GhanaArticle Free Pass
Britannica Web Sites
Articles from Britannica encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
- Ghana Empire - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
Ghana was a powerful trading empire in western Africa. The empire was most active from the 700s to the 1200s. Its lands are now partly in Mauritania and partly in Mali. It was not related to the current country called the Republic of Ghana.
- Ghana Empire - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
The Ghana Empire was the best known and most powerful of the medieval trading empires in West Africa. Led by Mande-speaking peoples of Soninke clans, the empire took its name from the Mande word for "warrior king." Although the modern country of Ghana was named after the empire, ancient Ghana was located hundreds of miles north and west of modern Ghana, in an area that is now part of Mali and Mauritania. Over the centuries the empire’s capital was moved from one place to another; archaeologists have tentatively identified Kumbi, 200 miles (322 kilometers) north of modern Bamako, Mali, as the final capital.