THE 7 CHARACTERISTIC of GHANA, MALI, & SONGHAI

Triple Threat

WRITING

MALI:

Malian oral literature is extremely rich, varied (proverbs, stories, epic poetry), and well researched. The Malian epic tradition (the story of Sunjata) is the most relevant to a discussion of national culture

GHANA:

Ghanians used a form of writing called cuneiform.

SONGHAI:

The Songhay or Songhai languages are a group of closely related languages centered around the middle stretches of the Niger River in the west African states of Mali, Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria. In particular, they are spoken in the cities of Timbuktu and Gao.

THE 7 CHARACTERISTIC of GHANA, MALI, & SONGHAI

GOVERNMENT

By: Dannon Olsen Tilker & Rashaun Jones

STABLE FOOD SUPLLY

MALI:

In the cities, rice is the preferred dish (40 percent of the daily food intake), followed by cereals (sorghum and millet, 35 percent), peanuts, sugar, and oil (20 percent). In the rural areas where rice is produced, farmers tend to consider rice a luxury item and they sell it.

GHANA:

in the forest lands of Ghana taro and plantation came to be very successful. maize and african rice were also grown there.

SONGHAI:

Their improvements in agriculture and greater productivity of the land, as prosperity grew the population expanded giving rise to larger towns.

MALI:

The founder of the Mali empire was King Sundiata or "The Lion King". Each province was ruled by a Governor.

GHANA:

The "kings" were presumably the rulers of the territorial units often called kafu in Mandinka. The rulers of Ghana had begun to incorporate more Muslims into government as the majority of his officials.

SONGHAI:

After the very death of Sunni Ali, his son, Bakori Da'a took over and ruled until the great Askia Muhammad overthrew him. Askia Muhammad was a great leader that brought Songhai to its dramatic height and made the Empire really, really powerful.

TECHNOLOGY

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

MALI:

Using established building techniques, architects and builders increased the size of the mosques to accommodate a larger Muslim population and underscore the importance of Islam.

GHANA:

Some of the most common tools found in the remains of Ghana were weapons. Ghana also had farming tools such as sickles, knifes, and scissors. Some tools in Ghana were actually invented by the Ghanians. This included machines that ran on a few natural resources. Seed oil, coal, and other things.

SONGHAI:

The people of Songhai could already melt iron ore to make tools for warfare and agriculture. Iron farming tools made agricultural methods far more efficient.

MALI:

The Mali empire society had four different groups everyone fit into. They had kings, priests, storytellers, and at the bottom were slaves.

GHANA:

There were Kings and Queens and just everybody else. It all depended with what you did on what your rank or class was.It depended what your job was, for the most part everybody was pretty equal BESIDES the King and Queen rank.

SONGHAI:

For a very long time, West African kingdoms had relied on slaves to carry out heavy work. The Arab slaves served mainly as crafts persons, potters, woodworkers, and musician.

RELIGION

MALI:

The Mali empires religion is not like others. The main religion in Mali was Muslim. They also had some Christianity. In the Mali empire, they believed that the chief of the city had direct contact with the spirits, and they had to honor their leaders in order to please the spirits.

GHANA:

The religious composition of Ghana in the first post-independence population census of 1960 was 30 percent Muslim, 38 percent traditionalist, 24 percent Christian, and the rest (about 8 percent) other.

SONGHAI:

The Songhai's main religion is Islam. The Songhai people became Muslim when Muslims from the north came in contact with the Songhai people in the early 1010. Other Religions such as magic is still practiced by the Songhai people. The groups of magicians in songhai are called Sohanti.

THE ARTS

MALI:

Traditionally art was practical and had day-to-day meaning linked to religion, health, village harmony, and successful agriculture. Textiles, wood carving, jewelry,music,storytelling,and architecture.

GHANA:

Ghana had many types of art: Terra Cotta, clay, jewelry, pottery, and occasionally, abstract. Ghanians enjoyed making art, and showing off to gods.

SONGHAI:

They made clothing which consists of cotton and many other colorful materials. Their clothing was made very loosely fitted. The Songhai Empire also expressed art in books. Another way they expressed art was through music.. They also made sculptures and statues of various things.