I decided to write about the history of Ghana because the Central African Republic had very limited information on their ancient history. The ancient kingdom of Ghana was one of the richest kingdoms of its time, they had incredible gold mines and harvested large amounts of gold which they were able to use to trade. During the Trans-Saharan trade Ghana introduced the camel which helped in transporting much larger quantities of goods. The ancient people of Ghana were intelligent as they built their capital Kumbi Saleh right on the edge of the Sahara making it one of the largest trading posts during the Trans-Saharan trade. As trade began to flow in the people established a taxation system in order to ensure that the kingdom would always profit off of the trading that was going on. Ghana was one of the great ancient kingdoms and were quite powerful, archaeologists have found evidence of livestock that were in the area during these times. One major ruler of the Ghana Empire was Kaya Magan Cisse, he founded the Cisse Tounkara Dynasty which later ruled the Ghana Empire in the 8th century. As the Trans-Saharan trade picked up the ideas and values of Islam were introduced to the ancient kingdom of Ghana. The King however made sure that the Islamic community was separate from the Kingdom and remained at a distance from the rest of the city. The King continued with the traditional beliefs that the people of ancient Ghana held from before he did not adopt to these new ideas. The King used the muslim scholars for bookkeeping purposes to keep the trading post running. One of the greatest advancements that the ancient Ghanans came up with was the use of camels. This innovative idea allowed for more goods to be transported at a time creating more opportunities for trade and more wealth to be brought to the kingdom. The Ghana Empire was very powerful, it was said that at one time they had 200,000 soldiers and calvary. This is an important fact that many people forget, Africa once had many powerful kingdoms that were on the same level if not more advanced than Europe. They practiced written languages, had schools, experimented with different types of medicine, and had great military strategies. These kingdoms fought one another for power and when the Europeans began to explore Africa they traded with these people for the gold, salt, and other items that they possessed. The Europeans did not just come in and take control over Africa because they were so weak, the two traded as equals showing the power these kingdoms had. The Ghana empire created a trading monopoly through their smart use of the camel, they had all the control similar to how the Romans gained power through the use of their road system to keep their empire connected. My assigned country is the Central African republic which did not have anything on the internet or databases about it. I believe this is due to the fact that it was not connected to the ancient kingdoms so all history was by word of mouth and there was nothing written down to go back and look at.
Shane Galloway