Salt and Gold

Pay attention to the whole song and look at the pictures. You'll see that salt was mined in northern Africa and the gold is the region of the kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

It keeps the food safe and when you sweat it replenishes you.

Salt preserved meat (almost like ham or a jerky). And you need salt to keep your body in balance when you sweat a lot.

Silent barter helped when people didn't speak the same language.

You would leave your stuff. The other group would leave the payment. If you liked the payment, you would take it. Otherwise you took your stuff back.

Ghana got rich on the trade happening in its empire. Like collecting a sales tax.

The big word for this is matrilineal. The line or lineage from the mother.

Matri = like "madre" en espanol (mother)

Linea = line

Islam spread through North Africa. As traders came across the desert, they brought their religion with them. Eventually, Islam became a big part of the religion in west Africa.