GHANA KINGDOM

Old Ghana is the most well known of all the kingdoms of West Africa. It was most involved in the Trans-
Saharan gold trade. Hence literate Arabic speakers who visited it wrote about it, but it had no connection
with present day Ghana. Old Ghana was situated 640 kilometres north-west of modern Ghana Republic. Of
course there were other ancient kingdoms like Tekrur in the Senegal valley which had emerged as a
powerful trading state even earlier than Old Ghana. To the north-east of Lake Chad arose the empire of
Kanem, which began around 900 AD, comprising several nomadic pastoralist clans under a single dynasty
called Saifawa.
Origins of Old Ghana
The main ethnic group that founded the kingdom of Old Ghana were the Soninke people who spoke Soninke
language, a branch of the Mande language which itself was a major branch of the Niger-Congo group of
Bantu languages. Old Ghana dominated the border region of modern Mauritania and Mali between the 5 th
and the 13th centuries AD. The rulers of Old Ghana were able to amass wealth and to increase their power
by taxing the gold trade and importing luxury goods.
Thus, old Ghana emerged out of the natural ability of iron working farmers to form larger sedentary (settled)
communities. This was apart from advantages gained from neighbouring communities such as the Saharan
nomads (the Berbers) from whom they obtained horses. Thus, Sahara raids could have contributed to the
rise of Old Ghana as a powerful kingdom.

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Trade

The ancient kingdom of Ghana was founded in the western part of the savannah region of West Africa.
Arabs who conquered North Africa in the seventh and eighth centuries referred to the area as Bilad-al-
Sudan (“Land of Black People”), hence the modern name of Sudan. The word Ghana means “warrior king”
and was the title given to the rulers of the original kingdom whose Soninke name was Around 700 C.E. a
group of Soninke, who lived northwest of the great bend in the Niger River, founded the state of Wagadou.
This became an oasis along an important trade route where gold and ivory from the south were exchanged
for salt from the desert to the north. The Soninke forced the Berbers out of the region, and the empire of
Ghana expanded.
The Soninke founded the capital city of Kumbi Saleh, where more than 30,000 people lived. The Soninke,
were involved in subsistence farming and pastoralism. They grew a variety of crops, but the primary food
crop was millet. The location of the kingdom, between the fertile upper sections of the Senegal and Niger
Rivers, facilitated farming.
Given that most of the West African savannah was free of the tsetse fly, the Soninke practiced pastoralism,
keeping cattle, sheep, and goats for their meat, milk and skins. Ghana was also endowed with abundant
mineral deposits, especially iron ore and gold. The Soninke were able to produce iron implements such as
hoes, knives, axes, and iron-headed arrows. The Soninke established Kumbi-Saleh, which was located at

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the edge of developing Trans-Saharan Trade Routes, as the area’s first capital city. Trade, along with a
strong agricultural base, contributed to the early wealth of the empire. A diverse number of ethnic groups
existed within the capital, including Berbers and, later, various Islamic groups. The Ewe, Mande, and
ancestors of the Ga-Dangme were also inhabitants of early Ghana.
Kumbi-Saleh was both the capital and main commercial centre of Ghana. It was located in the south eastern
part of the modern state of Mauritanian. The city was divided into two towns that were about 6 miles (9.6
km) apart. One of these sections was called “Al Ghaba” (“forest”), due to the thicket around it. This section,
where the majority of the Soninke residents lived, was primarily made up of grass-thatched huts with mud
walls. The government was located in this section; the Ga¯na (king of Ghana) lived here in a stone palace
fitted with glass windows and surrounded by a fence, thus showing the influence of North African Muslims,
who had introduced this style of building. The Soninke employees of the government of Ghana lived in this
section of the town as well.
Although Ghanian monarchs had not embraced Islam before 1076, as they practiced traditional religions,
they allowed a mosque to be constructed near the palace for the use of Muslim ambassadors and North
African Muslims who were employed as civil servants at the court because they were literate in Arabic and
thus helped the kings communicate with the outside world.
The other section of Kumbi-Saleh was known as the Muslim section. It composed well-constructed stone
buildings; their architectural style was introduced by North African Muslim traders. This was the
commercial and educational center of Kumbi-Saleh. It had many Quranic schools and about twelve
mosques.
Young Muslim converts were taught Islamic theology as they read and wrote in Arabic and recited the
Qur’an. This neighborhood was the center from which Islam spread to other parts of Ghana and western
Sudan. The North African Muslim traders interacted freely with Muslim traders from other African regions
and took African women as wives or concubines, converting them and their offspring to Islam.
The Ghana king was more powerful than anyone and considered to be the father of all Soninke people. He
was the religious leader, chief of the army, and highest judge. His people worshiped and served him like a
god. Special drummers followed the king around. When he appeared in public, his subjects would lie on
the ground and throw dust on their heads.
The king controlled all the gold that was mined in his kingdom and began a system of tributes. As the
kingdom grew, a more organized government was needed. Conquered lands were left in charge of their
leaders, but their people were expected to obey the king and pay tribute to the Kingdom of Ghana. For
example, several small kingdoms to the north and south included Tekrur, Silla, Diara, and Kaniaga were
also conquered and became vassal states. The kings of these states were permitted to continue individual
rule over their respective kingdoms, while the ruler of Ghana maintained centralized control over the
empire.
By the eighth century North African traders had spread word of Ghana’s prominence as the “land of gold”.
Its reputation continued to grow after the 10th century, when the kingdom of Ghana conquered the
important Saharan trading centre of Awdoghast and began to emerge as an empire.
Economy
The economic prosperity of the Ghana Empire was based on trade in items such as ivory, gold, and kola
nuts and salt. However, the most important mineral in terms of Ghana’s power as a kingdom was gold.
Ghana’s proximity to the gold-producing regions of Bambuk, Bure, and Wangara placed it in the unique

