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What Are The Similarities Between The Ancient African Kingdoms

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Between all of the ancient African Kingdoms, many have very close similarities and others have great differences. Two of the most closely related ancient kingdoms of Africa are Great Zimbabwe and the Swahili Coast. Similarities and differences are found throughout the whole history of these kingdoms, not just single aspects, but three main ones, including the rise, decline and collapse of the kingdom. Great Zimbabwe had had many great details contributing to the rise of their civilization beginning around 500 CE. Not only did they have a large population forming their capital (some 25,000 people), but they also had a great advantage in farming in architecture. The farming of cattle was a big source of income for the region. Architecture was another strong skill that the region held. They were known for building huge stone formations and great walls standing more than 9 meters high. Although these contributors significantly progressed the rise of the kingdom, there were many resources they could collect and trade. These included copper, glass beads, and porcelain. However the biggest influence was their natural resource of gold. Once gold was discovered in the region, there was a mass demand for it …show more content…

Because farming was a substantial part to the economy of the population, when a huge drought hit, the culture took a huge fall. Another factor resulting from their farming was overgrazing. They did not realize that they were allowing their livestock to eat up all of the resources and eventually run out. Though these elements played a large role in the decline of the civilization, there was one more that overpowered the other. Like their livestock, the citizens used up too much of their resources. The over mined the gold that was at their access. When the gold was no longer at as easy of an access, the group lost the biggest item of

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The flow of silver from 1500 to 1750 C.E. drastically improved the economies of Latin American nations, which in turned allowed for a global shift in currency and altered trade. Also during this time period there was also a greater desire for global expansion and imperialism, as seen when Europe expanded towards the Americas. Interconnected trade allowed for more contact between various nations, but it also supported the idea that certain nations were superior. While Latin America was the source of the economic prosperity that occurred in this time period, nations such as Europe benefited largely as well; since Spain and Portugal still had control over the areas where silver was being mined, they were able to take the rewards and distribute for their benefit. Documents 2 and 4 describe how silver has become the leading trade object in East Asia.

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The Mali Empire (North Africa) and the Swahili Coast (East Africa) were both medieval civilizations in Africa that had similarities and differences throughout their reigns largely due to geography. One of the main similarities between the two is the fact that they were both resource-rich empires who used trading to their advantage. Mali had a lot of natural resources such as gold, salt, copper, and ivory. They got their main source of income from trading and selling these resources throughout the Sahara. The Swahili Coast also was also very fruitful; the merchant class traded things from the interior of Africa to traders from Arabia and India.

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According to Document A: The Ghana Empire by UC Davis History-Social Science Project Lesson Plan on Sites of Encounter in the Medieval World-Mali created in 2014, it states: “The kings of Ghana taxed the gold-salt trade and kept an army to protect people from the desert nomads, but they probably did not actually rule over the people of the smaller chiefdoms in the confederation.” This shows that Mali was rich thanks to the taxes they got out of the salt trade. According to a Document B: Berber Peoples by UC Davis History-Social Science Project Lesson Plan on Sites of Encounter in the Medieval World-Mali created in 2014, it states… “Their trade of gold for salt was very profitable for everyone involved.” This shows that they didn’t just own to salt trade, they traded themselves with the plentiful gold they had. This provides that Mali was rich because of a lot of different reasons.

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Another contributing factor was the accumulation of wealth, especially among the merchants involved. Empires and smaller states that directly were benefited from the trade sustained the commerce. . Also with the invention of new technology

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The peasants became very resentful. Many small farmers went out of business which caused the number of crops to decline. The Republic ceased to expand, however economic progress soon ceased. If the republic continued

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Both of these contributed to a more global commerce since new crops could now be introduced to the Old World and silver was highly valued all over the world. The European settlers were aware of the aforementioned facts and took advantage of the rich lands that could be found in the Americas. They farmed extensively, and the Native American techniques for harvesting in difficult land helped them. Furthermore, knowing that South America had rich silver deposits, the mined for the valuable material to export it for profit. This remained mostly unchanged during this time since Europeans had no need to look for other sources of profit.

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The gold trade had been a crucial source for Mali’s advancement into a dynamic society. Therefore, the rise and development of Mali and its culture is a direct effect of

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The conditions that laborers had to work in tending to their crops were ridiculous. This caused many farmers to leave their homes and search for better lands. During the drought in the 1930s, many farmers had to work extremely hard with unrefined machinery to maintain their unfortunately low priced crop, leading to a turning point in agriculture. When the Dust Bowl hit people automatically panicked. It was a time of multiple dust storms which created a big impact on agriculture.

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The exchange offered great wealth to the New and Old Worlds and increased their quantities of resources. Also the spread of crop growing increased the demand for labor. This situation ensured the

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Maya Collapses” – Questions........................................................................................ a. Why is the Maya collapse so well documented, fairly more straightforward to decipher, and especially interesting to study? According to Diamond, the Mayan was culturally amongst the most advanced societies in the pre-Columbian New World. Meaning before America, the Mayans were exceptionally skilled in their preserved writings, architecture, and art had reached its prosperity and also its decline. b. Describe how precipitation and water availability varies in the Mayan homeland and how this was problematic.

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Immediately, he made his army stronger. Trade had fallen off during the war between Ghana and Mali. Sundiata wanted the trade to continue. The northern part of the Niger River, where plenty of gold came from, was in Mali. Therefore, the people had a lot of gold, but they lacked salt.

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The Ghana were able to control the route and tax people as they passed, allowing them to build up a revenue. The Ghana were often referred to as the “Land of Gold” since being extremely wealthy. The exchange of gold nuggets for protection allowed the trade of gold dust to arise since the gold nuggets themselves would be in the kingdom with the king. The Mali Empire had gold and salt mines within their empire as well, allowing them to trade with other civilizations. Gold in the empire was seen as a trade item and a source of currency, and much like the Ghana only gold dust was used in trade as the nuggets themselves would be placed in the kingdom.

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Although change in climate is made somewhat clear in the movie because of the dust storms and the farmers having to burn down their crops, what actually made the farmers lose their crops is

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The Early African Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai were established sufficiently and later met their demise. The Early African Kingdoms were able to progress in economy and political structure by the actions of their leaders, location, religious influences, and geographical features. Religion influenced the African economy, political structure, and cultural practices. All Early African Kingdoms took advantage of the gold and salt trade and used it to hike in power. Sundiata Keita, Mansa Musa, Sunni Ali, and Askia the Great abetted their kingdoms, economy, and society.

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The African kingdoms Ghana, Mali, Songhai The African nations of Ghana, Mali, Songhai, shared so many characteristics between each other. For one primary comparison is, all three ancient empires relied on the trans-Saharan trading routes and their lush amount of gold, copper and other natural resources. They established many political ties with many Arab countries and nearby African societies. These three nations shared abundantly cultural similarities from just the rise of Islam.

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