Overview Of Muslim Empires: The Ghana Empire

The Ghana Empire existed between the 7th and 13th centuries in modern day Senegal, Mauritania. It was surrounded by rainforests and the Sahara desert; it also laid on the beds of the Niger and Senegal rivers. Historians believe that Ghana’s first people were farmers, the Soninke. These people then blended together, which started the empire. It then began to grow rich and powerful from the trade routes, which exported metals, ivory, and salt, of the Sahara desert and the surplus in food production. When the empire was first growing, the people's religion mostly consisted of the supernatural and spiritual beliefs. They believed that everything, including plants and animals, had spirits in them and that they had to worship their ancestors for good luck. Around the ninth century, Muslims introduced Islam through the trading markets which caused half of the population to practice their traditional faith and the new Islamic one. The Islamic people also influenced some of the culture. The king appointed them government officials and took in their technology. They also introduced their written language, architecture, and economic ways. As most times in history, men had more rights than women. The government system was a monarchy which was divided into six classes. The first class was the king who was thought to have spiritual powers. Then came the nobles, who fought in the military, the farmers, which were the largest class who worked the lands of the noble, and the craftspeople who produced products such as metals and pottery.

The last two classes were the tradesmen, who were looked down on but were quite rich, and the slaves who worked for the rich. There wasn’t much social mobility. This government was also built in a way to rule over smaller kingdoms that were ruled by lesser kings who answered to the main one. Over time as the empire grew, these lesser kings gained more land, and power, as the empire expanded. There were councilmen, which a majority were Muslims, who assisted the king. Ghana’s economy was based on trade. People traded through the Trans-Saharan roads as well as by the Niger and Senegal rivers. They mostly traded gold, and other metals, and salt as well as other luxury items. Ghana was filled with mineral and gold mines which led to it being called the “land of gold.' The king collected taxes from the merchants and all the goods being moved in and out of the cities. Ghana’s wealth feared and were jealous of the neighboring states which caused them to attack. Finally around mid-11th century the Almoravids invaded the city the capital city of Koumbi Saleh. This led the rich empire to the decline as it finally died around 200 years later. Scholars say that it impacted the country of Ghana today, even though they do not share any of the same territory. In conclusion, the Ghana Empire was one of the wealthiest empires of its time period. It conquered lands and increased trade in Africa.