NYSED Global History and Geography Online Resource Guide
 

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Indian Ocean Trade

Indian Ocean Trade
Beginning in the 8th century, four great trading empires - Ghana (800-100), Mali (1200-1450), Songhai (1450-1600), and Kanen-Bornu (800-1800) - arose in the grasslands of north-central West Africa. Most of these empires grew out of the fusion of smaller polities. To flourish they depended on trade, population and the military power to dominate their neighbors. The Trans-Saharan trade routes were based on the exchange of North African salt for West African gold. The Islamic/trans-Saharan trade had a tremendous impact on much of West Africa, but whole regions were totally uninfluenced by the outside world. During the 10th century, the people of Ghana converted to the Islam brought to them by their Arab trading partners not conquest Islam brought literacy, the traditions of learning, a code of law, and the usage of currency and credit to west Africa Mansa Musa (1312-1337), ruler of Mali journeyed to Mecca and established Timbuktu as an Islamic cultural and learning center. Over time, desertification, weak centralized authority traditions, and attacks from outside, brought about the decline and downfall of Mali. Songhai and Kanen-Bornu.

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Multi-Regional Empires

Unit:
Unit 3D

Standards:
World History
Geography
Economics
Timbuktu Tangier Tunis Djenne Rise and Fall of West African Empires Cities of Interest
 
Related Turning Points:  Related Topics:

  • Trans-Saharan Trade Routes
     
  • Trans-Atlantic Trade Routes
     
  • African Diaspora

 

 

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