Ghana, Early Kingdom of

Source:

 Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Second Edition

Ghana, Early Kingdom of

Ancient Ghana was important in the ninth century C.E.. when it controlled the Wangara area (between the upper Niger and Senegal rivers), which produced great quantities of gold for trade across the Sahara. Slaves were also traded with the gold, in return for salt from Teghaza in the desert and cloth from North Africa.

In the eleventh century the kingdom of Ghana was described by the Islamic historian al-Bakri (c.1000). Raised in Muslim Spain, al-Bakri wrote historico-geographical surveys of West African kingdoms and empires in Arabic, albeit from a distance. He never traveled south of the Sahara, but instead contented himself with the reports of trans-Saharan traders and explorers. Nonetheless, Ghana was at the apex of its power during the years al-Bakri performed most of his investigations, and it was he who claimed that it was so rich in gold that dogs there had golden collars, and the ruler of the empire was called “lord of the Gold.”

Ghana included what is now western Mali and southeastern Mauritania, and its area was probably as large as modern Nigeria. A strong central government presided in the capital city, which was divided into two parts—a town for the traditional rulers, who were pagans, and a town for the merchants, who were mostly Muslims. Historians believe that the town of Koumbi Saleh (in what is now Mauritania) was the capital of ancient Ghana in its later years.

The power of the empire declined because of competition from other states in the Gold Trade. In about 1076 the Almoravid rulers of the Maghreb attacked and destroyed Koumbi Saleh, but the invaders were forced to withdraw and Ghana was able to recover. In about 1203, however, it was defeated by the army of Sumanguru, a leader of the people from the area of Takrur to their west. Sumanguru captured Koumbi Saleh, but soon after he, too, succumbed. He was defeated by an army of Malinke-speaking peoples, and by the end of the thirteenth century the remains of ancient Ghana became part of the empire of ancient Mali. Kwame Nkrumah renamed the Gold Coast after this illustrious ancient kingdom when it became the first of the British colonies in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve independence in 1957.

See also Ghana.

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