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 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
- Al-Bakri, who counted the loads at the king's gate himself
A trader's donkey-load of salt enters Ghana and later leaves it. How many dinars does the king take in all, Bo asks?
- 3 dinars
- 2 dinars
- 12 dinars
- 1 dinar
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?
- 12 dinars
- 4 dinars
- 8 dinars
- 7 dinars
A student says, "Card C proves exactly what the king of Ghana took." How strong is that claim, Jun asks?
- Weak: card C is al-Bakri's report, and he never visited Ghana
- Strong: card C gives exact numbers, so they must be exact
- Strong: card C is a record kept by the king's own officials
- Weak: a scholar in Spain could not know anything about Ghana
How did the king of Ghana gain gold without mining it, going by cards A and C, Luz asks?
- He paid traders in salt for each load of gold they carried
- Traders passed through his lands, and he taxed their loads
- He sent his own miners south to dig gold in the forests
- He took the salt from the Sahara and kept the whole of it for Ghana
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
- Miners paid them, and the king gave them salt
- The king paid them, and traders gained gold
How do cards A and C fit together on salt, Noah asks?
- Salt entered from the north (card A) and was taxed on entry (card C)
- They show that the king grew rich from the salt trade alone
- They cannot be compared, because one is a map note and one a report
- They disagree, because card A says salt went north and card C says it left
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 entering paid twice as much tax as one leaving
- A load of salt paid the same tax entering as leaving
- A load of salt leaving paid twice as much tax as one entering
Which period does card B describe, Tala asks?
- Ghana as al-Bakri saw it on his own visit about 1068
- Ghana at the time of Mansa Musa's journey to Cairo in 1324
- Ghana as al-Bakri understood it from travelers around 1068
- Ghana today, as al-Bakri's book is still read in Spain
A student says, "Card B shows Ghana's king was richer than any other king." How strong is that claim, Zee asks?
- Strong: a king who taxed gold and salt must have been the richest
- Weak: the cards report taxes on loads and compare no other king
- Strong: card B says Ghana's king was the richest of his time
- Weak: no king's wealth can be known from a book about trade
