Chpt. 8, Africa and Islam

Question 1

stateless society

Answer 1

African societies organized around kinship or other forms of obligation and lacking the concentration of political power and authority associated with nations

Question 2

Ifriqiya

Answer 2

the Arabic term for eastern north Africa

Question 3

Maghrib

Answer 3

the Arabic word for western north Africa

Question 4

Almohadis

Answer 4

a reformist movement among the Islamic Berbers of northern Africa; later than the Almoravids; penetrated into sub-Saharan Africa

Question 5

juula

Answer 5

Malinke merchants; formed small partnerships to carry out trade throughout the Mali Empire; eventually spread throughout much of west Africa

Question 6

Sundiata

Answer 6

the “Lion Prince”; a member of the Keita clan; created a unified state that became the Mali Empire; died around 1260

Question 7

griots

Answer 7

professional oral historians who served as keepers of traditions and advisors to kings within the Mali Empire

Question 8

Timbuktu

Answer 8

a port city in Mali; located just off the flood plain on the great bend in the Niger River; population of 50,000; contained a library and university

Question 9

Songhay (aka Songhai)

Answer 9

a successor state to Mali; dominated the middle reaches of the Niger valley; reached imperial status under Sunni Ali; rose up in 1403, and succumbed in 1591 to a Moroccan force in possession of gunpowerder and cannons

Question 10

Muhammad the Great

Answer 10

extended the boundaries of the Songhay Empire; Islamic ruler of the mid-16th century

Question 11

Hausa

Answer 11

peoples of northern Nigeria; formed states following the demise of the Songhay Empire that combined Muslim and pagan traditions

Question 12

Sharia

Answer 12

Islamic law; defined among other things the patrilineal nature of Islamic inheritance

Question 13

zenj

Answer 13

the Arabic term for the east African coast

Question 14

demography

Answer 14

the study of population

Question 15

demographic transition

Answer 15

the shift to a low birth rate and low infant death rates, created more stable population; first emerged in western Europe and the United States in the 19th century; some demographers believe that this is part of the process of shifting from an agrarian to an industrial society

Question 16

Benin

Answer 16

a powerful city-state which came into contact with the Portuguese in 1485 but remained relatively free of European influence; important commercial and political entity until the 19th century

Question 17

Kongo

Answer 17

a kingdom based on agriculture that formed on the lower Congo River by the late 15th century, with its capital at Mbanza Kongo; ruled by hereditary monarchy

Question 18

Great Zimbabwe

Answer 18

a Bantu confederation of Shona-speaking peoples located between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers; developed after the 9th century; featured royal courts built of stone; created centralized state by the 15th century; its king took the title of Mwene Mutapa