West African Empires

Name: ID:

Email:

Multiple Choice

Identify the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

How did Ghana become such a powerful state?

a.	Ghana owned more salt than other states.
b.	Leaders in Ghana formed alliances with other groups of people.
c.	It had the strongest army in all of Africa.
d.	It gained control of the valuable trade routes.

What was the significance of the people of Ghana learning to work with iron?

a.	They could trade iron for other precious minerals.
b.	They could make much stronger houses using iron.
c.	Iron tools made farming easier and weapons much stronger.
d.	Iron was used to create even more spectacular artwork.

Towns and villages grew and the population of Ghana increased mostly because

a.	Ghana’s farmers and herders could produce plenty of food.
b.	the people of Ghana believed in having very large families.
c.	families needed many members to work the trade caravans.
d.	by law, families in Ghana were required to have many members.

What was significant about the location of the Ghana Empire?

a.	It had access to the Atlantic Ocean and therefore valuable shipping routes.
b.	It was located between the gold mines in the south and valuable salt resources in the north.
c.	The empire was isolated from other empires, keeping it safe from attacks.
d.	Most of the empire was located in the mountains overlooking other empires.

Why was salt so valuable?

a.	Salt was used as a fertilizer for crops.
b.	Salt was used in many religious ceremonies.
c.	People needed salt in their diets and they used it to preserve and season foods.
d.	Salt was used as a medicine.

Silent barter is

a.	a deadly snake native to West Africa.
b.	the process by which the people of Ghana elected their leaders.
c.	a process in which people trade and exchange goods without direct contact.
d.	a West African musical instrument.

Which of the following best explains the usefulness of the practice of silent barter?

a.	Silent barter often allowed traders to take advantage of the people they were trading with.
b.	Silent barter ensured that trading was peaceful and that locations of mines remained secret.
c.	Silent barter allowed people who did not speak the same language to trade.
d.	Silent barter was the best method to keep the cost of trades to a minimum.

What was the largest city in Ghana and the main trading center?

a.	Mecca	c.	Tripoli
b.	Timbuktu	d.	Koumbi Saleh

How did Ghana’s kings govern such a large empire?

a.	They delegated power to governors, who then answered only to the king.
b.	They used the army to maintain order and police the people.
c.	All citizens went to special schools to learn how to be good citizens.
d.	They allowed people in other territories to choose their own leaders.

10.

What type of leader was Tunka Manin?

a.	He was a brutal leader who often imprisoned citizens for no reason.
b.	He was a weak ruler, rarely leaving the comfort of his palace.
c.	He was a kind and caring leader, often talking to his people and treating them with respect.
d.	He was corrupt, taking money from his people to increase his personal wealth.

11.

With so many traders passing though their lands, Ghana’s rulers looked for ways to make money from them. One way they raised money was by forcing traders to pay taxes.

What can you infer about Ghana’s rulers from the above passage?

a.	They were smart businessmen who took advantage of opportunities.
b.	They disliked foreign traders and merchants.
c.	They tried to stop the trading in their empire.
d.	They were crooks who illegally made money from poor people.

12.

How did Ghana’s kings use the tax and tribute money they collected?

a.	They bought gold mines in the western territories.
b.	They shared most of the money with the citizens of Ghana.
c.	They built powerful armies so they could conquer more territories.
d.	Most of the money was never used and remains lost.

13.

Who were the Almoravids?

a.	merchants from the north who controlled the salt trade
b.	Muslims who attacked Ghana and destroyed Koumbi Saleh
c.	Christians from southern Europe who joined forces with Ghana
d.	a group of sea-traveling people from the coast of southern Africa

14.

What happened to the fertile land that Ghana’s farmers once cultivated?

a.	It was flooded by the nearby Niger and Senegal rivers.
b.	Great fires swept through the empire, destroying everything.
c.	It was ripped open by the Almoravids, who were mining for gold.
d.	Herds of animals brought by the Almoravids ate all the grass, leaving the land worthless.

15.

Which of the following best illustrates a similarity between the development of the Ghana and Mali empires?

a.	Both empires took advantage of large gold mines within their empires to fund their armies.
b.	Both empires lay along the upper Niger River, where fertile soil made food plentiful.
c.	Both empires were helped by outsiders.
d.	Both empires were formed as democracies.

16.

All of the following happened during the reign of Sundiata except

a.	Mali won its independence.
b.	beans, rice, onions, and cotton were introduced to the empire.
c.	Timbuktu became the center of the empire.
d.	Mali took over the gold and salt trade in western Africa.

17.

Which of the following is a method Sundiata used to gain more power in Mali?

a.	He took power away from local chiefs and leaders, including important religious powers.
b.	He bribed citizens to be his followers.
c.	He hired armies from other empires to work for him.
d.	He killed most of the local chiefs and leaders.

18.

Unlike Sundiata, most of Mali’s later rulers were

a.	Muslim.
b.	considered to be gods by their followers.
c.	Christian.
d.	from the empires north of the Sahara Desert.

19.

Who were the mansas?

a.	local leaders who held both political and religious roles in Malian society
b.	merchants from territories north of the Sahara Desert
c.	a group of elders who counseled Sundiata on important issues
d.	a group of rebels fought who Sundiata for control of the empire

20.

