HIST&126 Journal #3

The Sahel is the savannah region south of the Sahara which, after 750 CE, became the center of culturally and politically dynamic cities and kingdoms because of the strategic importance of the Sahel. The first great Sahelian kingdom was Ghana, but the Islamic revolution of the Almoravids, a Berber people living north of Ghana, splintered that kingdom. The Almoravids did not succeed in building their own, Islamic kingdom in the region. The Almoravid revolution, however, led to energetic Islamic proselytizing all throughout the Sahel. Many of the ruling families converted to Islam. One of these ruling families, the Keita, forged the successor to the Ghanaian kingdom, the kingdom of Mali.

Click on the link for the documents and answer these questions in a 300-500 word essay. Make sure you put these in context using the textbook. Use the documents as your examples.

In these two selections we are shown a portrait of peoples from the outside. Ibn Battuta and Al-Bakri are clearly outsiders. Unfortunately West African society did not have writing until the Islamic traders brought it to them. Thus we have to consider when reading these the perspective of the viewer. Please answer the following questions: compare and contrast the societies of Ghana and Mali. Why are they so different or similar? What has possibly led to these differences or similarities?