AP AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY QUIZ #1

Describe the features that characterize African American Studies

African American Studies combines an interdisciplinary approach with the rigors of scholarly inquiry to analyze the history, culture, and contributions of people of African descent in the us and the African diaspora.

Explain how African American studies reframes misconceptions about early Africa and its relationship to people of african descent

◦African American studies examines development of ideas about Africa's history and the relationships of communities ◦Perceptions of how Africa has shifted over time. Africa is homeland of powerful societies that have made contributions to humanity

◦Africa is the birthplace of humanity and the home of African Americans. Early African society brought about developments in architecture, technology, politics, religion, and music.

◦African-American studies disciples notions of Africa as a place with no history. Complex societies were very well connected

Describe the geographical features of the African continent

As the second-largest continent in the world, Africa is geologically diverse. 5 primary climate zones: Desert, semi arid, savana, grassland, tropical rainforests, and the mediterrainean zone

◦Bordered by seas and oceans (Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean) Five major rivers (niger, congo, zambezi, and Nile)

Explain how africas varied landscape impacted patterns of settlement and trade between diverse cultural regions

◦The proximity of the read sea. Mediterran, Indian Ocean supported early societies and global connections ◦Population centers emerged in the Sahel because major water routs, fertile land, and trade oppys

◦Variations in climate facilitated diverse oppys for trade in Africa: people in deserts were nomadic, people in Sabel

traded livestock, savanas did grain and crops, rainforests people grew kola and traded gold

Describe the causes of Bantu Expansion across the African continent

Technological innovations (tools and weapons) and agricultural innovations (bananas yams and cereals) contributed to the population growth in West and central Africa

- the population growth caused migrations throughout the continent known as the Bantu expansion

Explain how the Bantu expansion affected the linguistic diversity of West and Central Africa and the genetic heritage of

African Americans

-Bantu-speaking people's linguistic influences spread throughout the continent. Became hundreds of languages (Xhosa,

Swahili, Kikongo, Zulu)

◦Africa is the ancestral home of thousands of ethnic groups and languages a large portion of the generic ancestral

comes from western and Central African Bantu speakers

Describe the features of and goods produced by complex societies that emerged in ancient east and west Africa

◦Several of the world's earliest complex societies arose in Africa during the ancient era (Egypt, Nubia, Aksum, and Nok) ◦Egypt and Nubia emerged along the Nile river around 3000 BCE. Nubia was the source of Egypt's gold and lux items

which created conflict. Nubia defeated Egypt and black pharaohs ruled Egypt for a century

◦The Aksumite empire emerged in Eastern Africa. It was connected to trade networks via the Red Sea

Explain why Africa's ancient societies are culturally and historically significant to black communities and African

american studies

◦Aksum became the first African society to adopt to Christianity

◦Significance was placed on ancient African societies in secular texts

Explain how the influence of gold and trade shaped the political, economic and religious development of the ancient west African empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai

The sudanic empires (Ghana 7th to 13th century,Mali 13th to 17th century, and Songhai15th to 16th century) ◦Each empire was renowned for their gold mines and location for trade

◦Trans-Saharan commerce brought North African traders who introduced islam to West Africa

◦Songhai was the largest of the sudanic empires

Explain the connection between the sudanic empires and early generations of African Americans

◦The sudanic empires in west Africa included many regions of Nigeria. Majority of Africans were transported to the americas from these places.

Explain how Mali's wealth and power created opportunities for the empire to expand its reach to other societies wining Africa and across the Mediterranean.

◦The Mali empire was ruled my Mansa Musa who established the empire as a center for trade, learning and cultural exchange.

◦His wealth and access to trade across the Sahara enabled leaders to obtain strong horses and powerful weapons. This allowed them to expand the empire across neighboring groups

◦Mansa musa's pilgrimage to Mecca attracted in intense of merchants. His promises of gold allowed his empire to grow in population

Describe the institutional and community based models of education present in early west African societies

◦West African empires housed centers of learning in their trading cities. Mali's trading city was Timbuktu where they had a university and learning community. Astronomers and math archatecture and jurors flourished.

◦Griots were prestigious historians musicians and storytellers who maintained a communities history through cultural practices and traditions

◦Gender played an important role in griot tradition. Both African woman and men preserved knowledge of a communities birth death and marriages.

Explain how syncretic practices in early West African societies developed and were carried forward in African descended communities in the Americas

◦ The adoption by leaders of some African societies to Islam (Mali and Songhai) or Christianity (Kongo) often resulted in the blending of their faiths and cosmologies

◦ Africans blended spiritual practices with christianity and islam and brought their syncretic relgious and clutural practices from Africa to the americas. One quarter desend from christian and one quarter desend from Muslim

◦ spiritual practices that can be traced to west Africa, such as veneration of the ancestors, divination, healing practices, and collective, singing and dancing, have survived in African regions, including Louisiana voodoo. Africans and their descendants, who were later enslaved in the Americas, often performed spiritual ceremonies to strengthen themselves before leading revolts.

Describe a function and importance of Great Zimbabwe's stone architecture

◦ The kingdom of Zimbabwe and its capital city, Great Zimbabwe, flourished in Southern Africa from the 12th to the 15th century. The kingdom was linked to trade on the Swahili Coast, and its inhabitants, the Shona people, became wealthy from its gold, ivory, and cattle resources

Explain how geographic, cultural, and political factors contributed to the rise and fall of the city-states on the Swahili coast.

◦ The Swahili Coast stretches from Somalia to Mozambique. The coastal location of its city-states linked Africa's interior to Arab, persain, Indian, and Chinese trading communities.

