Sudanese Kingdoms Flashcards
Describe the major routes of the trans-Saharan gold trade.
North to Morocco and Libya and Eastwards towards the Bornu region near Lake Chad and on to Egypt
What were the keys to the rise of the western Sudanic powers?
Taxing/controlling the gold trade
Using military/financial power to demand tributes from smaller kingdoms.
Controlling salt mines: especially those of Awdoghust (present-day Mauretania)
Centralization of political power
Unification of ruling groups along religious lines-i.e.-Islam; nominal.
What years was the Kindom of Ghana active roughly
300-1240
At her height, how thicc was she?
250,000 square miles
What was the capital of Ghana? What was its striking characteristic?
Kumbi-Saleh. It tow sections divided “subjects” and “foreigners”
Who was Ghana’s famed king? Describe his army and who he fought off.
“Tunka Manin: controlled an army of 200,000 men with 40,000 archers, He held back the Almoravid invasion.
How were Ghana’s relations with Muslims early in her history?
good
What was Mali an extension of?
An earlier Ghanaian state
What groups made up the Kingdom of Mali
Soninke and Mande?Malinke people
Who was the first emperor of Mali? What were the years of his reign? What did he do to establish the empire?
Sunjiata (1230-1255). He took control of trans-Saharan trade routes.
What traditional title di Sundiata take? What was the title’s meaning?
“Mansa” village chief
What did Sundiata set up at the capital and key financial center of Mali?
Ninani
In the absence of war what were Mali’s soldiers used for?
Agricultural projects
Describe Musa’s Hajj
Musa led an entourage of 60,000 courtiers, soldiers, servants, doctors etc, to Mecca on his Hajj. He left nearly 100 camel loads of gold during his trip, much of it as gifts to the poor. Egypt’s economy was disrupted for some 12 years.
What was the name of the University at Timbuctoo? What subjects were taught there?
the University of Sankore
Subjects: philosophy, medicine, law, government, astronomy, mathematics, literature, ethnography, logic, rhetoric, geography, music composition.
Who founded the University?
The Granda-born Moor As-Saheli, a master architect and poet.
What King commissioned a map depicting Rex Mali
Charles V
When di Mali decline
1494
Why did Mali establish diplomatic relations with Portugal
because of Malian naval and military strength
How di Ibn Batuta characterize the Malians?
“seldom unjust and have a greater abhorrence of injustice than any other people. . . neither traveler nor inhabitant in it has anything to fear from robbers or men of violence,
What was Mali known for
Muslim trade and scholarship among African Muslims-
Scientists doctors religious scholars-safety, hospitality, and a strong sense of justice.
From where did Mali heavily import books?
Barbary (Moorish controlled North Africa)
What years was the Songhai Empire active?
1340-1591
Who was the founder of the Kindom? What years did he rule? How devout of a Muslim was he regarded as?
Sonni Ali (1468-1492) Nominal Muslim
WHat was he remembered for?
Relentlessly pursuing Tuareg Muslim raiders after taking Timbuctoo from the in 1468
How large did the Songhai Empire become>
As large as western Europe (over half a million square miles..)
Name for Muslim institutions of higher learning
Madrassas
Other cities whose Madrassas taught these subjects.
Gao (Kawkaw) and Jenne
Askiya Muhammad Ture.
(1493-1528) a devout Muslim who used Islam to unite and consolidate Sonni Ali’s conquests. Founder of Askiya dynasty. Partly as a result of his promotion of Islam, his reign saw a revival of the Trans-Saharan gold trade
diodorus siculus
- Ethiopians were related to Egyptians “the oldest of all men” they were not immigrants to that land but were native to it.
What yearss did Mansa Musa rule
1312-1332
