonial rule. This was a time of profound upheaval for all of Africa’s peoples. It brought irreversible changes” (4).

Both Europe and West Africa followed a system of centralized rule. In West Africa the kingdoms of Mali, Songhai, and Kongo had centralized governments capable of collecting taxes, regulating commerce, and mobilizing armies. For instance, the kingdom of Kongo consisted of smaller kingdoms that were ruled by the Manikongo. In Europe, absolute monarchs held power over provinces. In North America, on the other hand, chiefdoms became more prevalent during the Mississippi tradition.

East and West Africa from 1000 to 1500 CE had profound differences in forms of government, with West Africa being kingdom based, and East Africa city-state based. The conversion of Eastern and Western African ruling elites compacted trading between themselves and Islamic traders from Mesopotamia, China, India, and as far away as Oceania. The relatively stable political environment from 1000-1500 CE in Sub-Saharan Africa attracted displaced peoples from the Abbasid empire in Northern Africa, with West Africa utilizing Trans-Saharan trade, and East Africa utilizing mariner trade routes. The East and West developed in clearly different ways, but paralleled each other in a way in which the political, social, and economic environments facilitated stable trade in the region, as well as a distinct blend between Islamic culture and African tradition.

The African kingdoms Ghana, Mali, Songhai The African nations of Ghana, Mali, Songhai, shared so many characteristics between each other. For one primary comparison is, all three ancient empires relied on the trans-Saharan trading routes and their lush amount of gold, copper and other natural resources. They established many political ties with many Arab countries and nearby African societies. These three nations shared abundantly cultural similarities from just the rise of Islam.

With all the people in Mali it lead to many things, good and bad. There were three medieval kingdoms in West Africa, one of them was Ghana. In the 400s the Ghana empire was in existence as Arab merchants traveled to trade. Trading was not what created the Ghana empire, but it definitely made them richer. Another thing that made them richer was charging to protect the gold from neighboring networks.

1. Substantiate the piety and moral virtue of Mansa Musa.   In the book Medieval West Africa, Al- ‘Umari (1301–1394) described many actions of Mansa Musa that reflect him as a pious Muslim, and a person of high moral virtue. Many of these actions occurred during Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca in 1312.