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Salt North, Gold South: A Caravan to Timbuktu worksheet preview

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Salt North, Gold South: A Caravan to Timbuktu

Grade 7 history: follow a salt caravan from Taghaza to Timbuktu on a described map and learn how Ghana, Mali and Songhai grew rich from trade.

Grade 7Social StudiesInteractive · Printable

Aligned toHIS.7.3

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What’s included

  • Single worksheet
  • Auto-graded online
  • 1 C3 Framework standard
  • Printable answer key
  • 11 questions
  • Classroom-ready

Details

Format
Interactive · Printable
Grade
Grade 7
Subject
Social Studies
Question types
Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

  • Students follow a described map and route to explain how the gold and salt trade moved goods.
  • Students compare how Ghana, Mali and Songhai gained wealth and power from trade.
  • Students explain why Mansa Musa's journey and Timbuktu became famous.

How to use

Have students sketch the six places from the map description before they answer the map questions; then read the passage on the three kingdoms together.

Curriculum

C3 Framework standard covered

HIS.7.3

Describe the West African kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhai, the gold and salt trade, Mansa Musa and Timbuktu.

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Salt North, Gold South: A Caravan to Timbuktu

Follow a described map and a trade journey through the kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhai.

The map and the journey

Read the map description and the journey table. Then answer the questions.

The caravan map, described in words (about 1350 CE)
• Taghaza: salt mines in the Sahara, roughly 500 miles north of Timbuktu.
• Timbuktu: at the southern edge of the desert, a few miles north of the Niger River, where the river bends.
• Gao: east of Timbuktu, downstream along the Niger River.
• Djenné: southwest of Timbuktu, upstream in the wide, marshy inland delta of the Niger.
• The gold fields: far to the southwest of Timbuktu, near the upper Niger and Senegal rivers.
• Koumbi Saleh: the old capital of Ghana, west of Timbuktu, at the edge of the desert.
One Trader's Round Trip (a made-up example)
LegRouteTravel byMain load
1Taghaza → TimbuktuCamel caravanSalt slabs
2Timbuktu → DjennéBoat on the NigerSalt slabs
3Djenné → gold fieldsDonkeys and portersSalt, traded for gold
4Gold fields → TimbuktuDonkeys, then boatGold dust
5Timbuktu → North AfricaCamel caravanGold dust and ivory
1.
In which direction does the caravan travel on leg 1?
  • A. South
  • B. East
  • C. West
  • D. North
2.
A trader in Timbuktu wants to sell salt in the city where the Songhai people were based. Which way should his boat go?
  • A. North, across the desert to Taghaza
  • B. West, upstream toward Djenné
  • C. East, downstream toward Gao
  • D. Southwest, toward the gold fields
3.
Using the map and the journey table, why was Timbuktu a good place for a trading city?
  • A. Desert caravans met river boats there.
  • B. It was the old capital of Ghana.
  • C. It sat in the middle of the salt mines.
  • D. It lay right beside the gold fields.
4.
Use the journey table and paragraph 2. Sort each good by the direction caravans mostly carried it across the Sahara.
Salt slabsGold dustCopperIvoryCloth from North Africa
Carried south, toward the NigerCarried north, toward North Africa

Three trading kingdoms

Read the passage. Then answer the questions.

Kingdoms Built on Trade

1For more than a thousand years, trade routes crossed the Sahara, the world's largest hot desert, linking West Africa with North Africa and the Mediterranean world. Camels made these long crossings possible because they can travel for days without water. Merchants traveled together in caravans, sometimes with hundreds or even thousands of camels, for safety in the desert.

2Two goods drove much of this trade. In the Sahara, at places such as Taghaza, workers cut rock salt into large slabs. Salt was scarce in the grasslands and forests to the south, yet people there needed it to stay healthy in the heat and to keep food from spoiling. Those southern lands had gold, mined near the upper Niger and Senegal rivers. Caravans heading south also carried copper and cloth from North Africa, and caravans heading north carried gold, ivory and enslaved people. Some old stories claim that salt traded for its weight in gold, but historians think that was rare.

3The first great trading kingdom was Ghana. It lay northwest of the present-day country of Ghana, in parts of what are now Mauritania and Mali. Its kings grew rich without owning the gold mines. According to an Arab writer in the 1000s, the king of Ghana taxed each load of salt that came into the kingdom and each load that went out. The king also kept every gold nugget for himself, so traders could deal only in gold dust. Ghana lost much of its power in the 1100s.

4Mali rose in the 1200s. Its founder, Sundiata Keita, won a key battle around 1235 and built a kingdom that controlled the gold fields and the trade cities along the Niger River. Mali's most famous ruler, Mansa Musa, ruled in the early 1300s. He was a Muslim, and in 1324 he made the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. Arab writers reported that he crossed the desert with thousands of followers and so much gold that, after he spent and gave it away in Cairo, gold there was worth less for years. Mansa Musa came home with scholars and an architect, and he had a great mosque built in Timbuktu. Over time, Timbuktu became famous for its scholars and its books.

5As Mali weakened, the Songhai people, based in the city of Gao, grew stronger. The Songhai ruler Sunni Ali captured Timbuktu in 1468. A later ruler, Askia Muhammad, made Songhai larger still and supported Islamic learning. In 1591 an army from Morocco, armed with guns, defeated Songhai, and the empire broke apart.

5.
Based on paragraph 2, why was salt worth so much in the lands south of the Sahara?
  • A. The kings of Ghana owned the mines at Taghaza.
  • B. Mali pressed salt into coins for its markets.
  • C. People there used salt instead of gold for jewelry.
  • D. It was hard to find there, but people needed it.
6.
A trader brings a load of salt into Ghana and later sends part of it on to another land. Based on paragraph 3, when does he pay the king a tax?
  • A. When he buys a camel for the next trip
  • B. When the salt comes in and again when it goes out
  • C. When he reaches the city of Timbuktu
  • D. When he trades his salt for gold nuggets
7.
Draw a line from each ruler to what he did.
  1. Sundiata Keita
  2. Mansa Musa
  3. Sunni Ali
  4. Askia Muhammad
  1. A. Won Timbuktu for the Songhai
  2. B. Enlarged Songhai and backed Islamic scholars
  3. C. Founded Mali after a battle around 1235
  4. D. Traveled to Mecca with great wealth in 1324
8.

How many years passed between Mansa Musa's hajj and Sunni Ali's capture of Timbuktu?   years

9.
Writers in Cairo reported that Mansa Musa's spending made gold worth less there for years. What does this report most likely show historians?
  • A. Mansa Musa went to Mecca mainly to buy salt.
  • B. Mali's wealth was noticed far beyond West Africa.
  • C. Cairo was one of the cities ruled by Mali.
  • D. Mali had run out of gold by the time he got home.
10.
Which statement describes something Ghana, Mali and Songhai had in common?
  • A. Each had its capital at Timbuktu.
  • B. Each fell to an army from Morocco.
  • C. Each grew rich from trade across the Sahara.
  • D. Each was ruled by Mansa Musa's family.
11.
Claim: Timbuktu became famous more because of its location than because of its rulers. Do you agree? Use at least one detail from the map or journey table and one from the passage, and explain your reasoning.

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