Ghana was the first empire of western Sudan. It grew from the 9^th to the 11^th century. Ghana was the name of a chief which means WAR CHIEF. It was ruled by a king called Kaya Manhan and the capital was Kumbi Saleh. The empire was made up of two governments namely:

• The central government
• The provincial government

The central government was headed by the king who was assisted in his duty by a royal council called The Council Of Ministers. The king had spiritual, political, judicial, military and economic powers.

After the central government was the provincial or states governments which were controlled by Governors. These governors were conquered chiefs who represented the king of the central government Kaya Maghan (meaning lord of golds) in the different villages or states. They received orders and instructions from the king of the empire and put into practice in their villages or states.

The Economic life of the Ghana Empire

The ghanians were traders. They trade in gold and salt. Although they have fertile soils, they were not interested in farming. They used camels to transport their goods from the north to the south, since the empire was at central the gold mines were controlled by the king Kaya Maghan.the government of the empire divided states on trade items which was used to run the administration of the empire.

The social life of the Ghana Empire

Very little is said about the social life of the Ghana empire. There were three classes of people namely: The Rich class made of the KING and his COUNCIL OF MINISTERS. They lived in good houses built with crystal windows and painted walls.

The second class of people was the Average Rich or Middle class made up of the provincial governors and village heads. The last class was made up of the poor people such as the villagers, strangers and criminals.

The fall of the Ghana Empire

The existence of the Ghana empire lasted from the year 300 to 1240 AD, the empire fall was caused by internal and external factors;

Internal factors:

1. Vastness of the empire;

By the year 1240 the empire had grown too big for the emperor to rule effectively.  This made it easy for the invaders to attack and capture the empire leading to its fall. The empire of Ghana was made of two different types of people eho had different ideas, culture becoming difficult for the emperor to ruleeasily making the empire to fall.

2. Laziness and self satisfaction

The small money made from the sale of gold and salt made the Ghanaians to be lazy to work more and self satisfied. This made it difficult for money to stay in the empire thus leading it to its down fall by 1240.

3. The weakness of the central authority

When the central power became weak and old it became difficult to rule the captured states that were brought under the Ghana Empire leaving the captured states to develop the spirit of independence also leading to the fall of Ghana.

4. The high cost of keeping the army

With the large size of the empire the king kept a large army which was used to maintain the law and order in the empire, captured more states into the empire and defeated more states. Thus the inability to keep this army by the central government weakened the spirits of soldiers who were attacked and defeated by ALMORAVIDS leading to the fall of the Ghana Empire by 1240.

External factors

1. The capture of Kumbi-Saleh

By 1076 AD, a muslim group called AMORAVIDS attacked and captured Kumbi-Saleh. These muslims were headed by Abdullah Yassin.

2. The second attack on Kumbi-Saleh

By 1203 AD, the king of Kanianga called SUMANGURU attacked and captured Kumbi-Saleh from the Amoravids headed by ABU KAKA.

3. The defeat of sumanguru in kumbi-saleh

By 1235AD the king of Mali called SUNDIATA KEITA attacked and defeated SUMANGURU in kumbi-saleh and captured the whole of Ghana which he later transferred to Mali to form the Mali empire leading to the final fall of Ghana Empire by 1240AD.