Africa Vocab

Question 0

Bazaar

Answer 0

An open air market; A street lined with shops and stalls

Question 1

Fellaheen

Answer 1

An Egyptian farmer; a peasant or farm laborer in Arab countries

Question 2

Pharaoh

Answer 2

A ruler of ancient Egypt

Question 3

Basin irrigation

Answer 3

And old system by which water and silt was controlled by an embankment and time-released to irrigate farmlands

Question 4

Reservoir

Answer 4

A body of water collected in a natural or artificial lake

Question 5

Perennial irrigation

Answer 5

An irrigation system that provides necessary water to the land throughout the year

Question 6

Capital

Answer 6

Wealth in the form of money or property owned or used in business; Wealth in whatever form used to produce more wealth

Question 7

Wadi

Answer 7

A gully, or usually dry riverbed, cut in the earth by running water after downpour in arid regions of the middle east and north Africa

Question 8

Caravan

Answer 8

A large group of merchants who join together to travel in safety

Question 9

Medina

Answer 9

The old section of a north African city, usually centered around a mosque

Question 10

Souk

Answer 10

A market in an Arab community

Question 11

Shifting agriculture

Answer 11

A type of agriculture in which a site is prepared and used to grow crops for a year or two, at which point the farmer moves on to a new site

Question 12

Forage

Answer 12

Food for grazing animals

Question 13

Deforestation

Answer 13

The process of stripping the land of its trees

Question 14

Desertification

Answer 14

The loss of all vegetation; The transformation of arable land into desert either naturally or through human intervention

Question 15

Refugee

Answer 15

A person who flees his or her country to escape invasion, oppression, or persecution

Question 16

Landlocked

Answer 16

Almost or entirely surrounded by land; Cut off from the sea

Question 17

Inland Delta

Answer 17

An area of lakes, creeks, and swamps away from the ocean

Question 18

Coup

Answer 18

The sudden overthrow of a ruler of government, often involving violent force, or threat of force

Question 19

Ancestor worship

Answer 19

The belief that respecting and honoring one’s ancestors will cause them to live on in the spirit world after death

Question 20

Animism

Answer 20

The religious belief that such things as the sky, rivers, and trees contain a spirit, or a soul

Question 21

World Bank

Answer 21

An agency of the United Nations that provides loans to countries for development projects

Question 22

International monetary fund

Answer 22

An agency of the United Nations that provides loans to countries for development projects

Question 23

Structural adjustment program

Answer 23

Program to reform the structure of an economy

Question 24

Watershed

Answer 24

A dividing ridge between two basins

Question 25

Mercenary

Answer 25

A person who works as a soldier purely for financial gain; a professional soldier hired by foreign country

Question 26

Barter

Answer 26

The exchange of goods without money

Question 27

Harambee

Answer 27

A policy of cooperation adopted in Kenya after independence to encourage economic growth

Question 28

Pyrthrum

Answer 28

A pesticide produced from certain flowers

Question 29

Malnutrition

Answer 29

Disease caused by lack of proper food; In adequate nutrition resulting from an unbalanced diet or insufficient foods

Question 30

Strategic value

Answer 30

Importance of a place or thing for nations planning military actions

Question 31

Ethnocracy

Answer 31

A system of government in which one ethnic group rules others

Question 32

Villagization

Answer 32

A political movement by which rural people are forced to move to towns and work on collective farms

Question 33

Apartheid

Answer 33

An Afrikaans word meaning “apartness”, Formerly in the Republic of South Africa, The policy of strict racial segregation and discrimination against non-white

Question 34

Segregation

Answer 34

The act of imposing the social separation of races

Question 35

Sanction

Answer 35

An action taken by the international community to punish a country country for unacceptable behaviors and to bring pressure on that country to reverse it’s policy

Question 36

Enclave

Answer 36

A country completely surrounded by another country

Question 37

White flight

Answer 37

The departure of trained white administrators and technicians from a region

Question 38

Land redistribution

Answer 38

A policy by which land is expropriated from those who own large amounts and redistributed to go to have little or none

Question 39

Sahel

Answer 39

Region in Africa south of the Sahara

Question 40

Colonialism

Answer 40

A system where countries have colonies to secure sources of raw materials and markets for products

Question 41

Plateaus

Answer 41

An area of high, flat land

Question 42

Escarpment

Answer 42

A steep cliff that separates two level areas of different elevations

Question 43

Chaparral

Answer 43

Vegetation adapted to Mediterranean climates

Small evergreen trees and scrub

Question 44

Savanna

Answer 44

Tropical grassland with scattered trees, by the equator

Question 45

Oral history

Answer 45

History passed down by word-of-mouth

Question 46

Nomadic herding

Answer 46

Moving flocks to different pastures throughout the year

Question 47

Leaching

Answer 47

Dissolving and washing away of nutrients in the soil

Question 48

Land degradation

Answer 48

Reduction in the productive potential of the land