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9th grade · Social Studies · Unit 9 of 16

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.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 9.4d; 9.8a; 9.8c · Ghana, Mali, Songhai and other African states, and how trans-Saharan trade helped them grow

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. West African empires (Ghana, Mali, Songhai) grew rich on Saharan trade. Askia Muhammad of Songhai organized government and supported learning.
  2. Swahili city-states traded across the Indian Ocean. Great Zimbabwe’s huge walls were built of stone without mortar.
  3. Historians use Arabic travel writing, griots’ oral histories and archaeology.

Example: Which sources help historians learn about medieval West Africa? Use more than one kind of evidence. Arabic writings, griots’ oral histories and archaeology all help. Answer: Arabic travel writing, griots’ oral histories and archaeology

African Kingdoms & Empires in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 9 of 16 in 9th grade Social Studies, after Empires of Asia and before Maya, Aztec & Inca.

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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    The empire of Mali grew rich from trading…

    • gold and salt across the Sahara
    • furs and timber
    • silk and porcelain

  2. Question 2

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

    • Beijing
    • Makkah
    • Rome

  3. Question 3

    Askia Muhammad of Songhai is known for…

    • building the Great Wall
    • sailing to India
    • organizing government and supporting learning

  4. Question 4

    Lalibela, in Ethiopia, is famous for churches…

    • built of ice
    • made of glass
    • carved out of solid rock

  5. Question 5

    Ibn Battuta, who wrote about his visit to Mali, was a…

    • traveler from Morocco
    • Roman senator
    • Chinese admiral

  6. Question 6

    European powers divided Africa among themselves at the Berlin Conference of…

    • 1884–1885
    • 1776–1777
    • 1492–1493

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