Ancient Civilization of Mali

Ancient Mali Civilization

The largest desert in the world

Major Exports:

• Gold
• Salt
• Copper

Major Imports:

• Cloth
• Fruit
• Metal Goods

HISTORY TIMELINE

• There is little written history of Mali
• It is said through modern oral traditions that Mali was originally a province under the rule of the Empire of Ghana. When Ghana crumbled, Mali rose and built an even greater empire
• Other resources say that that area of Africa was diveded between three major kingdoms: Ghana, Mali, and Songhai
• These three kingdoms controlled all trade of gold up and down the Niger river

Mali is the empire known to have been the first people to have Islam as their chief religion

The ancient Malians created wood carvings, jewelry, masks, and brightly colored cloth to sell and trade.

The most common Malian building was a mosque, which was sun dried mud packed into a tall oblique-like shape with branches sticking out.

Interesting Facts

• The first ruler of Mali, Sundiata Keita, was known as "The Lion King"
• Mansa Musa was known to build mosques every Friday
• All Mansas of Mali had to be able to date their lineage back to Bilal, the servant of Muhammad

1240 CE

Ghana falls under the advance of Sundiata Keita and Mali is established

1280 CE

Mansa Musa is crowned as ruler over Mali; said to be the greatest king in all Mali's history

1324 CE

Mansa Musa takes his famous pilgrimage to Mecca, taking 60,000 of his people and much of his empire's gold

1325 CE

Mansa Musa returns to Mali from Mecca and claims Timbuktu for the empire

Location

1330 CE

The kingdom of Mossi invades and captures Timbuktu

1332 CE

Mansa Musa dies; his sons reign after him, and the empire begins to fall apart

1610 CE

The empire of Mali falls

The ancient civilization of Mali was located in the western part of Northern Africa., encompassing basically all parts of land between the edge of the Sahara Desert and the Atlantic Ocean. It rose from the ruins of the fall of the ancient empire of Ghana along the Niger river

Keeping The Peace

The article talks about how the United Nations are sending peackeepers into Mali (11,200 soldiers and 1,440 policeman, to keep the fighting between French-led troops and the retreating militants very low key. However, Russia is worried that the peacekeepers will only drive the retreating Islamic militants into a frenzy, and return with force. They eblieve that bringing in the peacekeepers will have "unpredictable and unclear consequences." But the vote in the end was 15-to-0, and the troops will be deployed on July 1 of this year.

Location

The theme of location in this article is found in present-day Mali, which is in Western Africa.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/world/africa/un-security-council-establishes-peacekeeping-force-in-mali.html?ref=mali&_r=0

The region in this article is functional because the entire article is focused and centered around the fighting going on in Mali

Region

Movement

The theme of movement is represented in this article by the troops being deployed to Mali by the United Nations Security Council.

Place

Human-Environment Interaction

The type of human-environment interaction in this article is adapt. The soldiers from the UK will have to adapt to living in this new climate and deal with lacking many utilities they would have in abundance at home.

• Human characteristics: the guns used by the peacekeepers to protect Mali and the planes they'll have to ride in to get there
• Physical Characteristics: the Niger River and the Sahara desert that they'll be living near

Natural Resources

Not only did Mali have the Niger river for fishing and watering their crops, the great empire found its economy mailnly on the trade of gold. There were many gold mines in their region,

Religion

People of ancient Mali believed in "Spirits of the Land". It is stated through oral stories that even though the Mansa had a direct link to these spirits, the farmers were the ones to have had the most faith. The religion of Islam is said not to have come into the land until the 13th century by traders

Art and Architecture

Physical Geography

Climate

Landforms

Mali is rainy in the summers, swelling the Niger beyond it's banks and causing flooding. The winters are dry and cool.

The southern part Mali was mostly grassland, were the people chiefly did their farming; the northern part was closest to the Sahara, making it very arid.

• Sahara Desert
• Atlantic Ocean
• Niger River