Before Columbus sailed to the New World and before Europe reached their “Enlightenment Era” two significant kingdoms flourished on the west coast of what some refer to as the motherland: Africa. The name of these two mighty states are Ghana and Mali. Ghana was the first West African state of which their was any record. After the downfall near the end of the eleventh century, Mali rose up to take their place as the economic, religious, and cultural hub of West Africa. These two states are very similar yet differ in many ways also. The economy of the two states are very similar. Ghanaians were primarily an agricultural community. Most of the peo