Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to today's history lesson.

My name is Mr. Merrett, and I'll be guiding you through today's lesson.

Let's get going.

Today's lesson is looking at new civilizations in the Sahel, and by the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to explain why new civilizations, such as the Mali Empire, emerged across the Sahel.

In order to do that, we need to use some key terms, and our key terms for today are empire, trade, Mansa, and Islam.

An empire is a group of territories ruled over by one person or group of people.

Trade means the exchange of goods.

Mansa is the word used in the Mali Empire to refer to the king or the emperor, and Islam is the religion of Muslims.

So now that we're comfortable with those key terms, let's get going on the lesson.

Today's lesson will comprise of three separate learning cycles.

In our first learning cycle, we'll be looking at the fall of the Ghana Empire.

So the Ghana Empire was the first of the Great West African civilizations to make its mark upon the region.

It'd become wealthy, trading primarily in gold and salts.

Ghana was nicknamed the "Land of Gold" by some of the Muslim traders who saw it there, but it also made a lot of money by trading in enslaved people.

In order to capture those enslaved people, there's a lot of victories over its neighbors.

Now I say victories partly that was due or designed to secure its borders, but actually a great reason why they went to war with their neighbors was for the sole purpose of capturing slaves.

So that was a big reason for why the Ghana Empire became wealthy.

By the 12th century, however, a number of factors had caused the Ghana Empire to decline.

One of those was desertification, which is the spreading of the Sahara Desert deeper into the Sahel, which means that it becomes more difficult to produce enough food to feed the population effectively.

The Sahara Desert is getting larger, which means that the area for producing crops is growing smaller.

As well as that, the area for grazing animals to graze, to gain food, also grows smaller as well.

As a result of this, many people moved away into more fertile areas.

Generally speaking, they'll have moved south into the grasslands, into the rainforest where it is a little bit easier to grow food than it is into the ever-diminishing Sahel and certainly easier to grow food than in the Sahara Desert.

As well as this, a strict Islamic group called the Almoravid invaded the Ghana Empire and forced its people to convert to Islam.

Now it's worth pointing out that the aristocracy, the highest social class within the Ghana Empire, had already accepted Islam previously.

So there was already a culture of Muslims living within the Ghana Empire.

So it wasn't the case of this is a brand new religion for everyone, a distinct subsection of that culture had already fully embraced Islam.

The Almoravids forced everybody else to embrace Islam as well though, so that's kind of the key thing there as well.

Now the reason why the social elite and the Ghana Empire had already embraced Islam, was partly because, by sharing the same religion as the Muslim traders who visited the Ghana Empire, they gained better trade deals as a result.

So Muslim traders generally offer better trade deals, more favorable trade deals, or they just traded more with other Muslims.

So by doing so, obviously you spread the religion amongst people who are interested in trade, amongst people who are interested in that style of religion as well, and you can forge connections.

So that's part of the reason why the Ghanaian aristocracy had already converted to Islam as well.

Having said that, the other people within the Ghana Empire still followed their traditional beliefs, and the traditional beliefs of West Africa is known as animism.

And animism is the belief that spirits inhabit certain things and places and affect how people live their daily lives.

So spirits animate or inhabit certain rocks, or certain trees, or certain rivers, and if you are interacting with those features, for instance, if you're going out hunting along the river, then you would want to be in the good books of that particular spirit, of that particular river spirits.

Or if you are walking, I don't know beside a mountain, then you'll want to make sure that the spirit of that mountain looks upon you favorably.

So that's the whole idea behind animism, that spirits interact with and are part of the natural world around us.

So people in West Africa at that time believed that spirits need to be properly dealt with, otherwise they may well cause you issues, and if they're properly dealt with, the spirits would offer help, and they would offer guidance.

But, of course, if you didn't deal with them properly or didn't deal with them at all, then they would offer problems for you that you would have to resolve instead.

Now the aggressive Almoravid religious conversion was resisted as well, which led to violence, and it weakened the empire, naturally.

Although the Ghana Empire did convert to Islam, the vast majority of the people there did become Muslims, its power had been severely reduced.

The final reason for the fall of the empire was the discovery of new goldfields to the south, which were a little more removed from the borders of the Ghana Empire.

In its weakened state, the Ghana Empire was unable to exert control over these lands.

So although they're still in control over one of the goldfields, they didn't control this new goldfield, and instead other West African kingdoms that Ghana had previously dominated, in its wars, in its battles in order to try and secure its borders and gain slaves, they then took control of those goldfields, and they took control of the trade that passed to and from those goldfields as well.

And as a result of that, those trade routes provided wealth that was previously going to the Ghana Empire.

They now passed to other kingdoms.

Most notably it passed to the kingdom of Sosso.

Okay, so let's have a quick check for understanding now.

So, "Which Islamic group invaded the Ghana Empire?

