Ghana Empire

A plump kid in America bites into a chocolate. A scarred, fatigued child in the Ivory Coast hacks his way through the bean pods on the cocoa tree using a machete. The boy in America grumbles his way through school and wonders when he can go home to play video games. The boy in Africa throws a sack of bean pods over his shoulder that is much too heavy for him. At the end of the day the privileged kid will climb into his bed with no worries. The child slave will climb into bed, exhausted, with no…

Kumasi as well as the Asante Union from 1701 to 1717. He was one of the co-founders, the other being his chief priest Okomfo Anokye, of the Ashanti. Okomfo Anokye was a cleric whose spiritual authority over the people aided in his founding of the empire. Anokye politically advised Osei Tutu throughout his adult life. The Ashanti were highly disciplined and powerful people that lived in West Africa. Osei Tutu led an alliance of Ashanti states against the regional hegemon, completely defeating the…

Study Essay Three Ghana was the first great African empire of the western Sudan. Ghana was surrounded by Soninke people who are believed to have founded Ghana in 300 helping it flourish until 1200. The name Ghana derived from “warrior King” and “King of gold”. Ghana gained a significant amount of wealth during their control of the Gold trade in West Africa. Ghana became so wealthy from the salt and gold trade from their access to the trade routes that went through their land. Ghana’s position…

I will investigate the distribution of power through a gendered lens among the Bribris of Costa-Rica, the Ashantis of Ghana and the Minangkabaus of Indonesia. I will immerse myself into each community to assess the ramifications of matrilineality in the social, political, economic and spiritual spheres. Through dialogues with adults and adolescents of all genders, I will identify gender-specific tasks and evaluate their social value. I will emphasize my exploration on domestic life, i.e.…

As I have observed in Rwanda, assuming that non-patrilineal kinship systems encourage gender equality is simplistic. An array of sociological factors regulate ndividuals’ position in a given community and lineage is only one. However because of the link between inheritance and genealogy, it is safe to infer that the position of women in patrilineal and matrilineal societies are bound to somewhat differ. Moreover, I remain convinced that holding women as exclusive holders of group membership has…

three great West African empires is a tale of conflict, leadership, and pure circumstance. In the savannah these civilizations flourished on trans-saharan trade, environmental benefits, and strong leadership; Islamic influences from North Africa soon thereafter provided a strong cultural influence on these states. With this foundation three empires rose up sequentially in West Africa – the empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. From this same base came the downfall of each empire, sped along by…

On the bus ride to our hotel in Accra, one of Africa’s safest capital cities, all of our eyes were wide open to take in all of the sights (Briggs 121). There were Ghanaian flags everywhere, and I began to wonder if this was the result of the upcoming inauguration of the new president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Saturday, January 7th or if the country was merely beaming with pride. I would be surprised to return to my hometown and see American flags displayed everywhere; instead, some…

Throughout the flags of African countries, red, yellow, and green display a significant presence. However, their appearance as only a colour is far more an understatement, due to the fact that these colours symbolize a higher meaning. All three; red, yellow and green are apparent in the Ghanaian flag, of whom was designed by Theodosia Salome Okoh and first adopted in 1957. Upon the flag, the red is depicted as the bloodshed in Ghana’s struggle for independence, the gold epitomising the wealth…

West Africa, like most places had rises and falls of kingdom, and some of the greatest ones, was the Kingdom of Ghana, which fell to the Kingdom of Mali, and the Kingdom of Songhai, surpassing Mali. Through much strife and success, Sundiata Keita was the founder of the Mali empire. You would imagine, someone who founded an empire would be a very strong and healthy person. That was Sundiata Keita for you, but he wasn’t always like that. Born around 1217 BC, Sundiata was a sickly boy who was the…

who threatened them. They united into a strong empire. “Over time, the Mali Empire became stronger and took over surrounding kingdoms including the Empire of Ghana” (Ducksters). Sundiata also created a new society with hereditary nobility, which was one of his greatest accomplishments. He expanded the size of Mali, along with its profits of the gold trade for more than 25 years. The great mansa led the Mali to prosperity and wealth, and the empire grew and grew for…