According to traditional Malian beliefs, why was food so plentiful?

a.	The water from the Niger River was magical.
b.	Gold leaked from the ground and fertilized the cropland.
c.	Malian ancestors made an agreement with spirits of the land who made sure food grew.
d.	A mysterious traveler from the north taught the Malians how to farm.

21.

Who was Mali’s greatest and most famous ruler?

a.	Maghan	c.	Sunni Ali
b.	Askia the Great	d.	Mansa Musa

22.

What was the importance of Mansa Musa’s hajj to Mecca?

a.	He became an important leader in the Islamic leadership.
b.	His followers built a large mosque in his honor.
c.	He became famous and introduced the world to the Mali Empire.
d.	He became even wealthier through very shrewd trading deals.

23.

Which of the following was not a way Mansa Musa spread Islam and education throughout Mali?

a.	He hired artists and architects from other empires to build mosques in Mali.
b.	He sent scholars to study in Morocco and then to set up schools in Mali.
c.	He stressed the importance of reading and writing in Arabic, the language of the Qur´an.
d.	He outlawed all religions except Islam.

24.

Which of the following shows Mansa Musa’s promotion of religious tolerance?

a.	allowing angry miners to keep their own religion
b.	the building of great mosques throughout the Mali Empire
c.	making a journey, or hajj, to Mecca
d.	stressing the importance of reading and writing the Qur´an in Arabic

25.

Which of the following did not contribute to the fall of the Mali Empire?

a.	The empire had grown so large that the government could not control it.
b.	Weak leaders could not unite the empire.
c.	Several catastrophic droughts destroyed croplands and created famine.
d.	Invaders from the north could not be defeated.

26.

Which city that was once the center of the Mali Empire became the center for the Songhai Empire?

a.	Djenné	c.	Timbuktu
b.	Gao	d.	Mecca

27.

Why were the Berbers willing to trade with the Songhai?

a.	Both groups of people were Muslims.
b.	They shared ancestral history.
c.	They were so close to the Songhai.
d.	They were planning to eventually invade the Songhai Empire.

28.

Which of the following is the most appropriate response to the statement “Sunni Ali was bad for the empires of western Africa”?

a.	“This is true, because he waged war on all the empires in the region.”
b.	“This is incorrect. Sunni Ali gave back lands to everyone who had lost territory.”
c.	“This is false, because he brought peace and stability to the area.”
d.	“This is correct. Sunni Ali’s policies destroyed the environment.”

29.

Why did the people of Songhai overthrow Sunni Baru?

a.	They thought that because he was not a Muslim, they would lose trade and power.
b.	Sunni Baru was a weak leader who made his people suffer.
c.	Sunni Baru was trying to convert the people in the empire to Christianity.
d.	They did not want to be ruled by the son of Sunni Ali.

30.

What are two lasting governmental inventions of Askia the Great?

a.	income taxes and toll roads
b.	specialized government offices and a permanent professional army
c.	public holidays and public schools
d.	government-owned companies and the sales tax

31.

Why did Morocco invade Songhai?

a.	Morocco wanted to use captured Songhai citizens as slaves.
b.	Songhai merchants had taken over many of Morocco’s trading partners.
c.	The Moroccans were after Songhai’s rich deposits of gold and salt.
d.	The Moroccans thought that the askias of Songhai were converting to Christianity.

32.

What is an arquebus?

a.	a large boat used to carry people across the Niger River
b.	a large deposit of a valuable blue mineral
c.	a large animal that the Moroccans used to carry goods
d.	an early form of a gun

33.

Which of the following did not contribute to the collapse of the Songhai Empire?

a.	Moroccan troops looted and destroyed the major Songhai cities.
b.	Masses of Songhai people were taken away and sold into slavery.
c.	Trade patterns changed, shifting more to sea routes rather than through Songhai land.
d.	Europeans arrived and then took much of the West African gold when they left.

34.

Much of what we know about early West Africa comes from the writings of travelers and scholars from Muslim lands such as Spain and Arabia.

What is the best inference you can make from this statement?

a.	The people of West Africa were not interested in keeping track of their histories.
b.	The people of West Africa never traveled beyond the borders of their empires.
c.	The people of West Africa left no written histories of their own.
d.	Very few travelers ever visited early West African empires.

35.

African storytellers who memorize and recite the names and histories of their people are called

a.	griots.	c.	Dausi.
b.	kente.	d.	Battuta.

36.

How was music and dance incorporated into the lives of the people of early West Africa?

a.	It played only a small role.
b.	Children were taught that music and dance were evil forms of entertainment.
c.	It was entertainment and also a way to celebrate their history and other important events.
d.	Only very important citizens were allowed to play music or dance.

37.

Many of the West African epics can be read

a.	in the great library in Mecca.	c.	in the Qur´an.
b.	in the Dausi and the Sundiata.	d.	on the walls of mosques in Timbuktu.

38.

In what way is the musical tradition of the early West African empires present today?

a.	in epics	c.	in wedding and funeral dances
b.	in histories	d.	in the proverbs

39.

Which of the following best describes the subject of a West African sculpture?

a.	a favorite family pet	c.	a cow or other animal used as food
b.	the sculptor’s grandfather	d.	an important tree or plant

40.

For special occasions, West African kings and queens wore garments made of

a.	cotton with gold thread.	c.	kente.
b.	finely woven silk.	d.	highly polished ebony wood.