West Africa Vocabulary

Nile, Congo, Niger, Zambezi

honoring ancestors through rituals, such as offering food and wine to the dead

Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a discrete spirit and conscious life.

an important trading capital from the first to the eighth centuries A.D. in what is now Ethiopia; it flourished due to its location near the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean

A member of a North African, primarily Muslim people living in settled or nomadic tribes from Morocco to Egypt.

valuable product

movement of individuals out of a population

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.

a precious yellow metallic element.

-West Africans trade gold resources for North African salt; dietary necessity

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

Influenced government, education, architecture, and religion practiced

Trade made the kingdoms wealthy

(1304-1369) Morrocan Muslim scholar, the most widely traveled individual of his time. He wrote a detailed account of his visits to Islamic lands from China to Spain and the western Sudan. His writings gave a glimpse into the world of that time period.

Movement of individuals into a population