write an essay in which you explain the rise and fall of the empire of ancient gihana

-3-4 pages

-CHAPTER 7 IS DEVOTED TO THE EXPANSION OF THE ISLAMIC RELIGION INTO THE WESTERN SUDAN AFTER THE RISE AND FALL OF ANCIENT GHANA.

THE CHAPTER BEGINS BY EXPLAINING JUST HOW IT WAS THAT ISLAM FIRST GOT TO THE WESTERN SUDAN, AND FURTHER, JUST WHY THIS RELIGION WAS AND IS SO AVIDLY ADHERED TO EVEN TO THIS DAY IN THIS PART OF AFRICA. ISLAM IS AN OUTSIDE RELIGION TO WESTERN AFRICA, ONLY ARRIVING THERE ABOUT 700 CE. BUT, IF YOU’VE EVER BEEN TO THAT PART OF THE WORLD, YOU’D NEVER KNOW IT. ISLAM IS BY FAR THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CULTURAL FACTOR IN THIS REGION OF THE WORLD. ITS PRESENCE IN POLITICS, AND ALL CULTURAL MATTERS IS OBVIOUS. IN THIS PART OF AFRICA, THE ISLAMIC PRESENCE LITERALLY SHOUTS OUT AT YOU!

THE CHAPTER STARTS OF BY EXPLAINING THE ROLE OF THE ‘ALMORAVIDS’, NORTH AFRICAN ARABS, WHO ERE THE PRIMARY VECTOR IN SPREADING ISLAM SO FAR AND WIDE IN THE WESTERN SUDAN. THE MAP ON PAGE 97 OF THE SHILLINGTON BOOK SHOWS THE HISTORICAL EXPANSION OF THE ALMORAVIDS.. THEY ARE WHERE WE GET THE WORD “MOROCCO”, AND THE WORD “MOORS”. ON PAGE 100 OF SHILLINGTON YOU WILL SEE THE BEGINNING OF OUR REAL FOCUS IN THIS CHAPTER, ANCIENT MALI, ITS RISE AND ITS FALL. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE TEXTBOOK FOR THE COURSE ITS OK TO USE WIKI TO START OFF YOUR ONLINE RESEARCH. GOGGLE: ALMORAVIDS. ALSO GOGGLE: “ISLAM IN WESTERN AFRICA”.

THE EMPIRE OF MALI—

WE KNOW SO MUCH ACCURATE INFORMATION ABOUT EARLY MALIAN HISTORY THROUGH THE WRITINGS OF 2 ARABIC SCHOLARS WHO VISITED THERE IN THE 1300’S, IBN KHALDUN and IBN BATTUTA. BOTH WROTE EXTENSIVELY ABOUT THEIR TRAVELS IN ANCIENT MALI. (AS A FOOTNOTE, PLEASE WIKI THESE 2 MEN’S NAMES. IF YOU THINK MARCO POLO TRAVELLED FAR AND WIDE ON THE EARTH, AND HE DID, THEN YOU HAVE NOT READ ABOUT THESE 2, IBN KHALDUN and IBN BATTUTA. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND WIKI THEM).

WHEN YOU READ ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF ANCIENT MALI YOU WILL LEARN OF HOW IT WAS AT ONE TIME (ABOUT 1000 CE) A VERY SMALL MANDINGO BASED KINGDOM WHICH HAD BEEN CONQUERED LONG AGO BY ANCIENT MALI, THE SONINKE PEOPLES. AFTER ABOUT 400 YEARS OF BEING DOMINATED BY ANCIENT GHANA, THE MANDINGO PEOPLE UNDER THEIR GREAT INDEPENDENCE LEADER, SUNJATA. ABOUT 1200 CE SUNJATA LED HIS MANDINGO PEOPLES TO INDEPENDENCE FROM ANCIENT GHANA. TO THIS DAY THE MANDINGO PEOPLES OF WEST AFRICA STILL CELEBRATE “SUNJATA DAY” AS THEIR GREAT ETHNIC HOLIDAY. THE MAP OF PAGE 102 SHOWS THE EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE OF ANCIENT MALI. (BTW: THE MANDINGO ARE ALSO KNOWN AS THE ‘MALINKE’, WHICH IS WHERE WE GET THE WORD “MALI”.)

