Ghana Empire

The Ghana Empire , also known as simply Ghana, Ghanata, or <a href="/facts/Wagadu_(mythology)/R8o0U2du">Wagadu</a>, was an ancient western-Sahelian <a href="/facts/Empire/dsjWjBBd">empire</a> based in the modern-day southeast of <a href="/facts/Mauritania/JcP8EJku">Mauritania</a> and western <a href="/facts/Mali/sAaVqV1e">Mali</a>.
It is uncertain among historians when Ghana's ruling dynasty began. The first identifiable mention of the imperial dynasty in written records was made by <a href="/facts/Mu%E1%B8%A5ammad_ibn_M%C5%ABs%C4%81_al-Khw%C4%81rizm%C4%AB/24KdxyEQ">Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī</a> in 830. Further information about the empire was provided by the accounts of <a href="/facts/C%C3%B3rdoba,_Spain/t4c3oIc0">Cordoban</a> scholar <a href="/facts/Al-Bakri/H6Vdq3Ve">al-Bakri</a> when he wrote about the region in the 11th century.
After centuries of prosperity, the empire began its decline in the <a href="/facts/2nd_millennium/eRTCzMPm">second millennium</a>, and would finally become a <a href="/facts/Vassal/LKfLc2Cz">vassal state</a> of the rising <a href="/facts/Mali_Empire/gPpY8YQC">Mali Empire</a> at some point in the 13th century. Despite its collapse, the empire's influence can be felt in the establishment of numerous urban centers throughout its former territory. In 1957, the <a href="/facts/British_Empire/hrsz0j7A">British colony</a> of the <a href="/facts/Gold_Coast_(British_colony)/WuxNXI4K">Gold Coast</a>, under the leadership of <a href="/facts/Kwame_Nkrumah/cDq1JGd9">Kwame Nkrumah</a> named itself <a href="/facts/Ghana/IkUw32Ya">Ghana</a> upon independence.

Ghana Empire open-in-new

Ghana Empire