AP African American Studies

African Diaspora

Name given to the spread of African peoples across the Atlantic via the slave trade.

Red Sea

Body of water between northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula that was a key source of trade between Africa and East Asia.

Mediterranean Sea

A body of water north of Africa separating it from Europe.

Atlantic Ocean

This body of water east of Africa.

Indian Ocean

This body of water west of Africa and was used as a trade route to Asia.

Nile River

The world's longest river, which flows northward through East Africa into the Mediterranean Sea

Bantu Migration

People from West Africa who expanded their territory vastly; acquired iron technology and learned to breed livestock and grow grain crops that were better than their previous yams

Swahili

Bantu language with Arabic loanwords spoken in coastal regions of East Africa.

Sahel

Belt south of the Sahara where it transitions into savanna across central Africa. It means literally 'coastland' in Arabic.

Rainforest

Densely wooded area in Central Africa that creates a humid climate that receives large amounts of rain.

Sahara

the largest desert in the world, covering most of northern Africa

Nubia

Defeated Egypt and established the 25th dynasty of the Black Pharaohs, who ruled Egypt for a century.

Aksum

Emerged in eastern Africa around 100 BCE. Became the first African society to adopt Christianity under the leadership of King Ezana.

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

The first West African kingdom to take control of the trans-Saharan trade network.

Songhai

the last of the medieval West African kingdom located in present-day Mali, Niger, and Nigeria to control the trans-Saharan trade network.

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.

Griot

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

Timbuktu

Mali trading city that became a center of wealth and learning with vast libraries.

Syncretism

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

Voodoo

A version of traditional African religious beliefs that are blended with elements of Christianity.

Great Zimbabwe

City, now in ruins (in the modern African country of Zimbabwe), whose many stone structures were built between about 1250 and 1450, when it was a trading center and the capital of a large state.

Swahili Coast

East African city-states that emerged in the 8th century CE from a blending of Bantu, Islamic, and other Indian Ocean trade elements.

Kingdom of Kongo

converted to Christianity to strengthen its trade relationship with Portugal, leading to its increased wealth and power in the region.

Queen Idia

became the first Iyoba (queen mother) in the Kingdom of Benin (present-day Nigeria). She served as a political advisor to her son, the king.

Queen Njinga

engaged in 30 years of guerilla warfare against the Portuguese to maintain sovereignty and control of her kingdom.

Sao Tome and Cape Verde

Uninhabited islands that were colonized by the Portuguese where they established cotton, indigo, and sugar plantations using the labor of enslaved Africans.