STEP 2

After identifying all of the relevant evidence in Al-Bakri's text, the author's next task would be to look for patterns in that material. Here, the students has noted that in the third paragraph ("On every donkey load...") and seventh paragraph ("From Bughrat you go to..") Al-Bakri describes trade passing through the kingdom -- rather than simply trade to or from the Kingdom. Likewise, the map indicates numerous trade routes emanating from or passing through the region. Tracing the trade routes south leads to gold fields in the forest regions while tracing the routes north one finds salt mines. The presence of gold fields and salt mines in the map prompts one to read again Al-Bakri's text with greater attention to the mention of salt passing through the kingdom and access to gold from the south. Looking closely at Al-Bakri's text, the student observes that ruler levied a tax goods both as they entered and exited the country; in short, the ruler taxed trade making its way through the kingdom to elsewhere rather than simply imports to the country.

Taking these facts together, the student decides that the it was the region's strategic location on trade routes that account for its prosperity because rulers were able to tax trade between the desert and forest regions of Africa.