New
New
Year 7
Trade routes throughout West Africa
I can describe the geography of West Africa and the Ghana Empire.
New
New
Year 7
Trade routes throughout West Africa
I can describe the geography of West Africa and the Ghana Empire.
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- West Africa is rich in gold deposits.
- The Sahel is an area between the Sahara Desert and the savannah.
- Important trade routes existed from North Africa through to the Far East.
- These trade routes also stretched across the Sahel.
- Powers like the Ghana Empire profited from these trade routes.
Keywords
Trade - trade means the exchange of goods
Empire - an empire is a group of territories ruled over by one person or group of people
Sahel - the Sahel is a dry region bordering the southern Sahara Desert
Common misconception
The Ghana Empire was located in the modern-day country of Ghana.
The Ghana Empire was located in the Sahel, north of the Niger River, which is nowhere near the modern-day country of Ghana.
At the start of the lesson, ask students to write down at least three questions they would like answering about African history. Refer back to this list as you progress through the unit, encouraging students to answer their own questions if they can.
Teacher tip
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on
Open Government Licence version 3.0
except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).Lesson video
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Starter quiz
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6 Questions
Q1.
What was the main religion in the Middle East and North Africa during the Medieval period?
Christianity
Judaism
Hinduism
Q2.
Complete the sentence: medieval Christians called the city of Jerusalem and its surrounding area the __________ land.
desert
fabled
right
Q3.
Which definition best describes an empire?
A group of cities located in the same region
A city that breaks away from a country in order to rule itself
A city ruled by a country that is far away
Q4.
The religion of Islam was revealed to which of the following?
Ibrahim
Isa
Nuh
Q5.
Place these events into chronological order.
Q6.
Complete the sentence: a follower of Islam is called a .
Exit quiz
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6 Questions
Q1.
What is the longest river in West Africa? It is over 2600 miles long.
The Congo River
The River Nile
The Zambezi River
Q2.
Match the keywords to their correct definitions.
the exchange of goods
a group of territories ruled over by one person or group of people
a dry region bordering the southern Sahara Desert
Q3.
Which desert can be found on the northern border of West Africa?
Atacama
Gobi
Mojave
Q4.
What were the most important trade items in the trans-Saharan trade?
silver
bronze
pepper
Q5.
How much of the gold in medieval Europe came from West Africa?
one third
half
three quarters
Q6.
Complete the sentence: the first people to take full advantage of the trans-Saharan trade routes was the Empire.
Additional material
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