The Ghana Empire: Forgotten Flourishment
By Lauren Moore, Guyer High School
In the Eurocentric academic system we live in today, most of my peers tend to
know their entire ancestry. They have countless books and records of their relatives that lived in the times of Quakers and revolutionary wars. They have a who, what, where, when, and why. I, on the other hand, don’t even have the luxury of a who.
My African-American heritage has been tarnished and virtually erased due to past Europeans who believed that my motherland was inferior, and my people were just as worthless. They have cruelly bleached history that was not favorable to them, censored heritage that did not fit with their narrative, and shielded me as well as many other adolescents from their ancestors. Therefore, I and many others are left with only mere traces of genealogy, craving for those 5 W’s. My ancestors worked incessantly to reach a point where their descendants were educated, well-fed, clothed, bathed and had access to every opportunity. They have done everything for me. I want to know who they were.
Thus, I have made it my mission to find out everything and anything about where I came from. I used the minuscule traces of history I had to lead me to the region where my ancestors lived and prospered: West Africa, or more specifically, the Ghana Empire.
The people of the Ghana Empire, before they were Ghanaians, were a part of the Soninke tribe, presiding in parts of modern-day Senegal, Mali, and Mauritania in the 4th century. They began as a hunter and gatherer society, as most beginning civilizations did, and spent their days making new discoveries about the land in which they inhabited. However, with more agricultural-based advancements being discovered, the tribe began to learn the ways of sedentary farm life (VanBuren).
Due to the predictable wet and dry seasons of the coastal area, the Soninkes learned to adapt to their climate, collecting as much water as possible during the wet season, and planting rice and millet once the dry season began, maximizing on the moist and arable soil (VanBuren). Their techniques being successful, the crops flourished, especially in the coming years with more advanced irrigation techniques and agricultural tools. The tribe remained fed, and the crops remained plentiful.
The Soninke tribe began to morph politically into an empire in the 9th century when the tribe gradually began to understand the value of domestication and a government system. The community appointed a war chief/king whose word was considered law amongst the kingdom called a Ghana, which means “warrior king” in the ancient language. He appointed mayors, ministers, counselors, and other departments as needed to handle local affairs among the empire. However, Ghana was still very involved with the happenings of his people, listening attentively to his subjects’ complaints at the government’s daily council meetings (“Ancient”). Decidedly, the kingdom was officially named Ghana after its leader, and its inhabitants Ghanaians.
Because of the justness of the kingdom and its overall success as a whole, citizens remained loyal and peaceful towards Ghana and his court. If there were any discrepancies among the kingdom, punishments of sentenced slavery (equivalency of the modern-day parole), banishments, drafting into the army, or, in the worst cases, death, occurred. These punishments acted more of an assimilation tactic for outsiders to become more acquainted with the Ghanaian rather than actual dire punishment (“Kingdom”).
The Ghanaians lived comfortably and happily with the lives that they led: a community of people with modest livings and humble belongings. They were nothing out of the ordinary; however, everything changed with a single discovery. Between the Niger and Senegal rivers, an abundance of gold was hidden right beneath the surface, waiting for discovery (“Africa”). Once the kingdom realized that gold was a luxury good coveted and could be sold to other well-developed societies, their tribe began to rise in the ranks of the world, beginning the Trans-Saharan trade (Wood).
Because of the immobility of Ghana’s resources, hopeful traders from other regions were forced to travel into the kingdom using various Ghanaian-imposed routes throughout the Saharan terrain to Ghana marketplaces full of gold, ivory, copper, and traditional Ghanaian products such as pottery, clothing, and sculptures (“Demographic”). Ghanaians made a profit from taxing travelers foregoing on their land; both an entrance tariff and an exit tariff were established to maximize their earnings. From there, civil business ensued, with even more taxes being given for buying Ghanaian goods. The Ghana Empire thrived on their traders’ desperation for gold, deepening their empire’s wealth and prosperity.
