what are 3 major west african civilizations?

Question

what are 3 major west african civilizations

Answer 1

Here are some:

"GHANA EMPIRE: PRE-COLONIAL (c 300 - 1000 AD)


A black empire established in Western Sudan around 300 A.D., Ghana was showered by Egypt's influence. It was an empire lead by kings, princes, governmors, generals, judges, etc. along with other skillful doctors, engineers, architects, artists, mathematicians, and farmers. Gold and iron brought wealth to this empire. In particular, the use of iron revolutionized their social and military systems. This empire ended around 1076 A.D.
Tenkamenin King of Ghana (1037 - 1075 A.D.)--
The king whose strength was in government. Each day he went out and listen to the concerns of the people. Democratic monarchy and religious tolerance. Also when Ghana was in it's highest stage economically.


Civilization before the spread of Islam
Black pre-history civilizations
West Africa in the past
The Iron Age
Tenkamenin King of Ghana--benevolent ruler.

MALI EMPIRE (c 1300-1500 AD)


In 1240 AD, the Mali Empire was established by the African Madingo tribe. It held some of Ghana's political, economic, and religioous ways. The Mandigos of Mali, who were successful in agricultural, becane quite wealthy from trades with Muslims, people of the Sahara, and the north. This empire is also known for making tTimbuktu into an impressive city of Islamic religion and learning.
Mali's momumental moment of glory occurred around early 14th century when it was known for it's prosperity and peace as well as law, order, and justice. In 1326 AD, Mansa Kankan Musa emerged as a powerful king who extended the Mali empire across Africa, and increaased commerce. Unfortunately the empire began to declined after his death in 1337.


The Spread of Islam throughout W. Africa
The Mandigo tribe--established Mali
Sundiatia--founder of Mali
The city of Timbuktu
University of Sankore
Mansa Kankan Musa

SONGHAY EMPIRE (c 700-1600 AD)


As the Mali Empire was declining in 1350, the empire of Songhay was rising under the leadership of Sonni Ali I. Many writers described Sonni Ali as a uncontrollable and harsh. His reign ended after a civil war.
Three years after the civil war, Askia the Great ruled the empire of Songhay. He very much emulated Mansa Musa by adopting Islam. Timbuktu was the cultural capital as well as the center of international commerce. Even the Portuguese established trading with them in the year 1448. Unfortunately, the Songhay Empire went into turmoil in 1591 when the Moors invaded. And when the Moors left, Europeans seized colonial power of the land.




Songhay Empire
Sonni Ali--founder of Songhay
Askia the Great--a.k.a Mohammad Toure
Africa when Europeans arrived

MOORISH EMPIRE


In the last half of the 11th century, the Moorish empire included Senegal, Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and southern Spain. Beginning around the 7th or 8th century in northern Africa by black arabs, the Moors crossed over Gibralta into Spain and developed one the most distinguished cultural civilizations in Europe during that time. They established universities and libraries in Spain during their 700 years of ruling.'

and more info on the 3 big ones:

"Ghana was already a powerful empire, with a highly complex political and social organization, when the Arabs reached it about 800 A,D. An Arabic map of 830 A.D. has Ghana marked on it, and other contemporary Arabic sources refer to Ghana as the land of gold. From this time on, a thriving trade developed between Ghana and the world of Islam, including the beginnings of a slave trade. However, this early slave trade was a two-way affair. Al-Bakri, a contemporary Arab writer, was impressed with the display of power and affluence of the Ghanaian king. According to him, the king had an army of two hundred thousand warriors which included about forty thousand men with bows and arrows. (Modern scholars know that the real power of the Ghanaian army was due not to its large numbers as much as to its iron- pointed spears.) Al- Bakri also described an official audience at the royal palace in which the king, the Ghana, was surrounded by lavish trappings of gold and silver and was attended by many pages, servants, large numbers of faithful officials, provincial rulers, and mayors of cities. On such occasions, the king heard the grievances of his people and passed judgMent on them. Al- Bakri also describes lavish royal banquets which included a great deal of ceremonial ritual.

The power of the king, and therefore of the empire, was based on his ability to maintain law and order in his kingdom. This provided the development of a flourishing commerce, and it was by taxing all imports and exports that the king was able to finance his government. The key item in this financial structure was the regulation of the vast gold resources of West Africa, and it was by controlling its availability that the king was also able to manipulate its value. However, after the eleventh century, the Ghanaian empire was continually exposed to harassment from a long series of Arabic holy wars. Over a long period of time, the power of the king was reduced until the empire of Ghana finally collapsed. From its ashes emerged the basis for the creation of a new and even larger empire: the empire of Mali.

