Download Ghana, Mali, and Songhai - Gull Lake Community Schools

Module Title: Ghana, Mali, and Songhai - Kingdoms of Africa
(KASC Summer Teacher Institute, 1995)
Author: Mike Ortmann
Class and Grade level(s): World History, Suggested Grade Level: 10-11, Two Day Unit
Goals and Objectives - The student will be able to:
1. Analyze West African Kingdoms.
2. Compare and contrast African Kingdoms with Medieval Europe.
3. Record, infer, recall, compare and contrast, analyze, evaluate.
Africa is often given little attention in high school world history courses. These classes focus on an overall survey of
world history within the confines of one year. The question at hand is how to make inroads into this dearth of African
knowledge that most students have and yet deal with the time constraints of a standard world history course. The
solution, as I see it, is to integrate lessons on Africa throughout the existing curriculum. These lessons must be
succinct, factual, and of a short duration in order for the average teacher to actually make use of them. This two day
unit on the African kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai seeks to address this need. These lessons are only two of
many that would be desirable to expose students to African History during the course of the year.
Curriculum standards addressed: (More may apply, but are not listed. Refer to national and state
standards.)
National History Standards –
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Era 4 – Expanding Zones of Exchange and Encounter, 300-1000 CE
o Standard 5A: The student understands state-building in Northeast and West Africa
Era 5 – Intensified Hemispheric Interactions, 1000-1500 CE
o Standard 4A: The student understands the growth of imperial states in West Africa and Ethiopia.
Kansas Curriculum Standards –
World History
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Benchmark 5 – The student engages in historical thinking skills.
o Indicator 1: Analyzes a theme in world history to explain patterns of continuity and change over time.
o Indicator 3: Uses primary and secondary sources about an event in world history to develop a
credible interpretation of the event, forming conclusions about its meaning (e.g., use provided primary
and secondary sources to interpret a historical-based conclusion).
Missouri Curriculum Standards –
World History
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Benchmark 2b – Knowledge of continuity and change in the history of the world.
o Indicator 1: Knowledge of contributions and interactions of major world civilizations – Describe the
dominant characteristics, contributions of, and interactions among major civilizations of Asia, Europe,
Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East in ancient and medieval times.
Sources: * For sources not listed, please contact author of module.
Andrea and Overfield. The Human Record – Sources of Global History, Vol. 1 to 1700. Boston: Hougton Mifflin, 1994.
Boahen, et. al., The Horizon History of Africa. New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., 1971.
Clark, Leon E. Through African Eyes: Cultures in Change. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1971.
Curtin, Feierman. Thompson, Vansina, African History. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1978.
July, Robert. A History of the African People. Prosperity Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc., 1992.
Levtizon and Hopkins, eds. Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History. London: Cambridge University
Press, 1981.
Mazour and Peoples. World History – People and Nations. Austin: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc., 1993.
Rake, Alan. 100 Great Africans. London: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1994.
Overview/Procedure:
Day 1: Medieval Europe and African Kingdoms notecard activity and reading.
Day 2: Quiz, readings, discussion, Venn diagram activity
Lesson 1: Day 1
Required materials/supplies:
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Notecards – 3x5
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Map overheads
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Primary source handouts
Procedure:
**Note – do the first activity before any introduction or reading on African kingdoms has occurred.
1. Give each student a 3x5 notecard. Have them write their name on the top of the card. Have them label one side of
the card “Medieval Europe”. Ask the students to list several points that they know about the accomplishments and
conditions of Europe in the Middle Ages on the card. Allow approximately 3-4 minutes for this endeavor.
Next, have the students flip the card over and label it “West African Kingdoms, 900-1591”. Ask the students to list any
ideas or knowledge that they have about this on the card. Allow another 3 or 4 minutes for this activity.
2. Collect all of the student notecards. Divide the chalkboard in half. List student European Medieval information on one
side and add student points on African Kingdoms on the other side. Discuss both lists and compare and contrast
them.
3. Place a map transparency of modern West Africa on the overhead and point out present West African countries.
4. Use another transparency and introduce the empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai to your students. Be sure to
emphasize that ancient kingdoms and modern countries do not comprise the same areas.
5. A mini-lecture on ancient Ghana, Mali, and Songhai would be appropriate at this point. See the bibliography for
excellent lecture sources.
6. Handout the primary source article concerning Ghana by Al-Bakri. See article A. Have students read this article.
Have each row group together after reading the article and select their favorite parts of the reading. Allow each row to
share with the rest of the class and discuss.
7. For the final segment of the day, ask for 2 student volunteers to dramatically read the “Serpent of Wagadu” (B) fable
concerning the downfall of Ghana to the class. Encourage actions if you have a particularly receptive duo. Get class
response to the fable.
8. Ask the students to compare the fable with the primary source information and the mini-lecture information they have
gleaned. Why did the ancient Ghanaians devise the legend?
9. Homework – Send home handouts on Sundiata and Mansa Musa. Ask for notes.
Lesson 2: Day 2
Required materials/supplies:
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Primary source handouts
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Venn Diagram
Procedure:
1. Give a quick 5 question quiz over the reading. Allow notes that students took but do not allow the handouts to be
used. The variety and depth of questions is left up to individual teacher discretion.
2. Handout – Mansa Musa’s Hajj article. Read.
3. Discuss the 2 homework articles and the Hajj article as a class.
4. Brainstorm with your pupils the impact of a Mansa Musa-type visitor to the modern U.S. What would be its impact?
List 5 items on the board – Big Mac, a C.D., Movie Theatre Ticket, Gallon of Gas, New Camaro. (Have pictures of
these handy if possible) Have students list these on their own paper. If Mansa Musa’s entourage paid 5 times the
average price for items the average price for items in Cairo – What would be the quintupled amounts of these
modern day items? Allow time for student calculations. Share with the class.
5. Divide the class into groups of 4 or 5 depending on your class size. Hand out 4 primary source articles on Mali.
(Divide up the Kati article if there is a need for more articles) See handouts C, D, E, and F.
Have your student groups read the article and list 4 important things from each primary source.
Be sure to have each group also read the article about Ibn Battuta.
6. Have the student groups report back to the class as a whole. Discuss the points from each article. Also discuss the
possible historical bias from these accounts. Use the Ibn Battuta article as a point of reference.
7. Handout on Songhai and Askia the Great for each student to read. Discuss.
8. Discuss the importance of Timbuktu as a center of learning and wealth.
9. Place a Venn Diagram transparency on the overhead. Discuss the issue of Medieval Europe and West African
kingdoms by comparing and contrasting them through the use of the diagram.
10. As a concluding activity – hand back the earlier filled out notecards. Allow students to add to the cards as they see
fit.
Assignment: What is the greatest point of comparison between Medieval Europe and the West African kingdoms?
Have this one page response due on the next day.
For more information on teacher resources:
Visit the Kansas African Studies Center website: www.kasc.ku.edu
Contact by phone: 785.864.3745 (KASC main number) or 785.864.8015 (for Project Assistant)
Contact Project Staff:
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John Janzen, Project Director, [email protected]
Garth Myers, Project Co-Director, [email protected]
Khalid El-Hassan, Project Coordinator, [email protected]
Kelley McCarthy, Project Assistant, [email protected]