africa Flashcards
arab merchants
-did much to spread Islam in places like Africa.
-maintained caravan trade routes in the Sahara.
-played a vital role in Indian Ocean trade
-dominated the East African slave trade
Indian ocean trade
world’s richest maritime trading network that was essential for the prosperity of East Africa
niger river valley
fertile land good for farming. Had money trade routes and was a good source of transportation.
Sahel
Belt south of the Sahara where it transitions into savanna across central Africa. It means literally ‘coastland’ in Arabic.
Swahili
Bantu language with Arabic loanwords spoken in coastal regions of East Africa.
Swahili Coast
East African shores of the Indian Ocean between the Horn of Africa and the Zambezi River; from the Arabic sawahil, meaning ‘shores.’
Kingdom of Mali
a huge territorial empire that flourished in west Africa during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Its capital was Timbuktu, which became a center of Islamic learning (see Islam). The empire controlled trade routes that stretched from the edge of the Sahara in the north to forests in the south and that carried gold and other luxuries
lineage groups
an extended family unit that has combined into a larger community
Matrilineal Society
a society in which descent & inheritance come through the mother’s kinship line
Timbuktu
City on the Niger River in the modern country of Mali. It was founded by the Tuareg as a seasonal camp sometime after 1000. As part of the Mali empire, Timbuktu became a major major terminus of the trans-Saharan trade and a center of Islamic learning.
Sundeita Keita
Built Mali Empire
Mansa Musa
Emperor of the kingdom of Mali in Africa. He made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca and established trade routes to the Middle East-Ruled during height
Mogadishu
A Muslim port city in East Africa founded between the eighth and tenth centuries; today it is the capital of Somalia.
Mombasa
a coastal city of East Africa that was an important trade center
Kilwa
one of many trading cities on the East African coast
Husini Kubwa
Massive palace
Great Mosque
11th century construction
Ibn Battuta
Moroccan Muslim scholar, the most widely traveled individual of his time. He wrote a detailed account of his visits to Islamic lands from China to Spain and the western Sudan.
stateless society
a group of independent villages organized into clans and led by a local ruler or clan head without any central government
Kingdom of Songhai
Replaced the Kingdom of Mali; known to be the largest empire in African history. Located near the Niger River Valley.
Great Zimbabwe
City, now in ruins (in the modern African country of Zimbabwe), whose many stone structures were built between about 1250 and 1450, when it was a trading center and the capital of a large state.
Trans-Saharan Trade
route across the sahara desert. Major trade route that traded for gold and salt, created caravan routes, economic benefit for controlling dessert, camels played a huge role in the trading
Griot
A West African storyteller
Berbers
A member of a North African, primarily Muslim people living in settled or nomadic tribes from Morocco to Egypt
Kin-based society
Governed Bantu people. Were literally family groups. The Men formed the council, and the chief was the most qualified leader of a village. Multiple villages formed districts which composed an empire. The Chiefs were a liason among other villages and allowed the formation of ethnic loyalities.
diviner
a person who is believed to have the power to foretell events
Camel Saddle
An invention which gives camel riders more stability on the animal and its invention and basic idea traveled along the Trans-Saharan Caravan Trade Route. Invented somewhere between 500 and 100 BCE by Bedouin tribes.
Camel Caravans
Used to travel across deserts. Fleets in the desert were camel caravans. Fleets usually meant groups on ships.
Koumbi Saleh
The city in which the king of Ghana held his court
Idolatry
worship of idols
Bantu
A major African language family. Collective name of a large group of sub-Saharan African languages and of the peoples speaking these languages. Famous for migrations throughout central and southern Africa.
GAO
Capital of Songhai
Jenne
A very wealthy city from trade by the Niger River
textile
woven cloth
Dhows
Large ships favored by Indian, Persian, and Arab sailors that could carry up to four hundred tons of cargo.
Kilwa Chronicle
Evidence that african societies were more complex than previously thought
kingdom of ghana
first of the kingdoms and became most important commercial cite b/c it became a center for trade when Muslims arrived
