The Empire of Gold

On the western coast of Africa in the 4th century AD, a new power had begun to grow. Ancient Ghana was originally called Wagadu, called that by the people who lived there. The only way we know the name of "Ancient Ghana" is because the Arab traders who journeyed there named it "Ghana", which was the Ghanaian word for king. 
 

A map of Ancient Ghana Image from http://honorsworldhistoryofsidneymadu.blogspot.it/2011/12/ancient-ghanas-society-b-sidney.html

At the centre of the empire was the city of Kumbi Saleh, or Koumbi Saleh, Ancient Ghana's capital and trading centre, just out of modern day Mali. The empire took wealth from the trans-Saharan trade, which involved Egypt, Morocco, and even Constantinople. The rivers of the Niger and Senegal where main transportation and gave fertile land for farming.