What difference might that make to their view of Ghana and Mali?

Please choose ONE of the two topics below and submit your posts only on that topic.
Once you have finished all of the required reading, post an answer to the discussion prompts for your chosen Discussion Board topic. Make sure you identify in the subject line which topic you are addressing.
Your initial post should be roughly 250 words and you should address the specific materials assigned, citing your sources appropriately. Remember that at the center of our Discussion Board work is the interpretation of primary sources. Once you have posted your initial post, please respond substantively to at least two other students. Thereafter your instructor will guide the conversation.
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Topic 1: Empires of West Africa
Required Reading:
Website: The Empires of the Western Sudan – http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/wsem/hd_wsem.htm (read The Empires of the Western Sudan page and all the primary essays listed on the right-hand side of the page: 1) The Empires of the Western Sudan: Ghana Empire; 2) The Empires of the Western Sudan: Mali Empire; 3) The Empires of the Western Sudan: Songhai Empire; 4) Trade and the Spread of Islam in Africa; 5) The Trans-Saharan Gold Trade (Seventh–Fourteenth Centuries)
Primary Sources:
Website: Al-Bakri, Roads and Kingdoms (1067 CE) – http://users.rowan.edu/~mcinneshin/5394/wk05/albakri.htm
Website: Kingdom of Mail (Al-Umari, ca. 1330 CE) – http://www.bu.edu/africa/outreach/k_o_mali/
Website: Leo Africanus describes Timbuktu (1652 CE) – https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/med/leo_afri.asp
Website: Proverbs from Ghana – http://www.bu.edu/africa/outreach/gp/
Discussion Prompts:
After reading Chapter 6 and the material at the websites, and viewing the videos, please make a 250-word initial post that answers the following questions about the primary sources:
Al-Bakri and Leo Africanus were not native to the areas they discussed. What difference might that make to their view of Ghana and Mali? How might their background have influenced what they saw and described? Did they see everything they described, or were things described to them by others? Did they think the culture that they were writing about was lesser than their own or equal to it? How does Al-Umari’s discussion of Mali differ from Leo’s? What might account for those differences? What do the Ghanaian proverbs add to your understanding of that culture?
Please hit the “Reply” button below to make your initial post.
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