(due tomorrow) what led to the downfall of the empire of ghana?

1. Arab & Berber Aggression:  Continuous raids by Semitic nomads of the desert, mostly Berbers and Arabs.  These generally included Black Africans, Afro-Berbers and Afro-Arabs who had converted to Islam.

2. Dissatisfaction with the Government: Dissatisfaction with the central government that tended progressively to undermine the traditional constitutions of both the parent-nuclear state and the formerly independent states which now made up the empire.

3. Disunity: The desire for independence on the part of member states, or more security in an alliance with some other seemingly rising power, such as Mali.

4. Hard Times: Drought leading to famine was becoming more frequent, almost permanent condition. Farming, the occupation of the masses, was becoming too difficult to support life.

5. Decline of Trade: Stepped-up Arab-Berber raids on caravan trails, the life-line of the empire, lead to a decline in trade.

6. The Gold Mines: Failure to capture the Wangara gold mines, leaving the state in a precarious position of a dependent middleman.

7. Civil strife over succession: The ruling class had become Muslims, introducing revolutionary changes in traditional constitutional practices

8. Weak leaders on both local and national levels.

9. Religious Conflicts: The African Muslim ruling class forcing Islam on the African masses lead to conflicts and people fleeing the country.

10. Nature: The increasing deforestation, erosion, reduced rainfall and uninhibited southward movement of the Sahara lead to the death of the soil.