Editing Africa (section)

====West Africa====

Numerous kingdoms arose in West Africa, specifically in the Sahel region; their economy was based on controlling the trans-Saharan trade routes. Gold and slaves, coming from the regions further south, were traded for textiles, tools, salt, and weapons that arrived from the north.

=====Ghana=====

The first of these states, the Kingdom of Ghana, arose around the 5th century AD in the territory of present-day Mauritania. In the 11th century, Ghana seized control of the trade routes extending from Morocco in the north to the coastal forests and gold-producing areas of West Africa in the south. The Berber nomads of the Sanhaja confederation (the central part of present-day Mauritania) represented the main link between Ghana and the regions to the north. After the conquest of the northwestern African coasts, the Arabs began to exploit these trade routes. At the beginning of the 11th century, the court of Ghana included Muslim advisors and numerous Muslim merchants who lived in large foreign quarters from which they conducted thriving trade. At the end of the 11th century, the Kingdom of Ghana was conquered by the Almoravids, who later also advanced north to conquer Morocco and Spain. During the 12th century, the Sosso kingdom of Fouta Djallon, formerly a vassal of Ghana, gained supremacy in the region, but fell under the rule of the Mali Empire around 1240.

=====Mali and Songhai=====

Located around the upper reaches of the Senegal and Niger rivers, the Mali Empire developed at the beginning of the 11th century from a group of Mandé tribes. In the mid-13th century, the state experienced a period of expansion under the leadership of the ruler Sundjata Keita and converted to Islam. The Mali Empire reached its zenith under Musa, who made a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324-25, established diplomatic relations with Tunis and Egypt, and brought numerous Muslim scholars and artisans to the empire; from the time of Musa onwards, Mali appeared on geographical maps. After 1400, the empire declined, and the Songhai emerged as the leading state in western Sudan (Sahel region).

The greatest expansion of this state coincided with the reigns of Sonni Ali and Askia Muhammad; during the latter's reign, Islam flourished at court, and Timbuktu became one of the main centers of Islamic culture, famous for its university and book trade. Attracted by the kingdom's wealth, the armies of al-Mansur of Morocco annihilated Gao, the capital of Songhai, in 1591. Following the collapse of Songhai, numerous small kingdoms – Macina, Gonja, Ségou, Kaarta – attempted to establish dominance over western Sudan, but this only resulted in permanent conflicts and economic decline.

=====The Hausa States and Kanem-Bornu=====

To the east of Songhai, between the Niger River and Lake Chad, the Hausa city-states and the kingdom of Kanem-Bornu arose and developed. The Hausa states (Biram, Daura, Katsina, Zaria, Kano, Rano, and Gobir) originated before the 10th century; after the fall of Songhai, trans-Saharan trade shifted eastward, where it came under the control of Katsina and Kano. These cities became centers of flourishing trade and prosperous urban life. Islam was introduced to the Hausa states in the 14th century.

The kingdom of Kanem-Bornu already existed in the 8th century as a state with an uncertain structure, north and east of Lake Chad. Initially, it was ruled by a nomadic population, the Zaghawa, who were later overthrown by the Saifawa dynasty. The new rulers converted to Islam in the 11th century. At the end of the 14th century, driven by the invasion of the region by the Bulala, the sultans of Kanem moved to Bornu. The most famous ruler of Bornu was Idris Aluma (1580-1617). At its height, the Kanem-Bornu controlled the trade routes of the eastern Sahara, connecting Central Africa to Libya and Egypt; however, its slow decline began in the mid-17th century.

=====Spread of Islam=====

During the era of the great Sudanese empires (10th-16th centuries), the lives of farmers, herders, and fishermen remained virtually unchanged, and they continued to practice traditional religions. Islam spread in the large urban centers, among the upper classes and foreigners. From the end of the 15th century, the preaching of the nomadic Arab Kunta began, and in the mid-16th century, the Qadiriyyah Sufi orders began to spread Islam throughout western Sudan. Around the same time, the Fulani, a nomadic pastoral people, migrated eastward from the Senegalese region of Futa Toro, gaining many converts to Islam. However, Islam suffered a certain decline among the ruling classes, so much so that non-Islamic dynasties ruled in some old Muslim strongholds until the 18th century.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Islam regained strength in Futa Toro and other African regions, often as a reaction to European colonial penetration, and spread among the Fulani, Mandingo, Soso, and Tukolor peoples. After overthrowing the old dynasties, theocratic states arose that spread Islam to new regions. In the Hausa states, Usuman dan Fodio led a Fulani revolt, which, between 1804 and 1810, drove out the Hausa rulers and gave rise to new dynasties. However, an attempt to invade Bornu met with successful resistance from the religious leader al-Kanemi. After Usuman's death, power passed to his son Muhammad Bello (1817). Another theocratic state was formed in Macina in 1818 by Seku Ahmadu, who launched a "jihad" against the animist Bambara people and created a kingdom that encompassed the entire Niger River region, from Djenné to Timbuktu. After his death in 1844, he was succeeded by his son, but in 1862 the state fell into the hands of another Islamic reformer, al-Hajj Umar, who created the vast Tukolor empire in the Senegal region before dying in 1864.