Unit 1 AAH

Sahara Desert

Sahara Desert

the largest desert in the world, covering most of northern Africa. Winds change the landscape.

Serengeti Plain

a part of the savanna in Kenya and Tanzania, home to many animals such as elephants and gazelles

Congo River

A river in Central Africa that flows into the Atlantic Ocean

Desertification

the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture.

famine

a severe shortage of food (as through crop failure) resulting in violent hunger and starvation and death

irrigation

The process of supplying water to areas of land to make them suitable for growing crops.

Great Rift Valley

area in africa where parts of the plateau's surface dropped and early human fossils are found

Nile River

The river in which early kingdoms in Egypt were centered around.

Papyrus

A reed that grows along the banks of the Nile River in Egypt. From it was produced a coarse, paperlike writing form used by the Egyptians and many other peoples in the ancient Middle East.

hierarchy

a system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority.

Theocracy

A government controlled by religious leaders

Tutankhamen

Pharaoh of Egypt around 1358 BC, youngest pharaoh, restored old gods, died at an early age

Niger River

the longest river in West Africa, and a kind of trading highway in early times

Medieval 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 Empire

From 1235-1400, this was a strong empire of Western African. With its trading cities of Timbuktu and Gao, it had many mosques and universities. The Empire was ruled by two great rulers, Sundiata and Mansa Musa. Thy upheld a strong gold-salt trade. The fall of the empire was caused by the lack of strong rulers who could govern well.

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.

cultural diffusion

The spread of ideas, customs, and technologies from one people to another

Songhai

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

Bantu Migration

The movement of the Bantu peoples southward throughout Africa, spreading their language and culture, from around 500 b.c. to around A.D 1000

Ibn Battuta

Moroccan Muslim scholar, the most widely traveled individual of his time. He wrote a detailed account of his visits to Islamic lands from China to Spain and the western Sudan.

Animism

Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a spirit and life.

Islam

A religion based on the teachings of the prophet Mohammed which stresses belief in one god (Allah), following the 5 Pillars and a body of law written in the Quran. Followers are called Muslims.

Vasco de Gama

Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea

Bartolomeu Dias

1487 Portugal, Sailed to tip of Africa called the Cape of Good Hope, Inspired further expeditions to search for route to Asia