Hello and welcome to today's lesson on the kingdoms of the Sahel.

This is part of a wider unit looking at how the trans-Atlantic slave trade impacted societies in West Africa.

In the course of this unit, we look at lots of different things, starting with the kingdoms of the Sahel.

We then look at what happened when the Europeans arrived on the West African coast, how the slave trade then emerged, how it expanded, and also British involvement.

We'll then get to put this all together.

However, in today's lesson, we're just going to be looking at the kingdoms of the Sahel.

In order to do this, you're going to need a pen and paper.

If you don't have that, that is absolutely fine.

Just pause the video now, get everything you need, and then come back and press play when you're done.

You can see that our lesson outcome for today is that you can explain how trade across the Sahel made West African kingdoms richer, but also brought some problems. Now, before we get into the lesson, what would be really helpful is if we stop for a moment and have a look at some keywords that will really help us get into the lesson.

For today, we have five keywords, Sahel, Mansa, devout, oral tradition, and caravan.

Let's have a look at some definitions before we see them in the context of the lesson.

The Sahel is a dry region bordering the southern Sahara Desert.

Mansa is the word used in the kingdom of Mali to refer to ruler.

So it's kind of like saying king or emperor.

To be devout is to show strong religious commitment.

So if somebody was a devout Muslim, we know that they're showing strong religious commitment to their faith.

Oral tradition is a form of communication where ideas and knowledge are shared by word of mouth.

This is really important when looking at West African history.

And a caravan is a group of merchants travelling together on a long journey through the desert.

Now, today's lesson is going to be split into two parts.

First, we're going to be looking at wealth and culture in the Sahel.

Now, it was long before the arrival of Europeans that West Africa became the centre of really important trade routes between Europe, Africa, and Asia.

This area became known as the Sahel.

As we've already seen in our keywords, that's the dry region just below the Sahara Desert.

So if you have a look at the map on the slide, we can see where you'll find the Wolof, Mali, Songhay Kingdom.

They're examples of kingdoms in the Sahel region, as well as the others that are noted.

Now, these kingdoms became really powerful because we had lots of traders from Islamic states travelling across the Sahel in search for gold mines.

These gold mines had made these kingdoms really, really wealthy.

So like I said, as a result, this area in West Africa had become the centre of really important trade groups.

As these traders came, these kingdoms became increasingly wealthy because they were able to trade their gold for the goods that these traders were bringing into West Africa.

In addition to this, these West African kingdoms also began to form relations with the Islamic states that these traders were coming from.

That meant that ideas and religion were spreading across the Sahel and starting to settle in this region.

Now, before I tell you more about the wealth and culture in the Sahel, we're going to pause for a moment and check our understanding so far.

So just a quick question for you.

Why did the kingdoms of the Sahel begin to flourish? Was it A, because merchants from the Sahel migrated to Europe? B, the Sahel became the centre of trade in West Africa? Or C, the kingdoms became less connected to Islamic states? I'd like to pause the video now.

Have a think and then press play when you think you've got an idea.

Excellent work.

The answer is B, the Sahel became the centre of trade in West Africa.

Now let's find out a little bit more about what happened once the Sahel became the centre of trade.

So I told you that we were going to learn a little bit more about the wealth and culture in the Sahel.

As we can see here, we've got two kingdoms annotated, the Kingdom of Mali and the kingdom of Songhay.

And the reason that these two kingdoms in particular have been annotated is because they became incredibly wealthy in this period.

That's because, like I said, they were at the centre of really important trade routes, but it wasn't just this, it was also to do with those relationships that I was talking about earlier.

As a result of those relationships with Islamic states, they started to share their religion and share ideas.

As a result, we had a lot more traders from Islamic states travelling and settling in these kingdoms. With them, they didn't just bring goods, but they brought wealth and other ideas that would lead to these kingdoms becoming incredibly, incredibly successful.

Now, in addition to these kingdoms becoming more wealthy and more successful, there was also a significant change in the leadership, those rulers that I was talking about earlier.

Many of them began to convert to Islam.

However, some of them were more devout than others.

And what this means is that we have different kinds of records for these different kingdoms. For those kingdoms where they were less devout, which means they were not as strongly committed to their religion, we have to rely on something called oral tradition, which we mentioned earlier as one of our key words.

So for those states where the rulers would mix Islamic practises with the traditional African practises, we have to rely on oral tradition.

So that's when stories and histories and events are passed on through generations by word of mouth as opposed to being written down like we might be used to.

However, it's really important that as historians, we understand that these are just as useful as written sources.

Often we might think about, "Oh, if it's passed on by word of mouth, maybe it's less reliable.

They could have made it up." We could have made up things that were written down too.

So we have to be just as careful when we're using all these different types of sources.

