HISTORY
THE MUSLIM WORLD AND AFRICA
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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It was a place where people could mine for gold.
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It gave them fresh water to irrigate crops.
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It gave them access to the North Atlantic Ocean.
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It enabled them to easily transport goods to trade.
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Detailed explanation-1: -Songhai encouraged trading with Muslims, such as the Berbers of the north. Great market places thrived in major cities where kola nuts, gold, ivory, slaves, spices, palm oil and precious woods were traded in exchange for salt, cloth, arms, horses and copper.
Detailed explanation-2: -The kingdom’s gold mines continued to bring wealth. Gold, ivory, ostrich feathers, and enslaved peoples were sent north in exchange for salt, horses, camels, cloth, and luxury goods. After his pilgrimage to Mecca, Askia the Great brought scholars from Morocco and Egypt to Songhai and had them establish new schools.
Detailed explanation-3: -From 1468 CE onward, Sunni Ali expanded the Songhai Kingdom into an empire by securing important city ports along the Niger River and those along the trans-Saharan trade routes. The trade routes seized by Sunni Ali had to compete with the trade route established by a Portuguese fleet along the Atlantic coastline.
Detailed explanation-4: -The Songhai Empire was the largest and last of the three major pre-colonial empires to emerge in West Africa. From its capital at Gao on the Niger River, Songhai expanded in all directions until it stretched from the Atlantic Ocean (modern Senegal and Gambia) to what is now Northwest Nigeria and central Niger.