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position of controlling vast amounts of the gold being transported north by caravan. In addition Ghana
controlled the trade to the south, especially the trade in salt, which was a rare and highly prized item in
West Africa.
From the southern region, gold was transported by porters to Kumbi-Saleh, the capital town of the kingdom
further north. In Kumbi- Saleh, gold was sold to North African traders, the Berbers and Arabs, who
transported it to North Africa. Some of this gold was sold to consumers in North Africa and the rest was
exported to Europe and the Middle East.
Ghana was widely known because of its large deposits of gold, which made ancient Ghana a rich kingdom.
The kingdom’s location in the savannah region enabled it to develop commercial relations with both North
Africa and the forest region in the south, and thus play a major role in the trans-Saharan trade. Since Ghana
was located in a plain, traders found it easy to traverse its territories during their trading activities.
The western trans-Saharan trade route, which started from Sijilmasa in Morocco and passed through
Taghaza and Awdoghast in the Sahara desert, had Kumbi-Saleh as its southern station. Goods from North
Africa were exchanged for goods from the forest region further south in the towns of Ghana. Using revenue
collected from the trans-Saharan trade, the rulers of Ghana were able to meet the expenses of administering
the kingdom. Kumbi-Saleh played a major role in the trans-Saharan trade. It was one of the leading
commercial centres in the western Sudan. Goods from North Africa and the Sahara desert were exchanged
with goods from western Sudan and the forest states further south. The Arab and Berber merchants from
North Africa brought goods such as mirrors, horses, silk cloth, glasses, palm dates, razor blades, and salt
and exchanged these goods with the Soninke and other southern African traders. The southern African
traders provided goods such as gold, kola nuts, ostrich feathers, and slaves. Some of the slaves offered for
sale at Kumbi-Saleh had been captured during the wars of conquest, as the Soninke of Ghana invaded the
neighbouring territories, and the rest were captured during the raids in the forest states. The commercial
transactions that were conducted in Kumbi-Saleh were based on barter trade.
The North African traders used some of the Soninke in Kumbi-Saleh as their agents for carrying on trade
throughout the year. The Soninke agents made arrangements for the accommodation of the North African
traders during their stay in Kumbi-Saleh. In addition to this, they ensured that the North African traders
maintained good relations with the rulers of Ghana. The Soninke agents advised the North African traders
to give gifts to the rulers of Ghana so that the latter would not interfere with trade.

Ghana’s wide-ranging trade network, which had been accumulating vast wealth from the caravan trade,
expanded to include items such as salt, gold, copper, horses, and human captives. Many of these captives
were enslaved and put to work in the gold mines that were located to the south. Slaves were also used for
agricultural labor, which led to the production of even greater quantities of crops such as millet, sorghum,
and cotton.
Much of Ghana’s wealth came from the taxes that it collected on trade. For example, a donkey- or camel-
load of copper, for example, reportedly was taxed at a rate of approximately half an ounce (14 grams) of
gold. General merchandise apparently was taxed at the rate of 1ounce (28 grams) of gold per load. These
taxes made it possible for Ghana to maintain astanding army of as many as 200,000 warriors, which was
used to provide merchants with security and safe passage along the trade routes.
By the 11th century Kumbi Saleh had developed to the point that the state was reportedly divided between
traditional Ghanaian rulers and Islamic merchants who were invited to Participate in the day-to-day affairs

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of the royal court. This began the decline of Ghana’sinfrastructure as a result of trading rivalries and internal
conflicts.
Decline
There is some speculation that because Ghana never fully embraced Islam, religious conflicts also had a
role in this social disintegration. The great wealth of the Kingdom of Ghana weakened during a seven-year
period of droughts. Crops died and famine spread throughout the kingdom. The king was no longer
powerful enough to control the salt and gold trade. Areas broke up into smaller kingdoms that began to
fight among each other for power.
Weakened from within, the Kingdom of Ghana was open to attack. Around 1076 C.E., Muslim warriors
from Morocco called Almoravids conquered the Kingdom of Ghana. The Almoravids were Berber Muslims
from Morocco under the leadership of Abu Bakr or Abd Alla Ibn Yasin. Tunka (ruler) Menim of Ghana
was allowed to maintain his throne while being compelled to pay tribute to the Almoravids. The Almoravids
controlled Ghana until 1088, and the empire never regained its earlier power.
Most of the causes and details of the final waning of Ghana’s empire still remain unclear. It appears that
Ghana’s great wealth attracted competitors bent on loosening the empire’s hold on trade. For example, the
Saharan Berbers based at the town of Awdoghast, north of Kumbi- Saleh, were envious of Ghana’s
prosperity. They wanted to control the trans-Saharan trade and make Awdoghast the southern terminal of
the western trans-Saharan route.