west africa vocab

hola

artifact

an item left by the earlier culture

jenne-jeno

an ancient west african city built along the niger river

Niger river

The longest river in west africa a kind of early highway trading

Nok

A person living in west africa 500 B.C.E that iron worked

Sahara

A large hot desert in north africa that covers 3.5m square miles

Sahel

A zone of semi desert south of sahara with short grasses and small bushes

savanna

a vegetation zone of tall grasses and scattered trees with a long rainy season

smelting

The process of melting ore to produce iron or other metals from it

tribute

A payment made by one ruler or country to another for protection or a sign of submission

ghana

A medival civialization and empire in west africa:0

matrilineal

a family line traveled through the mother

trans-saharan trade

trades between north and south people

Mali

a west african empire ruled by the mande that became a major crossroads of the islamic worlds

mansa musa

The first western african ruler to devote to islam who was really rich

patrillneal

a family line passed down by the father

songhai

a person who broke away from the empire of Mali and eventually built their own vast empire in west africa

textile

a woven cloth

applique

a technique in which shaped pieces of fabric are attached to a back ground fabric to form a design

call and respsonse

a song style in which a singer or musician leads with a call and a course repsonds

folktale

folktales a story that is passed down orally and becomes part of a religion culture

geneology

an account of the line of ancestery within a family

griot

a talented poet musician of the mande people who tells stories sings song and recites poems to share history

oral tradition

learning and cultural ideas passed down oraly from one genration to the next

terra cotta

a baked clay used to make potery tiles and sculpures

kente

a traditional form of cloth produced in west africa