Ancient Africa

          Africa is the second largest continent in the world. It is a very interesting place, filled with many different cultures and has been influenced by many different peoples. African trade is very interesting, and you wouldn’t think something we use everyday in our cooking would be worth as much as gold. Africa has many factors to its development in ancient times.

          African trade was quite interesting. African’s major products consisted of salt and gold. These items were worth about the same in weight. Salt was worth the same value as gold because of the demand for salt. Salt was necessary in a human beings’ diet because it retains water in the body. Africa was extremely hot and water in the body was easily lost if salt was not abundant in the body. The trade routes in North Africa were passing throughout the Sahara desert. Some major cities such as Mali and Songhai were major trade point in northwest Africa. At these points in Northwest Africa gold was a major demand in trade. In parts of lower West Africa salt was needed because of the scorching hot climates.   

          Mansa Musa was a rich king of Mali. He was Muslim and because of the trade point of Mali, his kingdom was prosperous. Mansa Musa went on a hajj and went with an enormous caravan of riches and 500 slaves. He brought tons of valuables. Everywhere he went people saw how great and rich Africa must have been. Mansa’s hajj sparked the interest in many civilizations, especially European civilizations.

           The kingdom of Ghana was very rich due to the Trans-Saharan trade. Ghana traded from the Middle East and many parts of Africa. The camel helped out with the travel and transport of goods to trade. The camel allowed for travel without food or water for 3 to 6 days. Ghana had an abundance of gold which made it already very wealthy.

Islam is a religion founded by Muhammad. Islamic people traveled to Africa to trade. The traveling and trading of Muslim people spread Islam quite rapidly. When trading people interact and the religion spread. Many Arabic people also settled and lived in Africa. Soon Islam conquered Morocco which allowed great spread of the religion. The Muslims influenced trade. Muslims introduced the camel. They also converted many people to their religion which helped them in trade. The Muslims also brought many varieties of art and forms of clothing to trade in Africa.

          In conclusion you can see how Africa had great influences from other civilizations and was very prosperous. They had an interesting way of trade. It is quite amazing how salt was the same value as gold. Influences from the Middle East gave Africa new forms of transportation that revolutionized trade. We are truly considered lucky to have easy access to salt, therefore making it much cheaper to us. Ghana and other countries such as Mali, looking at its location lets us understand how the Sahara was a major obstacle in trade, but it was overcome.