Muḥammad I Askia- Similar to ʿAlī, Askia held the throne of the Songhai empire, but his hold on the territory mostly came from his Muslim expansion and initiatives. As ʿAlī's successor he was able to overthrow native religions to expand Islam and make it dominant in the Songhai empire with a structure relying on the Quran and the offical language being Arabic. This played in an important role in the interconnectedness of societies because he was continuing the Islamic faith introduced by earlier West African kingdoms.

"Byzantine Empire Trade and Trade Routes." Byzantine Empires, byzantineempires.org/byzantine-empire-trade-and-trade-routes.html.

Cartwright, Mark. "Roman Roads." World History Encyclopedia, 17 Sept. 2014, www.worldhistory.org/article/758/roman-roads/.

Cartwright, Mark. "Trade in the Byzantine Empire." World History Encyclopedia, 18 Jan. 2018, www.worldhistory.org/article/1179/trade-in-the-byzantine-empire/.
Cartwright, Mark. "Songhai Empire of West Africa." Addis Herald, 2 Sept. 2020, 
  www.addisherald.com/songhai-empire/. Accessed 17 June 2021. 

Editors. "Sonni ʿAlī." Britannica, www.britannica.com/biography/Sonni-Ali. Accessed 15 June 2021.

"How did the Byzantine Empire influence Russia?" Daily History, www.dailyhistory.org/How_did_the_Byzantine_Empire_influence_Russia%3F.

"Islamic Manuscripts from Mali." The Library of Congress, memory.loc.gov/intldl/malihtml//malihome.html. Accessed 16 June 2021.

Kehinde, Michael. "Trans-Saharan Slave Trade- Encyclopedia of Migration." Edited by Reed Ueda. SpringerLink, link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-94-007-6179-7_30-1. Accessed 15 June 2021.
MEO. "A trade that has roots." The Middle East Observer, 16 Oct. 2015,

     www.meobserver.org/?p=2719. Accessed 17 June 2021. 

Rouch, Jean Pierre. "Muḥammad I Askia." Britannica, www.britannica.com/biography/Muhammad-I-Askia. Accessed 15 June 2021.

Teall, John L. "Byzantine Empire." Britannica, www.britannica.com/place/Byzantine-Empire.

"The Trans-Saharan Gold Trade (7th–14th Century)." The Met, www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gold/hd_gold.htm. 

Laonikos Chalkokondyles- He is known for writing “Proofs of Histories”, a work of history that covers the last 150 years of the Byzantine Empire. The text shows the fall of the Byzantine empire and the rise of the Ottomans. 

Flavius Belisarius- He was a military commander for the Byzantine Empire who was critical in the reconquest of much of the Mediterranean territory belonging to the former Western Roman Empire, which had been lost 100 years before. 
Justinian the Great- He was the Eastern Roman emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, he brought back the empire’s glory and re-conquered the western half of the Roman Empire from barbarians and invaders.He also created laws to protect prostitutes from ill treatments and gave harsh punishments to the rapists. 

In this mosaic, Justinian is posed frontally in the center, with members of the clergy on the near left, members of the imperial administration on his right and in the far left soldiers This mosaic shows the position of the emperor between the power of imperial administration and military and the power of the church. THis symbolizes Justinian's religious, administrative and military authority. 

This manuscript was made for the great church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. This lectionary shows how the Gospels were central to the liturgy of the Orthodox church. In this lectionary, there is the  liturgical calendar and the lives of saints who were celebrated daily were included in the text.