" Was it the Abbasids, the Almoravids, or the Umayyads?

Choose one of those three now.

Okay, if you chose B the Almoravid, then very well done.

That is indeed correct.

So another check for understanding a true or false statement here, "Desertification was the only reason "for the decline of the Ghana Empire.

" Is that true or is that false?

Okay, if you chose false, then congratulations.

That is correct, but let's justify this answer.

Now, why is it false?

Is it false because, "Other reasons were invasion by the Mali Empire "and the discovery of new salt deposits?

" Or is it false because, "Other reasons were invasion by the Almoravids "and the discovery of new goldfields?

" So choose your justification now.

All right, if you chose B, then congratulations.

That is indeed correct.

Right, let's go for our first Task for today then.

So I have two interpretations on the screen in front of you, one from Sofia and one from Alex.

And what I would like you to do is think about which one do you agree with more about the main reason for the decline of the Ghana Empire?

Just to make it really clear, an interpretation is someone's opinion which is supported by evidence.

So if you think something and you think that because you've read something, then that is an interpretation.

So Sofia says, "If there hadn't been fights over religion, "then the Ghana Empire would have been strong enough "to take control of the new goldfields.

" Whereas Alex says, "If the new goldfields hadn't been found, "then Ghana would still have controlled the main trade route "and all the wealth that came with it.

" So what you now need to do is out of those two interpretations, which one do you agree with more about the main reason for the decline of the Ghana Empire?

Whichever one you choose, just make sure you explain why you've chosen it.

So pause the video whilst you do that Task, and I'll see you once you've finished.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got on okay with that Task.

Let's look at the model answer that I got on the screen here then.

So I said, "I agree with Sofia's interpretation more.

"The Ghana Empire had previously been strong enough "to control its neighbors, "whom they used to sell into slavery.

"So if they had not been weakened by fighting over religion, "then they could have used their strength "to control the new goldfields, "just as they had controlled the old ones.

" Now it's important to say that my answer isn't right.

There is no right answer.

It's just my interpretation.

It's my opinion, and I've justified my opinion by explaining why I think that.

If you think Alex's interpretation is more correct, that's absolutely fine as well as long as you justify it.

As long as you explain why you think that, that's the key behind this Task here.

Let's move on now though to our second learning cycle for today, which is looking at the rise of the Mali Empire.

So the ruler of the Sosso kingdom was believed at the time to be a great sorcerer who used his powers to conquer the lands surrounding his own, including much of the former Ghana Empire.

It's probably worth pointing out at this point in time that in terms of kind of the whole idea of magical powers, many people in West Africa believed that blacksmiths were essentially sorcerers.

They were essentially magicians, because they could take one thing and turn it into another.

They could take raw iron and turn it into a tool or into a weapon, and that, from one perspective, can be seen as a form of magic.

So it's likely that the ruler of the Sosso kingdom was probably a really, really good blacksmith or his particular tribe were particularly skilled blacksmiths.

So that's the most likely explanation for what we mean by the fact that he was a great sorcerer, okay.

Now his short rule was unpopular, and during the 1230s, the people of the kingdoms he conquered, as an example here on the screen here we've got the kingdom of Sosso, conquered all of these kingdoms, they came together, they joined together under an inspiring leader known called Sundiata Keita.

And Sundiata Keita and these other kingdoms defeated the kingdom of Sosso in battle.

The rulers of the different kingdoms agreed to follow Sundiata Keita, who was nicknamed the "Lion Prince", also sometimes known as the "Lion King", and they gave him the title of Mansa or Emperor.

Mansa Sundiata Keita's new lands became known as the Mali Empire.

So whereas the Sosso King ruled through fear, Sundiata Keita ruled through respect.

Each of the kingdoms sent representatives to offer their opinion and a voice on how Sundiata Keita should rule the Mali Empire.

So although Sundiata Keitar was in charge, the reality is that all these other kingdoms, they had a voice, they had a say, in how the empire was to be run.

Many of these kingdoms were also granted some measure of independence as well.

And the goodwill that Sundiata Keita managed to create allowed him to look to expand his empire further, because he didn't need to worry about rebellion.

The people within his empire were very happy.

They had a voice.

They had a say in how the empire was run.

In a lot of cases, they had their own independence still.

It's just that they were stronger together.

And so as a result of that, Sundiata Keita never had to look over his shoulder.

He could look forward into how to expand the empire even further.

Sundiata Keita absorbed what had been the Ghana Empire into Mali, but his main goal was control over the increasingly wealthy Trans-Saharan trade cities of Walatah, Timbuktu, and Djenne.

And whereas the empire of Ghana was to the west of where Mali started out, these other cities were kind of to the north and to the east.

So we're looking in different directions here.