But it's really good and really important for us to know that when we are looking particularly at societies in this place in the world, at this time period, historians have to rely on oral tradition.

The reason for that is in these kingdoms where they mixed Islamic practises and traditional African practises, the Islamic scholars were often not pleased and therefore would not write as positively or as often about the rulers.

One example would be Sonni Ali of the Kingdom of Songhay as we mentioned earlier.

What Sonni Ali did was, although he converted to Islam and he made the pilgrimage to Mecca, which was expected of him at the time, he also practised traditional African rituals that the Islamic scholars were not pleased with.

So as a result, when they wrote about him, they were incredibly negative.

That meant that we often can't use those accounts to get an accurate perspective of what it was like in Songhay at the time, and therefore historians focus on oral tradition.

However, that wasn't the case with all rulers at the time.

Like I said, there were some that were devout and very much committed to their Muslim faith.

One of these examples is a ruler called Mansa Musa, and he's believed to have ruled the kingdom of Mali in the 1300s.

Here on the slide, you can see an illustration of Mansa Musa.

This wasn't one made at the time, it was one made later.

For reasons that will become clear soon, there have been lots of illustrations made because he's become known as a very important and very wealthy ruler, and one of the reasons for this can be seen on this map.

Now, this is part of a world map drawn in 1375.

This world map included the kingdom of Mali.

It's good to know that maps at this time are slightly different.

They didn't give us too much of an idea of where boundaries were between different kingdoms and states.

But the pictures that you would find on the map told us a lot about what people had seen or heard of or heard about from those different regions.

Now, if we look in the bottom right corner of this part of the map, we can see a man sitting on a throne with a golden orb in one hand and a golden sceptre in the other.

Now, if somebody's pictured holding a lot of gold, we can infer that they were remembered as very, very wealthy, and that's true of Mansa Musa.

From historical accounts, we know that Mansa Musa took a pilgrimage to Mecca, and on this pilgrimage he took 12,000 royal servants, each of them carrying a bar of gold.

He gave out this gold on the way to Mecca, also building a mosque every Friday on his way there.

He gave out so much gold that he caused an economic crisis in the area.

Now, from this, without even saying anything else, we know that that means he must have been really, really wealthy.

And remember, this makes sense because earlier I told you that it was the gold mines in West Africa that attracted the merchants from Europe and from Asia, and therefore it is these gold mines that produce the gold that Mansa Musa was able to give out on his way to and from Mecca.

He's therefore remembered as a very, very wealthy ruler.

But we also know so much about him because like I said, he was very committed to his faith.

And therefore, we have lots of accounts from Muslim scholars at the time who wrote about Mansa Musa.

Because of his faith, they were eager to write about him, and they wrote loads about him.

And therefore, now we know loads about Mansa Musa from all these different written histories, but we also can use oral traditions to find out about him because there are still stories passed on through generations.

Therefore, we have lots of sources that we can use to find out more about the wealth and culture in the Sahel, but specifically the kingdom of Mali.

And it wasn't just giving out gold on the way to and from Mecca that we can use as evidence of Mansa Musa's faith and wealth.

If you look at the slide here, you can see the Djinguereber Mosque, and this was built by Mansa Musa.

It was built using his wealth from extensive trade and his goldmines.

And what this mosque shows us is a combination of his commitment to Islam, but also his wealth.

That mosque is still standing today.

This is a recent picture taken of the mosque.

It's not a recreation.

The mosque still stands today.

Now that we've had a look at the wealth and culture in the Sahel in kingdoms that both had devout rulers, but also kingdoms with less devout rulers, rulers that continued to mix Islamic practises and traditional African beliefs, let's stop for a moment, check our understanding so far, and then put our learning from this part of the lesson into practise.

Firstly, I'd like you to tell me whether this statement is true or false.

"All rulers of kingdoms in the Sahel became devout Muslims as trade expanded." Pause the video, have a think, and when you think you know the answer, come back and press play.

Excellent, the answer is false, but we need to think about why.

Is the statement false because all rulers remains committed to traditional African practises, or is it false because some rulers became about Muslims, others mixed Islamic and African practises? Again, pause the video.

Have a think about why this statement is false, and when you think, you know, come back and press play.

Fantastic, the answer is false because of B.

Some rulers became devout Muslims and others mixed Islamic and African practises.

I've got one more question for you before we put this into practise.

What have historians focused on to find out more about West African rulers who were not devout Muslims? Is it A, accounts for Muslim scholars, B, oral tradition, or C, they simply cannot find out more? Pause the video.

Have a think about what I said about the types of sources, different historians use to learn about different types of kingdoms, and then come back and press play when you're done.

Fantastic, it's oral tradition.

