Adam’s Blog

This is the link to my homework

Last class we studied about Africa and we found out these things:

Iron Technology’s Impact on West Africa:  I found out 

that for millions of years the west African’s used spears and arrows that were made out of bone and usually harvested food that wasn’t so big because they’re weapons were small.  They harvested small things like roots and berries.  We also learned the cycle of how to make weapons and arrowheads, after the African’s found iron they used it to make weapons by first digging up the rocks.  Then they smashed the rock so it’s easier to melt.  After that it is put into a furnace where it is melted and when it turns abit harder, the African’s take the iron and form it into weapons.  We learned how it brought revolutionary changes and this was it: Farming increased because of iron tools made of iron.  The food supplies became bigger and populations grew.  After a while people got so rich in how much stuff hey got they decided to sell some and after that trading centers developed and people grew richer.  The first trade center’s name was Jene-Jeno.  Because of iron African’s have developed alot then before they used iron.

Kingdom of gold (Ghana):  We found out that the king of Ghana practiced the Traditional African Religion.  They thought it prevented bad things from happening.  In the Traditional African Religion they only pray to one god and that the one god created other sub-gods and the sub-gods take care of the world.  We also found out that Ghana had were in unison together.  In the chain of work everyone had something to do.  They all play a part in working.  The king had the absolute power.  The peasants will contribute some of the harvest to the city so the city could manage the trade easier.  Also different parts of Africa had different religion.  Ghana’s strength in they’re empire was from 800-1500.  Ghana had a lot of things to trade to neighbors around, eventually all the money they got was used in the making of iron weapons which helped them takeover the bordering countries so they could develop they’re empire.  Trading towns were split into two sections, there were twelve different mosques ina trading town.  They separated Islam from the Native Traditional African Religion.  The king of Ghana ruled all religious trades and Ghana used North Africa to rade salt for gold.

The Kingdom of Mali under Mansa Musa: I found out that the Mandinkes leader was named Sadiento and the Sosso leader Samorgoru had a battle for Kirana.  I learned that Mali was twice as big as Ghana and had around a strong 700 years of living.  I also found out that Mansa Musa brought 1000 pieces of gold to the Makkah and because of that the cartographers included Mali on the Africa map.  He was the King of Mali.  Since the cartographers in Makkah added Mali to the map decorations start to appear in Mali.  The last thing I learned for this section was tat Augu Tigis are mares that rule the province.

How the Songhai Empire Grew to Greatness: I found out that the kingdom of Songhai was ruled by Malian people.  The Songhai empire received help from Gokayaman and waged war on the Malian empire and after that people began to see the Songhai empire start rising.  The king in the Songhai empire was overthrown and Askia Muhammad became king.  Askia made a strong government, he made Islam the main religion, he owned the Niger river and Askia had 32 sons.  Songhai had strong market inspectors free people and soldiers work in farms.  All in all, Songhai was a good empire and was the center of learning.

The conquest of Songhai by Morocco: Al-Mansur believed that if he conquers the salt and gold trade he will make more money.  He had such a large army that he needed more gold to pay the army off.  His army was expensive because they had high technology weapons and armor.  So in the 1580’s he planned to attack Songhai.  In 1586 the Sultan Al-Mansur began his offensive on the salt mines at Taghaza.  He ordered 200 musketeers to do the job at Taghaza.  The Songhai government decided to stop trade there so Al-Mansur decided to attack Gao.  I found out that Al-Mandur got 2000 soldiers to attack Gao.  Al-Mandur traded the slaves and some gold to the Sultan of Songhai.  After all these attacks political unity in Ghana, Songhai and Mali was destroyed.  Salt and gold trade was ruptured and was wasted.  Now days Moroccan rulers still rule the place.

That is all i have learned in the last class.  Thank you Ms. N.