Governments took advantage of the exchange by controlling trade or taxing certain goods developing their civilizations. The wealth of ancient Mali increased because of their government controlling items like horses and metal, and levying taxes on salt and copper pumped wealth into the imperial treasury and sustained the Mali Empire's existence. Mali prospered from the taxes it collected on trade in the empire.
Mali wasn't the first to take advantage of trade; Ghana became a powerhouse before the rise of empires like Mali. Ghana was in an ideal position to become a trading center with salt and gold being its exports. As trade in gold and salt increased, Ghana's rulers gained power taxing merchants, and citizens on the goods they carried into Ghana and on their stores of gold. Ghana prospered on their various taxes to expand their empire.
1200 and 1450 CE, trans-Saharan trade networks significantly supported the development of large states in West Africa. Taxations on goods like gold, salt, and copper increased the wealth of the empires. A succession of three great kingdoms came to power as their people gained control of valuable trade routes in West Africa.
The prompt requires causation processing because it is asking how trade networks affect state formation. Causation describes causes and effects of historical development and the question is asking for the effect trade networks have on state formation in West Africa. The question limits what the writer can include about trans-Saharan trade networks to only state formations and limits the networks to only trade networks. It also limits the location of networks to trans-Saharan and limits state formation to West Africa. The writer can choose different trade networks and can pick one or many West African states.
