Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong Cities of Iron & Gold: West Africa Before 1700
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Nov 23, 2025 Discover the rise of powerful West African empires built on iron, gold, and salt trade before 1700. Learn how the camel transformed trans-Saharan trade, connecting distant regions. Explore Mansa Musa's extravagant pilgrimage that placed Mali on the medieval map, and how Ibn Battuta's accounts reveal the rich culture of the time. Witness the decline of Ghana due to Almoravid intervention and the subsequent rise of the Songhai Empire. Finally, delve into the early impacts of European traders and the transition to the Atlantic slave trade.
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Mali's Eastward Shift And Global Reach
- Mali centralized earlier routes, shifted the core eastward, and used Islam and scholarship to project power.
- Mansa Musa's Hajj dramatized Mali's wealth and tied West Africa into wider Islamic networks.
Songhai's Rise And Moroccan Intervention
- Songhai consolidated the Niger Bend and administered a sophisticated bureaucratic state before Moroccan firearm-based conquest.
- Trans-Saharan arms and politics could be decisive when North African powers intervened.
Lake Chad And Kanem-Bornu's Reach
- Kanem-Bornu leveraged Lake Chad, horses, and the Sahara route to Egypt to trade animals, ivory, and slaves northward.
- Idris Alooma later modernized armies with Ottoman ties and firearms to reclaim Saharan influence.