africa

Question 1

savannah

Answer 1

a port in Georgia, just south of the border with South Carolina, on the Savannah River close to its outlet on the Atlantic; pop. 132,410 (est. 2008).

Question 2

plateau

Answer 2

a state of little or no change following a period of activity or progress:
“the peace process had reached a plateau”
synonyms: quiescent period · letup · respite

Question 3

sahara desert

Answer 3

a vast desert in North Africa that extends from the Atlantic Ocean on the west to the Red Sea on the east and from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlas Mountains in the north to the Sahel in the south. The largest desert in the world, it covers an area of about 3,500,000 square miles (9,065,000 sq km).

Question 4

bantu

Answer 4

a group of Niger–Congo languages spoken in central and southern Africa, including Swahili, Xhosa, and Zulu
a member of an indigenous people of central and southern Africa that speaks a Bantu language.

Question 5

swahili

Answer 5

a Bantu language widely used as a lingua franca in East Africa and having official status in several countries. Also called Kiswahili.
a member of a people of Zanzibar and nearby coastal regions, descendants of the original speakers of Swahili.

Question 6

subsistence farming

Answer 6

farming that generates only enough produce to feed the farmer’s family, with little or nothing left over to sell

Question 7

mansa musa

Answer 7

(maenmän saesä) , mo͞o sae, sä 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

Question 8

ghana

Answer 8

a country in West Africa, with a southern coastline that borders on the Atlantic Ocean; pop. 23,887,800 (est. 2009); capital, Accra; languages, English (official) and West African languages. Former name (until 1957) Gold Coast.

Question 9

mali

Answer 9

a landlocked country in West Africa, south of Algeria, in the Sahel except for desert in the north; pop. 13,443,200 (est. 2009); capital, Bamako; languages, French (official) and others mainly of the Mande group. Former name (until 1958) French Sudan.

Question 10

zimbabwe

Answer 10

a landlocked country in West Africa, south of Algeria, in the Sahel except for desert in the north; pop. 13,443,200 (est. 2009); capital, Bamako; languages, French (official) and others mainly of the Mande group. Former name (until 1958) French Sudan.

Question 11

timbuktu

Answer 11

a town in northern Mali; pop. 35,600 (est. 2009). Formerly a major trading center for gold and salt on the trans-Saharan trade routes, it reached the height of its prosperity in the 16th century but fell into decline after its capture by the Moroccans in 1591. French name Tombouctou.
used in reference to a remote or extremely distant place:
“from here to Timbuktu”

Question 12

mohammed

Answer 12

is the central figure of Islam and widely regarded as its founder by non-Muslims.

Question 13

askia

Answer 13

Askia Muhammad I, born Muhammad Ture or Mohamed Toure in Futa Tooro, later called Askia, also known as Askia the Great, was an emperor, military commander, and political reformer of the Songhai Empire in the late 15th century, the successor of Sunni Ali Ber. Askia Muhammad strengthened his empire and made it the largest empire in …

Question 14

sonni ali

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

matrilincal

Answer 15

of or based on kinship with the mother or the female line.

Question 16

oral tradicions

Answer 16

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

Question 17

gold and salt trade

Answer 17

The gold-salt trade was an exchange of salt for gold between Mediterranean economies and West African countries during the Middle Ages. West African kingdoms, such as the Soninke empire of Ghana and the empire of Mali that succeeded it, were rich in gold but lacked salt, a commodity that countries around the Mediterranean had in plenty. Salt was important for replacing fluids and preserving food in the tropical climate south of the Sahara.

Question 18

trans-saharan

Answer 18

a desert in N Africa, extending from the Atlantic to the Nile valley. About 3,500,000 sq. mi. (9,065,000 sq. km).

Question 19

sub- saharan

Answer 19

from or forming part of the African regions south of the Sahara deser

Question 20

songhai

Answer 20

a member of a people living mainly in Niger and Mali.

the Nilo-Saharan language of the Songhai.

Question 21

griot

Answer 21

a member of a class of traveling poets, musicians, and storytellers who maintain a tradition of oral history in parts of West Africa.

Question 22

diviner

Answer 22

noun form of divine

Question 23

lineage

Answer 23

lineal descent from an ancestor; ancestry or pedigree.
synonyms: ancestry · family · parentage · birth · descent · line · [more]
biology
a sequence of species each of which is considered to have evolved from its predecessor:
“the chimpanzee and gorilla lineages”

Question 24

ibn batuta

Answer 24

1304–?68, Arab traveller, who wrote the Rihlah, an account of his travels (1325–54) in Africa and Asia

Question 25

indian ocean

Answer 25

an ocean south of India that extends from the eastern coast of Africa to the East Indies and Australia.

Question 26

sahel

Answer 26

a vast semiarid region of North Africa, south of the Sahara, that forms a transitional zone between the desert and the region known as Sudan.