Unit 1 (P2) Vocab

Syncretic

Practice of combining different beliefs or religions and various traditions.

Animistic

The belief that objects, places, and creatures have a spiritual essence.

Cosmologies

a system of beliefs that deals with fundamental questions in the religious and social order

Islam

Muslim religion that follows the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.

Christianity

Religion that was adopted by both the kingdom of Aksum and the kingdom of Kongo, but later pushed upon Africans during the slave trade.

Indigenous

Native, inhabiting a land from the earliest times or before the arrival of colonists.

Veneration

Great respect or reverence to ones ancestors

Divination

The practice of seeking knowledge of the future by supernatural means

Voodoo

Spiritual practice traced to West Africa, that combine elements of Roman Catholicism with traditional African magical and religious rites, often negatively characterized as sorcery and spirit possession, and is practiced in the Caribbean (especially Haiti) and Southern US (specifically Louisiana).

Vodun

Traditional spiritual practice traced to West Africa( practiced by the Aja, Ewe, and Fon peoples of Benin, Ghana, and Nigeria).

Regala de Ochalfa

Religion with African roots, practiced in Cuba, that combines elements of Catholicism, Espiritismo, and Yoruba. Meaning "the rule of Ocha."

Candomblé

A religion practiced in Brazil, based on traditional African practices modified by elements of Roman Catholicism and spiritualism. The name means "dance in honor of the gods."

Great Zimbabwe

A powerful state in the African interior that emerged from the growing trade in gold to the East African coast; flourished between 1250 and 1350 C.E. Known for its stone-walled enclosure. Current nation in Africa that is named after its "Great" predecessor.

Shona

The people who built and lived in Great Zimbabwe.

Great Enclosure

A historical part of Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe that was used for religious and administrative activities.

Swahili Coast (sawahil)

A diverse community on the Eastern portion of the African continent, with a shared religion of Islam, that was able to establish trade with nations from Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

Kongo

Kingdom on the West Coast of Africa that contributed the highest percentage of people to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

King Nzinga

The king of Kongo at the time that it adopted Christianity

Nzinga Mbemba

Kongo ruler - a catholic convert who took the name Afonso I - established catholicism as the kingdom's official religion and encourage missionaries from Portugal to spread Christianity and also utilized the religion to attempt to legitimize itself with its European counterparts.

African Catholicism

A version of Catholicism that had elements of Christianity, as well as local aesthetic and cultural traditions.

Kinship

A sharing of characteristics or origins, such as familial.

Iyoba

Queen Mother, Benin

Queen Idia

The first iyoba (Queen Mother) of the Kingdom of Benin, who served as political advisor to the king.

Benin

An ancient African kingdom, located in what is know Nigeria, that was ruled with the assistance of the iyoba.

Ndongo

Ancient African Kingdom, located in present day Angola, known for being ruled by Ana Njinga

Queen Njinga

Queen of Ndongo who engaged in 30 years of warfare against the Portuguese to maintain control of her kingdom.

Guerilla warfare

An unconventional hit-and-run technique used in fighting a war; fighting by small bands of warriors using tactics such as sudden ambushes

Lisbon

Iberian capital city located in Portugal.

Seville

Iberian city located in Spain.

Chafariz d'El Rey

The King's Fountain

Cabo Verde

Island colony along the Atlantic Coast of Africa, occupied by the Portuguese, where they established cotton, indigo, and sugar plantations using the labor of enslaved Africans.

São Tomé

island colony along the Atlantic Coast of Africa, occupied by the Portuguese, where they established cotton, indigo, and sugar plantations using the labor of enslaved Africans.