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All right, now let’s spend some time in a powerful, ancient kingdom called Ghana. [Man bumps into woman holding book on ancient Ghana]

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That’s what we’re…Ghana do.

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Okay…so Ghana is not to be confused with the modern Republic of Ghana…a former British

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colony on the coast of Africa with a population of over 25 million. [People walking in the Republic of Ghana]

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Modern Ghana is about 400 miles south of ancient Ghana, and the two don’t really have much

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to do with one another.

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Today, we’re zeroing in on the original Ghana.

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Or as we like to call it: the OG. [Ghanaian people working on a beach]

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No one knows for sure when Ghana came together.

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But it’s thought that, at some point in the first millennia, Soninke

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tribes, in what is now Northern Senegal and Southern Mauritania, came together under a [Soninke tribe appears with Dinga Cisse]

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king named Dinga Cisse

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Nobody seems able to agree on who Dinga Cisse was, but legend has it that he was a foreigner…

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and that he may or may not have had godly powers. [Cisse zaps Soninke tribe man]

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Ancient aliens, anyone?

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Some think that the Soninke unified to protect themselves from attacks by nomadic raiders. [Football players run past the king and soninke tribe]

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Uh, right.

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Those guys.

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But whatever the reason, they ended up founding a pretty impressive kingdom.

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The wealth of ancient Ghana was built on gold. [Gold bars fall from the sky and cover a man]

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Like… a lot of gold.

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Ghana’s gold mines on the Senegal River were once described as some of the richest

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known to man.

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The king was apparently a fan of bling and covered himself, his court, and his horses [King wearing lots of jewelry]

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in the stuff.

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Ghana also exported slaves, salt, and copper, which they swapped for textiles, beads, and

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other crafts.

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And made bank in the process.

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The key to Ghana’s success was its trading skills.

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And when you lived on the edge of the Sahara in ancient times, the key to trade was camels. [Camels carrying goods]

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These spitting dromedaries made Ghana what it was by tromping across the desert, loaded

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with goods.

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Guess you could say those camels were really, uh….busting their humps.

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Of course, like all great kingdoms, Ghana had to fall.

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No one can agree on exactly what happened, though. [Man walking by the ocean and falls on rocks]

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One myth says that it was all because of Bida, the black snake.

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The legend says that Bida gave Ghana prosperity as long as the country sacrificed one virgin [People carrying a woman for Bida]

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to him every year.

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One year, the fiancé of the selected virgin decided he wasn’t that into her being eaten [fiancee of virgin carries her away from Bida]

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by a snake, so he rescued her.

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Sounds heroic, right?

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Too bad Bida then caused a drought that destroyed the entire kingdom.

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So much for happily ever after.

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There is actually historical evidence that a prolonged period of drought might’ve had

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a lot to do with it.

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That…plus new trade competition might’ve been what made Ghana a… goner.

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Still, it was one of the earliest and richest kingdoms of West Africa and paved the way [Ghanaian man raking soil]

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for a bunch of powerful kingdoms, like Mali and Songhai.

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Kingdoms that hopefully didn’t have the same problem with…magical snakes…[Snake attacks man raking]

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