Africa and the Americas

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, places, figures, and cultural concepts from sub-Saharan Africa and Mesoamerica between the fourth and sixth centuries CE.

Bantu languages

A group of more than 400 language variants spoken today by most of the population in Africa south of the equator.

First wave of Bantu migration

A migration route across the forests of the Congo basin to East Africa, where migrants used iron smelting and tools to establish a prosperous mixed economy of animal husbandry and sedentary agriculture.

Second wave of Bantu migration

A migration route southward through the Congo basin to the Kalahari Desert, where tsetse fly infestations limited migrants to subsistence farming and delayed their adoption of iron.

Banana plant

A crop introduced from tropical South and Southeast Asia into Africa, earliest recorded on the East African coast in 525 CE, which enabled Western Bantu expansion in central African rain forests between 500 and 1000 CE.

Western Bantu age groups

A social structure in central African rain forest communities where roles were assigned by age, moving males from child to warrior to ruling elder, and females from child to married child-bearer.

Big men

Leaders in rain forest Bantu communities who attracted followers and achieved dominance through personal valor, wisdom, and wealth rather than through inherited position.

Diviners

Spiritual specialists in Bantu societies who interpreted the supernatural world and used charms to protect individuals from aggrieved spirits, witches, and sorcerers.

Teotihuacán

A major city-state in the Valley of Mexico that housed between 100,000 and 200,000 residents in over 2,000 apartment compounds and controlled the valley by 300 CE.

Feathered Serpent

A central deity in Teotihuacán spiritual life that symbolized fertility and governed reproduction and life, honored at the stepped stone Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent.

Street of the Dead

The central promenade in Teotihuacán that extended from the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent to the Pyramid of the Moon, where foreign warriors and dignitaries were sacrificed.

Green obsidian

A highly valued stone material crafted into decorative objects and ceramics by Teotihuacán merchants for long-distance trade.

Maya civilization

A Mesoamerican culture flourishing from about 250 CE to its zenith in the eighth century, consisting of politically independent kingdoms linked by language, trade, and shared culture.

LIDAR

Light detection and ranging technology used by modern scientists to reveal hidden Maya structures, roads, defensive walls, and irrigation systems beneath jungle foliage.

Popol Vuh

The best-known surviving Maya text, meaning 'Book of Community,' which records a creation myth, the feats of twin heroes, and the history and rituals of the Quiché kingdom.

Maya bloodletting

A sacred rite performed by Maya elites and rulers involving intentional self-mutilation and blood sacrifice to honor ancestors and gods.