Ancient Ghana or the Old Ghana Empire has nothing to do with modern Ghana at all – it’s not even in the same place, about 400 miles north and west of modern Ghana, and roughly consists of what is now northern Senegal, southern Mauritania and a bit Southwest Mali. In fact, “Ghana” wasn’t the name of the empire, but the title of its ruler (it means “warrior king”), and the empire itself was called Wagadugu or Wagadou – or the Soninke kingdom, depending on which account you’re reading.
Literature recommendations: 10 Ghanaian newspapers for all your latest s
Timeless events of the ancient Ghana Empire
1. AD 300/800 – The beginning of the Old Kingdom of Ghana
No one is quite sure exactly when it happened – it was well over a millennium ago and people weren’t very good at keeping accurate records back then – but somewhere between those two dates (probably) the Empire fell under the “semi-divine ” Dinga Cisse, the leader of modernism, founded Senegalese, then known as the Soninke people. At this time camel domestication was beginning to bear fruit and the transport of goods across the arid desert regions of North Africa became significantly easier.
2. 800 AD – The “official” establishment of the Old Kingdom of Ghana
This is the earliest date the existence of the Empire was definitely known. Therefore, it was generally adopted as the official launch date.
3. 992 AD – Ghana conquers Awdaghast
Although known for its trading links, the empire was also quite handy with its arms and expanded considerably by attacking and capturing neighboring cities and regions. Awdaghast was a city along the Trans-Saharan trade route north of the original empire and the entire area became part of the expanded empire.
4. 1000 – The Old Kingdom of Ghana is at its peak
The Old Ghana Empire controlled the trade of all gold and salt in this part of the world and a good proportion of the then newly discovered element iron for several hundred years and this was the essence of what made it so powerful. It was an intermediary who controlled trade between the Berber and Arab salt traders in the north and the ivory and gold producers in the south. By this time it had expanded to incorporate large parts of these territories as subjects of the Empire and exacted tribute from them, including some of the world’s richest gold mines at Bambuk in Senegal (a site closely guarded imperial secret at the time) . The capital, Kumbi Saleh, was the hub of this trade and Ghana had an organized tax system to ensure
5. 1040 – Bassi ascended the throne
Bassi was the penultimate ruler of the empire, reigning until 1062. The Ghanaians’ rapidly developing skills in ironworking led to much more powerful weapons previously known, such as iron-tipped spears, and contributed greatly to the empire’s combat victories. These struggles also provided the Empire with large numbers of slaves to perform the physical labor required in mines and on its many wealthy farms.
6. 1054 – Ibn Yasin conquers Aoudaghast
Although not converts to Islam themselves (unlike most other parts of North Africa), Ghanaians allowed Muslims to live among them. This generosity led to the beginning of the end of the empire – that and the obvious riches and resources to be found there – when a group of Muslims in the north who called themselves the Almoravids decided to attack them and began the disintegration of Ghana. The first obvious indication of this was when the Almoravid Ibn Yasin marched south and captured the Ghanaian city of Aoudaghast.
7. 1062 – Tunka Manin ascends the throne
Some stories show that it wasn’t just the Almoravid attacks that helped bring Ghana down; At this time, new gold mines began operating in Bure (in modern-day Guinea), which were beyond the commercial reach of the King of Ghana, breaking his trade monopoly. There were also long droughts that weakened the Empire’s ability to feed its farms and herds. New trade routes began to open to the east, making more and more compromises in this way. As central authority began to weaken, the affected tribes began to break away from the empire and reclaim their own lands.
8. 1076 – Abu Bakr captures Kumbi Saleh
The decline of the Old Ghana Empire began in 1076 when the Almoravid leader Abu-Bakr Ibn-Umar captured Ghana’s capital Kumbi Saleh, effectively conquering Ghana.
9. 1180 – Ghana rose again… briefly
The Almoravids stayed only a few years and after their departure in 1087 the empire recovered to some extent, although the Soninke warriors were now scattered across North Africa and there was no longer any military or economic cohesion.
10. 1203 – Soso attack brings the end
An anti-Muslim group called Soso (or Susu, or Sosso) arose in a small northern area of the original kingdom under its leader Sumanguru, and their attack on Ghana in 1203 finally ended the last Ghanaian authority. Another small kingdom called Kangaba also grew in the region, and when their dynamic new ruler, Sundiata Keita, took power in 1235, he began to incorporate the remnants of the dying empire into his new Mali Empire.
After that, it was only a matter of time what remained of Ghana was fully absorbed into Sundiata’s Mali Empire, and by 1240 the once vast and powerful Old Empire of Ghana was gone.