Marked Koumbi Saleh, Mauritania

SubjectIn outline · lessons being written

The Empire of Ghana

The Soninke kingdom of Wagadu, which Arabic writers called Ghana, grew rich by controlling the gold that crossed the Sahara. In 1068 the Andalusian geographer al-Bakri described its king’s court.

Place
Koumbi Saleh, Mauritania · AwdaghustAfrica
Laid out as
An empireOne power across a long stretch of time: how it grew, held together, and came apart.
Lessons
5 planned, none written yet

The lessons we plan

Titles may change as they are written

  1. IWagadu and Ghana
  2. IIGold from the south, salt from the north
  3. IIIAl-Bakri’s description
  4. IVKoumbi Saleh
  5. VThe end of Ghana

Still to come

The people and objects these lessons will cover

People

  • Al-Bakri
  • Tunka Manin
  • Dinga Cisse (in legend)

Objects

  • Remains at Koumbi Saleh

Where it sits

All of human history, era by era

Early human ancestryOur species and the Old Stone AgeFarming and the New Stone AgeFirst cities and the Bronze AgeThe Iron Age and growing statesThe classical worldAfter the empiresMedieval networks and empiresOceans crossedRevolutions and the first factoriesIndustry, empire and world warThe world since 1945

AD 700 to 1240. Each era is drawn the same width, so the earliest are squeezed: era II alone is over 300,000 years.

Nearby in time and place

This page is an outline. The summary above is a starting point; each lesson, when it is written, will give its sources, its pictures and where historians disagree. Spotted a mistake?