Ghana And Mali :: essays research papers

Before Columbus sailed to the New World and before Europereached their heaven Era two significant kingdoms flourishedon the west coast of what some refer to as the motherland Africa.The name of these two mighty states atomic number 18 gold coast and Mali. Ghanawas the first West African state of which their was any record. Afterthe downfall near the end of the eleventh century, Mali rose up to taketheir stead as the economic, religious, and cultural hub of WestAfrica. These two states are very similar yet differ in many ways also.The economy of the two states are very similar. Ghanaianswere primarily an agricultural community. Most of the people weresubstance farmers who lived off of their own farms and livestock.Many people choose to trade with neighboring villages through their knob town, Kumbi Saleh. The people of Mali were also predominatelyagricultural. Most people who did not engage in farming, worked asartisans. The rich mines of Bure also served as income for somepeople o f Mali. The economies of both states were link in that theyboth were primarily agricultural.Religion is another topic of comparison for the two enormouskingdoms. The Religion of Ghana during the eleventh century was a theology based on the belief that every earthly object contained goodor evil spirits that had to be satisfied if the people were to prosper.However in 1076, Muslims invaded the state and converted theirreligion to Islam. The people of Mali were firm Muslims. These peopletook at least one pilgrimage a lifetime to the holy city of Mecca. They traveled in caravans across hundreds of miles of dessert to kiss theKabba (a black stone believed to have religious powers). Bothkingdoms were primarily Muslim because it allowed them to tradefreely with other Islamic states.Although both kingdoms flourished, their reign of West Africahad to come to an end. The decline of Ghana began with the invasionof Muslims. Ghana still held on shortly after this, but was finished by aseries of droughts that dried up important life giving rivers.