old empire of Ghana
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The old Empire of Ghana
The old Empire of Ghana is not geographically, ethnically, or in any other way, related to modern Ghana. It lies about four hundred miles north west of modern Ghana. Ancient Ghana encompassed what is now modern Northern Senegal and Southern Mauritania.
Nobody is sure when Ghana came into being. But some time at the beginning of the first millennium AD, it is thought that a number of clans of the Soninke people came together under a leader.
The Soninke people were a group of related tribes (nations) who all spoke the language of Mande. Each tribe was made up of clans (groups of families descended from one ancestor). Each clan was headed by the oldest male member. Many clans had specific occupations (metalworking, hunting, farming providing transportation). Soninke families were made up of many people, including a man and his wife or wives and all their children and relatives...