Ancient Ghana Research Paper

In early Africa, the kingdom of Ghana was prosperous due to the trade of salt and gold. Ghana’s location benefited it in many ways. First Ghana’s location allowed them to be the center of the Gold/Salt trade. Since salt was so valuable at the time, the people of Ghana were able to sell salt for gold throughout Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Middle East. Ghana also made a lot of revenue from taxes on the Gold/Salt trade route. Since they were the center

A developed government was another achievement to Africa before the arrival of the Europeans. Ghana, a strong African city, had military forces to maintain peace and

The kingdoms of West Africa, Mali, Ghana, and Songhai existed from 830 - 1591 and were located by the Niger river and south of the Sahara desert. They were built upon each other's foundations. Although Africa was not as developed as the rest of the world, these three kingdoms became very prosperous because of their geographic location and leaders. The Kingdom of West Africa’s geographic locations were a main factor in they’re prosperity.

The Kingdom Ghana in western Africa flourished. Ghana gained control of the salt-and-gold trade (Doc. 2). This was important because Gold was used as a currency,

Ghana: wealthy because of gold; declined because of loss of trade, drought, and pressure from outside forces

Gold and salt mines surrounded Ghana and were kept a secret from the other countries who might want to get in on the great wealth of Ghana. Another reason Ghana had an opulent economy was because people loved books and would pay a great fortune to buy them. In Document 1 it talks about how the location of Ghana was important to the economy and in Document 4, people in Ghana lived on to do great tasks, because of the knowledge they got from all the books they bought. As seen in the map in document 1, it shows Ghana located directly in the middle of 12 gold and salt mines which they kept private so no one could steal their good fortune (Document 1). In the fourth document it reads,“Here are many doctors, judges, priests, and other learned men that are well maintained at the king's costs. Various manuscripts and written books are brought here . . . and sold for more money than other merchandise” (Document 4). This is helpful because they used the mines to trade with people who did not have the opportunity to collect gold and salt, but needed it. The salt is used to keep food fresh in warmer areas, and the gold is used for trading. They also highly appreciated books and would pay a substantial of money to get them. Books started to even become more highly priced than items like merchandise. The location of Ghana contributed greatly to the rich and wealthy atmosphere of Ghana as well as

The histories of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai are not well documented. Much of what we know is a mixture of legend, stories and secondhand accounts. North Africa has small coastal areas, some savanna areas, but it is mostly made up of the sahara desert. It is a very dry and hot region. West Africa has some desert areas, wet and dry grasslands, small rainforest, and long rivers, like the Niger River. It has some vegetation areas, but it also has some dry and hot areas. According to legend, Ghana started when a foreigner named Dhinga had to kill a goblin, and marry the goblins pretty daughters. Their offspring became ancestors of the ruling Soninke clans. After he died, his son Dyabe defeated his brother and founded the empire of Ghana somewhere

How did the polity of Ancient Ghana arise? How did Ghana maintain its strength and what were some of the challenges? The Wagadou Empire was a monarchy, and the king was regarded by the people to be a semi-divine figure who kept order and justice. Ghana was not rich in natural resources as it was located along a major trade route between ivory and gold producing areas and salt miners in the Sahara. Merchants were lured into Ghana by the wealth of gold and prosperity helped the capital, Kumbi Saleh, to be a center of trade. The country will eventually become a prosperous entrepôt. Ancient Ghana derived power and wealth from gold and transportation of camels during the Sub-Saharan trade to increase the quantity of goods that were transported. The traditional Ghanan religions and Islam spread

In between the eighth and eleventh century the kingdom of Ghana grew. Their advance of political structure can be shown through the amount of wealth

Even before Europeans came to Africa, the kingdoms in Africa were quite wealthy. As previously mentioned, Ghana was a very strong kingdom in which its people were also incredibly wealthy. Their government appeared to be wealthy as well, which assisted Ghana in being able to control the gold and salt trade. An Arab scholar, Al-Bakri, wrote about the king’s court and how basically everything that the court had was gold (Document 2). The point of view of this document was also positive, and that is because scholars are usually upper class, just like the king’s court. Al-Bakri thought very highly of the court, and explains in detail how every person has some gold on them and how their surroundings also possessed gold. Ghana had a strong army and an intelligent political counsel, which made other countries fear them. Nations around Ghana did not want to start problems and usually just maintained peace with Ghana (Document 3). Ghana was not the only successful kingdom, one of the leaders of Mali, Mansa Musa,

In Africa there were three great empires, first the Ghana Empire who domesticated camels and carved trade routes all across the Sahara then

The Kingdom of Ghana was a rich and mysterious country. The Ancient country lay where Maturia, Mali, and Senegal are to day. The kingdom existed from 700-1200 A.D. but people had been living in the area since the Fourth century A.D. Ghana's Golden age was from the Ninth to the Eleventh century A.D. During this time gold was abundant along with salt and other valuable goods. These items made Ghana a rich nation where the primary income was made from trading with the Arabs and other African nations. Even though trading was the main source of income, most of the common people were farmers. These farmers grew crops like corn, wheat, and rice. All of these reasons make the Ancient Kingdom of Ghana a desireable place to move to.

The relationship between the geography of West Africa and the development of the Kingdom of Ghana go hand in hand. It was a great place for civilization because it flourished over time. The Kingdom of Ghana’s development was helped because of trade and wealth.

The Ashanti people live in central Ghana in western Africa approximately 300km. away from the coast. This is a major ethnic group of the Akans in Ghana, colonized by British until 1957. To this particular group, the family and the mother’s clan are most important. A child is said to inherit the father’s soul or spirit (ntoro) and from the mother a child receives flesh and blood (mogya). Instrument such as talking

Ghana was no exception to this, as they were said to have food for all its citizens, advanced weapons, and a good government (doc 3). They were more than capable of living good lives and thriving. The city of Timbuktu in the empire of Mali valued written manuscripts and sold them for a higher price than that of any other good (doc 5). Mali also viewed security and justice as very important things to include in a society (doc 6). They were always fair and the citizens and tourists were never afraid. Finally, bronze was important, and went through a very lengthy process to make beautiful and amazing figures (doc 7). Aspects that make a society complex were valued and used during the reign of African