Africa Flashcards

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1
Q

Savannah

A

a grassy plain in tropical and subtropical regions, with few trees.

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2
Q

Plateau

A

an area of relatively level high ground.

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3
Q

Sahara desert

A

A vast desert in North Africa, extending from the Atlantic in the west to the Red Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean 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 9,065,000 sq. km (3,500,000 sq. miles)

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4
Q

Bantu

A

relating to or denoting a group of Niger–Congo languages spoken in central and southern Africa, including Swahili, Xhosa, and Zulu.

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5
Q

Swahili

A

a Bantu language widely used as a lingua franca in East Africa and having official status in several countries.

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6
Q

Subsistence farming

A

Subsistence agriculture is self-sufficiency farming in which the farmers focus on growing enough food to feed themselves and their families. … The typical subsistence farm has a range of crops and animals needed by the family to feed and clothe themselves during the year.

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7
Q

Mansa musa

A

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.

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8
Q

Ghana

A

A country of West Africa, with its southern coastline bordering on the Atlantic Ocean; population 23,887,800 (est. 2009); languages, English (official), West African languages; capital, Accra. Former name (until 1957) gold coast.

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9
Q

Mali

A

A country of western Africa. The site of several powerful states, including the Mali (flourished 14th century) and the Songhai (flourished 15th–16th century), Mali became part of French West Africa in the 19th century and achieved independence in 1960. Bamako is the capital and the largest city.

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10
Q

Zimbabwe

A

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in southern Africa known for its dramatic landscape and diverse wildlife, much of it within parks, reserves and safari areas. On the Zambezi River, Victoria Falls make a thundering 108m drop into narrow Batoka Gorge, where there’s white-water rafting and bungee-jumping. Downstream are Matusadona and Mana Pools national parks, home to hippos, rhinos and birdlife.

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11
Q

Timbuktu

A

Timbuktu, also spelled as Tinbuktu, Timbuctoo and Timbuktoo, is a historical and still-inhabited city in the West African nation of Mali, situated 20 km north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert.

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12
Q

Mohammed

A

Muhammad (Mohammed) The Arab founder of Islam, Muhammad is held by Muslims to be the chief prophet of God. He was born in Mecca. Muslims believe that the Koran was dictated to him by an angel sent from God.

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13
Q

Askia

A

Askia Muhammad I (ca. 1443 – 1538), 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.

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14
Q

Sonni Ali

A

Sunni Ali, also known as Sunni Ali Ber, was born Ali Kolon. He reigned from about 1464 to 1492. Sunni Ali was the first king of the Songhai Empire, located in Africa and the 15th ruler of the Sonni dynasty.

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15
Q

Matrilineal

A

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

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16
Q

Oral traditional

A

Oral tradition is information passed down through the generations by word of mouth that is not written down. This includes historical and cultural traditions, literature and law.

17
Q

Gold and salt trade

A

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.

18
Q

Trans-sarahan trade

A

Trans Saharan Trade requires travel across the Sahara (north and south) to reach sub-Saharan Africa from the North African coast, Europe, to the Levant. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the early 17th century.

19
Q

Sub-Saharan

A

Trans Saharan Trade requires travel across the Sahara (north and south) to reach sub-Saharan Africa from the North African coast, Europe, to the Levant. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the early 17th century.

20
Q

Songhai

A

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

21
Q

Griot

A

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

22
Q

Diviner

A

of, from, or like God or a god.

23
Q

Lineage

A

lineal descent from an ancestor; ancestry or pedigree.

24
Q

Ibn battuta

A

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.

25
Q

Indian Ocean trade

A

Indian Ocean trade served as an important role in history, and has been a key factor in East–West exchanges. Long distance trade in dhows and sailboats made it a dynamic zone of interaction between peoples, cultures, and civilizations stretching from Java in the East to Zanzibar and Mombasa in the West.

26
Q

Sahel

A

The Sahel (/səˈhɛl/) is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition in Africa between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian Savanna (historically known as the Sudan region) to the south.