We know that historians use stories and accounts of events passed on by word of mouth through generations to find out about those states where the rulers were not devout Muslims because it is much more difficult to rely on the accounts written by Muslim scholars at the time because we know that they would've written very negatively about them because they were not committed to their faith.

Now, let's put what we've learned so far into practise.

I would like you to answer the following questions.

I mentioned this earlier.

I'd like you to find the answer in the wordsearch, circle it, and then move on to the next question.

Give yourself five to 10 minutes to complete this wordsearch, and then come back when you're done and we'll have a look at the answers.

Brilliant, now let's have a look at the answers to this task.

Number one, to which place did devout Muslims make a pilgrimage? The answer is Mecca, and you'll find that there on the wordsearch.

Two, the centre of trade on the border of the Sahara Desert was called the Salel.

You can see it right there on the word search.

Three, the rulers of mixed Islamic and traditional practises.

We know the rulers of Songhay mixed Islamic and traditional practises.

Four, Mansa took 12,000 royal servants on his pilgrimage each carrying a bar of gold.

The answer is Musa.

And then five, rulers in West Africa became wealthy from controlling the supply of gold.

Really well done.

Let's move on to the second part of our lesson.

Now, the second part of the lesson, we're going to be looking at the problems in the Sahel, because while these kingdoms were very wealthy and full of culture that sometimes blended Islamic culture with traditional African cultures and practises, they were facing some problems, and increasingly so.

In this part of the lesson, we're going to be looking at two of the problems that they faced.

Now the first problem becomes clear when we think about what they were trading and what they were getting in exchange.

So we've already mentioned that these kingdoms had access to gold mines, kingdoms like Mali, Kano, and Mossi, they all had access to large gold mines.

We can see how much gold they have if we think again about that map that we saw earlier with Mansa Musa holding his orb of gold.

However, when these traders would arrive in West Africa, they were often trading the gold in exchange for textiles, so cloth and clothing.

The problem was that over time, gold becomes increasingly more valuable.

We know that now today, if you had a bar of gold, we can assume you're probably really wealthy, but textiles, cloth and clothing, not as much.

If you had a bar of gold, you probably wouldn't trade it for a T-shirt.

No matter how valuable the T-shirt was, you can probably assume the gold is worth more.

So what this meant was essentially the wealth in West Africa was being traded out of the region because they were bringing in less valuable goods, and they were taking out really, really valuable goods, bars of gold.

This was a huge problem because it meant that over time these kingdoms would continue to lose their wealth.

And remember, we spoke in the beginning about just how wealthy these kingdoms were.

Now, before we have a look at the second problem, we're gonna stop for a moment and check our understanding so far.

I would like you to tell me whether this statement is true or false.

Wealth was being traded out of West Africa.

Pause the video, have a think.

And when you think you know the answer, please come back and press play.

Brilliant, the answer is true.

We know that wealth was being traded out of West Africa, but again, we need to think about why this was the case.

Is it true because A, gold over time was far more valuable than the textiles it was being traded for, or B, merchants travelled to West Africa to take gold and gave nothing in exchange? Again, pause the video, have a think, and when you've got an answer, come back and press play.

Excellent, we know the answer is A, so wealth was being traded out of West Africa, and that is a true statement because gold over time was far more valuable than the textiles it was being traded for.

Now, we get the first problem, let's have a look at the second.

Now, earlier I mentioned that one of our keywords was caravan.

We haven't seen it yet, and it's relevant for this part of the lesson because as we know, caravans are large groups of merchants travelling across the desert usually for trade purposes.

Now, these groups were often really, really big, and they travelled across the desert using camels.

One caravan could contain as many as 12,000 camels.

With these 12,000 camels were often lots of valuable goods.

Now, this doesn't necessarily sound like a problem, but the problem came when you think about the fact that every one of these caravans would've needed protection because they would've been very vulnerable to attack in the desert.

And the problem was, as trade increased, these caravans became increasingly vulnerable and therefore needed more protection.

And the problem with providing protection was often that it was military forces sent to protect these caravans.

But an increasing military presence often inevitably leads to more violence.

And this increasing violence would look to be a problem for many of these kingdoms because sometimes this violence would spread not just across the trade routes, but back into the kingdoms themselves.

And if we have a look at the map here, we can see all these different kingdoms. But the two that I highlighted to you earlier, Mali and Songhay, are going to be important in thinking about this second problem because the kingdom of Songhay became the most powerful kingdom of the Sahel after the fall of Mali.

And one of the reasons for the fall of Mali was this spread of violence.

The kingdom of Mali eventually began to collapse as a result of internal problems in the kingdom that were made increasingly worse by the spread of violence.

Now obviously, this worked in the favour of the kingdom of Songhay because they continue to flourish in this period.

They continued to gain wealth across this time, and they continued to expand.

