West African Kingdoms Reading
Name: Date: Period:
World History Reading • ESL Scaffolded Edition
West African Kingdoms and the Salt Gold Trade
Page 1 of 3
Scholar Starter Warm-Up / Daily Question
Record the question from the board & your response:
¶ 1
Africa's Geography & Climates
1After Asia, Africa is Earth’s largest continent. It stretches nearly 5,000 miles from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Cape of Good Hope in the south. Africa is almost completely surrounded by two oceans and two seas. Africa includes four distinct climate zones: a mild climate zone, desert climate zone, a rainforest zone, and savanna.
Word Bank:
• distinct: clearly different; separate.
• savanna: broad, warm grassy plains.
#Summary: Paragraph 1 Write hashtags & summary
¶ 2
West African Kingdoms
2As early as 500 AD, tribes in West Africa began to band together and form nations such as Ghana, Mali, Songhai, and Benin. Each had unique languages, indigenous religions, cultures, and were individually rich in natural resources such as gold, ivory, minerals, diamonds, and animal based foods or materials. They had government and trade centers, with markets filled with goods from faraway regions. African towns were home to artisans of metalwork, woodwork, pottery, and other crafts, as well as to farmers. Each civilization had its own way of dealing with and living around one of the world’s most massive deserts, the Sahara. The methods included vast trading networks to get food and goods that couldn’t be grown or cultivated in the dry climate. Rivers such as the Niger facilitated these early trades.
Word Bank:
• indigenous: native to a region.
• artisans: skilled workers making crafts.
• facilitated: helped or made easier.
#Summary: Paragraph 2 Write hashtags & summary
Visual Anchor: Africa's 4 Climate Zones
1. Mild Zone Coasts; moderate rain
2. Desert Zone Sahara; dry, hot; salt
3. Rainforest Equator; dense jungle
4. Savanna Grasslands; farming & gold
Adapted from McGraw Hill World History Continue to Page 2: Paragraphs 3–6 →
Trade & Commerce • Trans-Saharan Routes
Islamic Traders and the Salt Gold Trade
Page 2 of 3
¶ 3
Islamic Traders
3Meanwhile, after 632 AD, Islam spread quickly through the Arab world and into Eastern and Northern Africa, largely as vast caravans of Muslim traders diffused their religion into those regions. These merchants brought goods from all over the world into Africa, including paper from China, and tea and spices from India. One of the most expensive and important goods traded on these routes was salt.
¶ 4–6
The Salt Gold Trade
4While salt for modern peoples is a commonality, in history, salt was a necessary and coveted good that was often worth its weight in gold. Salt was key to food preservation in a world without refrigeration, and without sodium intake through food and drink, the human body would shut down completely. In desert climates, like West and Saharan Africa, where the human body loses far more salt through sweat, salt was especially crucial for survival, and even before Islamic traders were in the area, the West African kingdoms had long been trading in this precious commodity.
5Salt from the Songhai kingdom in the desert was plentiful, but they lacked gold to buy other supplies from merchant caravans. Gold was mined in Mali and Ghana, but they needed salt. The gold-salt trade provided an opportunity for these two cultures to interact peacefully. This interaction facilitated the spread of new forms of technology and new ideas about religion and science.
6The salt-gold trade route was unique for the method of trade and for future implications. Salt and gold traders did not speak each others’ languages, and written languages didn’t exist yet in this part of Africa, so trade was done essentially silently. Salt or gold would be taken to the banks of the Niger river, and a drum or horn would be sounded to alert the other party the trade was ready. Their boats would sail up, complete the trade, and everyone would go on their way. Additionally, nations in the path of this trade route would also charge heavy taxes in order to profit indirectly from this lucrative practice.
Page 2 Word Bank:
• diffused: spread out across wide areas.
• coveted: greatly desired; valued by all.
• preservation: keeping food fresh without spoiling.
• lucrative: producing great profit or money.
Silent Barter on the Niger River:
1. Deposit: Traders leave salt or gold on riverbank.
2. Signal: A drum or horn sounds across water.
3. Trade: Boats sail up, complete trade silently.
#Summary Workspace: Paragraphs 3–6 (Trade & Silent Barter) Write your hashtags and summary below
Adapted from McGraw Hill World History Continue to Page 3: Paragraphs 7–10 →
Caravans & Empires • Kingdom of Mali
Camels and Mansa Musa
Page 3 of 3
¶ 7
Fleets of the Desert
7Berber camel caravans became known as the “fleets of the desert,” and they carried much of the trade across the Sahara. Camels were a crucial factor in trans-Saharan trade. They were well adapted to desert conditions and could drink large quantities of water at one time. Accompanied by guards, the caravan of as many as 100 camels moved at a rate of about three miles per hour. A caravan might take 40 to 60 days to reach its destination.
¶ 8–10
Mansa Musa: Ruler of Mali (1312–1337)
8One of the lasting impacts of the salt gold trade was the tremendous wealth that grew in Mali and Ghana. These are considered to be some of the richest peoples that ever lived on earth due to massive gold supplies. One of the kings of Mali who had been converted to Islam, Mansa Musa, was perhaps the richest man to ever live. Mansa Musa ruled from 1312 to 1337. Mansa Musa doubled the size of the kingdom of Mali. He created a strong central government and divided the kingdom into provinces ruled by governors whom he appointed.
9He took a journey across Africa during his reign, and with each stop, his massive caravan would dump gold into local economies, buying goods and even building mosques and universities, many of which are still standing. His trek spread so much gold across Africa, he actually devalued gold because there was so much, it wasn’t as precious any longer.
10Mansa Musa left people with an image of him as a great ruler of a powerful and prosperous kingdom. Mansa Musa also left another legacy to make Timbuktu a center of Islamic learning and culture. In Timbuktu, he built mosques and libraries. Timbuktu became recognized as one of the intellectual capitals of the Muslim world.
Page 3 Word Bank:
• devalued: lowered the price or value of something.
• prosperous: rich, thriving, and successful.
• legacy: something handed down from the past.
• intellectual: related to study, learning, and knowledge.
Mansa Musa Quick Facts:
• Pilgrimage (1324): Traveled to Mecca with 60,000 people.
• Timbuktu: Built world-famous libraries and mosques.
• Gold Impact: Distributed so much gold that prices dropped.
#Summary Workspace: Paragraphs 7–10 (Camels & Mansa Musa) Write your hashtags and summary below
Adapted from McGraw Hill World History End of Reading Assignment
