Asante Empire: Daily Life & Culture — Markets & Merchants| No Prep Plans | 6-10

Asante Empire: Daily Life & Culture — Markets & Merchants
Kumasi Marketplace Trading Simulation | No Prep Plans | Grades 6–10

Bring the markets of the Asante Empire to life with this no-prep research, analysis, and trading simulation. Students investigate Kumasi as a major commercial center and explore how merchants, valuable goods, trade networks, and marketplaces helped connect the Asante Empire with communities across West Africa and beyond.

Students move beyond simply identifying trade goods by examining where goods came from, why they were valuable, who wanted them, and what merchants might accept in exchange. They then become merchants themselves, develop a trading strategy, create Merchant Profile Cards, and participate in a Kumasi Marketplace Trading Simulation.

What's Included
- Teacher Directions + lesson flow
- Overview + Mini Research Questions
- 5-Step Group Activity
- How the Marketplace Works worksheet
- Think Like a Merchant worksheet
- Kumasi Trade Connections organizer
- Marketplace Strategy planner
- 4 cut-apart Merchant Profile Cards
- Color + black-and-white student pages

Why Teachers Love This
- No prep and ready to use
- Turns historical trade into an interactive experience
- Goes beyond memorizing lists of goods
- Builds research and economic-thinking skills
- Develops negotiation and decision-making
- Connects trade with political power and cultural exchange
- Includes individual research, group planning, and role-play
- Provides reusable cards for the final simulation

Perfect For
- World History
- African History
- Asante Empire
- West African Civilizations
- Economics & Trade
- Social Studies
- Enrichment

Students don't just learn what the Asante traded—they investigate how the marketplace worked, think like historical merchants, develop a trading strategy, and put their research into action.