africa AFRICA AFRICA! AAFFRRIICCAA GHANA MALEI AND SONGHAI !!!!!!!!....

GREAT AFRICAN EMPIRES IN THE MIDDLE AGES ARE GHANA MALI AND SONGHAI.

FIRST GHANA

THERE WAS A TRADE ROUTE IN WEST AFRICA FROM THE SAHARA DESERT IN THE NORTH TO GOLD MINES IN THE SOUTH.

BETWEEN THE TWO WAS GHANA.

WHEN TRADERS FROM THE DESERT BROUGHT SALT TO SELL FOR THE GOLD IN THE SOUTH THEY WOULD CROSS THROUGH GHANA. THE KING OF GHANA DECIDED TO TAX THE PEOPLE WHO CAME THROUGH TO TRADE.
THAT WAY GHANA GOT SALT AND GOLD. THEY BECAME VERY RICH.

BUT MUSLIMS ATTACKED GHANA BECAUSE THEY REFUSED TO CONVERT TO ISLAM AND IT FELL APART.

NEXT IS MALI

MALI TOOK GHANA'S PLACE IN TAXING GOLD AND SALT. THERE KINGS WERE MUSLIM. ONE DAY THERE WAS A NEW KING IN MALI WHOSE NAME WAS MANSA MUSA.

MANSA MUSA TRAVELED TO MECCA AND HE GAVE AWAY LOTS OF GOLD ON HIS JOURNEY. HE CAME TO MECCA AND TOOK OFF HIS GOLD ROBES AND DRESSED IN A PLAIN WHITE ONE AND WASHED HIMSELF WITH WATER AND PRAYED AND HELPED THE POOR.

THEN HE HAD TO GO BACK TO MALI. BUT HE DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH GOLD SO HE HAD TO BORROW GOLD TO GET BACK . BECAUSE OF HIS TRIP EVERYONE KNEW ABOUT MANSA MUSA AND MALI IN EUROPE.

LAST IS SONGHAI

AFTER MANSA MUSA DIED MALI FELL AND THE SONGHAI PEOPLE BECAME THE NEW EMPIRE. THEIR CAPITAL WAS TIMBUKTU WHICH STILL EXISTS IN THE COUNTRY OF MALI AND THERE KING WAS ASKIA . THEY WERE RICH BECAUSE THEY TOOK GHANA AND MALI'S PLACE. THE MOST EXPENSIVE THING IN THEIR KINGDOM WERE BOOKS BECAUSE THEY WERE SO RARE.

TRIBES FROM MOROCCO WANTED THE SALT AND GOLD SO THEY ATTACKED WITH GUNS AND CANNONS. THE SONGHAI ONLY HAD SPEARS AND SHIELDS AND THEY LOST.

THAT'S THE END OF THE AFRICAN EMPIRES IN THE MIDDLE AGES.