North and West Africa Test
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59 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Mansa Musa | King of Mali from 1312-1337, Went on hajj to Mecca, Enormous wealth, He promoted education, trade, and commerce, Timbuktu became center of Islamic scholarship |
| Colonel Muammar Qaddafi | Leader of Lybia for now, overthrew king in a military coup, 1969, U.S. and NATO- supported civilians aim to overthrow his regime. |
| Zheng He | 1414 - explorer from China |
| Bartolomeu Dias | Portuguese explorer who went around Cape of Good Hope, Portuguese explorer who in 1488 led the first expedition to sail around the southern tip of Africa from the Atlantic and sight the Indian Ocean. |
| Canopic jars | jars for removed organs; all but heart - believed to be the center of a persons being |
| Shawabtis | statuettes buried with the dead in ancient Egypt - to perform any duties that might be asked of them; workers in the afterlife |
| Anubis | does judgement; god of embalming and the protector of mummies; has the head of a jackal |
| Osiris | god of the underworld |
| Rift valleys | a long thin valley created by the moving apart of the tectonic plates |
| Escarpment | a long steep slope or cliff at the edge of a plateau or ridge |
| Cataract | a large waterfall |
| Aquifer | An underground formation that contains groundwater |
| Oasis | a spot of fertile land in a desert, fed by water from wells or underground springs |
| Sahel | a strip of dry grasslands on the southern border of the Sahara; also known as "the shore of the desert" |
| Desertification | the gradual transformation of habitable land into desert |
| Canopy | dense covering formed by the leafy tops of tall rain forest trees |
| Serengeti Plain | an area of East Africa, containing some of the best grasslands in the world and many grazing animals |
| Sahara | the world's largest desert (3,500,000 square miles) in northern Africa |
| basins | Low area often surrounded by Mountains in which an ocean formed when the area filled with water from torrential rains. |
| Carthage | present-day Tunis; on peninsula on Gulf of Tunis; Became a leading power in the Western Med. Thru trade; At the height of its power, it was a great city with 400-700,000 people living in buildings up to 6 stories tall; Iron, salt, animal skins - important for trade |
| Aksum | present day Ethiopia; Queen of Sheba; Ark of Covenant First to make coins; Liked to build massive stone monuments |
| Nubia | Present-day Sudan; Ebony, gold, ivory, incense |
| Kingdom of Ghana | 750-1076 AD; Intro of the camel revolutionized trade → moved salt, gold, and ivory more easily; Collected taxes off goods that passed thru on their way north or south; Surplus in gold → growth of empire; Allowed Islam in the kingdom, but king never converted |
| Kingdom of Mali | 1235-1468; leader: Mansa Musa; 1st leader - Sundiata - conquered Ghana - reestablished gold and salt trade, declined from lack of leadership and discovery of gold fields farther east |
| Songhai | replaced Mali ~1400 - Sunni Ali ruled ; Moroccan army invaded and defeated - destroying empire |
| Egypt | 3100 BC - first monarch - pharaoh - united this country; Nile floods annually - provides rich soil for crops |
| Rai | kind of music criticize by Islam fundamentalists, now used as a form of rebellion |
| Souks | north african marketplaces |
| Middle kingdom | Classical period of art and literature |
| New Kingdom | when elaborate tombs built in the Valley of the Kings |
| Black land | fertile soil along Nile |
| Red land | desert; valley of kings |
| Re | Egyptian Sun God |
| Amulets | pieces of jewelry placed between layers of mummy wrapping to prevent evil things from happening |
| Motives for Exploration | Economic, religious, intellectual curiosity, population explosion in Europe |
| Exploration made possible by | Strong centralized monarchies, increased knowledge and technology, compass, lateen sails, astrolabe, growing knowledge of wind patterns in the Atlantic |
| Reason for increased labor demands | Spanish settlers introduced sugarcane cultivation into the West indies shortly after 1500, Large plantations demanded many workers, In 1518 the first boatload of African slaves headed to the New World |
| Reason for so many slaves exported | High death rate, few survived the voyage, mistreatment |
| Reasons the slave population never rose | Only ½ as many women as men, infant mortality high, cheaper to replace a slave than to feed one |
| Yoruba | from Benin and Togo; over 40 million followers; maintain balance between human beings of earth and the gods and ancestors of heaven, while guarding against the evil deeds of sorcerers and witches |
| Diviners | priests that practice the art of divination - thru which one's future can be learned |
| Orishas | lesser deities worshipped in Yoruba more often then supreme god |
| Olorum | Supreme Yoruban God |
| Orisha-nla | Creator of the earth |
| Ogun | god of iron and war |
| Esu | both good and evil - mediates between heaven and earth; a trickster figure |
| trickster figure | sort of mischievous supernatural being |
| Family ancestors | gained supernatural status by earning a good reputation and living to an old age |
| Defined ancestors | important human figures know throughout Yoruba society and now worshiped by large numbers of people |
| Ashanti | live in Ghana - known for work in weaving colorful asasia - kente cloth |
| Stateless society | where people rely of family lineages to govern themselves, rather than elected gov. or a monarchy |
| Gorée Island | off the coast of senegal; transported slaves thru |
| Valley of the Kings | oldest acropolis (burial grounds) |
| Coptic | church in egypt |
| The Great Rift Valley | world's largest fault |
| 1807 | slavery abolished in europe |
| Nigeria | most populous nation in Africa |
| Gambia | smallest country in continental Africa |
| Timbuktu | city in Mali - become center of Islamic scholarship |
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