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#2:
The
System of Silent Barter: The king established a system of silent barter. Rather
than meet and argue a price, gold would be left at a special
place for the traders to take. If ample goods were not left in
exchange, all trade ceased. The traders of Ghana did not speak
the language of many of the new traders who crossed the Sahara
via the Trans-Sahara Trade Routes.
This system of silent barter worked very well. Traders
were afraid to leave too little. They knew Ghana would stop
trading. If anything, they left more than they normally would,
to keep relations good and trade flowing.
#3:
A Second
City: The King of Ghana did not wish
traders to enter his city on a routine basis or in an
uncontrolled manner. To protect his people, he built a second
city for the traders located about 6
miles from the main capital. The capital remained a city for the
king and his people. The other, the new part of the city, was
reserved for Moslem traders, merchants, and foreigners.
This
system worked very well. It allowed the people of Ghana to
continue to worship in a way that was familiar and comfortable
to them. It encouraged the traders to worship in their way, in
the many mosques they built in the new city.
The
people of Ghana had a huge army. But they
really didn’t want trouble. They wanted their life to continue as
it always had, only more comfortably. The king wanted to conduct
public prayer in the big open plazas of his city. The people in the
villages wanted to hear the griots,
the storytellers,
telling the stories they loved so much about Anansi
the Spider.
All people, common and noble, wanted to dance at the festivals in
the masks
they loved to make and wear, accompanied by the drums
for which they were famous.
The
Gold Coast: As
more and more traders braved the Trans-Sahara Trade Routes, bringing
spices and silks to Ghana, and taking gold in trade, the Kingdom of
Ghana flourished. Ghana and other West African kingdoms soon became known as The Gold Coast.
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