Dbq Essay On African Civilizations

1217 Words5 Pages

African civilizations were transformed through trade. This allowed art and government for new developments and changes. As civilizations changed, aesthetics advanced based on the geography and new cultural aspects, along with new governing influences. These African civilizations thrived on their own by using leadership and other ideas from neighboring trade countries. Trade modified aspects of certain kingdoms from religion to social structures. Before the arrival of the Europeans, many African kingdoms had success in land and sea trade which resulted in the spread of a new ideas across the continent. This influence that other civilizations had on Africa, modernized their previous traditions in trade, government systems, and art and aesthetics. …show more content…

Ghana controlled the land”. This authority over the land allowed for total domination over salt and gold trade. Both of these were seen as necessities to the people. Especially salt which could be used for preserving food, building, jewelry, etc. Being in the center of all this trade Ghana wanted to keep peace so used the method called “Barter”. They would exchange goods without meeting each other in person, this method kept trade civil and the location of the mines a secret. With all these high demand goods, they were able to become wealthy through trade and a powerful …show more content…

This led to an arranged system in which they could keep order and keep the civilizations thriving. This was an achievement because African kingdoms were able to understand the need for an organized system that would keep order and control the civilization in which they were in charge of. Without this source of power that kept their empire organized, a missing place of leadership would take over their civilization and result in chaos. Another source of order in the kingdoms came from the common religion of Islam within certain countries. Islam unified the people within the community which allowed for leaders to have an easier control over their ‘subjects’. It is clear to see that without this knowledge of the need for a leader their communities would not be thriving and would be stuck in absolute chaos when the Europeans