Social Studies – Ancient Mali – Day Two

11:20 – 11:55

Name of lesson Ancient Mali – Introduction – Day Two

Content Standards 3.2 The student will study the early West African empire
of Mali by describing its oral tradition (storytelling),
government (kings), and economic development (trade).

Specific Content  The student will recall information about Ancient

Mali
 The student will evaluate their work and effort in
terms of their projects

My Background Knowledge  Compared to Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece that

the government and culture of Ancient Mali was
very different. I also know that
 Students need to start developing skills of comparing
different societies and cultures as well as
understanding what makes cultures different to ours.

Materials needed/preplanning -Powerpoint

logistics

Activity description -Powerpoint – Use of Technology

 Picture of Mali
o Teacher Talk Aloud: In your history
notebooks, look at the map of Africa in your
notebook.
 Kings of Mali
o Teacher Talk Aloud: Ancient Mali had two
important leaders, called kings. The first one
was Sundiata. The second was Mansa Musa.
 Sundiata
 Sundiata was the first major
king because Ancient Mali
started prospering, or thrive
and grow, under his rule.
 Mansa Musa
 Mansa Musa is considered the
greatest king of Ancient Mali
because of the creation of
Timbuktu and because he
made Mali a major trading
 and learning center.
 Islam/Muslim
o Teacher Talk Aloud: After Mansa Musa
became king, he brought the religion of
Islam to Ancient Mali. This is how this area
started to believe in Islam
 Mali Trade
o Teacher Talk Aloud: In Ancient Mali, there
was two major items that were traded. These
were called natural resources, because they
came from nature. The first one was gold.
Why do you think gold was important?
o Talk about student answers.
o Teacher Think Aloud: The main reason that
gold was important was because it was easy
for the people of Ancient Mali to understand
the value of gold, just like we use money to
get certain things, they used gold to trade for
things. They would travel to the south to get
their gold, and once they had it they would
use it to trade for our second resource, which
is salt.
 Salt
o Teacher Talk Aloud: Why do you think salt
was something that was traded?
o Talk about student answers.
o Teacher Talk Aloud: Salt was used for one
very important thing. The first thing was to
preserve the food that people had so that
things like meat wouldn’t spoil. Another
thing was so that they would
 Timbuktu
o Ask students to find Timbuktu on their map
that they have in their history notebook.
o Teacher Talk Aloud: Timbuktu was a very
important city in Mali that Mansa Musa
created. Mansa Musa wanted a city where he
could have a place that was known for
learning. Because of this, he had universities
and libraries built. It also became the largest
trading center in Mali because there was
gold to the south and salt to the north.
o Have students find the Niger River on their
map.
o Teacher Talk Aloud: Timbuktu was on the
 Niger River, which also made it good for
trade, having food, and for washing.
 Griots
o Teacher Think Aloud: Other than the king,
some of the most important people in Ancient
Mali were griots, who were storytellers. Why
do you think they were important?
o Talk about student answers.
o Teacher Think Aloud: These griots told the
history of Ancient Mali and much of what we
know now is because of these griots.