◦ Between the 11th and 15th centuries, the Swahili Coast city-states were united by their shared language (Swahili) and region (islam)

◦ The strengths of the Swahili coast trading

Explain how the adoption of Christianity affected economic and religious aspects of the Kingdom of Kongo

◦ King Nzinga a Nkuwu and his son Nzinga Mbemba voluntarily converted the powerful West Central African kingdom of Kongo to Roman Catholicism

◦ The kingdom of Kongo's conversion to Christianity strengthened its trade relationship with Portugal leading to Kongos increased wealth

◦ The nobilities voluntary conversion allowed the faith to gain mass acceptance.

Explain how the Kingdom of Kongo's political relations with Portugal affected the kingdom's participation in the slave trade

◦ As a result of the kingdom of Kongo's conversion to Christianity and subsequent political ties with Portugal, the king of Portugal demanded access to the trade of enslaved people in exchange for military assistance

◦ Kongo nobles participated in the slave trade but they were unable to limit the number of captives sold to europea powers

◦ Kongo, along with the greater region of West central Africa, became the largest source of enslaved people in the history of the Atlantic slave trade

Explain how the Kingdom of Kongo's Christian culture influenced early generations of African Americans

◦ About a quarter of enslaved Africans directly, transported to what became of the United States healed from West Central Africa. Many West Central Africans were Christians before they arrived in the Americas.

Describe the function of kinship along with the varied roles women played in early West and Central African societies

◦ Many early West and Central African societies were comprised of family groups held together by extended kinship ties, and kinship often formed the basis for political alliances

◦ Women played many rules in west, and central African societies, including spiritual leaders, political, advisors, market, traders, educators, and agriculturalists.

Compare the political and and military leadership of Queen Idia of Benin and Queen Njinga of Ndongo-Matamba

◦ In the late 15th century, Queen Idia became the first queen mother in the Kingdom of Benin. She served as a political advisor to her son, the king

◦ In the early 17th century when people from Ndongo became the first large group of enslaved Africans to arrive in the American colonies, Queen Njinga became queen of ndongo

◦ Both Queen Idia and Queen Njinga led armies into battle

◦ Queen Njinga engaged in 30 years of guerilla warfare against the Portuguese to maintain sovereignty and control of her kingdom. She participated in the slave trade to amass wealth and political influence.

Describe the legacy of Queen Idia of Benin and Queen Njinga of Ndongo-Matamba's leadership

◦ Queen Idia became an iconic symbol of black woman's leadership through the dysphoria, when an ivory mask of her face was adopted as the symbol for the second festival of black arts and culture

◦ Queen Njinga reign solidified her legacy as a skilled political and military leader throughout the African disphora. The strength of her example led to nearly 100 more years of woman rulers in matamba

Explain the reasons why Africans went to Europe and Europeans went to Africa before the onset of the transatlantic slave trade.

◦ In the late 15th century, trade between west African kingdoms in Portugal for gold, goods, and enslaved people grew steadily, bypassing the trans Saharan trade routes. African kingdoms increase their wealth through slave trading.

◦ Portuguese and west African trade increased the presence of Europeans in west Africa and the population of sub-Saharan Africans in Iberian port city is like Lisbon in Seville

◦ African elites traveled to Mediterranean port cities for diplomatic, educational, and religious reasons. In these cities, free and enslaved Africans also served in roles ranging from domestic labor to boatmen, guards, entertainers, and knights.

Explain how early forms of enslaved labor by the Portuguese shaped slave based economies in the Americas

◦ By 1500, about 50,000 enslaved Africans have been removed from the continent to work on Portuguese colonized Atlantic islands and in Europe. These plantations became a model for slave based economies in the Americas.

◦ In the mid-15th century of the Portuguese colonize, the Atlantic islands of Cabo Verde, and São Tomé , where they establish cotton indigo and sugar plantations, using the labor of enslaved Africans

Bantu expansion

series of migrations throughout the continent, from 1500 BCE to 500 BCE

Swahili

combination of Bantu and Arabic, now used as the common language for much of Africa.

Egypt

around 750 BCE, Nubia defeated and established the 25th dynasty of the Black Pharaohs, who ruled for a century

Nok

one of the world's earliest complex, large-scale societies arose in West Africa during the ancient era; present-day Nigeria; known for their terracotta sculptures, pottery, and stone instruments

Ge'ez

Still used as the main liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Demonstrates that they were Christian before many Western nations were exposed to it

"Black Pharoahs"

25th century

African American studies

focuses on the distinctiveness of Black people and their interrelationship with White American society in addition to other American racial and ethnic groups

Xhosa

language from the Bantu linguistic family (also Swahili, Kikongo, Zulu)

Zulu

Bantu language spoken in Southern Africa

Aksum

One of the world's earliest complex, large-scale societies arose in East Africa during the ancient era

Kikongo

Language from the Bantu Linguistic family spoken by the Kongo people living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Angola

Aksumite Empire

Present-day Eritrea and Ethiopia; developed its own currency and script (Ge'ez); one of the first African societies to adopt Christianity under the leadership of King Ezana

Liturgical language

used in official public worship on behalf of a religion

Terracotta sculptures

from Mali urban centers and made in the 13th and 15th centuries

Nubia

was the source of Egypt's gold and luxury trade items, which created conflict between the two societies.

Nomadic

moving in search of food and water

Sudan

The land of the kush

Meroe

city of ancient Cush (Kush) the ruins of which are located on the east bank of the Nile about 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Kabūshīyah in the present-day Sudan

Yoruba

confederation formerly dominant in what is now western Nigeria

Syncretism

Blended cultures (often mixture between European and African influences)