The city of Gao, where the people of Songhay came from, became the centre of trade in this region.

Where it was previously part of the Mali Empire, where it was previously part of the kingdom of Mali, Gao was now part of the kingdom of Songhay.

It was the city that continued to make it increasingly wealthy.

The access to the gold mines that we talked about earlier continued to be traded with different merchants.

And although this would cause problems in terms of declining wealth in the long run, it still worked out for them in the 1400s.

And thus trade in the Sahel continued to grow.

And as trade in the Sahel continued to grow, the Sahel gained the attention of Europeans in the 1440s, and that's when the story begins to change quite drastically.

But we're going to pause our story there for today.

Now we're going to check our understanding of what we've learned in the second part of the lesson and then have a go at putting it into practise.

Really well done.

Let's get through this final part.

The first question I'd like you to answer is on the slide, military forces were used to guard caravans on trade routes.

Why was this a problem? Was it because A, the military forces were too weak, B, the military forces rebelled against their rulers, or C, more military force led to more violence? I'd like you to pause the video now, have a think and then come back and press play when you've got an answer.

Excellent work, the answer is C.

It's because more military force often led to more violence.

Now I'd like you to consider a second question.

Why did more violence become a problem for the kingdoms in the Sahel? So we know that the increasing military force used to protect the caravans led to more violence.

But why was this one of the problems I mentioned for the kingdoms in the Sahel? Was it because A, violence spread into some kingdoms and led to the collapse of power, B, violence forced many Europeans to leave decreasing trade and wealth in the region, or C, violence led to some kingdoms trying to take gold from other kingdoms? Again, pause the video.

Give yourself a moment to make a decision.

And when you think you know the answer, come back and press play.

Fantastic work, the answer is A.

It's because violence spread into some kingdoms and led to the collapse of power.

One example is the kingdom of Mali.

Now we're gonna put what we've learned into practise.

In a moment, I'm going to put up two statements, one by Jun and one by Jacob.

I want you to explain who you think makes the most convincing judgement about the problems in the Sahel.

So Jun says, "The biggest problem in the Sahel was the loss of wealth as gold was being traded out of West Africa in exchange for textiles, which were less valuable." Not a bad point.

However, Jacob on the other hand says that "Increasing violence was the main problem in the Sahel as the attacks on caravans spread into powerful kingdoms." Also not a bad point, but now I need you to not only pick which student you think makes the more convincing judgement , but explain why you think that.

Pause the video now.

Give yourself five to 10 minutes to write a paragraph to explain, and then come back and press play when you're done.

Excellent, now let's have a look at what you might have written.

"I think that Jun makes the more convincing argument about the problems in the Sahel as the loss of wealth would cause huge problems to the local rulers as the rulers, like Mansa Musa, had controlled the trade of gold, they had become more wealthy and powerful.

If this wealth continued to leave the Sahel, then these rulers would also lose their power and their kingdoms might begin to collapse." This is a brilliant paragraph because this example uses two of our keywords in their answer as well as details that they've learned throughout the lesson.

For the final task, I want you to consider why someone might disagree with your response.

Here's a reminder of what the two students said.

So if in the previous task, like the example, you agreed with Jun, I want you to think about why somebody might then agree with Jacob.

If you had agreed with Jacob, I now want you to think about why somebody would agree with Jun and explain why they might make that point.

Again, give yourself five to 10 minutes, have a think about the opposite argument to the one you just made, and try and explain why that argument might be made.

Once you've written that short paragraph, come back and we'll have a look at what that answer might have looked like.

Brilliant work, let's have a look at what you could have written.

"Someone might disagree with my response and argue that Jacob makes them more convincing judgement about the problems in the Sahel.

They might argue that the attacks on caravans, which led to increased violence, brought a greater threat to local kingdoms than the loss of wealth.

This is because when the increased violence spread from the trade routes into the kingdoms, rulers could be overthrown by rebellions rather than lose their power 'cause of a loss of wealth." Now, again, this is great because there were two keywords used.

You might want to take a moment just to have a look at how many of the keywords you managed to use in your example.

You've done absolutely fantastic this lesson.

I'm so impressed.

The last thing we're gonna do is just look at a summary of what we've learned today.

So in today's lesson, we've learned that the Sahel was home to kingdoms that were rich in culture and wealth like Mali and Songhay.

We've also learned that these kingdoms became rich from the growing trade with Islamic states, which also led to some West African rulers becoming devout Muslims. Mansa Musa would be an example of one.

We also learned that there were growing problems in the Sahel as wealth was being traded out of West Africa, and attacks on caravans were becoming more common.

And finally, we know that the wealth of the Sahel attracted European attention in the 1440s.

But that's where we stopped our story for today.

Again, fantastic work this lesson.

I'm so impressed, really well done.