Western African Civilizations: Ghana, Mali, and Songhai

Vocabulary flashcards covering the Bantu migrations and the three major medieval West African trading kingdoms: Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

Bantu

A group of people originally from West Africa near present-day Nigeria who migrated south and east in search of fertile land, spreading farming, ironworking, and their language across the continent.

Ghana

The first of the West African trading kingdoms, which utilized iron-smelting weapon-making technology to expand its boundaries and secure control over key trade routes.

Gold Salt Trade

A trade system in which Ghana served as an intermediary between northern Saharan salt mines and tropical gold mines to the south, trading gold to Muslim merchant caravans who also introduced Islam.

Mansa Musa

A devout Muslim king of Mali who structured the legal and justice system around the Qur'an, expanded education and commerce, and brought Islamic scholars and architects to Mali.

Hajj of Mansa Musa

A historic pilgrimage to Mecca made by Mansa Musa accompanied by 12,000 silk-clad servants carrying gold bars; his massive gifts of gold in Egypt caused the metal's value to decline for 10 consecutive years.

Timbuktu

A major West African center of learning, art, universities, and libraries built under Mali that featured financial practices like credit and written contracts and heightened Islamic influence.

Ibn Battuta

A Moroccan-born traveler and explorer who spent 30 years journeying across the Islamic world from North Africa to China, recording detailed journals that inform modern historians about the medieval Muslim world in Africa.

Songhai

The largest of the three major West African kingdoms, which gained control of Timbuktu, expanded commercial links to Europe and Asia, and experienced widespread cultural diffusion.

Askia Muhammad

The leader of the Songhai Empire who established a high-functioning centralized bureaucracy comprising 5 provinces, each staffed with a governor, tax collector, trade inspectors, and Qur'an-guided judges.

Fall of Songhai (1597)

The 1597 defeat of the Songhai Empire by Moroccan invaders equipped with gunpowder and cannons against Songhai forces possessing only spears and swords, ending the era of great West African empires.