AP African American Studies: Unit 1 Study Guide

Black/African American Studies

an interdisciplinary academic field that primarily focuses on the study of the history, culture, and politics of the peoples of the African diaspora and Africa

Diaspora

The African Diaspora refers to the global dispersion of people of African descent, particularly those who were forcibly enslaved and taken from Africa during the transatlantic slave trade.

Misconceptions about early Africa and its descendants -

poor, uneducated, underdeveloped, isolated

Desert (Sahara)

(mostly north africa)

Semiarid (Sahel)

(central and southern africa)

Savanna Grassland

(central africa, population growth)

Tropical Rainforests

(central africa)

Mediterranean Zone

North Africa- on the Mediterranean Sea and in South Africa on the Cape of Good Hope

Major Rivers in Africa

Niger, Congo, Nile, Zambezi, Orange

Red Sea

This body of water separates the Arabian Peninsula from Africa.

Mediterranean Sea

This body of water separates Europe and Africa.

Atlantic Ocean

west coast of Africa

Indian Ocean

east coast of Africa

Sahara

huge desert stretching across most of North Africa

Kalahari

a desert in southwestern Africa - largely Botswana

Namib

A desert on the Atlantic coast

Egypt

- Began around 3000 BCE along the Nile River
-- Grear Farming + Lots of Gold
- believed in many gods and afterlife
-ruled by pharoahs who were believed to be related to the gods

Nubia (Kush/Cush)

-started in 2000 BC in modern day Sudan
- very similar culture to egypt
- built pyramids
-believed in many gods
-so much gold
- took over Egypt in in 750 BC

Aksum

- first African society to adopt Christianity under King Ezana
- Ge'ez script (mail litigucal languaguage of the Ethiopian Orthodox church

Nok

West Africa's earliest known culture; lived in what is now Nigeria; between 500 B.C. and A.D. 200; first people known to smelt iron; fashioned iron into tools for farming and weapons for hunting

Ghana

First known kingdom in sub-Saharan West Africa between the sixth and thirteenth centuries C.E. Also the modern West African country once known as the Gold Coast. gold and salt trade.

Mali

The kingdom in West Africa that followed the Kingdom of Ghana; its wealth is also based on trans-Saharan trade; this kingdom encouraged the spread of Islam.

Songhai

a West African empire that conquered Mali and controlled trade from the 1400s to 1591

Griots

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

Epic of Sundiata

An epic poem of the Malinke people and tells the story of the hero Sundiata Keita, the founder of the Mali Empire

Bantu Migration and Expansion

- caused by agriculture, technological advancements, and population growth
- from Nigeria to East/South Africa
- followed rivers
- conflict with others for land
- spread/created languages (Xhosa, Swahili, Zulu)

Trans-Saharan Trade Routes

gold-salt trade; linked North and West Africa; across Sahara Desert; spread Islam; land trade

Catalan Atlas of 1375

Spanish World Map that included Mansa Musa

Mansa Musa

Emperor of the kingdom of Mali in Africa. He made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca and established trade routes to the Middle East; he found temples and universities in Timbuktu.

Swahili Coast

East African shores of the Indian Ocean between the Horn of Africa and the Zambezi River; from the Arabic sawahil, meaning 'shores.' Traded pottery, silks, and glassware across the Indian Ocean.

Great Zimbabwwe

Zimbabwe was part of a large and wealthy global trading network; known for extensive stone ruins of an African Iron Age city

Timbuktu

City on the Niger River in the modern country of Mali. It was founded by the Tuareg as a seasonal camp sometime after 1000. As part of the Mali empire, Timbuktu became a major major terminus of the trans-Saharan trade and a center of Islamic learning.

Sankore Mosque

A mosque located in Timbuktu that Mansa Musa founded; a university in this building during the Mali Empire; used for prayer.

Muslim Faith

Expanded due to trade with Arabs

Syncretism

a blending of beliefs and practices from different religions into one faith

Louisiana Voodoo

- merges African spirituality with Catholicism.
- connected to nature, spirits, and ancestors
- spirits interfere more than God
- rituals: readings, baths, prayer, personal ceremony
- Voodoo kings and queens were spiritual and political figures in the 1800s.
- gris-gris dolls, potions, talismans

Haitian Vodun

- incorporates Catholicism
- houses of spirits
- summoning spirits, possessions
- making amends with spirits
- dangerous to ignore the demands of spirits

Cuban Santeria

- "The Way of the Saints"/La Regla de Ocha
- Yoruban Orishas
- divination, sacrifice, initiation, mediumship
- Orisha deities provide protection, wisdom, and success.

