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THE GHANA EMPIRE West ’s First Major State

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BY DAVID BAKER, ADAPTED BY NEWSELA In , the “ experiment” lasted for hundreds of years. West Africans developed independently. This led to large, complex states. Eventually, more connections between the world zones hurt West African . THE START OF WEST AFRICAN STATES terranean and the . Around 1 CE, West Africa had large cities and small kingdoms. But in , the Romans had already set up a huge empire, as the Greeks West Africa developed agriculture on its own, like the Fertile did earlier. and Egyptians had done before. The Persian Empire controlled the Middle East, as the Starting around 3000 BCE, West Africans began to grow extra food. This food was Akkadians, Assyrians, and Sumerians had done before them. extra energy that supported more people than hunting and gathering. The rest of sub- Saharan Africa didn’t begin farming until 1000 BCE or later. West Africa began to The Fertile Crescent developed farming first, in about 10,000 to 8000 BCE. The earli- around the same time as the did. It also began to develop agrarian civiliza- est states appeared about 3500 BCE in that area. In West Africa at that time, farming tions around the same time. was just getting started. We can see that the Fertile Crescent had a long head start on West Africa. Still, West Africa developed complex agrarian states of its own within There is a myth that Africa was always behind other world zones in development. We 3,000 years. can see that this myth is false. Over hundreds of years, West Africa grew more and more complex. Its progress was slowed when world zones became more unified after THE GHANA EMPIRE about 1500 CE. For centuries, there were many city-states and small kingdoms in West Africa. The Complex societies first appeared in West Africa around 1500 BCE. Archaeologists Ghana Empire was the first major agrarian empire to appear in the . Its history have uncovered a number of settlements there. By 600 BCE, there were some large is mysterious. The Ghana Empire had a . It had division of labor, towns and villages that were farming successfully. In these settlements, not everybody wealth, and trade. Still, like the Inca in the Americas, it did not have a form of . needed to farm to survive. Some people could become rulers, craftsmen, engineers, Much of what we know depends and bureaucrats. The use of iron at this time, in farming tools, led to more food pro- on stories passed down through duction. history and the of medi- North eval Arab traders. Atlantic AFRICA The Nok culture in northern Nigeria was one of the earliest complex societies of West Africa. The Nok made clay statues. These statues showed people in different social According to the story, a man roles. This tells us that their society was complex. It had a division of labor: different named Kaya Magar Cissé was king Taghaza people doing different jobs. It also had different levels of power among people, with of an area called Wagadou in West the king at the top. Africa around 300 CE. His sons and grandsons then took over sev- At this time, the region also had many farmers. The Sahel is a strip of land just eral other kingdoms into the Awdaghost Timbuktu below the Sahara. In 1000 BCE, the of the Sahel was wetter than it is today. Waleta Agadez growing empire. The names of Kumbi Saleh Gao There was a of grass for animals to eat. People in the western Sahel raised . (Koumbi Saleh) many of Ghana’s rulers are un- They grew grains like and . By 1 CE, there were many large cities. Dhar Sénégal known. Only a few of their actions Tichitt was one of them. It became a hub for the many herders and farmers in the re- have been recorded. Niani gion. However, the climate was getting hotter. The town was abandoned. The people Modern moved farther south in the Sahel, where the grasses still grew thick. We do know that around 300 CE, Ghana West Africans domesticated the The region in the south became the power center of West Africa’s first major empire: camel. Camels are made for the Ghana. The ancient Ghana Empire was not where modern Ghana is today. Modern desert. This innovation revolution- Kingdom of Ghana, about AD 1000 Gulf of Ghana was named after this powerful, ancient, and independent West African civiliza- Mali Empire, about 1300 ized trade across the Sahara. Gunea tion. Songhai, about 1500 More trade brought wealth and You may notice that agrarian states came much later in West Africa than in the Medi- power to West Africa just as the Range of the Ghana Empire in West Africa

