Sub-Saharan Africa

Sahel

The band of land extending from Senegal to Somalia; also called the African Transition Zone.

Transition Zone

An area in which properties of the land undergo a radical change.

Animist

Pertaining to the religious beliefs of animism in which nature, such as animals and mountains, has spirts.

Hutus

Member of a bantu-speaking people, traditional farmers.

Tutsis

A member of people forming a meranti of the Rwanda and Burundi.

Patriarchal

A family member that is leaded by a male family member.

Clans

Large group of people descended from some ancestor family group.

Desertification

Process in which arable land becomes dessert.

Barrier Farming

Planting descent, stiff, erect vegetation in narrow strips across a slope to slow water runoff.

Great Green Wall Project

An African-led, international initiative aiming to restore degraded land and combat desertification across the Sahel region

Escarpments

A steep cliff or slope between a higher and lower land surface.

Great Rift Valley

A long, deep depression with steep, wall-like cliffs, a major tectonic feature in East Africa, formed by the splitting of the African plate into two new plates, the Nubian and Somali plates

Lingua Franca

A common language used among people with different native languages.

Genocide

International destruction of a national ethnic, radical, or religious group.

Poaching

Illegal hunting

Conflict Diamonds (blood diamonds)

Diamonds that are mined in war torn areas and are used to finance one or more parties involved.

Internally Displaced Person

someone forced to leave their home or place of habitual residence, but remains within their own country's borders, often due to conflict, violence, human rights violations, or natural disasters.

Ivory

Hard white substance made from tusks.

Apartheid

Segregation on grounds other than race.