Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
West Africa's Golden Empires
Two-thirds of the world's gold once came from West Africa and the indigenous empires
that controlled the West African interior, and hence the lucrative trans-Saharan trade routes
were among the richest in the world.
African Rock Art,
by David Coulson and Alec Campbell, is definitive and beautifully illustrated. It's one to
keep on your coffee table, not carry in your backpack.
Empire of Ghana
The Empire of Ghana was the first major state of its kind established in West Africa. It was
founded in AD 300 with its capital at Koumbi Saleh, in present-day Mauritania, about
200km north of modern Bamako (Mali). By Ghana's 8th-century heyday, the empire
covered much of present-day Mali and parts of eastern Senegal. Although smaller than the
empires that followed it, Ghana was extremely wealthy and powerful, controlling not just
trans-Saharan trade but also massive gold deposits; rumour had it that the streets were
paved with gold and that the emperor of Ghana routinely tied his horse to a nugget of pure
gold.
Islam was introduced by traders from the north, but it couldn't save Ghana - the empire
was destroyed in the late 11th century by the better-armed Muslim Berbers of the Al-
moravid Empire from Mauritania and Morocco. The Almoravids justified their invasion by
pointing to Ghana's half-hearted adoption of Islam, but many historians believe that it had
more to do with the Almoravid desire for Ghana's gold and control of trade routes.
Until the Portuguese dispelled the myths, Cape Bojador was considered among sailors as the point of no
return, beyond which lay monstrous sea creatures, whirlpools, boiling waters and waterless coastlines.
The Almoravids
In the 11th century the Sanhaja, the pious Saharan Berber tribe that founded the Almoravid
dynasty, swept into southern Morocco from what is today Senegal and Mauritania. As they
pushed north under Yahya ibn Umar and his brother Abu Bakr, they demolished brothels
and musical instruments as well as their opponents. After Yahya was killed and Abu Bakr
was recalled to the Sahara to settle Sanhaja disputes in 1061, their cousin Yusuf bin Tachfin
was left to run military operations from a campsite that would become Marrakesh the mag-
nificent. Almoravid power would range far beyond the city they founded, reaching deep in-
