Empire of Ghana

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Empire of Ghana
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Location

• Ghana lay between the Niger and Senegal Rivers
• This location was North and West of modern day
  Ghana
• Landlocked- surrounded entirely by land having
  no coastline

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Ghanas Beginnings

• Around 300 A.D., farmers, known as the Soninke,
  banded together to fight off nomadic herders
• Once banded together, the people of Ghana grew in
  strength
• Used iron tools and farmed along the Niger River
• Iron weapons were responsible for making Ghanas
  army strong

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Trade

• Gold and salt made the Soninke wealthy
• Other goods that were exchanged were slaves,
  textiles, beads, and copper
• Koumbi Saleh became the most important trade city

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Taxes

• Ghanas rulers looked for ways to make money to
  support their growing army
• They taxed traders, residents, and conquered
  tribes

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Ghanas leaders

• Ghanas kings used their wealth to build a
  powerful army
• This strong army conquered many of Ghanas
  neighboring areas
• Ghanas empire reached its height in the mid
  1000s under the rule of King Tunka Manin

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Ghanas Decline

• Three factors contributed to the decline of the
  Ghana Empire
• 1. Invasion
• 2. Overgrazing
• 3. Internal Rebellion

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Factor 1- Invasion

• A Muslim group called Almoravids attacked Ghana
  in the 1060s.
• After 14 years of fighting, the Almoravids won
  and destroyed the city of Koumbi Saleh
• They stopped trading in Ghana and instead traded
  with Muslim leaders

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Factor 2- Overgrazing

• After the Almoravids moved into Ghana, they
  brought herds of animals with them
• These animals ate all of the grass in the
  pastures and left the soil exposed to the hot
  desert winds, thus making the land worthless for
  farming

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Factor 3- Internal Rebellion

• In 1200 A.D. the people of a country that Ghana
  had conquered rebelled against them
• After a few years the rebels took over the entire
  empire of Ghana
• However, the rebels were not able to control
  Ghana and the empire fell apart