Chapter 12:Ghana: A West Africa Trading Empire

Mr. Meza7th Grade World History

1. Where do the earliest writings about Ghana come from?

• Arab scholars

2. How did scholars describe Ghana?

• As a “land of Gold”

3. How did Ghana’s king acquire his wealth?

• Through the control of the gold trade

• Collected taxes on the goods that passed through the kingdom

4. How did the king address the people’s concerns?

• By holding a daily court with his people

5. Matrilineal

• A family line traced through the mother

• In Ghana, the royal inheritance was matrilineal

6. What was Ghana’s military composed of?

• Several thousand career soldiers

• They were responsible to maintain peace and order

7. What was the source of Ghana’s wealth?

• Salt, copper, cowrie shells (used as money)

• Taxes

8. What is the trans-Saharan trade?

• Trade between Islam and West Africa

• Through the Sahara desert

9. When were camels brought to the Sahara?

• 300 CE

10. What are porters?

• A person who is hired to carry loads

11. What is Wangara?

• Area located near the forest south of Ghana

• Gold was plentiful• Only the people of

Wangara knew its location

12. What is Taghaza?

• City where the salt mines are located

• In the Sahara desert

13. In what two ways is salt produced?

• Evaporation • Mining from salt

deposits

14. What kind of taxes did Ghana collect?

• Traders paid taxes to Ghana on goods they sold and bought

• Traders paid taxes when they entered and exit Ghana

15. What was the busiest market in Ghana?

• Kumbi, the capital of Ghana

• Was one of the largest slave markets

16. When and how did the decline of Ghana take place?

• Reached its height in 1000 C.E.

• Declined because of war and a loss in natural resources

• In ended in 1203

17. When did Mali become a West African kingdom?

• In 1240 the Mande conquered Kumbi

• The leader accepted Islam (Muslim religion)