Africa Unit Terms

Bantu

Organized by clan villages with leaders, migrated throughout southern Africa, extended cultivation of yams, grains, sheep, and cattle

Iron Metallurgy

Bantu used iron weapons and tools like hoes to clear land and expand agriculture

Kin-based Societies

Family-related societies without elaborate hierarchy, responsible for policing members and disciplining improper behavior

Diviners

Individuals mediating between humans and supernatural beings, consulted for illness, crop failure, disasters, etc.

Trans-Saharan Trade

Ghana provided gold, ivory, slaves in exchange for horses, cloth, and salt; used silent barter system

Mali Empire

Controlled and taxed trade in West Africa, Sundiata built the empire, Mansa Musa made pilgrimage to Mecca

Griots

Professional African singers and storytellers, responsible for oral traditions like Sundiata

Swahili City-States

Engaged in trade along the East African coast, traded for gold, slaves, ivory, and received pottery, glass, and textiles

Zimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe controlled and taxed trade, forged alliances with local leaders for profit

Role of Women

Involved in pottery, planting, harvesting, domestic chores, child rearing, some in all-women military units

Arrival of Christianity

Spread to Egypt and North Africa, established in Axum through merchants and missionaries

Sundiata

Parallels to Islam, righteous leader who won battles, exiled, broke down idols, embraced defeated people

Al Bakri

Al Bakri was an Andalusian-Arab geographer and historian. He is known for his detailed geographical work which provides valuable information about the Islamic world in the 11th century.

Koumbi-Saleh

Koumbi-Saleh was the capital of the medieval Ghana Empire. It was an important trading center and political hub in West Africa.

timbuktu

Timbuktu was a city in Mali that was a major center of learning, trade, and culture in Africa during the medieval period.

Niani

Niani was the capital of the Mali Empire, located in present-day Mali. It was a significant political and cultural center during the empire's peak.

Ibn Battuta

Ibn Battuta was a Moroccan scholar and explorer who traveled extensively throughout the medieval world. He is known for his extensive travels and detailed accounts of the places he visited.

Kebra Negast

Kebra Negast is an ancient Ethiopian text that narrates the lineage of Ethiopian kings and the story of the Ark of the Covenant. It is considered a sacred text in Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity.

Ethiopia’s Solomonic Dynasty

The Solomonic Dynasty in Ethiopia claimed descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. It ruled Ethiopia for centuries, with its last emperor, Haile Selassie, deposed in 1974.

Ife and Benin

put human faces and figures on sculptures

Kongo

active in trade networks of copper, raffia, cloth, and shells, highly organized kings and officials

Jenne-Jeno

center of iron production and trade as well as manufactured textiles, principal commercial crossroads of west Africa

Islamic slave trade

high demand of slaves so large states made war on smaller ones, kin-based societies to get captives to use as slaves. symbol of social status due to communal ownership of land

Ghana Tax

king charged tax on all people entering and leaving Ghana, was paid in salt, iron, peacock, etc. In exchange, Ghana warriors would keep routes protected for merchants and traders.

Silent Barter

no arguing/bartering, gold would be left at price for traders to take, if ample goods weren’t left in exchange, trade stopped. Many Ghana traders didn’t speak language of new traders.

Second City

built second city for muslim traders, merchants, foreigners, etc. Had many mosques, allowed Ghana to continue to worship in a familiar way, kept Ghana culture and society separate from the merchants.

mansa musa

ruler during Mali’s highpoint, pilgrimage to Mecca, declined gold value, build more mosques, etc.

Kilwa

busiest city-states on east african coast, relies on fishing and imported pottery and stoneware, stone buildings, imported cotton, silk, pearls, porcelain, gave gold, slaves, and ivory

Alexandria

more prominent centers of early christian thought

Axum

christian kingdom, converted through merchants and missionaries, kings converted, ethiopa promoted, 11 churches carved our of stone, (also draining systems for water management)