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Cultural Similarities Between Ghana Mali And Songhai Empires

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Cultural Similarities Between Ghana Mali And Songhai Empires
The Western African region has had many different empires come and go, but there are three that stand out the most. The Ghana, Mali, and Songhai empires are very famous in the Western African region because of the cultural significance they had. These three empires had immense control over the gold mines and trade and so therefore the territories had a surplus in gold. They had so much gold that they would trade it for something as little and common as the spice salt. The kingdoms started out as accepting of Islam but mainly kept to their indigenous religion; however, we were able to see the boom in Islam over time. All of the three empires also had similar cultural aspects because they were located in the same region; however they just kept …show more content…
He gave up making his empire money just so he could connect deeper with his religion and he made sure to follow the pillars of Islam. In the secondary written by Howard University in The Gold Road, “Made a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina in 1495 with an entourage of more than 800 notables with 1,500 soldiers, including men on horseback and camels” Mohammed was also very devoted to his religion and following the five pillars of Islam. He made the pilgrimage from Mecca to Medina and brought a lot of nobles, soldiers, and civilians of the Songhai Empire. In addition to his very impressive hajj that he took, he also was able to study his religion in a deeper and more meaningful way. From The Gold Road by Howard University, “Spent two years studying in Egypt and the Middle East. Returned to Songhai and vigorously spread Islam.” Mohammed was able to spread the word of his religion that he valued so deeply he decided to study it in depth for two years. Mohammed was very clearly devoted to his religion and loved it so much that he wanted to share it with everyone else, which led him to praising the word and trying to spread it to his

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