Mali, like Ghana, was built on gold. While Ghana had been under attack by the Arabs from outside, various peoples from within struck for their own freedom. The Mandinka people, who had been the middlemen in the gold trade and who had received protection from the king of Ghana, achieved their independence in 1230 A.D. They went on to use their position in the gold trade to build an empire of their own. The peak of their influence and power was achieved in the early fourteenth century under MansaKankan Musa who ruled Mali for a quarter of a century. He extended its boundaries beyond those of Ghana to include such important trading cities as Timbuktu and Gao, encompassing an area larger than that controlled by the European monarchs of that day. This empire also was based on its ability to provide stable government and a flourishing economy. An Arab traveler, Ibn Batuta, shortly after Musa's death, found complete safety of travel throughout the entire empire of Mali

Mansa Musa and, for that matter, the entire ruling class of Mali had converted to Islam. This intensified the contacts between West Africa and the Islamic world. Although several of these kings made pilgrimages to Mecca, the most spectacular was the one by Mansa Musa in 1324. On his way there, he made a prolonged visit to Cairo. While there, both his generosity in giving lavish gifts of gold to its citizens and his extravagant spending poured so much gold into the Cairo market that it caused a general inflation. It was estimated by the Arabs that his caravan included some sixty thousand people and some five hundred personal slaves. Mansa Musa took a number of Arabic scholars and skilled artisans back to West Africa with him. These scholars enhanced the university of Timbuktu which was already widely known as a center of Islamic studies. Now, besides exchanging material goods, West Africa and the Arabs became involved in a steady exchange of scholars and learning.

The success of Mali in bringing law and order to a large portion of West Africa was responsible for its decline. Having experienced the advantages of political organization, many localities sought self-government. In fact, Mansa Musa had overextended the empire. A skilled ruler like himself could manipulate it, but those who followed were not adequate to the challenge. Movements for self- government gradually eroded central authority until by 1500 Mali had lost its importance as an empire. Although the period of its power and prosperity was respectable by most world empire standards, it was short-lived compared to the history of the previous empire of Ghana. Again, a new empire was to emerge from the ruins of the previous one.

The Songhay empire was based on the strength of the important trading city of Gao. This city won its independence from Mali as early as 1375, and, within a century, it had developed into an empire. Songhay carried on a vigorous trade with the outside world and particularly with the Arabic countries. The ruling class, in particular, continued to follow the religion of Islam, but it is generally believed that the masses of the population remained faithful to the more traditional West African religions based on fetishism and ancestor worship. Two of the more powerful rulers were Suni Ali, who began his 28-year reign in 1464, and Askia Mohammed, who began his 36-year reign in 1493. Askia Mohammed was also known as Askia the Great. The security of Songhay was undermined when Arabs from Morocco invaded and captured the key trading city of Timbuktu in 1591. Thus ended the last of the three great empires of West Africa.

It would be a mistake, however, to assume that those parts of West Africa which remained outside of these three empires fulfilled the usual European image of primitive savagery. On the contrary, a number of other small yet powerful states existed throughout the entire period. If this had not been so, the Europeans, as they arrived in the fifteenth century, could have pillaged West Africa at will. Instead, the Europeans were only able to establish trading stations where local kings permitted it. With the exception of a few raiding parties which seized Africans and carried them off as slaves, most slave acquisition was done through hard bargaining and a highly systematized trading process. The Europeans were never allowed to penetrate inland, and they found that they always had to treat the African kings and their agents as business equals. Many of the early European visitors, in fact, were impressed by the luxury, power, trading practices, skilled crafts, and the complex social structure which they found in Africa. Only in some parts of East Africa, where the states were unusually small, were the Portuguese able to pillage and conquer at will. While many Europeans may have thought of Africa as being filled with ignorant savages, those who reached its shores were impressed instead with its vigorous civilization. "

Answer 2

West African Empires

Answer 3

West African Kingdoms

Answer 4

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The most well know African civilization was the Egyptians that flourished along the Nile River for thousands of years. Next would be the 3 major kingdoms in west Africa; Songhai, Ghana, and Mali which is best known for its ruler, Mansa Musa and his pilgrimage to Mecca. Roman, Byzantine, Greek, and many other successful European and Arabian empires stretched into Northern Africa along the Mediterranean Sea at one point in history. Eventually, Europe completely controlled all of Africa (most likely for the better) and because of that, we saw the fall of old empires but gave rise to the new, modern, economically advanced societies we see today, such as South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Algeria, etc.

Answer 5

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what are 3 major west african civilizations?
what are 3 major west african civilizations

Answer 6

Mali, Ghana and Songhai

Answer 7

Ghana- probably the best of the Black civilizations that was destroyed by the fast growing influx of Islam.

Mali- usually voted in the top five even though it wasn't technically a single kingdom so much as 3 separate regions. "The historical founder of Mali was the magician, Sundjata"

South Africa- How can you argue with results? Guess which country has the highest murder rate nowadays though huh? Interesting...Yup, S. Africa, but as an influential country on this continent, you should probably put them first.

Answer 8

every time i post a question, even if it is the simplest one, they cannot give me a good informed answer on this site. What happened to people that really make the effort to answer..

Answer 9

Africa has no history its been the same like it always has

Answer 10

I want to see the answer to this too

Answer 11

all early homosapien