— Exhibit -
For hundreds of years, a huge desert, the Sahara, separated and protected West Africa from European and Asian armies. However, eventually, between the years 1000 and 1500 A.D., Arab Muslim trading caravans from the north and east linked the trading world to three African kingdoms, one of which was Ghana. Ghana’s king ruled more than a million people by the 11th century A.D. Ghana became a rich empire because it controlled the trade routes between the salt mines in the Sahara and the gold mines farther south. The Muslim kings of Mali conquered Ghana by the end of the 13th century. Mali’s capital city, Timbuktu, became a great center of Islamic religion, learning, art, and trade.The Emperor Mansa Musa made Mali the center of gold production and African-Eurasian trade.
Eventually, the Songhai Empire conquered Mali in 1468 A.D. The empire reestablished Timbuktu as a great Muslim trading center in West Africa. Traders throughout Africa soughtSonghai’s tin and leather products. Songhai grew and ultimately controlled an area of 1,500 miles across West Africa.
Adapted from The Age of Calamity, A.D. 1300-1400 (Richmond, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1989), 143-148; T. Walter Wallbank et al., History and Life, 4th ed. (Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman, and Co., 1993) 283C286, 324C329.
— Exhibit -
Which geographic feature helped to protect the West African states from invaders?
A. the Sahara
B. the Indian Ocean
C. the Mediterranean Sea
D. the Nile River
E. the Atlantic Ocean
Answer: A
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