2.4: Trans-Saharan Trade Routes Flashcards
“The eleventh king of the sultanate of Kano* was Yaji Ali [reigned 1349–1385]. In Yaji’s time merchants came from the north bringing Islam. They commanded the king Yaji to observe the times of prayer. He complied, and made one man an imam (prayer leader) and another a muezzin (the person reciting the call to prayer from a mosque). The king commanded every town in his kingdom to observe the times of prayer. So they all did so. A mosque was built beneath the sacred tree facing east, and prayers were made at the five appointed times in it.
The nineteenth king of the Hausa kingdom was Yakubu [reigned 1452–1463]. He was a good king. In his time traders came to Kano from Mali bringing with them books on Islamic divinity and the study of the Arabic language. Formerly our religious scholars had, in addition to the Qur’an, only a few books of Islamic law. At this time too, salt became common in Kano. In the following year merchants from the region of Gwanja in the south began coming, and from the north Berbers** came in large numbers, and a colony of Arabs arrived.”
*a West African state established by the Hausa people of present-day northern Nigeria
**ethnic group from the western part of North Africa
Excerpts from The Kano Chronicle, an oral tradition that records the exploits of the kings of Kano, written down in the late nineteenth century
The integration of West African states into wider regional and transregional economic networks in the period circa 1200–1450 was carried out mostly via the
A
Swahili coast trade routes
B
Silk Road trade networks
C
trans-Saharan trade routes
D
Indian Ocean trade routes
C
trans-Saharan trade routes
“The eleventh king of the sultanate of Kano* was Yaji Ali [reigned 1349–1385]. In Yaji’s time merchants came from the north bringing Islam. They commanded the king Yaji to observe the times of prayer. He complied, and made one man an imam (prayer leader) and another a muezzin (the person reciting the call to prayer from a mosque). The king commanded every town in his kingdom to observe the times of prayer. So they all did so. A mosque was built beneath the sacred tree facing east, and prayers were made at the five appointed times in it.
The nineteenth king of the Hausa kingdom was Yakubu [reigned 1452–1463]. He was a good king. In his time traders came to Kano from Mali bringing with them books on Islamic divinity and the study of the Arabic language. Formerly our religious scholars had, in addition to the Qur’an, only a few books of Islamic law. At this time too, salt became common in Kano. In the following year merchants from the region of Gwanja in the south began coming, and from the north Berbers** came in large numbers, and a colony of Arabs arrived.”
*a West African state established by the Hausa people of present-day northern Nigeria
**ethnic group from the western part of North Africa
Excerpts from The Kano Chronicle, an oral tradition that records the exploits of the kings of Kano, written down in the late nineteenth century
The spread of Islam into sub-Saharan West Africa in the period circa 1200–1450 was mostly a result of the conversion of the rulers of which of the following states?
A
Mamluk Egypt
B
The Mongol khanates
C
The Ming dynasty
D
The Mali Empire
D
The Mali Empire
“The eleventh king of the sultanate of Kano* was Yaji Ali [reigned 1349–1385]. In Yaji’s time merchants came from the north bringing Islam. They commanded the king Yaji to observe the times of prayer. He complied, and made one man an imam (prayer leader) and another a muezzin (the person reciting the call to prayer from a mosque). The king commanded every town in his kingdom to observe the times of prayer. So they all did so. A mosque was built beneath the sacred tree facing east, and prayers were made at the five appointed times in it.
The nineteenth king of the Hausa kingdom was Yakubu [reigned 1452–1463]. He was a good king. In his time traders came to Kano from Mali bringing with them books on Islamic divinity and the study of the Arabic language. Formerly our religious scholars had, in addition to the Qur’an, only a few books of Islamic law. At this time too, salt became common in Kano. In the following year merchants from the region of Gwanja in the south began coming, and from the north Berbers** came in large numbers, and a colony of Arabs arrived.”
*a West African state established by the Hausa people of present-day northern Nigeria
**ethnic group from the western part of North Africa
Excerpts from The Kano Chronicle, an oral tradition that records the exploits of the kings of Kano, written down in the late nineteenth century
In the period circa 1200–1450, which of the following most directly enabled merchants to bring salt and other bulk products to markets in sub-Saharan Africa?
A
The diffusion of new maritime technologies such as the lateen sail
B
The adoption of innovative practices in overland trading, such as the use of camel caravans and saddles
C
The transfer of East Asian technologies to western Afro-Eurasia during the period of Pax Mongolica
D
The shared use of the Arabic language and common practice of Islam by both North African and sub-Saharan merchant communities
B
The adoption of innovative practices in overland trading, such as the use of camel caravans and saddles