ONCE MALI BECAME INDEPENDENT IT EXCEEDED THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF ANCIENT GHANA. THE GOLD-SALT TRADE EXPANDED UNDER THE MANDINGO KINGS. ANCIENT MALI BECAME WORLD FAMOUS FOR THE GOLD THAT IT PRODUCED AND SENT NORTHWARD INTO NORTH AFRICA AND EVENTUALLY, EUROPE. BY FAR THE MOST FAMOUS KING OF ANCIENT MALI WAS MANSA MUSA. ON PAGE 106 YOU CAN SEE A BLACK AND WHITE REPRODUCTION OF THE FAMOUS ‘CATALAN ATLAS’ OF 1375. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE BOOK WIKI: CATALAN ATLAS, 1376. THE REPRODUCTION IN YOUR BOOK IS IN BLACK AND WHITE, SO IT REALLY DOES NOT DISPLAY THE TRUE SPLENDOR OF THIS ATLAS. THE WIKI SITE HAS THE ATLAS MAP IN COLOR. THERE ON HIS GOLDEN THRONE YOU WILL MANSA MUSA, WHO IS CALLED “THE RICHEST MAN IN HISTORY” IN A YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THAT NAME. IN THE MAP, MANSA MUSA IS SHOWN ON A GOLDEN THRONE, WITH A GOLDEN CROWN ON HIS HEAD, HOLDING A GOLDEN SCEPTER, AND DISPLAYING IN HIS RIGHT HAND A HUGE ORB OF GOLD. GOLD GOLD GOLD, AND MORE GOLD. THAT’S THE IMAGE THAT ANCIENT MALI HAD IN THE WORLD BACK THEN. THAT’S WHY THIS MAP WAS DRAWN UP IN THE FIRST PLACE; TO DIRECT EUROPEANS TO LAND LAND OF GOLD! REALLY, THE ATLAS MAP JUST ABOUT SAYS ALL THERE IS TO SAY ABOUT ANCIENT MALI. WEALTH, SPLENDOR, POWER, GLORY, AND A SELF-DETERMINING POLITICAL/CULTURAL ENTITY. AND ALL BEFORE THE COMING OF THE EUROPEANS, WHO CONQUERED THIS WHOLE REGION DURING THE COLONIAL ERA WHICH BEGAN ABOUT 1884.

THAT IS THE POINT OF THE STUDY OF WESTERN AFRICA. THIS REGION OF AFRICA WAS SEVERLEY PLUNDERED BY THE SLAVE TRADE. IN 1900 PEOPLE IN EUROPE WERE REFERRING TO THIS ONCE PROUD REGION OF WEST AFRICA AS THE LAND OF RESIDENT SAVAGES AND BARBARIANS! UNCULTURED LOUTS WHO NEVER MADE IN PROGRESS IN TIME. THE STUDY OF WEST AFRICAN HISTORY PROVES OTHERWISE.

WEST AFRICA LOST ABOUT 20 MILLION PEOPLE BETWEEN 1510 AND 1860 TO THE SLAVE TRADE. IT TOOK THIS PART OF AFRICA A LONG TIME BEFORE IT HAS BEGUN TO RECOVER FROM THIS HISTORICAL CALAMITY. BUT THE PROCESS HAS ONLY REALLY RECENTLY BEGUN. AND THAT’S A TOUGH ROAD AHEAD FOR THE PEOPLES OF THE WESTERN SUDAN.

OK, COMBINED WITH YOUR READINGS IN THE BOOK AND ONLINE SOURCES, YOU SHOULD NOW HAVE A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF THE RISE OF ANCIENT MALI. NOW LOOKS LOOK AT ITS FALL.

