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Everybody’s heard of the River Nile, but… how about the Niger River?

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All the rivers in the Sahara flowed down into the Niger and made the West Coast of Africa [Man and woman on the edge of River Niger]

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a good place to settle down.

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You know… and have 2.5 kids and build a house with the African equivalent of a picket [African man hammering a picket fence]

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fence.

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By following these rivers, caravans were guaranteed enough water for their animals.

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Even better, riverboats traveled up and down the Niger. [Riverboat travelling up the Niger]

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So merchants only had to get to any port on the Niger, trade with the boat captains, rest

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up, and then go home.

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Bam.

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Easy money.

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Of course, making easy money meant several weeks of riding through a windy, hilly desert. [Man riding a camel through windy desert]

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We’d rather take our chances with the slot machines....

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So why were merchants and traders willing to trek through the Sahara to get to the Niger? [Traders and Merchants walking through Sahara]

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Because the river linked up with West Africa's totally loaded gold mines.

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West Africa had a stupid amount of gold… until European adventurers showed up one day [European adventurers in balaclavas carrying gold]

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and stole it all.

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Oh, Europe…you never disappoint.

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Before those dark days, West Africa was livin' it up, and everyone wanted a piece of the

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golden pie. [Men eating golden pie]

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Which… might sound tough to eat, but it doesn’t matter if you lose a tooth…

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You can just pop in a gold one…

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But even though West Africa had plenty of gold, the one thing it didn’t have was salt. [African family eating dinner]

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Salt is not only important; it’s essential to human life.

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And North Africa was saltier than a bowl of Ramen noodles.

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Any North African merchant who showed up in a Niger River community with a few bags of

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salt could come back loaded down with gold. [Merchants carrying salt]

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Naturally, the Niger and all its nearby waterways became valuable territory.

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And where there's gold and salt, there are bandits. [Bandit steals gold and salt]

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And not principled, Robin Hood-style bandits.

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We’re talking… robbers who beat up old ladies..

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Everybody knew that merchants used the Niger River.

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So greedy bandits knew exactly where to lie in wait to rob folks. [Bandit waiting beside Niger River]

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As a result, any leader who could guarantee protection of the whole Niger River system

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would become rich and powerful. [Man wearing crown on throne]

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Because of this, about four major empires sprouted up in West Africa over the years.

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Ghana, Gao, Mali, and Songhai.

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These four empires overlapped in time, and one was usually busy dominating the others. [Empires in boxing ring]

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All four had the same structure: a powerful king, a swagged-out capital city, an army

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of warriors, and fleets of river ships.

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Except for Ghana, these empires' kings were also known for being big into Islam.

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Several kings of both Gao and Songhai made pilgrimages to Mecca, carrying big bags of [King makes pilgrimage to Mecca]

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gold.

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One king even spread so much gold around Mecca that he actually lowered the price of gold [King throwing gold around Mecca]

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in the region.

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The kings paid for all of this with taxes collected from markets, using a large bureaucracy

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of tax collectors and administrators.

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The problem with having a large bureaucracy is that your bureaucrats have to be well educated. [Bureaucrats graduating]

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Because nobody wants a tax collector who sucks at math.

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Except maybe the taxpayers.

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The Kingdoms of Gao and Songhai poured loads of cash into building the Muslim university of Sankore [Man pours cash into university building]

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in the city of Timbuktu.

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Yes, Timbuktu is totally a real place.

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Sankore University beat out similar universities in Egypt and Morocco to become the largest [Sankore University beating up other universities]

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institution of learning in Africa.

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The most popular subject?

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Religious studies. [People studying religious studies]

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Yeah, Sankore was not a party school.

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So there you have it.

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There’s no doubt the kingdoms of West Africa’s Niger River were forces to be reckoned with.

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Even if the rulers of these empires could get a little excessive with their wealth…

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