BIG HISTORY PROJECT THE GHANA EMPIRE / 840L 2 Ghana Empire was developing. military force. It was enough to amaze Arab visitors. Thanks to farming, mining, and trade, Ghana became a wealthy and powerful in Africa. It dominated the The Ghana Empire grew rich from the trans-Sahara trade. It helped that the empire region for centuries. It was West Africa’s first major power, but it was not the last. controlled three major gold fields to the south. Traders called Ghana “the Land of Gold.” The kings of Ghana were sometimes called “the Lords of the Gold.” Gold helped COMPETITION OF AGRARIAN STATES the Ghana Empire to grow and survive. Once agrarian states develop, they often compete with each other. Using agriculture, The king of Ghana had a monopoly on all the gold nuggets found in the mines. People can get more and more energy from the environment (food and resources). could only keep and trade gold dust. They had to give all gold nuggets to the govern- Then, civilizations often compete for that energy. In a way, they are similar to animals ment. This helped the government become very powerful. It helped make Ghana’s civi- in nature. Both civilizations and animals need energy to either maintain or increase lization more complex. their complexity.

In the 600s and 700s CE, moved into and Northwest Africa. Trade in- The first challenge to Ghana’s power came in the eleventh century. It came from the creased. Ghana became even richer. The West Africans became major traders in the Almoravids, a civilization from the Atlas region in Northwest Africa. The Almoravids . They sold ivory, salt, iron tools, furniture, cloth, sandals, herbs, spices, fish, took control of the . They soon came into conflict with Ghana. The de- , and honey. tails of the conflict are hazy. Some Arab sources claim that Koumbi Saleh, Ghana’s capital, was attacked. (Archaeological evidence doesn’t support this.) In any case, the At this time, a slave trade began in West Africa. Many West Africans were sent to the Ghana Empire managed to fight Islamic world as slaves. Centuries later, the Portuguese would again enslave West off the Almoravids, who went Africans. This time Africans were sent to the Americas. The trans-Atlantic slave trade into decline in the next century. caused the deaths of millions while crossing the Atlantic. It forced millions more into a life of hard labor and misery when they survived the journey. Slavery is found in many In the twelfth century, Ghana Toledo Valencia early agrarian civilizations — from , to Egypt, to the Greco-Romans. It began including more Muslims in Lisbon Cordoba was devastating for West Africans after about 1500 CE. its government. These included Seville Algiers diplomats and the master of the Achir Gold allowed the Ghana Empire to reach the height of its power. Ghana’s rule extended Tanger treasury. By the end of the Tlemcen as far as the Niger valley. At the time, was weakening after the fall of the Ro- Fes 1100s, all of Ghana had convert- man Empire. ed to Islam. Marrakesh Sijlmassa Many archaeologists believe the city of Koumbi Saleh was the empire’s capital. They Before, Ghana had followed an estimate 15,000 to 20,000 people lived there. This may not seem like much compared animist religion. This religion to other ancient cities. However, this was an amazing accomplishment for a city in the involved spirits of the forests Sahel. The climate was dry and drinking water was hard to find. The town had many and holy trees that only priests wells to support its population. Through architecture and engineering, 15,000 to could visit. By 1200, however, 20,000 people were able to live on the edge of the harsh Sahara. Koumbi Saleh also Almoravid Empire Ghana was absorbing more and had an impressive palace that housed the king and other officials. Ghana Empire more influences. West Africa sat Hammadid Dynasty Stories say that ruler of the Ghana Empire sent many luxurious gifts to his neighbors. at the very end of the Silk Road Castille and Léon This makes sense. He controlled huge amounts of gold. Arab sources us that in the trading network that stretched Navarre and Aragon Hilalians Tribe 1000s, the Ghana Empire had 200,000 soldiers, including 40,000 archers. The number across Afro-Eurasia. is probably exaggerated (common for medieval writers). Still, the empire had a strong Range of the Almoravids, in Northern Africa

