BEFORE YOU WATCH: Mansa Musa and Islam in Africa – Crash Course World History #16

Before you watch

While you watch

1. John Green points out that most sub-Saharan African histories were preserved by oral tradition rather than written down. He also says there is a prejudice against oral tradition. What evidence does he use to argue that oral tradition is in fact important?
2. Who was Mansa Musa, and why was his hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) so significant?
3. What was Mali like when Mansa Musa ruled it, in terms of both politics and religion?
4. What kinds of states were built along the eastern coast of Africa at this time, and how were they linked?
5. For a long time, scholars incorrectly believed the Swahili city-states in east Africa must have been founded by Arabs, rather than local Africans. Why did they believe that, according to John Green?
6. What kinds of goods and other resources were traded through the Swahili city-states?

After you watch

1. To what extent does this video explain how systems of belief and their practices affected society in the period from c. 1200 to 1450?
2. Why do you think two different kinds of states formed in different African regions (large empires in the interior of west Africa and city-states along the coast of east Africa)?
3. How is Mansa Musa’s life evidence of a wider network connecting societies in multiple regions in this period?