Friday, June 5, 2020

Resources for Teaching African Kingdoms

Here are some interesting resources for teaching about Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

They come from @TrevorGetz4 & Toby Green and @MatthewJBusch tweeted the link.

The resources include video clips about griots, digital primary sources with comprehension questions, an ebook about the kingdoms of Songhay, Kongo, Benin, Oyo, and Dahomeythe, and a short biography of Sundiata.

Sites of Encounter in the Medieval World. This is an amazing site that includes lessons with primary sources, maps, charts, graphs on these major trading states: Mali, Calicut, Majorca, Sicily, and Quanzhou. 

The lesson on Calicut, for example,  explores the importance of trade in spices for both food and medicine and even includes medieval recipes.

A lesson about the monsoon winds in India includes a chart of monsoon sailing dates between 1480 and 1500. Students analyze the chart and figure out the best times for sailors to travel from Hormuz to Calicut or how long would you have to wait before you could sail to Malacca?

The website also includes a terrific interactive map in which you can see the spread of religion,  trade routes, states, the spread of the Black Plague, and the voyages of Ibn Batutta. Take a look at the trade map below.

The griots of West Africa- Much more than storytellers  This site comes from the Goethe Institute and offers a short review of the importance of griots in the past and today.

Sundiata- The Heritage of the Griot  This a two minute-clip which reviews the story of  Maghan Kon Fatta

The Empire of Mali Series: The Griot, video clip from Teacher Tube This six-minute clip was filmed at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

A Guide to the Kingdoms of Songhay, Kongo, Benin, Oyo, and Dahomey c.1400 – c.1800. This is a 50-page e-book, parts of which might be good for students.

Lost Kingdoms of Africa, Youtube playlist This playlist comes for the BBC series

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