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Great questions and analysis of erroneous assumptions! Certainly, the map would have been confined to elite/royal circles and not widely distributed a...

Trade routes through the Sahara (with stops at key oases) were essential to the economies at the time. The great African empires of Ghana, Mali, Songh...

I love that you highlight the take-aways as Africa having a long history and being connected to the rest of the world! You are so right!

Beautifully summarized, Emma!

You captured it exactly! I love how you highlight cities, gold, and the king (Mansa Musa)

Thank you for highlighting this, Kelli. Yes, this is the big world historical picture that started with a quest for gold and turned into enslavement.

You summarized the big picture exactly!

Absolutely! Africa already had a reputation of riches, and the king depicted holding the large gold nugget is Mansa Musa of the Mali empire.

Yes this map became widely known as Africa's reputation of riches grew in the medieval era.

Great questions and conversation! It was both a search and based on wealth already discovered. The trans-saharan trade, centered on gold (and also oth...

You ask such important questions, Jennifer. Clearly, the map maker wrote in many pre-conceived assumptions about who lived in Africa. Looking closer, ...

I just came across this great poem by Koleka Putuma which made me think of you, Ami!

Examining how technology has shaped Africa for millennia would be an interesting project!

I love how connected us East Africans feel through food. When I go to Ali's Roti (a Trinidadian restaurant in Boston), I find home through food even t...

Your commentary immediately showcases the immense social diversities in Africa and I'm so glad your curriculum will focus on some aspect of this, whe...