What were three benefits? Age sets helped people of the village to work together. Extended families helped farm, hunt, and raise livestock. Loyalty to family helped keep society together.

In extended families, nuclear families (husband, wife, and children) or in some cases polygynous families (husband, wives, and children) acted as economic units. Elders in the extended family had great power over the economic and social lives of its members.

What role did families play in West African society? Families were the foundation for all social, economic, and government activity. What was the relationship between kings and trade in West Africa? King control trade.

The first Songhai state benefited from the rich soil provided by the Niger river and the Muslim trade routes linking Arabia, North Africa and West Africa. Conquests of Timbuktu and Djenne, gave Songhai control of the trading empire based on gold and salt that had made Ghana and Mali so prosperous.

What were the key characteristics of West African society? West African societies varied in size from small kingdoms to large empires. Most people lived by farming, but there were also many skilled artisans. Religion and family ties were central to West African life.

In this lesson, we’ll explore the three major kingdoms of Ancient West Africa: Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

Nok culture

Enslaved Africans also brought watermelon, okra, yams, black-eyed peas and some peppers. These foods are commonly eaten in the U.S. today.

West Africans were barbecuing meat before the transatlantic slave trade brought the cooking method to North America. For more than 200 years, Southern plantation owners relied on enslaved Africans and their descendants to work in their fields and houses, to help raise their children, and to provide food and drink.