Mali in control of these towns as well as the gold mining areas to the south, both the gold mining area that the Ghana Empire had previously controlled and the new gold mining area that'd been discovered as well, these ensure that the Mali Empire quickly became the richest and most powerful civilization in Western Africa.

So, quick check for understanding now.

"Sundiata Keita or the 'Lion Prince' "was the first emperor or Mansa of Mali.

" Is that true or is that false?

Decide now.

Okay, if you chose true, then very well done.

That is indeed true.

But let's justify this statement now though.

Why is that a true statement?

Is it true because, "Sundiata Keita was given the title of Mansa "after defeating all of the other kings in the region?

" Or is it true because, "Sundiata Keita was given the title of Mansa "after defeating the Sosso King in battle?

" So choose your justification now.

All right, if you chose B, then very well done.

That is indeed the reason why Sundiata Keita became the first Mansa of Mali.

Let's go for another check for understanding now though.

"Sundiata Keita ruled in a similar way to the Sosso King.

" Is that true or is that false?

All right, if you chose false, then very well done.

It is indeed a false statement, but why is it false?

Let's justify it.

Is it false because, "While Sundiata Keita's weak rule meant many rebellions, "the Sosso King's tough rule inspired respect?

" Or is it false because, "While the Sosso King ruled kingdoms through fear, "Sundiata gave kingdoms some independence?

" So choose one of those two justifications now.

All right, if you chose B, then well done indeed.

That is indeed the correct answer.

All right, let's go for our second Task for today then.

So I've got another interpretation on the screen now.

We've got Andeep's interpretation, and what I would like you to think about is that Andeep believes that this is the main reason for the rise of the Mali Empire.

And his reason is that, "The reason why Mali became an empire "was because the Sosso King was so unpopular.

" So that's Andeep's interpretation.

What I would like you to do is write a counter-argument to that interpretation.

So just to make it clear, a counter-argument explains why you disagree with the interpretation.

So in other words, why do you think that Andy could be seen as wrong?

What other reasons are there for why Mali became an empire?

So pause the video while you have a go at that.

Try and use some specific details as well in your answer, and I'll see you once you're finished.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully, you got on fine with that Task.

Let's see what you could have written.

So I've got an answer on the screen here.

Let's see what I've got.

So I said, "I think there was "another reason why Mali became an empire.

"This was the leadership of Sundiata Keita.

"Without his leadership, "the other kingdoms might not have "come together to defeat the king of Sosso.

"They might have been too frightened "of his reputation as a great sorcerer.

" So that's one reason why you could argue that the Mali Empire came into being, because of the leadership of Sundiata Keita.

You might have different reasons, which is absolutely fine.

As long as you've explained it and justified it, that's the key thing here.

Let's move on now then to our third and final learning cycle for today, which is looking at religion in the Mali Empire.

So the rulers of Mali and the people who lived in the trade cities were generally followers of Islam.

So it's relatively similar to the Ghana Empire in that respect.

The people who lived in the cities and the aristocracy, that the elite of the Malian Empire, they generally were Muslims.

The people who lived in the countryside, generally, retained their traditional animistic practices, so again very similar to the original style of the Ghanaian Empire.

A later Malian leader, a man named Mansa Musa, tried to ensure his subjects all converted to Islam.

So he believed that the best way to bring the empire together was to make sure that everybody followed the same religion.

However, it spectacularly backfired.

And the reason being, is that the gold miners to the south refused to dig for gold unless they could follow their own beliefs.

So again the whole idea of animistic beliefs is that the spirits of the local area help you.

The spirits in the local area in the goldfields had made these people tremendously rich.

So from their perspective, there was no reason to change to a new religion, because their old religion was working just fine for them.

So they downed tools.

They refused to dig for more gold.

And Mansa Musa was forced to backtrack, and he allowed them to believe whatever they wanted to believe as long as they continued to supply his empire with gold.

This taught Mansa Musa an important lesson.

He had tried to make all of his subjects Muslim as a way to bring them all together, but instead it had nearly torn the empire apart.

And as a result of this, tolerance of different beliefs and a blending of Islam and traditional practices became a successful model for the Mali Empire to build upon.

So although the ruler of Mali was a Muslim, the reality is, is that he was also the head of these animistic beliefs, these traditional beliefs of West Africa.

So his role was designed to combine these two different religious practices together.

Following Islam was popular in the cities of Timbuktu and Djenne, and this is where Trans-Saharan Muslim traders would travel to and they'd feel most comfortable in when they visited Mali.

And beautiful mosques were built here, and we can see on the screen the example there, of the Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu.

Sharing a religion with other nations north of the Sahara also increased the chance of opening up profitable trade deals for the aristocracy.

At this time, not allowing the majority of the population to continue their traditional animistic worship, may well have risked a lot of unrest and difficulty.

Mansa Musa saw that in the goldfields, but that very well could have spread into different kingdoms or different regions of the empire.

