The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

Section 3

What was life like in West Africa before the age of European exploration?

Keep in mind: Objectives• Describe the development and cultural

characteristics of West Africa in the fifteenth century.

• Summarize the events that led to contact between Europeans and West Africans.

• Explore the roots of the system of slavery practiced in the Americas.

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

Section 3

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

Section 3

West Africa is a land of varied geographic features.

• The Sahara Desert dominates the northern part. • To the south of the desert lies a broad savanna.• South of the savanna is a lush region watered

by the Niger and Senegal rivers.• Valuable natural resources such as gold and salt

are found in West Africa.

Describe the development and cultural characteristics of West Africa in the fifteenth century.

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

Section 3

A thriving trade network promoted the growth of trading towns.

Describe the development and cultural characteristics of West Africa in the fifteenth century.

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

Section 3

In time, the trading routes of these empires linked West Africa with North Africa,

the Mediterranean, and Asia.

Trading towns eventually grew into great and

powerful empires.

• Ghana• Mali• Songhai• Other, smaller

kingdoms

Describe the development and cultural characteristics of West Africa in the fifteenth century.

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

Section 3

West African Kingdoms, A.D. 800–A.D. 1600

Trade promoted rich and thriving cultures.

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

Section 3

The earliest kingdom, Ghana, supplied much of the gold for the Mediterranean

region by the 11th century.

A thriving caravan trade with African peoples across the Sahara to Morocco resulted in extensive Muslim influence in North Africa.

Ghana had large towns, beautiful buildings, a system of commerce, and a complex political structure.

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

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Attacks from outsiders weakened Ghana until it was supplanted around A.D. 1200

by a new kingdom known as Mali.

• Mansa Musa, who reigned in the early 1300s, expanded Mali’s domain.

• His promotion of Islamic scholarship led to the founding of the famous university at Timbuktu.

• Mali weakened after his death in 1332.

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

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By the 1400s, the Songhai empire emerged.

Education and Trade

• Songhai sustained an Islamic system of education based at Timbuktu.

• Like Ghana and Mali, Songhai grew rich from trade.

Conquest

• In 1468, Songhai conquered Mali. • As a result, Songhai became the

largest and most powerful kingdom in West Africa.

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

Section 3

West African Trade Routes, A.D. 800−A.D. 1600

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

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West African societies were diverse.

Spiritual Beliefs

• Islam had a strong influence, although many held traditional beliefs about the spirit world and the influence of ancestors.

Land

• Land belonged to extended kinship networks.

• People often farmed the land in common and divided the harvest.

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

Section 3

Slavery was common in West Africa, and slaves were often used as items of trade.

The slave trade was an important part of West Africa’s economy.

West African rulers sold about 1,000 slaves annually to Arab traders, who took them to the Mediterranean.

Explore the roots of the system of slavery practiced in the Americas.

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

Section 3

West African slavery had developed as a system with unique characteristics.

• It was not based on racial superiority or inferiority.• Prisoners of war and criminals often became slaves.• Slaves were usually adopted by their owners, and

their children usually did not inherit slave status. • Slaves could become wealthy, important officials

and soldiers.

Explore the roots of the system of slavery practiced in the Americas.

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

Section 3

Initially, they acted as pirates, seizing gold, pepper, and slaves.

But African resistance soon forced the Portuguese to shift to trading.

Throughout the 1400s, the Portuguese explored farther south along the West

African coast.

Explore the roots of the system of slavery practiced in the Americas.

Summarize the events that led to contact between Europeans and West Africans.

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

Section 3

In this way, Europeans first

became involved in the long-

standing slave trade of Africa.

The Portuguese exported peppers, ivory, copper, and

African slaves.

In time, the Portuguese established a profitable trade with the West Africans.

Explore the roots of the system of slavery practiced in the Americas.

Summarize the events that led to contact between Europeans and West Africans.

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

Section 3

The Portuguese greatly expanded the slave trade.

By 1500, Europeans purchased about 1,800 African slaves a year, nearly doubling the trade between the West Africans and the Arabs.

• Some slaves were shipped to Europe.

• Most worked on sugar plantations on islands in the East Atlantic.

• Growing numbers went to new plantations in the Americas.

Explore the roots of the system of slavery practiced in the Americas.

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

Section 3

Thus began the brutal exploitation of West Africans enslaved by Europeans.

This fate would befall millions more African men and women in the centuries ahead.

Explore the roots of the system of slavery practiced in the Americas.

The Cold War BeginsThe West Africans

Section 3

What was life like in West Africa before the age of European exploration?

The early civilizations of West Africa grew into great trading empires with rich and varied cultures…

Trade between West Africans and Europeans—including trade in slaves—would shape the future of both peoples for years to come. The Europeans first made contact with the West Africans when…

Explore the roots of the system of slavery practiced in the Americas.

Summarize the events that led to contact between Europeans and West Africans.

Describe the development and cultural characteristics of West Africa in the fifteenth century.