Migration and Trade in Sub-Saharan Africa

​Migration and Trade in Sub-Saharan Africa

​Objectives/Goals

Vocabulary

• Explain how the movement of people affected Sub-Saharan Africa's history

• Explain the impact of historical trade routes

• Describe the significance of Mansa Musa and the Mali Empire

• Decentralized Power Structure

• Mansa

• Migration

• State

• Stateless Society

• Subsistence Farming

​Essential Question: How have migration and trade affected Sub-Saharan Africa?

Open Ended

Where in the World is Comet?

(Indigenous people, region, and Country)

Clue 1: This is a landlocked country in West Africa.

Clue 2: This region is located in the Sahel and rises 1,500 feet in the air.

Clue 3: Some of the homes in this region are more then 500 years old.

Clue 4: Two groups of people call this region home.

Clue 5: These homes were built to protect the people from invaders and slave hunters.

Where is Comet?

Word Cloud

What are some reasons that people would migrate (movement from one area to another area)?

​Human Migration

• Archaeological Evidence

  • Humans originated in Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Humans began migrating throughout the world

• Bantu Migration

  • One of the largest migrations in human history

  • Bantu People

    • Subsistence Farmers

    • Used iron and stone tools and weapons

    • Traded gold, copper, and salt

    • Swahili: the language of the Bantu people with influence from Arabic

• Impacts of the Bantu Migration

  • Spread of culture

  • Spread of foods

  • Spread of ideas

​Early Sub-Saharan African Groups

• Stateless Societies: societies that were based on families and not central Governments

• Western Africa Stateless Societies

  • Abundance of natural resources

  • Comfortable Climate

• Eastern Africa Stateless Societies

  • Location to Trade partners

​Ghana Empire

• One of the wealthiest empires due to its location at the intersection of trade routes

  • Traded Gold and Salt

• Charged tax traders that passed through the land on the goods

  • Used camels to cross the Sahra desert for trading

• Conquered by the Mali Empire

The Mali Empire

• Largest West African empire

• Decentralizd Government Structures: smaller regions that are ruled by local leaders

  • This allowed the Mali empire to grow wealthy by taxing the trade of gold

• Mansa (king) Musa: the 'king' of the Mali Empire and thought to be the wealthiest man of all time

​Mansa Musa

• Became ruler when the previous king did not return from a sea voyage

  • He was in his 20s

  • Began conquering other communities

  • Established a university in Timbuktu

• Religion

  • Muslim: Went on a pilgrimage to Mecca

    • 70,000 people

    • Handed out gold to communities as he went (made gold devalue)

• Catalan Atlas

  • 1380 world map collection showing the wealth of powerful countries

​The Songhai Empire

• Grew wealthy from Urban Trade

  • Used a system of weights and measurements

• Cultural Centers

  • Combined Arab, Italian, and Jewish trade centers

• Trade Goods

  • Ostrich Feathers

  • Salt

  • Horses

  • Cloth

  • Art

  • Ivory

​The Benin Empire

• Located in a region of dense vegetation

  • Protection and Defense

  • Built Walled cities for defense

• Trade Goods

  • Palm Oils

  • Medicines from Plants

  • Ivory

  • Textiles

• The Empire ended with European Colonization

​Aksum Empire

• Located in Eastern Africa

  • On the Red Sea

  • A major trading partner with Europe

• Location Strategy

  • Located on trade routes on the

    Red Sea, Nile River

  • Located near the Arabian Peninsula

• Power and Wealth through trading

• Trade Goods

  • Tortoise Shells

  • Ivory

  • Gold

  • Precious Stones

Word Cloud

Imagine you are a trader in Sub-Saharan Africa, what would you name your camel?

Gold and Salt Trade

• Gold Trade

  • West Africa was rich in gold deposits

• Salt Trade: Most valuable trade goods

  • West Africa had very little salt deposits

  • Salt was used to preserve food

  • Salt needed to be replaced in the body (lost from sweating)

• Trade Routes

  • Gold Traders traveled through the Sahara Desert (Taghaza Settlement) and would trade gold for salt

• Wealth of Empires

  • Grew wealthy by taxing the traders for passage through their land

  • Traders used camels to transport goods across the Sahara Desert from regions of West Africa

Open Ended

Which Empire in Ancient Sub-Saharan Empire would you want to be a part of?