In Medieval Africa, many kingdoms generated wealth and trade throughout Africa. They were supported by salt and gold and were connected by Islam. In Africa, medieval empires traded gold among themselves through the use of Islam, and the use of geographical features to extend their transregional networks of trade. Gold was abundant throughout Africa, which led to wealth throughout the medieval empires. Islam was the basis for the spread of gold in various regions. In West Africa, the Niger River provided gold to West Africa. The presence of gold throughout Africa contributed to abundant wealth throughout the medieval empires. Al Bakri, an Arab scholar, showed that the Ghana Empire used gold to decorate their horses, swords, and hair(Doc 1). The use of gold as decorations demonstrates that the western empires had abundant gold that could be used for other purposes besides trading. Leo Africanus, an Arab traveler, demonstrated that the Songhai Empire used “pure gold …show more content…
Mansa Musa traded with Cairo on his Hajj to Mecca(Doc 2). His Hajj showed how Mansa Musa extended Mali’s transregional trade routes by traveling across the Sahara Desert and Cairo. Africa was connected through Islam. Leo Africanus showed that the women in the Songhai Empire maintained the custom of veiling their faces(Doc 3). Islam’s presence throughout West Africa of women following the custom of Islam conveys that the influence of Islam traveled across the Arabian Peninsula to Africa. On his journey across East Africa, Ibn Battuta, a Muslim traveler from Morocco, wrote that he“went to the mosque and prayed behind the [sultan’s] screen(Doc 6).” Ibn Battuta demonstrated that the Swahili City-States followed Islam. Islam crossed over large areas of land to influence Africa. Islam in Africa showed a sense of unity and uniformity between the empires. The spread of Islam promoted trade across the Sahara Desert between West and East
This illustrates how the spread of islam led to innovations like the bronze head. The purpose of this document was to show how the emergence if islam was quickly across the sub saharan region. In Both document 4 and Document 5 it emphasizes the spread of islam across the sub saharan
Part of the reason the kingdoms in West Africa became so prosperous was because of its trading routes plus the help of Mansa Musa. Mansa Musa is shown seated on his throne in a map of Africa from the Catalan Atlas of 1375 (Doc B). As the overlooker of the Trans Saharan trade route, Mansa Musa holds up the gold as he sits in his royal throne to exhibit how much
Much like Buddhism that did for those along the Silk Road, conversion to Islam created a sense of community that among those involved thus helping to facilitate commercial many transactions. The Swahili civilization played an important role in the world of Indian Ocean commerce. They provided commercial A centers that would accumulate goods from the interior of sub-Saharan Africa and then would exchange them for products of the Indian Ocean trading network. They not only were A involved economically in this commerce. They also participated culturally in the larger Indian Ocean world.
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.
In Africa during the Post-Classical era, 600-1450 CE, the Saharan was no longer a barren wasteland hardly suitable for travel, but, an essential part of both North African and Sub-Saharan West African societies. Camels and caravans allowed for quicker and more effective traveling. With trading becoming increasingly popular in this area, it provided the resources to build new and larger political structures. During this era, Africa’s economy began to change and the western part of Sub-Saharan was no different. With the Trans-Saharan trade routes ability to increase with the help of wealthier Islamic states, it allowed for the spread of religious and political ideas such as larger empires and the Islamic faith in which both greatly influenced
Along his journey, Mansa Musa picked up a form of religious authority that could quell a nation, which speaks to the influence that he was able to gain from his hajj and Islam. With Mansa Musa’s newfound religious power, he influenced the rise of Timbuktu which “attracted merchants from all over the Muslim world, especially Egypt and the Maghrib, reaching a point at which they filled the city “to overflowing” (pg 50). His presence catapulted Timbuktu’s publicity and economy, attesting to his newfound and vast influence over the rest of West
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.
Before the 1500 ce Africa had many trades, cultures, and also some encounters with Islam. In 1000 ce Islam invaded the West African State, in Dr. Mayers, 2012 study of Africa he stated that the spread of Islam revealed the power of the religion, commercial, and also the military qualities. Many civilizations were being change without being close to at least one Islamic statement. Islam had spread so much in Africa that Islamization had served to connect with Africa and connected more with the outside world through trade, religion, and
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.
The Ghana were able to control the route and tax people as they passed, allowing them to build up a revenue. The Ghana were often referred to as the “Land of Gold” since being extremely wealthy. The exchange of gold nuggets for protection allowed the trade of gold dust to arise since the gold nuggets themselves would be in the kingdom with the king. The Mali Empire had gold and salt mines within their empire as well, allowing them to trade with other civilizations. Gold in the empire was seen as a trade item and a source of currency, and much like the Ghana only gold dust was used in trade as the nuggets themselves would be placed in the kingdom.
The societies of West Africa, Europe, and North America exhibited similarities and differences in their religious beliefs, values, and government systems. These contrasts and similarities were further made apparent during European expansion across the Atlantic and the subsequent new cross cultural interactions that were created. One way in which the societies of West Africa, Europe, and North America diverged was in their belief systems. Unlike Europe and North America, West Africa gradually adopted Islam in addition to its traditional religions. Islam diffused through the trans-Saharan trade with North Africa and by the 1200’s was assimilated into the Mali and Songhai Empire.
The biggest impact of Mansa Musa's journey was in Mali itself, which became a religious and educational place based on the amount of exceptional people Mansa Musa recruited upon his return. He instituted mosques at Timbuktu and Gao. During his reign, Timbuktu became an important trade stop for caravans in the region, and an educational center that evolved into a university where history, law and theology were supported by royal funds. His influence on his people was to instill Islam into their lives, so much that his subjects became educated in religious and secular matters.
Mansa Musa, who ruled from 1312 to 1337 CE (often referred to as “the golden age of the Mali Empire”), was the tenth mansa, or king, of the Mali Empire, which was located in the Sahara Desert and “stretched across two thousand miles from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Chad” (Alkhateeb; Tesfu). In 1324 CE, Musa, a Muslim ruler, decided to begin his pilgrimage to Mecca, called the Hajj, which is the fifth pillar of Islam. Mansa Musa’s visit to Cairo, Egypt during his Hajj to Mecca had an incredibly negative impact on the economy in Egypt for over a decade. Mahmud Kali, a native scholar and Islamic judge of Timbuktu, provided insight into Mansa Musa’s initial reason for deciding to set out on his pilgrimage to Mecca: Muhammad Quma, a scholar, had told Kali that “the Mali-koy Kankan Musa had killed his mother, Nana Kankan, by mistake. For this he felt deep regret and remorse and feared
For example, when China started using silver as currency, they traded with the British and Dutch. The Dutch would pay with pesos that had been made by African slaves using Incan and Aztec forms of labor. The silver would then eventually find its way to more places. Although, the people at the time didn’t know this, the world was interconnected because of trade, and because of the many places and people involved in trade. Why was trade so pervasive in the Islamic world prior to contact with the Portuguese?
Mansa Musa helped Islam spread by leaving to pilgrimage and introduced the empire to the Islamic World. He encouraged learning to read the Arabic language to read the Qur’an. He hired architects to build mosques as well. Another example is the Songhai empire. Songhai leaders were Muslims as well.