THE FALL OF ANCIENT MALI—-

MALI WAS A HUGE EMPIRE, AS THE MAPS SHOW. THE EMPIER OF MALI,ONCE IT BECAME THE MOST POWERFUL POLITICAL ENTITY IN THE REGION, BECAME GUILTY OF WHAT HISTORIAN TERM “IMPERIAL OVERREACH”. SIMPLY PUT, IT MEANS YOU CONQUER MORE TERRITORY AND PEOPLES THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY CONTROL ETERNALLY. EVENTUALLY, THE WEIGHT OF HAVING TO BE EVERYWHERE AT THE SAME TIME IN ORDER TO KEEP THE CONQUERED PEOPLES IN CHECK, BECOMES A BURDEN ON THE EMPIRE WHICH EVENTUALLY LEADS TO THE DECLINE AND FALL OF AN EMOIRE. NOT JUST MALI, NOT JUST GHANA, BUT IF YOU LOOK UP THE REASONS FOR THE FALL OF ANCIENT ROME, EVEN, YOU WILL FIND THE NUMBER ONE REASON GIVEN AS BEING, ‘IMPERIAL OVERREACH’. MALI SUFFERED FROM THIS HISTORICAL PHENOMENON, WHICH EVERY EMPIRE THERE EVER WAS MUST INEVITABLY EXPERIENCE. MALI WAS NO DIFFERENT. BEGINNING IN THE 1400’S MANY OF THE SUBJIGATED PEOPLES OF THE MALI EMPIRE BEGAN TO REVOLT. ENDLESS, CONSTANT REVOLTS OUT ON THE EDGES OF THE EMPIRE. THIS DRAINED THE RESOURCES OF ROME, AND IT DRAINED THE RESOURCES OF ANCIENT MALI. COMMERCE OF COURSE WAS INTERRUPTED BY ALL THIS CONSTANT CIVIL WAR, SO THE BUSINESSMEN STOPPED COMING AS MUCH TO MALI. BUSINESSMEN WANT PEACE, GENERALLY SPEAKING! AND PEACE LEFT THE MALI EMPIRE FOR A LONG TIME.

ONE OF ANCIENT MALI’S VASSAL STATES WAS ANCIENT SONGHAI. BY THE VERY LATE 1400’S, THE PEOPLES OF THE SONGHAI REVOLTED AGAINST THEIR MALI MASTERS. THEY FOUGHT AN ONGOING WAR OF RESISTANCE UNTIL, IN ABOUT 1480, THE SONGHAI HAD CONQUERED MALI, AND NOW SONGHAI WAS THE DOMINANT POWER IN THE WESTERN SUDAN FOR THE NEXT 200-300 YEARS.

THE FALL OF ANCIENT SONGHAI—–

YOU MAY REMEMBER FROM LECTURE THAT I SAID THAT OUR TEXTBOOK, THOUGH RICH IN INFORMATION IS, IN MY OPINION, VERY POORLY ORGANIZED.. ONE O THE MOST GLARING EXAMPLES OF THIS TO ME IS THE WAY ANCIENT SONGHAI’S RISE AND FALL IS COVERED. THE SUBTITLE “THE ORIGINS AND RISE OF SONGHAI” IS IN CHAPTER 7, BUT ONLY HANDLES THE RISE OF THE SONGHAI EMPIRE IN THE 1460’S-1480’S. BUT LOOK WHAT THIS AUTHOR DOES WITH THE FALL OF ANCIENT SONGHAI IN THE 1590’S. HE SPLITS THE FALL OF SONGHAI WAY OVER IN CHAPTER 13!!! THAT’S KIND OF NUTTY, FROM A ORGANIZATIONAL STANDPOINT. VERY POOR ORGANIZATION HERE.

ANYWAY, CHAPTER 13 TELLS THE STORY OF THE FALL OF ANCIENT SONGHAI IN ABOUT 1580. IT WAS INVADED FROM THE NORTH, BY THE MOROCCANS. IN 1591 SONGHAI FELL. THE VERY SAME FORCES THAT CAUSED THE FALL OF ANCIENT MALI WERE AT PLAY HERE WITH THE FALL OF ANCIENT SONGHAI. IMPERIAL OVERREACH, OF COURSE, AGAIN.. SONGHAI WAS EVEN LARGER IN SIZE THAN HAD BEEN MALI.