So it just made more sense just to let everybody believe what they wanted to believe, as long as unrest was kept to a minimum, as long as everybody obeyed the rules and followed the laws.

Now, not everybody approved of this religious compromise.

Ibn Battuta, who is on the screen in front of you there, he was a famous Muslim scholar and explorer from North Africa.

He visited Mali in 1352.

He actually traveled all over the Islamic world to a variety of different Islamic areas and wrote about his travels.

And in 1352, he traveled south of the Sahara, and he visited Mali as well.

Now he was very pleased that Mali was a religious country whose people attended Islamic worship.

He had a lot of good things to say about the people in that respect, but he was appalled that even the Mansa took part in animistic rituals.

From his perspective, the Malian people weren't doing Islam right.

They weren't following Islam in the way that he had been brought to believe was the correct way.

So although they were Muslims, they weren't proper Muslims, in a sense, that they weren't doing things in the way that Ibn Battuta felt they should be.

It's probably worth pointing out that it worked absolutely fine for the people of Mali, so their religious beliefs worked for them.

Now a quick check for understanding.

"Which religion did the scholar "and explorer Ibn Battuta follow?

" Was it Christianity, Hinduism, or Islam?

Okay, if you chose Islam, then very well done, and he was indeed a Muslim scholar.

Let's go for Task C.

So this is what Ibn Battuta thought about religious practices in the Mali Empire.

I'm going to show you a source of his in just a moment.

Once you've read it, I want you to think to yourself, "Was his interpretation positive or negative?

" I want you to explain your thinking.

So did he think it was good or bad, and why do you think he felt that?

So Ibn Battuta says, "For festivals, the poets come in.

"Each of them is inside a figure "that looks like a thrush," which is a type of bird.

"It's made of feathers "with a wooden thrush's head with a red beak.

"They stand in front of the Musa "in this ridiculous costume "and recite their poems.

"I was told that this grotesque ceremony "is a very old custom amongst them "from before the introduction of Islam, "and that they have kept it up.

" So these are Ibn Battuta's thoughts about religious practices in the Mali Empire?

Are they positive or are they negative?

And why do you think that?

So pause the video now.

I want you to have a go at that Task, and I'll see you once you're done.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got on fine with that Task.

So here's the answer I've got on the screen.

Let's see if yours is similar to mine.

So I said that, "Ibn Battuta does not have a very positive "interpretation of religious practices in the Mali Empire.

"I know this because he calls it 'a grotesque ceremony,' "which is a very negative way to describe "what is happening.

" So what I've done there is I've actually picked out a quote from the source to support the point that I am making, and ideally you'll be doing something very similar to that as well.

Let's just go for one last Task for today though.

I want us to think about why.

Why does Ibn Battuta have this view?

And we're going to use the provenance to help us.

Now the provenance is this bit on the screen that is written in blue.

So the provenance tells you who wrote a source, when they wrote it, why they wrote it, and it might give you a little bit of information about the person as well, or perhaps the time period in which they're writing.

So the provenance is the who, what, where, why, how, for want of a better word, and it gives you a little bit more detail surrounding the source.

So let's read through that provenance now to help us understand a little bit more about Ibn Battuta.

So, "Ibn Battuta was a strict Muslim "who traveled roughly 75,000 miles "during his travels across his whole life, "mostly in Muslim-controlled land.

"He was very respected and met many important people.

" He met many rulers of many different kingdoms and empires.

"He wrote about his journeys so that others could find out "what life was like in different parts "of the Islamic world.

" So based on this information, why do we think that Ibn Battuta has such a negative view of religious practices in the Mali Empire?

So pause the video whilst you answer this question, and I'll see you once you're finished.

Okay, welcome back.

Hope you got on okay with that Task.

So here's what I've got on the screen here.

Let's have a read through it.

So I said that, "I think Ibn Battuta has this interpretation "because, as a strict Muslim, "he would want people to follow his religion "if they had the opportunity to do so.

" And again the people of Mali were Muslim, but they had their own local version of Islam, which combined some of the more traditional beliefs, and that worked for them.

Ibn Battuta was happy they're Muslim, but wasn't happy that they didn't follow the Islamic religion in the exact same way that he did, okay.

Right, let's summarize the lesson now then.

So new civilizations grew up in the Sahel as the Ghana Empire declined and trade increased.

Trade from new goldfields bypassed the Ghana Empire, which made other kingdoms in the region wealthy and powerful.

The Mali Empire was one new civilization which expanded.

The rulers of Mali and the people who lived in the trade cities were generally followers of Islam, and the people who lived in the countryside outside of the cities, generally retained their traditional religious practices.

Thank you very much for joining me today.

Hopefully, you've enjoyed yourself.

Hopefully, you learned something, and hopefully I'll see you again next time.

Bye, bye.