In return for their gold and other goods, Ghanaians received an abundance of goods such as horses, cloth, and books from North Africans and, ironically, Europeans (“Kingdom”). The most important import to the empire, however, was salt from the Arabs. In the Ghana Empire, salt was equivalent in worth to gold, for salt helped Ghanaians survive their living conditions. Due to the relentlessness of the West African sun during the dry seasons, Ghanaians licked salt in order to replenish the large amounts of salt they lost due to excessive perspiration. Since salt didn’t naturally inhabit West Africa, the Ghanaians turned to the Arabs for their mountains of salt in the North. The Arabs vehemently agreed to trade their abundance of salt for the expensive metal, establishing the salt-gold trade (“Ghana”).
The Ghana Empire is where my ancestors lived and thrived for centuries. They were treated like royalty, rich with both gold and culture, until the eventual fall of their empire in the early to mid-13th century, marking the immediate rise of another great kingdom that would follow in Ghanaian footsteps: the Mali Empire (“Kingdom”). These empires were amongst the greatest in history, yet the only thing that seems to be remembered of West Africa is the savage infiltration of the Europeans and the constant rape and pillaging of my home.
History has forgotten about my people’s accomplishments. History has forgotten about the times when West Africa was an apex of trade and posterity. History only remembers my people as being imprisoned. Enslaved. Helpless. There are no remembrances of the Ghana Empire in everyday life. American adolescents don’t deem Africa to be a continent rich with history and intellectual advancements. No, Africa is a barren land meant to be pitied by the world. Africa is a poor, AIDS-ridden continent made up of “s***hole countries.”
These stereotypes damage the image of African excellence, creating more and more of a divide between Africa and the rest of the world. However, the genius among African peoples remains strong and thriving. Both African ancestors and descendants have proven time and time again that the melanin in our skin does not determine inferiority. We are not an “inferior” people. We are exceptional. We have broken barrier after barrier, succeeding in spite of adversity, race ridicule, and hatred.
This very empire is proof of our capability to rise. The Ghana Empire, starting off as a mere tribe, single-handedly created prosperous commercialization amongst the African landmass. They created a precedent of African excellence, and paved the way for two more gigantic West African empires: the Mali Empire and the Songhai Empire.
I have become infatuated with the genius of my ancestors’ advancements. I have nothing but pride for my distant ancestors and the lives that they led. What saddens me the most, however, is that I’d still be saturated in ignorance if I remained complacent in my education. I never would’ve known that my ancestors lived like royalty, and were a center of world commerce at one point in time. Therefore, it has become my mission to be a present-day voice for my history. I will not cower in the name of ignorance. Instead, I will educate ignorance, and potentially transform it into acceptance. Hopefully, one day, I won’t be the only one. Eventually, my unsung heroes will be appreciated for the greatness they achieved in all twelve months of the calendar year, not just February. Eventually, my people will be recognized for who they truly were and are today: Powerful. Resilient. Courageous. Caring. Diligent. Hard-working. Passionate. Intelligent. Me.
Bibliography
“Africa Before Transatlantic Slavery.” The Abolition Project. 2009. 1 February 2018. http://abolition.e2bn.org/slavery_41.html.
“Ancient Ghana Empire.” The Medieval Ages. 3 February 2018. http://themedievalages.weebly.com/africa-ancient-ghana.html.
“Demographic History of West Africa.” WHKMLA. 3 February 2018. https://www.zum.de/whkmla/sp/1011/glojo/kjy1.html#I. “Ghana.” CHNM. 3 February 2018. http://chnm.gmu.edu/fairfaxtah/lessons/documents/africaPOSinfo.pdf
“Kingdom of Ghana.” Independence Hall Association. 2008. 3 February 2018.http://www.ushistory.org/civ/7a.asp.
VanBuren, Jennifer. “The Importance of Farming to the Economy in Ancient Ghana.” Synonym. 1 February 2018. http://classroom.synonym.com/importance-farming-economy-ancient-ghana-20732.html
Wood, Ethel. AP World History: An Essential Coursebook. Germantown, NY: Woodyard Publications, 2011. Pgs. 298–305.
