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7th grade · Social Studies · Unit 4 of 9

African Kingdoms & Empires

Mali, Songhai, Great Zimbabwe and more

What your child practices

Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Great Zimbabwe, the Swahili coast, Benin and Ethiopia from about 600 to 1900, trade across the Sahara and the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic slave trade and African resistance to colonization.

Maine Learning Results learning standard: History 1; Global Connections · the kingdoms of West Africa and trans-Saharan trade

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Ghana, Mali and Songhai grew rich from gold and salt trade across the Sahara. Mansa Musa of Mali went on pilgrimage to Makkah in 1324.
  2. Swahili city-states like Kilwa and Mombasa traded across the Indian Ocean. Great Zimbabwe, Benin and Ethiopia were also powerful.
  3. Historians use Arabic writings, griots’ oral histories and archaeology.

Example: The empire of Mali grew rich from trading what? Mali controlled routes across the Sahara. Gold from the south was traded for salt from the desert. Answer: gold and salt

African Kingdoms & Empires in Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, this is unit 4 of 9 in 7th grade Social Studies, after Empires of Asia and before Japan: Land, Beliefs & Values.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Maine Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba is remembered for…

    • founding Rome
    • inventing paper
    • resisting Portuguese colonization

  2. Question 2

    Why was salt so valuable in West Africa?

    • it was rare everywhere in the world
    • people needed it for health and to keep food from spoiling
    • it was used as building stone

  3. Question 3

    The capital of the Songhai Empire was…

    • Kilwa
    • Gao
    • Cairo

  4. Question 4

    Mansa Musa, ruler of Mali, is famous for his 1324 pilgrimage to…

    • Rome
    • Beijing
    • Makkah

  5. Question 5

    Sundiata Keita founded the…

    • Inca Empire
    • Ottoman Empire
    • Mali Empire

  6. Question 6

    Why are Timbuktu's manuscripts called a treasure?

    • they are all maps
    • they are made of gold
    • they hold centuries of writing on science, law and history

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