AT the same time that medieval kingdms like England and France were becming imprtant in Eurpe， three kingdms in West Africa als grew strng and wealthy. They were called Ghana， Mali， and Snghay. These kingdms were suthf the Sahara Desert， alng the Niger River.n yur map each kingdm isutlined with a different kindf line.
Medieval kingdmsf West Africa ( 中世纪时的西非王国 )This partf Africa was very wealthy because gld was mined there. Fr many centuries， the peplesf West Africa traded their gld with clse neighbrs and als with the Berber peple nrthf the Sahara Desert. Smef the gld frm West Africa was sld in the Rman Empire.
There are ltsf gd stries abut the gld miners and traders. When the miners had gld t trade， they wuld carry their nuggets far away frm the mines. They didn"t want strangers t findut exactly where the gld camefrm. The miners wuld wait in a place that bth sides agreed upn. The traders wuld cme and leave what they had t trade. After the traders wereutf sight， the miners wuld leave sme gld. Then they wuld hide. They didn"t want t meet the traders， wh might frce them t tell the lcatinf the mines. The traders wuld then return and see hw much gld had been left. If they thught it was a fair trade， they wuld take the gld and g hme. If they thught that nt enugh wasffered， they wuld backffnce mre and wait fr the miners t leave mre gld. When bth sides were satisfied with the trade， they wuld all g hme. It was like swapping baseball cards. Bth sides had t be happyr there was n trade.
ne thing that the West Africans needed t get in trade was salt. Can yu guess why？ West Africa is very ht. In thse days with n refrigeratrs， salt was used t preserve fd. Perhaps yu"ve tasted beef jerky， which is meat that has been dried and preserved by salting. Yu can thinkf manyther ways we keepur fd frm spiling nw， but in thse days， salt was scarce and valuable. Even tday we still use salt as a preservative， and we still say smene is "wrth his salt" when he des a jb well.
It just s happened that there was a ltf saltn the nrth sidef the Sahara Desert. S， the peplef the Niger River area traded with the Berbersf Nrth Africa-gld fr salt. Salt was s valuable that West Africans and Berbers traded an even weightf gld fr salt-ne pundf gld frne pundf salt. That"s hw valuable salt was. Hw wuld yu like t be able t make that trade tday？
All that gld made a numberf the kingdms in West Africa very wealthy. First a kingdm called Ghana grew large by cnquering manyf its neighbrs. The king"s pwer came frm his well-trained army， a skillful cavalry， and gld. When the kingf Ghana held an audience， he was surrunded by signsf his pwer and wealth： pages hlding shields， swrds with gld handles， hrses cvered with gld clths， and the king"swn hrse tied t a sixty-pund gld nugget！ Despite all this wealth， Ghana eventually declined in pwer， as all empires d snerr later.
Mali was the next rich， imprtant empire in West Africa.ne king， Sundiata， cnquered the cities imprtant in the trade crssing the Sahara. He als cnquered rich gld fields. This king was ntnly rich， but he was als smart. Whenever his army cnquered new land， he put the sldiers t wrk cnverting it t farm land-until it was time fr the next battle. Sn Mali wasnef the richest farming areas in West Africa， s this kingdm had plenty t eat as well as having gld and a pwerful army.
The mst famus kingf Mali was Mansa Musa， wh ruled during the 14thcentury. He extended his empire westward t the Atlanticcean and ruled perhaps eight millin peple. Muslim traders， bth Arabs and Nrth Africans， came t Mali， and Mansa Musa cnverted t Islam. Like all devut Muslims， he made a pilgrimage t Mecca. Mansa Musa"s pilgrimage made him famus！ His rute tk him thrugh Cair， Egypt. He traveled with 500 slaves， each carrying a six-pund gld staff. There were alsne hundred elephants， each said t be carryingne hundred pundsf gld. Several hundred camels carried fd， weapns， andther things that the pilgrims needed. In Egypt and in Arabia， Mansa Musa gave away a ltf gld. Muslims are expected t be generus， and Mansa Musa was. He als used his gld t buy presents fr the peple he met alng the way. While he was traveling， smene asked Mansa Musa hw big his kingdm was. He replied， "A year." What d yu think he meant by this？ Did yu guess？ He meant that it tk him a year t travel frmne endf his kingdm t thether.
