\The African Landscape
The interior of Africa is like a plate turned upside down. This raised but flat region is called a plateau. The rivers flowing across the plateau fall as waterfalls at the edge. Here, the plateau meets a thin strip of coastal plain. Africa’s coastline, with its lack of natural harbors and many waterfalls, discouraged seagoing trade.
Africa is the world’s second-largest continent. It has many climates, types of vegetation, and types of land. Its geography encouraged trade. As a result, goods and ideas moved throughout Africa, Europe, and Asia. Several great West African empires, including Mali and Ghana, developed.
Rain is critical to life in Africa. People tend to live where rain falls the most. Africa consists of several vegetation zones, or bands of plant life. Each zone has its own climate. At the northern tip of Africa is the Mediterranean zone. Here summers are warm and dry, and winters are rainy.
The Sahara
The world’s largest desert, the Sahara, covers most of northern Africa. Today, the Sahara measures about 3.5 million square miles. In ancient times, however, the desert was not so large. Thousands of years ago, rivers, trees, and grasslands covered much of the region. Then, about 6,000 years ago, the climate began to get drier. Travel across the Sahara grew more difficult as the years passed. About 2,000 years ago traders began to use camels, rather than horses, for the long, dry trip. Camels made it possible for trade to occur between West Africa and the Mediterranean world. Camels can travel much farther than horses on much less water. They can also cross sandy areas more easily.
The Sahel and Savanna
Just south of the Sahara is the Sahel zone, a slightly dry region that extends from the Atlantic Ocean through northern Senegal to Sudan in the east. The Sahel separates the very dry climate of the north from the tropical grasslands, the savanna, to the south. Farmers and cattle and camel herders did well in the Sahel. The rainfall in the savanna supported crops such as rice, sorghum, and millet. People were able to keep herds of animals, such as cattle, sheep, and horses. Agriculture and herding, and the transportation provided by the Niger River, led to the growth of trade.
The Rain Forest
Rain in Africa is most common along the equator. This is the rain forest zone. It is hot and wet year round. Thousands of different insects, plants, and animals live here. Some of the rain forest has been cut down to make way for towns and cities. In other places, the land has been cleared for farming. In this vegetation zone, life has often depended on the cultivation of root crops and fruits.
Some variations can be found within these seemingly similar zones. The oceans affect local climates, as do cooler highland regions.
The Niger and Senegal Rivers
The two largest rivers of West Africa are the Niger (ny jur) and the Senegal. Early civilizations formed near these rivers. Rivers provided people with a reliable source of water in a dry region. They let farmers grow crops even in years with little rainfall. Boats could travel rivers most of the year. People used both the Niger and the Senegal rivers to travel and trade across West Africa.
Natural Resources
A natural material that people can use to meet their needs is called a natural resource. Some of these materials include land used for farming or grazing; trees that provide fuel or building material; and minerals such as gold, copper, and salt.
Some natural resources made valuable trade items. Prized items like gold, along with agricultural wealth, gave rise to powerful trading empires. Trade brought Africans into contact with one another and with people and ideas from other parts of the world.
Ironworking Technology
By 350 BCE, West Africans began making iron tools in a place called Nok in present-day Nigeria. Iron was much harder than other materials used. With the help of iron tools, the people of West Africa could grow more food. As food supplies increased, so did the population. Ironworking technology then spread throughout West and Central Africa. In the 200s BCE, people established a settlement at Jenne-Jeno (also spelled Djenné-Jeno) in present-day Mali. By 800 CE, the city had become a thriving metropolis where artisans produced iron tools, gold jewelry, and fine painted pottery.
Ancient Ghana
As the population of West Africa grew, governments were formed to keep order. Around 300 CE, the Soninke people founded the kingdom of Ghana between the Niger and Senegal rivers. (The modern African nation of Ghana is named after this ancient empire, but it is in a different part of West Africa.) As food supplies grew, not everyone had to grow food. Some could become experts in things like government or crafts. The division of jobs and skills in a society is called labor specialization.
Families were very important in Ghana. Each clan, or group of related families, specialized in a craft or trade. The Sisse clan, for example, formed the ruling class. Its members became Ghana’s kings and officials. Other clans specialized in trades such as fishing, cloth making, or cattle raising.
The Soninke benefited from the use of iron. They had iron swords and spears, while their enemies still used wooden clubs. Over time, they used their superior weapons to control others. The kingdom grew into an empire. Like many ancient empires—including Greece and Rome—Ghana enslaved people in its wars of conquest. Ghana traded slaves for salt and other goods offered by Berber merchants.
The Growth of the Ghana Empire
By the 700s, Arab and Berber traders of northern Africa regularly traveled across the Sahara. Traders would walk and ride their camels in a caravan, which is a group that travels together. They traded salt, horses, cloth, swords, and books for gold and ivory. Ghana was located across trade routes. It acted as a go-between for the North African traders and the producers of gold and ivory in the south.
Gold–Salt Trade
Trans-Saharan trade (trade across the Sahara) relied heavily on gold and salt. North Africans wanted gold to make into coins, since most states in the area based their currency on gold. This gold flowed into Europe and Asia, as well, in smaller quantities. West Africans were rich in gold, but they needed salt—a mineral necessary for good health. Miners removed slabs of salt from ancient seabed’s in the Sahara. North African traders loaded salt onto camels and crossed the desert to West Africa to trade the salt for gold.
Wealthy Rulers
Kings of Ghana grew rich from the gold–salt trade. They taxed gold producers and every load of goods that entered or left Ghana. Ghana’s rulers also controlled the gold supply. They knew that if the supply grew too large, its price would fall. Gold taken from the ground became the king’s property. This law removed much gold from the market, keeping the price high.
Why Did Ghana Decline?
For centuries Ghana prospered. Its rulers welcomed North African traders, who brought Islam to West Africa. Ghana kept its traditional religions. However, Ghana was known for its religious tolerance and welcomed Muslims. Ghana’s leaders borrowed and used Islamic administrative and legal practices to run the government.
However, Ghana eventually began to decline. Among the reasons are overpopulation, food shortages, and an over-dependence on trade. To make matters worse, around 1060 the Almoravids, a group of Berbers from northwest Africa, expanded their empire into Ghana. They were religious reformers who wanted to purify the Islamic practices of Muslims in Ghana and spread their own interpretation of Islam. They also wanted greater control of the gold trade.
Although the Almoravid invasion failed in the end, it disrupted trade and weakened the monarchy. The Almoravids brought with them large flocks of animals that took over much farmland. Soon, Ghana had trouble supporting its population. Ghana never returned to its prosperity after the Almoravid invasion.