Ghana, Mali and Songhai: gold, salt and Timbuktu
Grade 7 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence
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Ghana and the gold-salt trade (cards A to C; summaries in our words). Card A, a map note: the empire of Ghana lay in dry lands between the Sahara, where salt was mined, and the forests to the south, where gold was found. Traders carried salt south and gold north. Card B, al-Bakri, a scholar in Cordoba, Spain, in a book of about 1068: he never visited Ghana. He gathered what travelers and earlier writers told him. Card C, al-Bakri on the king's taxes, as he reports them: for each donkey-load of salt entering the country, the king took one gold dinar, and two dinars when it left. For a load of copper he took five mithqals, and for a load of other goods ten.
Who wrote card C, and how did he learn what he wrote, Ari asks?
- Al-Bakri, who counted the loads at the king's gate himself
- Al-Bakri, who gathered reports from travelers and writers
- The king of Ghana, who recorded his own taxes for his officials
- A modern historian, who studied the trade after the empire ended
A trader's donkey-load of salt enters Ghana and later leaves it. How many dinars does the king take in all, Bo asks?
- 12 dinars
- 1 dinar
- 2 dinars
- 3 dinars
A trader brings 4 loads of salt into Ghana and later takes the same 4 loads out. How many dinars does the king take, Esme asks?
- 7 dinars
- 12 dinars
- 8 dinars
- 4 dinars
A student says, "Card C proves exactly what the king of Ghana took." How strong is that claim, Jun asks?
- Strong: card C is a record kept by the king's own officials
- Weak: a scholar in Spain could not know anything about Ghana
- Strong: card C gives exact numbers, so they must be exact
- Weak: card C is al-Bakri's report, and he never visited Ghana
Al-Bakri never visited Ghana. How should a historian use his report, Kira asks?
- As useful evidence to check against other sources
- As al-Bakri's own memories of the king's court
- As proof of each detail, because he was a scholar
- As worthless, because he did not see Ghana himself
How did the king of Ghana gain gold without mining it, going by cards A and C, Luz asks?
- Traders passed through his lands, and he taxed their loads
- He paid traders in salt for each load of gold they carried
- He took the salt from the Sahara and kept the whole of it for Ghana
- He sent his own miners south to dig gold in the forests
Who paid the king's taxes on card C, and who gained, Milo asks?
- Farmers paid them, and travelers gained gold
- Traders paid them, and the king gained gold
- The king paid them, and traders gained gold
- Miners paid them, and the king gave them salt
Card C says a load of salt paid one dinar on entry and two on leaving. Which statement is supported, Pia asks?
- A load of salt paid more tax than a load of copper
- A load of salt leaving paid twice as much tax as one entering
- A load of salt paid the same tax entering as leaving
- A load of salt entering paid twice as much tax as one leaving
A traveler's record from 1100 says Ghana's king still taxed salt. How does it fit card C, Ren asks?
- It shows the rates on card C stayed the same for many centuries to come
- It shows al-Bakri visited Ghana later, since both mention salt
- It adds nothing, because al-Bakri already described the taxes in his book
- It fits card C, but one record cannot show how long the taxes lasted
Which period does card B describe, Tala asks?
- Ghana at the time of Mansa Musa's journey to Cairo in 1324
- Ghana as al-Bakri saw it on his own visit about 1068
- Ghana as al-Bakri understood it from travelers around 1068
- Ghana today, as al-Bakri's book is still read in Spain