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Soon Songhai was bigger than Mali. The reason for this is that Mali's leader had died and lost power.  Songhai had many trade routes after that, until they got into the civil war and lost a lot of land.

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In Mali trade routes were also important. This is how they would make money or get supplies for their families. Most people who got money in Mali would not waste it at all. Later on Mali got bigger than Ghana.

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Before the 1500s there were a lot of trade in Ghana. One very important resource before the 1500s was salt. Salt could be traded for gold, that is how valuable salt was. They would put salt on their food because they didn't have refrigerators, this would preserve it.