Ch 7

Question 1

Savannah

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Plateau

Answer 2

an area of relatively level high ground.

Question 3

Sahara desert

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

Bantu

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Swahili

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Subsistence farming

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

Mansa musa

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

Ghana

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

Mali

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

Zimbabwe

Answer 10

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: Harare.

Question 11

Timbuktu

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Mohammed

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

Askia

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

Sonni Ali

Answer 14

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. Wikipedia

Question 15

Matrilineal

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Oral traditions

Answer 16

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.

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

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.

Question 19

Songhai

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Griot

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Diviner

Answer 21

of, from, or like God or a god.

Question 22

Lineage

Answer 22

lineal descent from an ancestor; ancestry or pedigree

Question 23

Ibn batuta

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

Indian Ocean

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

Sahel

Answer 25

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.