THE WORLD ATLAS

Empire · 300–1200 · Northern Africa

Ghana Empire (Wagadu)

Also known as Empire of Ghana, Ghana

The Ghana Empire, known to its Soninke people as Wagadu, grew up in the Sahel between the Senegal and Niger rivers, in today's southern Mauritania and western Mali; it lay far from modern Ghana. From perhaps the 4th century its kings controlled the trade of West African gold northward across the Sahara in exchange for salt, copper and cloth, carried by camel caravans, and Arab writers called it the land of gold.

The king ruled through tributary chiefs and taxed every load of goods crossing his realm. In the 11th century the Almoravid movement from the Sahara put pressure on Ghana and spread Islam. Weakened by drought, shifting trade routes and rebellious vassals, Ghana was overrun by the Sosso and then absorbed into Mali in the 13th century.

Follow its story on the map

Years
300–1200
Capital
Koumbi Saleh (probable)
Greatest extent
1050, about 350,000 km²
Region
Northern Africa

Controlling the gold trade between the Senegal and Niger rivers

Legacy

Ghana was the first of the great West African trading empires, and modern Ghana took its name in 1957 to honour it.

Timeline of Ghana Empire (Wagadu)

  1. Al-Khwarizmi makes the first known written mention of Ghana

    Ghana, or Wagadu, was a kingdom of the Soninke people in the western Sahel, in what is now south-eastern Mauritania and western Mali. 'Ghana' was really the title of its king, meaning war chief. Its origins may go back several centuries, but it had no writing of its own, so outsiders' accounts are our main sources. The first identifiable written mention of its ruling dynasty comes from the Baghdad scholar al-Khwarizmi in about 830, and Ghana appears on his world map. Arab writers already knew it as a wealthy 'land of gold' on the far side of the Sahara.

  2. Ibn Hawqal calls Ghana's king the 'wealthiest king on earth'

    Ghana's power rested on trade across the Sahara. It controlled the routes that carried gold from mines to the south toward North Africa, and it imported salt from the desert in return. The Arab geographer Ibn Hawqal, writing in the 970s, called the king of Ghana the 'wealthiest king on the face of the earth' because of his stocks of gold. He also noted that Ghana depended on the Berber town of Awdaghust, on the desert edge, for salt. The map shows Ghana at its height as a trading empire between the desert and the Niger.

  3. Ghana conquers Awdaghust and installs a governor

    Awdaghust (Aoudaghost), in what is now southern Mauritania, was a key caravan town at the southern end of a trade route across the Sahara, long controlled by Sanhaja Berbers. According to the Ghana Empire article, Ghana conquered it in 990, probably for commercial reasons, and installed its own governor. The article on the town says only that it became part of Ghana in the late 10th or early 11th century. Taking Awdaghust gave Ghana direct control of a northern trade terminus and pushed its power into the desert.

  4. Almoravids capture Awdaghust

    In the early 1050s a new movement arose among the Sanhaja Berbers of the western Sahara: the Almoravids, led by the preacher Abdallah ibn Yasin and the Lamtuna chiefs, who preached a strict form of Islam. In 1054–55 they attacked and captured Awdaghust, then one of Ghana's royal seats. The Almoravids took control of the Saharan trade routes and soon conquered Morocco. Ghana lost its northern outpost, and a powerful, aggressive neighbour now stood on its desert frontier.

  5. Tunka Manin succeeds Bassi as king

    Bassi, whom al-Bakri calls Ghana's king, died in 1063 and was succeeded by his nephew, Tunka Manin. Kingship traditionally passed to the son of the king's sister. Bassi and Tunka Manin are the only kings of Ghana known to us by name. Tunka Manin ruled a powerful state at war with the neighbouring kingdom of Silla, and he corresponded with the Almoravid leader Yusuf ibn Tashfin. Some historians think the succession caused a dispute with Bassi's son, which may have given the Almoravids a chance to meddle in Ghana's politics.

  6. Al-Bakri describes the capital's royal and Muslim towns

    Al-Bakri, a scholar in Córdoba in Muslim Spain, completed his 'Book of Routes and Realms' in about 1068. He never visited Ghana but gathered information from earlier writers and travellers. He described the capital as two towns about six miles (10 km) apart: a large Muslim merchants' town with twelve mosques, and the king's town, al-Ghaba, where the king kept the traditional religion. Many of the king's ministers and interpreters were Muslims. The ruins of Koumbi Saleh in Mauritania are thought to be the merchants' town, although this is not certain.

  7. c. 1076: Rulers convert to Islam; Almoravid conquest disputed

    An old tradition says the Almoravids conquered Ghana in 1076–77 and converted its people to Islam. Modern historians sharply question this. In 1982 the scholars Conrad and Fisher argued that no military conquest happened, and that the story comes from misreading Arabic sources written centuries later. What is clearer is that in this period Ghana's rulers became Muslims, perhaps under Almoravid pressure or influence. The kingdom survived, so the map keeps showing Ghana in the same place after this date.

  8. Al-Idrisi describes Ghana as a powerful, fully Muslim kingdom

    The geographer al-Idrisi, working at the court of the Norman king Roger II of Sicily, completed his great description of the world in 1154. He described Ghana as a powerful, fully Muslim kingdom, whose rulers claimed descent from the Prophet's family. Some historians treat his account with caution because of errors in his geography. Still, it suggests Ghana had recovered and even enjoyed a second period of strength in the 12th century. That resurgence did not last: by about 1203 the Sosso had risen and conquered Ghana.

Periods and reigns

Rulers

Realms on the map

Sources