What is the MAIN reason the author includes the section “The Golden King”? A to highlight the power and wealth of Mali’s kings
B to show misunderstandings about African history
C to elaborate on the results of increased trade in West Africa
D to provide evidence of religious tolerance in West Africa

Associated text:
Agriculture wasn't easy in the dry West African Sahel, but people there grew whole kingdoms. Rulers who could manage trade routes, religion, and relationships with pastoralists had the best chance of success.

The Golden King
Examine the image below. A man sits in the middle of a late fourteenth-century map, staring at a yellow orb, a nugget of gold. He is clearly a king, for he wears a crown and holds a scepter. To Europeans, these are symbols of kings. The image was created by Abraham Cresques who lived in Spain around the year 1375. Yet the king is African, not European. He is Mansa Musa I, ruler of the state of Mali, and is possibly the wealthiest man of his time. He probably did not really have a crown or a scepter because these were not West African symbols of kingship. But the gold nugget is accurate because Mansa Musa controlled some of the richest goldfields of this era.

There were many West African states in this era, but Mali is the one that shows up in most textbooks. Mali emerged in a region that had given birth to many earlier states. Also, unlike North Africa and Europe, the collapse of the Roman Empire was not felt in West Africa. West Africa had its own political patterns and connections to other parts of the world. As early as A. D. 300, trade routes crossing the Sahara linked North Africa to the growing cities in West Africa. These cities had little centralized authority. But that changed by 800 or 900.