It’s the year of 1352 and I’m entering the Mali Kingdom south of Ghana. As I enter the city of Timbuktu, I admire the exceptional mosques and universities surrounding me. Others, Muslim judges, doctors, religious leaders, and scholars alike share this fascination. This crucial city of this Empire came to be because of Mansa Musa. First of all, Mali’s first significant leader was Sundiata, who came to be by defeating a harsh leader. He was given title mansa, which was the equivalent of an emperor. He proved his worthiness by achieving a series of military victories, conquering the trading cities Kumbi and Walata and the kingdom of Ghana. Ghana is also a kingdom having much to it and I ought to travel to there as well. Sundiata in addition
…show more content…
Here, trade routes cross through, making it ideal for such a trade-orientated society they are. Their kingdom, since the 700s, has been heavily reliant on their salt and gold trade. Gold traded by them comes from a woodland area south of the savanna between the Niger and Senegal rivers. I’ve seen the miners digging from these shafts that can be up to 100 feet deep or tediously sifting it from swift streams. They have this abundant wealth to them, but they are lacking naturally-occurring salt. This is where they traded their gold for salt bountiful in the Sahara. They also generate much of their revenue by heavily taxing goods traders brought to this area. Officials are able to make sure the trade is legitimate, being weighed accurately and gone through with formally. They take slabs of salt as tax from the merchants. The king has a rule of only him being able to own to own gold nuggets, with this the market doesn’t get flooded and it keeps the price of it down. The original leaders of Ghana decided to convert to Islam, but some of the citizens still rejected it and stuck to the traditional animistic beliefs that can be traced back to their origins even. The original Berbers were the ones who discovered that camels were most suitable to travel the desert, now allowing longer excursions into the
Here, trade routes cross through, making it ideal for such a trade-orientated society they are. Their kingdom, since the 700s, has been heavily reliant on their salt and gold trade. Gold traded by them comes from a woodland area south of the savanna between the Niger and Senegal rivers. I’ve seen the miners digging from these shafts that can be up to 100 feet deep or tediously sifting it from swift streams. They have this abundant wealth to them, but they are lacking naturally-occurring salt. This is where they traded their gold for salt bountiful in the Sahara. They also generate much of their revenue by heavily taxing goods traders brought to this area. Officials are able to make sure the trade is legitimate, being weighed accurately and gone through with formally. They take slabs of salt as tax from the merchants. The king has a rule of only him being able to own to own gold nuggets, with this the market doesn’t get flooded and it keeps the price of it down. The original leaders of Ghana decided to convert to Islam, but some of the citizens still rejected it and stuck to the traditional animistic beliefs that can be traced back to their origins even. The original Berbers were the ones who discovered that camels were most suitable to travel the desert, now allowing longer excursions into the