Unit 1 AAH

African Diaspora

African Diaspora

The separation of Africans from their homeland through centuries of forced removal to serve as slaves in the Americas and elsewhere.

African climate zones

Desert (the Sahara), Semiarid (the Sahel), Mediterranean Zone, Rainforest and Savanna grasslands.

Major rivers in Africa

Niger, Congo, Nile, Zambezi, Orange

Bantu

A major African language family. Collective name of a large group of sub-Saharan African languages and of the peoples speaking these languages. Famous for migrations throughout central and southern Africa.

Ancient Egypt

Ancient civilization located primarily along the Nile River.

Nubia

A civilization to the south of Egypt in the Nile Valley, noted for development of an alphabetic writing system and a major iron working industry by 500 BCE

Aksumite Empire

Isolated Christian state in Africa// northern Ethiopia// Port city--good for trade in the Indian Ocean basin.

Sudanic Empires

These West African kingdoms, including Ghana, Mali and Songhai, flourished between about 500 and 1600 CE. The Sudanic empires became important trading partners with Muslim and North African merchants after the domestication of the camel.

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 created by indigenous Muslims in western Sudan of West Africa from the thirteenth to fifteenth century. It was famous for its role in the trans-Saharan gold trade.

Songhai

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

Mansa Musa

Ruler of Mali (r. 1312-1337). His extravagant pilgrimage through Egypt to Mecca in 1324-1325 established the empire's reputation for wealth in the Mediterranean world.

Islam

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

Christianity

A monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior.

Timbuktu, Mali

Center of Malian Empire and Islamic Learning.

Griot

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

Sundiata

The "Lion Prince"; a member of the Keita clan; created a unified state that became the Mali Empire; died about 1260

syncretic religion

separate religions that combine into a new religion; often borrow from the past and the present.

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.

Great Enclosure

the largest of the three main sections of the Shona settlement of Great Zimbabwe - likely a royal residence

Swahili Coast

East African shores of the Indian Ocean between the Horn of Africa and the Zambezi River; from the Arabic sawahil, meaning 'shores.'

Swahili city-states

dominated trade along the east African coast

Trans-Saharan Trade

route across the sahara desert. Major trade route that traded for gold and salt, created caravan routes, economic benefit for controlling dessert, camels played a huge role in the trading

Kingdom of Kongo

Basin of the Congo (Zaire) river, conglomeration of several village alliances, participated actively in trade networks, most centralized rule of the early Bantu kingdoms, royal currency: cowries, ruled 14th-17th century until undermined by Portuguese slave traders

Portuguese slave trade

the Portuguese set up a slave trade along the African coast which became a big business. They needed the slaves to work their sugar plantations in Africa. This became the origin of the modern plantation system

Kinship

A social bond based on common ancestry, marriage, or adoption

Queen Idia of Benin

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

Queen Njinga of Ndongo-Matamba

Became the Queen of Ndongo after the first large froup of enslaved Africans arrived in the American colonies. Engaged in 30 years of wargare against the Portugues to maintain control of her kingdom.