The Soninke | Black History Project | Video 20

The Soninke ethnic group were militarily advanced allowing the expansion of their territory into an empire. They fought with lances and swords made of iron against opponents with mainly wooden weapons. This enabled them to dominate the tribes who they were competing with even when they were outnumbered in combat. The Soninke were instrumental in the construction of the Empire of Ancient Ghana, which is north west of present day Ghana. The ancient Ghanaians migrated southwardly for reasons we shall explain later.

By 833AD Ancient Ghana (img) had gained an international reputation of being the land of iron and gold. Trade was rich (img) due to its position as an intersect between north and sub-Saharan and North Saharan Africa. The Soninke essentially became brokers who would add a commission / tax for the luxury of trading in Djenne. Brokers make their money by charging for their services of managing a transaction. This is the same for our stock brokers today.

Task: Explore the advantages and disadvantages of being a broker, who charges for his/ her services of being the “middle man” individual deals vs a business owners or entrepreneurs who controls the entire business.