africa Flashcards
savanna
a plain characterized by coarse grasses and scattered tree growth, especially on the margins of the tropics where the rainfall is seasonal, as in eastern Africa.
plateau
a land area having a relatively level surface considerably raised above adjoining land on at least one side, and often cut by deep canyons.
sahara desert
a desert in N Africa, extending from the Atlantic to the Nile valley. About 3,500,000 sq. mi. (9,065,000 sq. km).
bantu
a member of any of several peoples forming a linguistically and in some respects culturally interrelated family in central and southern Africa
swahili
Also, Kiswahili, ki-Swahili. the Bantu language of the Swahili people, used also as a lingua franca in Tanzania, Kenya, and parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
subsistence farming
farming whose products are intended to provi
mansa musa
Mansa Musa (about 1280 – about 1337) was an emperor (mansa) of the Mali Empire during the 14th century. He became emperor in 1307. He was the first African ruler to be widely known throughout Europe and the Middle East. Mansa Musa was the great nephew of Sundiata Keita, who was founder of the empire.
ghana
a medieval W African empire extending from near the Atlantic coast almost to Timbuktu; flourished from about the 9th to 12th centuries.
mali
Republic of, a republic in W Africa: formerly a territory of France; gained independence 1960. 463,500 sq. mi. (120,000 sq. km).
Capital: Bamako.
zimbabwe
Formerly Southern Rhodesia, Rhodesia. a republic in S Africa: a former British colony and part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland; gained independence 1980. 150,330 sq. mi. (389,362 sq. km).
Capital:
timbuktu
a town in central Mali, W Africa, near the Niger River.
French Tombouctou.
mohammed
the Conqueror”) 1430–81, sultan of Turkey 1451–81: conqueror of Constantinople 1453.
askia
died 232 b.c, Buddhist king in India 269?–232? b.c.
sonni ali
Sonni Ali, also known as Sunni Ali Ber or “Sunni Ali”, was born Ali Kolon. He reigned from about 1464 to 1492. Sunni Ali was the first king of the Songhai Empire, located in west Africa and the 15th ruler of the Sonni dynasty.
matrilineal
of or based on kinship with the mother or the female line.
oral traditions
a community’s cultural and historical background preserved and passed on from one generation to the next in spoken stories and song, as distinct from being written down
gold and salt trade
Camel caravans from North Africa carried bars of salt as well as cloth, tobacco, and metal tools across the Sahara to trading centers like Djenne and Timbuktu on the Niger River. Some items for which the salt was traded include gold, ivory, slaves, skins, kola nuts, pepper, and sugar.
trans-saharan
a desert in N Africa, extending from the Atlantic to the Nile valley. About 3,500,000 sq. mi. (9,065,000 sq. km).
sub-saharan
of, relating to, or in Africa south of the Sahara Desert:
songhai
a member of a group of peoples living along the Niger River in the area of Timbuktu and Gao in Mali and in adjacent areas of Niger and Burkina Faso.
griot
a member of a hereditary caste among the peoples of western Africa whose function is to keep an oral history of the tribe or village and to entertain with stories, poems, songs, dances, etc.
diviner
a person who divines; soothsayer; prophet.
lineage
lineal descent from an ancestor; ancestry or extraction
ibn batuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta, was a Moroccan Muslim scholar and traveler. He is known for his traveling and going on excursions called the Rihla. His journeys lasted for a period of almost thirty years
