Unit 2: Topic 4 - Trans-Saharan Trade Routes Flashcards
Timbuktu
Timbuktu was a prominent port city,and trade center of Mali that had a population of ~50,000 people by the 1300s. It was the chief commercial center of Mali, where merchants from the Arab states of the north gathered to trade gold, slaves, ivory, and most importantly salt, gathered from throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Mansa Musa, Mali’s most successful ruler, earned a reputation as one of the world’s wealthiest monarchs, in part because of the vast amounts of wealth gathered at Timbuktu.This cosmopolitan city was one of the major centers of learning in the Malinke Kingdom that had its own library and university.
Great Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe is a central African city of 20,000 people based along the Zambezi River, owed much of its success to the gold trade. Zimbabwe’s gold was shipped east, where it entered the Indian ocean trade system.
Oases
Places in the desert where human settlement is possible because water from deep underground is brought to the surface, making land fertile. About 800 square miles of oases exist out of the 3.6 million square miles of Saharan desert
What made the Ethiopian Kingdom unique?
Ethiopia was a Christian Kingdom located in an area that was predominantly Islamic. They struggled to maintain their Christanity in the face of Islamic pressures to convert, especially from their neighbor and rival Somalia.
What are the Juula?
The Juula were merchants from Mali – “Malinke merchants”. They worked in groups to carry out trading missions throughout the west African region
What does the word Malinke mean?
Malinke means to be of the Mali Kingdom. If you were a Malinke citizen, you were a part of Malinke society.
What Kingdom became powerful as the Mali Kingdom was losing its power?
The successor to the Mali Kingdom was the Songhay Empire. This empire was at first controlled by Mali, but by the early 1300s re-gained its independence and by the 1460s established itself as the dominant force in Sub-Sahaharn Africa under the leadership of Sunni Ali. They would eventually control the major cities of the Mali Kingdom, such as Timbuktu
What was the major religion practiced by Mali and Songhay?
Islam was the major religion practiced by these two kingdoms. Islam existed at the same time as many pagan traditions existed in these kingdoms. It was the presence of these two religious traditions that led to the blending of Islam with paganism. When muslim religious scholars from outside of the area would come to visit they were shocked to see the freedom enjoyed by women.
How did Muslims in sub-saharan Africa view slavery?
The Muslims in Sub-Saharan Africa viewed it as a way to prepare pagans to become Muslims. In practice, converting to Islam as a slave didn’t automatically guarantee freedom. Slaves were in great demand because it was thought they could be trusted since they were under the control of their masters.
What was Zenj?
“Zenj” was a term used by Arabic merchants from the Middle East to describe the eastern African coastline that borders the Indian Ocean.
Camel Saddle
Over a dozen variations of the camel saddle were developed for different purposes. South Arabians developed a saddle which the rider sits in back of the hump, Norhern Arabians developed a saddle for sitting on top of the hump, putting them high in the air for better visibility, while the Somalis designed a addle for carrying loads up to 600 punds. Without the development of this saddle, camels could not have carried heavy loads of goods in trade.
Mansa Musa
Considered, by some, to be the wealthiest person in history, Musa was the ninth mansa of the Mali Empire. Mali reached its territorial peak during his reign including incorporating the citeis of Gao and Timbuktu into its territory. Musa went on hajj to Mecca in 1324, traveling with an enormous entourage and a vast supply of gold. En route, he spent time in Cairo, where his lavish gift-giving is said to have noticeably affected the value of gold in Egypt and garnered the attention of the wider Muslim world. He recruited scholars from the wider Muslim world to travel to Mali, such as the Andalusian poet Abu Ishaq al-Sahili, and helped establish Timbuktu as a center of Islamic learning. Musa’s reign is often regarded as the zenith of Mali’s power and prestige.
Djinguereber Mosque
Located in Timbuktu, Mali, it’s a famous learning center built in 1327 under Mansa Musa’s reign. Except for a small part of the northern facade, which was reinforced in the 1960s in alhore (limestone blocks, also widely used in the rest of the town), and the minaret, also built in limestone and rendered with mud,[2] the Djingareyber Mosque is made entirely of earth plus organic materials such as fibre, straw and wood.
Trans-Saharan slave trade
Transported across the Sahara desert, most slaves were moved from Sub-Saharan Africa to North Africa to be sold to Mediterranean and Middle eastern civilizations. Estimates of the total number of black slaves moved from Sub-Saharan Africa to the Muslim world range from 11-17 million, and the trans-Saharan trade routes conveyed a significant number of this total, with one estimate tallying around 7.2 million slaves crossing the Sahara from the mid-7th century until the 20th century.[
