Overview
This feature uses the words of a fictitious griot, or African storyteller, to give accounts of some of the kingdoms and empires that existed in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1400's. These kingdoms flourished mainly because of trade. African merchants traded gold, ivory, copper, figs, dates, and slaves for textiles, horses, and metalware from Europe and the Middle East. Zimbabwe, on the east coast of Africa, carried on trade with China, India, and Indonesia. Some of the most powerful of these kingdoms established elaborate systems of government and rich traditions in sculpture, music, and oral poetry.