Economic Revolution and the Coming of the Africans

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ALLEYNE SCHOOL CARIBBEAN HISTORY CORE C.: THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION AND THE COMING OF THE AFRICANS 1. Major Aspects of West African Societies in the 15th Century namely: Economic Organisation, Social Relations, Religious and Political Organisation. West African Societies in the 15th Century Savannah Forest Mandingo Ashanti Fanti Fulani Fon Hausa Ijo Yoruba – (Forest margin) Ibo Dahomey – (Forest margin) Ewe Jolloff Efik Dagomba Kru Economic Organisation - The Northern Kingdoms – Western Sudan – Ghana, Mali, Songhai. Ghana: the empire flourished between 850 and 1240. It became rich from North African traders who passed through the kingdom. Traders brought salt from the north and traded it for gold which was mined to the south of Ghana. The king imposed a tax on traders. There was also trade in slaves. Mali: the Mandingo attacked and burned Ghana. In the 1300s, Timbuctu was a center for camel caravan routes across the Sahara. Money – cowrie shells which were collected from the east coast and therefore valuable, also gold and a fixed rate of weights and measures. Songhai: the empire began with the conquest of Timbuctu in 1464. These empires were too early for the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

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