African kingdoms: Ghana, Mali and Songhai
In West Africa, Ghana (a kingdom of the Soninke, not the modern country in the same place) grew rich by taxing the gold–salt trade. Mali rose after Sundiata (about 1235). Its best-known king, Mansa Musa (about 1312–1337), made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 and spread the name of Mali. Timbuktu had mosques, scholars and a book trade. Later Songhai became the biggest power in the region (1400s–1591).
East and southern Africa
On the east coast, Swahili city-states like Kilwa and Mombasa traded gold, ivory and cloth with Arabia, India and China using the monsoon winds. The Swahili language mixes Bantu and Arabic words. In the south, Great Zimbabwe (about 1100–1450) was a stone city of the Shona people, built with stone blocks fitted without mortar. In Ethiopia, the rock-cut churches of Lalibela were carved around 1200.
Maya
The Maya lived in what is now southern Mexico and Central America. Their peak was about 250–900 CE with city-states like Tikal. They built stepped pyramids, wrote with picture-signs (glyphs), kept a very accurate calendar and tracked Venus and the Moon. They used a base-20 number system with a dot for 1, a bar for 5 and a shell for 0. Maize was their main food.
Aztec and Inca
The Aztec (Mexica) built Tenochtitlan from 1325 on an island in Lake Texcoco, with causeways, canals and floating gardens (chinampas). Tenochtitlan became the centre of a powerful alliance that took tribute from many peoples. The Inca built a huge empire in the Andes from about 1438 with capital Cusco. They had no writing, but used quipu (knotted cords) to keep records, a road network with relay runners, and mountain terraces for farming. Both empires fell in the 1520s–30s to Spanish invaders and disease. Try it: use the slider to write your own age in Maya numbers.
Key formulas and definitions
- Gold from the south + salt from the north = Sahara trade
- Mansa Musa: Mali, hajj 1324; Timbuktu = learning centre
- Great Zimbabwe: stone walls without mortar (c.1100–1450)
- Maya numbers: dot = 1, bar = 5, shell = 0 (base 20)
- Aztec: Tenochtitlan (1325); Inca: Cusco, quipu, roads
Worked examples
1. Why was salt so valuable in West Africa?
People need salt in hot places, and there was little in the south. Salt came from desert mines in the north, so it was swapped for gold.
2. Write 13 in Maya numbers.
13 = 2 × 5 + 3. So 2 bars and 3 dots.
3. The Inca had no writing. How did they keep records?
They used quipu: cords with knots. The position and type of knots stood for numbers and counts of things like grain or people.
Common mistakes
- Thinking the Maya, Aztec and Inca were one people. They lived in different places and times.
- Saying the Maya were one empire. They were many city-states.
- Mixing modern Ghana with the old Ghana kingdom; they are in different places.
- Writing the Maya zero as a dot. It is a shell sign.