Meeting the People of West African Kingdoms

Rosie Jayde Uyola
Oct 1, 2025
3 min read

Updated: Oct 3, 2025

ESSENTIAL QUESTION (Aim):

What were the people and societies of West Africa like before the height of the transatlantic slave trade?

Domain Vocabulary:

Kingdom of Benin, Kingdom of Mali, Kingdom of Kongo, Mansa Musa, King Afonso I, Diplomacy, Sovereignty

Objectives

Content: I can analyze the political, economic, and artistic complexity of West African kingdoms by examining and discussing visual and textual primary sources.
Speaking: I can articulate my interpretation of a historical source by sharing my analysis with a partner and using evidence to support my claims.
Listening: I can build upon a partner's ideas about a historical source by listening to their interpretation and adding my own supporting evidence.
Reading: I can interpret written and visual primary sources by identifying the main idea, author's purpose, and historical context.
Writing: I can synthesize new information to challenge a historical narrative by writing a reflection on how understanding West African societies impacts the study of American slavery.

Standards & Materials

Standards: NY State Grades 9-12 Social Studies Framework 11.1b: The societies of the Americas and West Africa, prior to 1492, were diverse and complex.
Materials: Projector/Smartboard for Benin Bronze image, "Meeting the People of West African Kingdoms" student handout.

1. Do Now (5 Minutes): image primary source analysis:

Welcome!

Today, we are going to meet the people of several powerful West African societies. Let's start in the 16th-century Kingdom of Benin (modern-day Nigeria).

Examine this bronze sculpture made by their artists.

Based only on what you can see, what can you infer about the people who created this?

Write down at least three observations or inferences. Think about their technology, their social structure, their values, and their art.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Collaborative Activity: Voices from Two Kingdoms (25 Minutes)

Teacher: The Benin Kingdom is just one example of the influential societies thriving in West Africa during this era. Now, we're going to meet the people of two more kingdoms by reading accounts from their time. With your partner, you will analyze two documents that give us a window into their worlds.

Partner Up: Students turn to an elbow partner.
Distribute Handout: Give each pair a handout with two short, excerpted primary sources.

Station 1: The Mali Empire - A World Power

Source: Description of the Mali Empire by historian Al-Umari, 1337, who interviewed officials from Cairo who had met the Malian emperor, Mansa Musa.

This man, Mansa Musa, flooded Cairo with his gifts. He left no court emir nor holder of a royal office without the gift of a load of gold. The people of Cairo made incalculable profits out of him and his suite in buying and selling and giving and taking. They exchanged gold until they depressed its value in Egypt and caused its price to fall... Gold was at a high price in Egypt until they came in that year... from that time its value fell and it has been cheap ever since.

Task for Partners: Discuss and answer:

What does this document reveal about the wealth and global influence of the Mali Empire?
What kind of impression did the emperor, Mansa Musa, make on the world stage?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Station 2: The Kingdom of Kongo - A King's Decree

Source: Letter from Nzinga Mbemba (King Afonso I) of the Kingdom of Kongo to the King of Portugal, 1526.

Sir, Your Highness should know how our Kingdom is being lost in so many ways... we cannot reckon how great the damage is, since the merchants are taking every day our natives, sons of the land and the sons of our noblemen and vassals and our relatives, because the thieves and men of bad conscience grab them... And so great, Sir, is the corruption and licentiousness that our country is being completely depopulated... It is our will that in these Kingdoms there should not be any trade of slaves nor outlet for them.

Task for Partners: Discuss and answer:

In this letter, what is King Afonso trying to protect?
How does he use his power and his diplomatic relationship with Portugal to try and solve this problem?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Teacher: Facilitate a brief share-out after 15-20 minutes of partner work. Ask for volunteers to share their key takeaways from each document, focusing on what they learned about the leaders and people of these kingdoms.

3. Exit Ticket (5 Minutes)

(Prompt on the board):

Today we met people from the kingdoms of Benin, Mali, and Kongo. We saw their art, their wealth, and their leaders' efforts to protect them. How does meeting these societies on their own terms change how we should understand the story of the people who were later captured and brought to the Americas?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________