G+One


 * Geography: Africa is the second largest continent on the face of the earth. Only Asia is the largest continent in the world.
 * The continent of Africa is so large that it includes many varied kinds of terrain,barren deserts to thick rain forests. Four different regions make up the area surrounding the Niger River.
 * Africa is surrounded by two oceans the Atlantic and the Indian ocean. Africa has the largest desert the Sahara it covers most of north Africa. Sahel divides the desert from the wetter areas.savannah much of Africa is covered by grasslands called savannah.


 * Trade: As the people of West Africa grew more food, communities had more then they needed to survive.For a long time, West Africans had venture into the desert for trade. However, those early travelers could only make shorts trips from oasis to oasis.


 * Culture: Another main feature of village life was religion.Some religions practices were almost the same from village to village.A traditional belief the importance of families.Many west Africa believed that the not seen spirit of their ancestors stayed near.Animism the belief that bodies of water, animals, trees,and other natural objects have spirits.Animism reflected west Africans dependence on the natural world for survival.


 * Empire of Ghana:Archaeology provides some clues to Ghana's early history,but we do not Know much about its earliest days.Historians think the first people in Ghana were farmers.For hundreds of years,trade routes crisscrossed West Africa.For most of the time, West Africans did not profit much from the Saharan trade because the routes were run by Berbers from northern Africa.


 * Empire of Mali:Like Ghana, Mali lay along the upper Niger River.This area's fertile soil helped Mali Grow.After Sundial had conquered Ghana,he took over the salt and gold trades. He also worked to improve agriculture in Mali.In addition, Mali's location on the Niger allowed its people to control trade on the river.


 * Mansa Musa:1200-1300 Mansa Musa, the ruler of Mali, was one of the Muslim kings of West Africa.He became a major figure in African and world history largely because of a pilgrimage he made to the city of mecca.
 * Mansa Musa had a spectacular attracted the attention of the Muslim world and of Europe.
 * in his pilgrimage in 1324 he lead 60,000 men 12,000 slaves who carried 4 pounds of gold bars each and apart he came with 80 camels who carried between 50 and 300 pounds of gold dust who he gave away to poor people along the way of his journey, but not also did he just give away but he traded it in for souvenirs.


 * Empire of Songhai: As the Songhai grew richer from trans Saharan trade they expanded their territory. Gradually they built an empire.Songhai's growth was largely the work of one man Sunni Ali who became the ruler of Songhai in 1464.before Ali took over, the Songhai state had disorganized and poorly run.they used to make their empires of dirt because it was hard as a brick wall.


 * Askia the Great:Askia the Great became the ruler of Songhai when he was nearly to 50 years old.He ruled Songhai for like 35 years. Sunni Ali died in 1492.when he was in his 80's Askia went blind. His son Musa forced him to leave the throne.Askia was sent to an island he lived there for nine years until another of his sons brought him back to the capital were he died.


 * Artistic Traditions: the old men used to tell orals to the young ones that's how they knew were everything came from. An oral history is a spoken record of past events.
 * Griots- West Africans storytellers Were called griots.They were highly respected in their communities because the people of West Africa were very interested in the deeds of their ancestors.Proverbs, or short sayings of wisdom or truth.they also dance for tradition so were their clothing,music and made sculptures of African people.

Page Created by:Jack Valderrama and Roberto Olvera