Kingdom of Ghana
| Ghanaian Empire | ||||||||||
| Wagadou | ||||||||||
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 The Ghana Empire at its greatest extent
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| Capital | Koumbi Saleh | |||||||||
| Languages | Soninke, Mande | |||||||||
| Religion | African traditional religion, Islam | |||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | |||||||||
| Ghana | ||||||||||
| • | 790s | Majan Dyabe Cisse | ||||||||
| • | 1040–1069 | Ghana Bassi | ||||||||
| • | 1203–1235 | Soumaba Cisse | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||
| • | Established | circa 350 AD c. 300 | ||||||||
| • | Conquered by the Sosso / Submitted to Mali Empire |
c. 1200 | ||||||||
| Area | ||||||||||
| • | 1067 est. | 1,600 km² (618 sq mi) | ||||||||
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| Today part of |
 Mali Mauritania
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The Ghana Empire (c. 400 until c. 1200), properly known as Awkar (Ghana or Ga'na being the title of its ruler) was located in what is now southeastern Mauritania and western Mali. Complex societies based on trans-Saharan trade with salt and gold had existed in the region since ancient times But the introduction of the camel to western Sahara in the 3rd century A.D. gave way to great changes in the area that became the Ghana Empire. By the time of the Muslim conquest of North Africa in the 7th century the camel had changed the ancient more irregular trade routes into a trade network running from Morocco to the Niger river. The Ghana Empire grew rich from this increased trans-Saharan trade in gold and salt allowing for larger urban centres to develop. It furthermore encouraged territorial expansion to gain control over the different trade-routes.
When Ghana's ruling dynasty began is uncertain; it as mentioned for the first time in written records by Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī in 830. In the 11th century the Cordoban scholar Abu Ubayd al-Bakri collected stories from a number of travelers to the region, and gave a detailed description of the kingdom. He claimed that the Ghana could "put 200,000 men into the field, more than 40,000 of them archers" and noted they had cavalry forces as well.
As the empire declined it was finally made a vassal to the rising Mali Empire at some point in the 13th century. When the Gold Coast in 1957 became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to regain its independence from colonial rule it was renamed in honor of the long gone empire from which the ancestors to the Akan people of modern-day Ghana are thought to have migrated.
The origins of Ghana have often been obscured by fights between ethno-historic accounts and interpretations and archaeology. The earliest discussions of its origins are found in the Sudanese chronicles of Mahmud Kati and Abd al-Rahman as-Sadi. According to Kati's Tarikh al-Fettash in a section probably composed by the author around 1580, but citing the authority of the chief judge of Massina, Ida al-Massini who lived somewhat earlier, twenty kings ruled Ghana before the advent of the Prophet, and the empire extended until the century after the prophet (i.e. c. 822 AD). In addressing the rulers' origin, the Tarikh al-Fettash provides three different opinions, one that they were Black (i.e. Soninke), another that they were Wangara, which are a Soninke group.
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Wikipedia