When Mansa Musa came hme， he brught with him artists and architects t build msques in the cityf Timbuktu andther cities in Mali. He als brught schlars and many bks t start a library. Mstf the bks were written in Arabic， the language used by many Muslims. Timbuktu became a centerf learning， and a large bk marketpened there. Astrnmers， mathematicians， philsphers， and pets flcked t the city with its large library and many msques. Dctrs and lawyers wrked and taught there. The king supprted them all. A ltf freigners came t visit Timbuktu. Smef these visitrs wrte abut their trips， s we can read what they said.ne Muslim traveler wh came frm Nrth Africa discvered an astnishing thing： Wmen were allwed t study and were treated with as much respect as the men！
After Mansa Musa died， the empiref Mali began t split apart. Sn a third imprtant empire， Snghay， arse in the Niger River area. In Snghay， the king"s wealth again was basedn gld， and he cmmanded strng armies. The king， Sunni Ali Ber， expanded Snghay until its empire was larger than Mali had ever been. He died in 1492， the year that Clumbus set sail fr the Americas. After this time， Snghay was weakened by freigners， first by Mrccans frm Nrth Africa and then by the Prtuguese wh began sailing and trading alng the African cast. The kingf Snghay n lnger had the pwerr wealth t hld his territry tgether. After a thusand yearsf wealthy empires， the lands alng the Niger River split int small kingdms.
【中文阅读】
当中世纪与诸如英国和法国这样的王国在欧洲逐渐兴盛的同一时期，西非的三 个王国也变得富强起来。它们分别被称为加纳、马里和桑海。这些王国都在撒哈拉 沙漠南边，尼日尔河沿岸。在你面前的这幅地图上，每个王国都用不同的线条标注 出轮廓。
非洲的这个区域非常富有，因为那里有金矿可以开采。许多世纪以来，西非人 用黄金和近邻也和撒哈拉沙漠北边的柏柏尔人做交易。有些产自西非的黄金还被卖 到罗马帝国。
