Grade 7 Fall — The Medieval World c. 500-1500 CE: Byzantium, the Islamic Caliphates and Golden Age, Tang and Song China, West African Empires (Ghana/Mali/Songhai), Mesoamerica (Postclassic Toltec/Aztec) and the Inca, the Mongol Empire and Pax Mongolica, the Indian Ocean and Trans-Saharan Trade Networks, Medieval Europe as ONE Region Among Many — Whose Golden Age? Whose Crusade? Whose Trade Network?
History · CUL G7 hist.g7.f.cul.west_africa_ghana_mali_songhai

Trace medieval West African empires — Ghana c. 300-1200 CE, Mali c. 1235-1670 CE (Sundiata + Mansa Musa 1324 hajj + Timbuktu Sankore complex), Songhai c. 1464-1591 CE (Sunni Ali + Askia Muhammad I) — refusing the 'tribal/primitive' Orientalist framing absolutely

Identify Ghana's trans-Saharan gold-salt trade (described by al-Bakri 1068 — primary source); Mali's foundation under Sundiata Keita 1235 (Sundiata epic = primary oral source per griot tradition; Niane 1960 transcription); Mansa Musa's 1324 hajj — 'richest person in recorded history' per current scholarship + 12-year Cairo gold-price deflation per al-'Umari 1342; Timbuktu's Sankore + Djinguereber + Sidi Yahya mosque-university complex with 700,000+ surviving manuscripts (Mamma Haidara Library preserving post-2012); Songhai under Askia Muhammad I 1493-1528 — described by Leo Africanus 1526 + Ta'rikh al-Sudan al-Sa'di mid-17th-c. Apply Gomez 2018 'African Dominion' framing.

Mastery threshold
90%
Min instances
12
Typical minutes
45
Spaced intervals (days)
1, 3, 7, 14, 30, 60
Prereqs
Successors
  • hist.g7.s.cul.atlantic_slave_trade_origins
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Common misconceptions
  • Believing pre-colonial Africa was 'tribal' and lacked states — Mali and Songhai were sophisticated empires with administration, taxation, scholarly institutions, urban centers
  • Believing African history is 'oral only' — there are ~700,000+ Arabic-script manuscripts surviving from Timbuktu, plus the Ta'rikh al-Sudan, Ta'rikh al-Fattash, and other written sources
  • Treating Mansa Musa as legendary — he is fully documented in multiple contemporary Arabic-language Egyptian-Mamluk sources (al-'Umari 1342, ibn Khaldun 1377, ibn Battuta 1352-3)

Exercise pool (7)

Diff Stem Type
1 Match 4 Mali rulers to their key dates: (a) Sundiata Keita; (b) Mansa Musa; (c) Mansa Sulayman (Musa's brother); (d) Mansa Mahmud IV... matching
2 Where was the Ghana Empire? Name 3 present-day countries that correspond to its territory. Note CAREFULLY whether ancient Ghana was the... short answer
2 Name THREE of Askia Muhammad I's (r. 1493-1528) signature administrative reforms of Songhai. short answer
3 Apply MG-7 Q1-3 (sourcing + contextualization) to al-Bakri's 'Kitab al-Masalik' 1068 CE excerpt on Ghana. Note Q1 — al-Bakri never... source card analysis
4 Apply G7-Fall Math proportional-reasoning cross-curricular: if Mansa Musa's 1324 hajj caused 10-25% Cairo gold-price deflation that took... claim evidence warrant
4 Apply MG-7 Q1-7 to al-'Umari's 'Masalik al-Absar' 1342 excerpt (300 words) on Mansa Musa's Cairo visit. Focus on Q4 (close reading) + Q5... source card analysis
4 Apply MG-19 ibn Khaldun's dynastic cycle to Mali Empire 1235-1500 decline in 100-150 words. Identify the 5 generations with named ruler... claim evidence warrant