BIG HISTORY PROJECT THE GHANA EMPIRE / 840L 3 Ghana’s long period of power ended in the 1200s. Scholars argue that climate change Some world zones had a head start on collective learning and global connections. played a part. A drier climate in the Sahel made farming more difficult. The Ghana Em- These still had the uglier parts of agrarian civilizations: slavery, intolerance, pire had less resources and less power. Its leaders began fighting among themselves. and an uncontrollable drive to control more resources. Ghana could no longer control its territory. Other groups soon moved in to take over. The more advanced civilizations often attacked and stole from civilizations that were The Sosso briefly took over parts of Ghana, including the capital. They built their own smaller or still developing. As Big History teaches us, collective learning can bring us short-lived empire. The Sosso were conquered by the Mali Empire, who built an even more connections and technological innovations. Still, it is not always fast enough to larger and wealthier empire in West Africa. The Mali Empire was overthrown by the bring us the wisdom to handle them. Songhai Empire in the 1400s. After 1500, West Africa’s story becomes part of the global story. Still, its agrarian civi- In the 1590s, however, the Songhai Empire fell to the Moroccans from the north. The lizations were an important marker in the story of increasing human complexity. West Moroccans had early muskets thanks to imported collective learning. From that point Africa between 3000 BCE and 1500 CE is another example of the “human experiment” forward, world zones became more unified. West Africa was increasingly caught up in that happened independently all over the world. the global story. If you think of early world zones as isolated “experiments,” you can observe the dif- THE WEST AFRICAN “EXPERIMENT” ferences and similarities between them.

West Africa split into smaller kingdoms. Powerful Islamic states gained more and Agriculture appeared in West Africa around 3000 BCE. That led to large agrarian more power in the north. Then, the European slave trade began. The Europeans took states that were very similar to others around the world. Finding the similarities is millions of West Africans to the Americas as slaves. This seriously damaged West Af- important to figuring out what makes an agrarian civilization. rican societies. It hurt both the region’s population and its collective learning. Huge numbers of people were sent to work overseas. These people never had a chance to contribute to West African society.

West African farming experts, engineers, soldiers, and government workers found themselves ripped from their jobs and their homes. Because it was easy to make lots of money trading slaves, some West African groups turned against each other. For a while, tropical diseases kept the Europeans from taking control in West Africa. But by the nineteenth century, European countries were getting more direct control over the region.

West Africa was not the only region that was suffering at this time. Many world zones saw negative effects as they became more connected after about 1500. West Africa and the Americas both started to develop agriculture at roughly the same time. They began to build agrarian civilizations at roughly the same time. Finally, they were both disrupted by the Europeans at roughly the same time.

A more unified world meant tragedy for the Americas and West Africa. A connected world can bring people together in a web of collective learning, but it can also cause suffering.

BIG HISTORY PROJECT THE GHANA EMPIRE / 840L 4 Sources Cover image: Timbuktu seen from a distance by Heinrich Barth’s party, Sep- David Christian, Cynthia Brown, Craig Articles leveled by Newsela have been adjusted along tember 7, 1853. Drawn by Martin Ber- several dimensions of text complexity including sentence Benjamin, Big History: Between nothing natz after a sketch by Heinrich Barth. structure, vocabulary and organization. The number and everything, (New York: McGraw, followed by L indicates the Lexile measure of the article. Public domain. http://commons.wikime- For more information on Lexile measures and how 2014) they correspond to grade levels: http://www.lexile.com/ dia.org/wiki/File:TIMBUKTU-EINZUG. about-lexile/lexile-overview/ Robert Cohen, Discovering the Empire of jpg To learn more about Newsela, visit www.newsela.com/ Ghana, (New York: Rosen Publishing, about. 2013)

David Conrad, Empires of Medieval West Africa: Ghana, Mali, Songhay, (New York: The Lexile® Framework for Reading The Lexile® Framework for Reading evaluates reading Facts on File, 2005) ability and text complexity on the same developmental scale. Unlike other measurement systems, the Lexile Christopher Ehret, The Civilizations of Framework determines reading ability based on actual assessments, rather than generalized age or grade levels. Africa, (Charlottesville: University of Recognized as the standard for matching readers with Virginia Press, 2002) texts, tens of millions of students worldwide receive a Lexile measure that helps them find targeted readings from the more than 100 million articles, books and Dierk Lange, Ancient Kingdoms of West websites that have been measured. Lexile measures connect learners of all ages with resources at the right Africa, (Dettlebach: Verlag J.H. Roll, level of challenge and monitors their progress toward 2004) state and national proficiency standards. More infor- mation about the Lexile® Framework can be found at Nehemia Levtzion, Ancient Ghana and www.Lexile.com. Mali, (London: Methuen, 1973)

Nehemia Levtzion and Jay Spaulding, Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab scholars and merchants, (Princeton: Markus Wiener, 2003)

Patrick Munson, “ and the prehistoric origins of the Ghana Em- pire” Journal of African Studies (1980) vol. 21, no. 4

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