有许多关于金矿矿工和商人的有趣的故事。当矿工们有金子要卖的时候，他们 会带着金块到离金矿很远的地方。他们不希望陌生人发现金子到底是从哪里来的。 矿工们会在事先约定好的地方等着。商人来到这里，把他们用来交易的东西留下来 再离开。等商人走出视线之后，矿工会留下一些金子。然后他们会找个地方藏起来。 矿工不想和商人见面，担心自己会被他们强迫说出金矿的位置。接下来商人会回到 原地看看有多少金子留下来。如果他们认为交易很公平，就直接带上金子回家了。 如果他们觉得给的金子不够，就会再次走开，等矿工再拿出一些金子。只有双方都 对交易满意，他们才会回家。就像交换棒球卡一样。双方必须都乐意才可以，否则 就做不成买卖。
西非人需要从交易中得到的一件东西是盐。你能猜到这是为什么吗？西非天气 炎热。那时又没有冰箱。盐是用来保存食物的。也许你尝过牛肉干，那就是先晒干、 再用盐腌制的肉。现在你可以想到很多其他办法来防止食物变质，但是在当时盐是 很稀有很贵重的东西。甚至现在我们还在用盐作食物防腐剂。如果有人工作干得很 好，我们还会说那个人"值他的那份盐"1。
碰巧的是撒哈拉沙漠的北边有丰富的盐。所以，尼日尔河流域的人和北非的柏 柏尔人做买卖--用黄金换盐。盐太珍贵了，西非人和柏柏尔人做买卖是以等量的 黄金换等量的盐--一磅金子换一磅盐。盐多宝贵啊。现在你怎么希望能做成那样 的生意呢？
所有这些黄金让西非的许多王国变得非常富有。最初称作加纳的王国征服了许 多邻国，从而扩大了版图。国王有这样的权力是因为他有训练有素的军队、作战娴 熟的骑兵和大量的黄金作为支撑。加纳国王举行接见仪式时，周围的一切都显现出 他拥有至高无上的权力和巨大的财富：那些高举着盾牌的骑士侍童剑上所佩的黄金 剑柄十分耀眼，所牵的马披着金毡更显尊荣，国王本人的马拴在一个 60 磅重的大金 块上！虽然这么富有，加纳的国力却逐渐衰落，就像所有的帝国一样，迟早都要衰 落的。
1 表示"称职"--译者注。
接下来，西非最富有的强国就是马里。国王松迪亚塔夺取了横贯撒哈拉沙漠的 所有重要的商业城市。他也夺取了富含金矿的区域。这个国王不仅富有，而且聪明。 每次军队占领了新的土地，他就让士兵开垦，把土地变成农田--直到下一次开战。 很快马里就成为西非最富庶的农业地区之一，所以这个国家既有充足的食物，又盛 产黄金，还有一支强大的军队。
马里最著名的国王是曼沙 穆萨，他的统治时期是在 14 世纪。他将帝国向西扩 张至大西洋，帝国内有将近八百万人口。穆斯林商人，包括阿拉伯人和北非人都来 到马里做生意。后来曼沙 穆萨成了伊斯兰教徒。像所有虔诚的穆斯林一样，他也去 麦加朝圣。曼沙 穆萨的朝圣之旅让他声名远扬！他走的路线经过埃及的开罗。有 五百名奴隶随行，每个奴隶都带着 6 磅重的黄金杖。还有一百头大象，据说每头大象都驮着 100 磅黄金。几百只骆驼驮着食物、武器以及其他一些朝圣者需要的物品。 在埃及和阿拉伯，曼沙 穆萨赠送了大量黄金。穆斯林被认为应当慷慨大方，曼沙 穆萨的确如此。他还用金子买礼物送给沿途遇到的人。在旅途中，有人问曼沙 穆萨 他的王国有多大。他回答道："一年。"你认为这是什么意思？你猜出来了吗？他的意 思是从王国的一端旅行到另一端，他要花一年的时间。
曼沙 穆萨返回家乡时，带回了一些艺术家和建筑师让他们在廷巴克图城和马 里的其他城市建造清真寺。他还带回了一些学者和许多书籍准备建一座图书馆。大 部分书籍都是阿拉伯语的，即许多穆斯林使用的语言。廷巴克图成了一个文化知识 中心，这里还开了一家大型图书市场。天文学家、数学家、哲学家和诗人蜂拥而至， 来到这座有着大型图书馆和许多清真寺的城市。还有医生和律师在这里工作和教学。 国王对这些都很支持。大批外国游客前来参观廷巴克图。有些游客写下了旅行见闻， 我们现在可以读到这些游记。一位来自北非的穆斯林游客发现了这样一件令人震惊 的事情：这里允许女人接受教育，而且她们和男人一样受人尊重！
曼沙 穆萨死后，马里帝国开始分裂。不久，第三个重要的帝国，桑海，在尼 日尔河流域兴盛起来。在桑海，国王的财富也是以金矿为基础的，他也同样掌握着 强大的军队。国王逊尼 阿里 贝尔不断扩张桑海的疆土，直到他的帝国比马里曾经 的版图还要大。他死于 1492 年，也就是哥伦布向美洲远航的那一年。在这以后，桑 海由于外族入侵而渐渐衰弱，这些入侵者开始是北非的摩洛哥人，后来开始沿非洲 海岸航行和经商的葡萄牙人也加入进来。桑海国王再也没有一统江山的权力或财富 了。在这些富有帝国风光了一千年后，尼日尔河流域的土地分裂为许多小王国。