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What were the three great kingdoms of western Africa?

The three great kingdoms of western Africa were the Kingdom of Ghana (now Mauritania), the Mali Empire (now Mali), and the Songhai Empire (now Niger). During the fifth century A.D. the Soninke people ruled the Kingdom of Ghana from its capital Kumbi Saleh (present-day Kouimbi Saleh in southeastern Mauritania), along the agriculturally rich Niger River. The Soninke were settled farmers and miners, who made tools and weapons of iron and ornaments from gold. They traded their ample supplies of gold for salt from Berbers, nomadic Muslim traders from North Africa, who crossed the dangerous Sahara Desert with camel caravans. Salt was a precious commodity, needed for preserving food and for replenishing water lost by the body through perspiration. Ghana's kings ruled from Kumbi Saleh and led a standing army against the Berbers, who overran the kingdom in...

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