Economic+Africa

economics and trade in africa- by Chris P ---NORTH AFRICA

-africa north of a sahara was actively involved in trade accross the mediteranean -sub-saharan africa originally has a lot of stateless societies, this isn't stable enough for long distance trade -sub-saharan africa has a lot of local trade (ie local market places)

timeline:

-100 CE camels start being used to cross the sahara -some trade starts

-300 CE origins of the kingdom of Ghana -stable gvt. supports cross-saharan trade -income from taxing the Gold/Salt trade -surplus from trade -allows urban centers to develop -trade encourages some expansion to control prime trading locations

-600 CE islam starts spreading accross north africa -helps strengthen international ties (shared language)

-1,000 CE Ghana at the hight of its power

-1,200 CE rise of the Mali empire -insanely rich from gold trade

-1,300 CE Mali empire at its hight -getting even richer from trans-saharan gold trading

-1,324 Mansa Musa makes his famous pilgrimage (hajj) -bunch of slaves and servants with a bunch of gold -randomly gives out gold on his way

---EASTERN SEABOARD

-swahili coast is dotted with islamicized trading ports

-arab traders make trading voyages down the coast

-there are goods coming in from as far away as india and china

-the spread of islam throughout the indian ocean made maritime contact easier -common language & beliefs/ethics/general practices

-big incoming goods are chinese porcelain & silks from persia

-as a function of the extensivity of multicultural contact there is a large amount of cultural blending along the coast

-they (eastern coast) are truly hooked into the global trading network