Brazilian Candomble

- Patron Saints (Cosme, Damiao)
-- protect women and children
- white = symbol of spiritual teachings
- music, dance
- smoking tobacco to honor indigenous ancestors

Cosmologies

involve ancestors and spirits

Ibn Battuta

wrote one of the world's most famous travel logs, the Riḥlah; Timbuktu, Kilwa, Indonesia, Egypt, etc.

The Great Mosque at Djenne

The Great Mosque of Djenné is a large brick or adobe building in the Sudano-Sahelian architectural style. The mosque is located in the city of Djenné, Mali.

Ethiopian Jesus

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church believes that Jesus Christ has one nature that is solely divine, instead of two that are both divine and human.

Kingdom of Kongo

Basin of the Congo (Zaire) river, conglomeration of several village alliances, participated actively in trade networks, most centralized rule of the early Bantu kingdoms, royal currency: cowries, ruled 14th-17th century until undermined by Portuguese slave traders

King Nzinga a Nkuwu (Joao I)

Nzinga-a-Nkuwu João I was the 5th ManiKongo of the Kingdom of Kongo between 1470 and 1509. He voluntarily converted to Roman Catholicism. He was baptized on 3 May 1491 and took the Christian name of João. He was married to Queen Nzinga a Nlaza, a first cousin. She had a son by the king named Nzinga Mbemba.

Triple Crucifix

(Kongo) This composite artifact may be an interpretation of the Trinity. Kongo crucifixes served as spaces of correlation that central Africans used to bring together the Catholic narrative of Christ's death and resurrection with age-old, local ideas about fluid connections between life and death.

Extended Kinship Networks

- Relationships between family members beyond the nuclear family, e.g. grandparents, cousins.
- Important for royal inheritance.

Queen Idia of Benin

- Queen of the Edo people from -504-1550. Played a role in the Idah war, which was a great Benin victory.
- It has been argued that Idia, therefore, was the true power behind the throne of her son.
- "Queen Mother"
- She raised an army of her own and used medicine and magic to defeat her son's enemies.
- She was one of the best known female soldiers ever from the Benin Kingdom.
- She was a fearless Army General who led the Armies of Benin on several successful battles.

Queen Njinga of Ndongo-Matamba

- Ruled as queen of the Ambundu Kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba, located in present-day northern Angola
- Protected the autonomy of her nation from the Portuguese
- Warrior, Diplomat
- Converted to Christianity
- Married to secure (validate?) her position as Queen.
- Acted masculine to appear powerful and worthy of her position. (male concubines, etc.)
- Notable: She sat on her subject to sit eye-to-eye with a Portuguese ruler, showing her power.

Kingdom of Benin

A forest Kingdom in West Africa (present-day Nigeria), known for its very sophisticated bronze art from the Hausa people. Portuguese came to trade with them.

Chafariz d'El Ray & Joao de Sa Panasco

The King's Fountain (Portuguese: Chafariz d'El-Rey) is a 16th century oil painting by an anonymous Flemish painter. The work depicts a scene in front of the Chafariz de El-Rei (English: The King's Fountain) in Lisbon, Portugal. Painting The King's Fountain depicts a scene set around the Chafariz de El-Rei in Lisbon, the capital of the-then Kingdom of Portugal. Painted during the late 16th century, the work features images associated with the wealth and power of the burgeoning Portuguese Empire; trade goods from Japan, Goa, and various African kingdoms are seen, as are African slaves and free Africans. Portuguese Jewish constables can be seen detaining a thief or drunk, and the painting notably contains a depiction of an Afro-Portuguese knight endowed with the heraldry of the Order of Santiago, sometimes identified as João de Sá Panasco. More domestically-minded work can be seen, such as boatmen unloading grain and attending to passengers, while jugglers and vendors can be seen mingling with the crowd. Several animals are also present.

João de Sá, known as Panasco, was a black African in the employ of King John III of Portugal, who was eventually elevated from court jester to gentleman courtier of the Royal Household. João de Sá Panasco was probably the first man of Sub Saharan African to become a knight during the 16th century in 1535.

Portuguese Islands of Cabo Verde and Sao Tome

São Tomé was discovered in the 1470s by Portuguese explorers and subsequently became a slave port. When slavery was abolished in 1875, contract labor from Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde and other parts of the Portuguese empire were recruited. These laborers were called "serviçais".