Africa Term List
Terms
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- Berbers
- A member of a North African, primarily Muslim people living in settled or nomadic tribes from Morocco to Egypt.
- Middle Passage
- the part of the Atlantic Ocean between the west coast of Africa and the West Indies: the longest part of the journey formerly made by slave ships.
- Savanna
- a plain characterized by coarse grasses and scattered tree growth, esp. on the margins of the tropics where the rainfall is seasonal, as in eastern Africa.
- Mansa Musa
- died 1337, ruler of the Mali empire (1312-37). A Muslim, he brought the Mali empire to its greatest height. During his reign Timbuktu became a center of Muslim culture and scholarship. His pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324-25 brought Mali fame throughout the world; the emperor traveled with an immense entourage, preceded by 500 slaves carrying staffs of gold. His gifts of gold in Cairo were so lavish that the metal was devalued in Egypt.
- Kingdom of Songhai
- A west African kingdom which emerged around 1460
- Ethiopia
- A kingdom was established around Aksum in the 1st century A.D. and declined in the 7th century.
- Kingdom of Ghana
- a medieval W African empire extending from near the Atlantic coast almost to Timbuktu; flourished from about the 9th to 12th centuries.
- Zimbabwe
- the site of stone ruins (Great Zimbabwe) discovered c1870 in Rhodesia, probably built by a Bantu people, consisting of three main groups of ruins, and dating between the 9th and 15th centuries a.d.
- Axum
- A town of northern Ethiopia. From the first to the eighth century A.D. it was the capital of an empire that controlled much of northern Ethiopia. According to tradition, the Ark of the Covenant was brought here from Jerusalem and placed in the Church of Saint Mary of Zion, where the rulers of Ethiopia were crowned.
- Sundiata
- the founder of the Mali Empire and celebrated as a hero of the Mandé people of West Africa in the semi-historical Epic of Sundiata.
- Swahili City-States
- A civilization broken up into many different states where there was one man who ruled over each state
- Trans-Saharan trade
- trade across the Sahara between Mediterranean countries and West Africa. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of such trade extended from the eighth century until the late sixteenth century.
- Triangular Trade
- is a historical term indicating trade between three ports or regions. The trade evolved where a region had an export commodity that was not required in the region from which its major imports came. Triangular trade thus provided a mechanism for rectifying trade imbalances.
- Kingdom of Mali
- a medieval West African state of the Mandinka from 1235 to 1645. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I. The Mali Empire had many profound cultural influences on West Africa allowing the spread of its language, laws and customs along the Niger River.
- Timbuktu
- a town in central Mali, W Africa, near the Niger River. 19,500. French, Tombouctou.
- Asante Kingdom
- the kingdom where Great Zimbabwe is located
- Bantu Migrations
- A variety of different languages all originating from one language