the largest desert in the world, covering most of northern Africa

Collective name of a large group of sub-Saharan African languages and of the peoples speaking these languages.

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

Nubian kingdom

Capital of a flourishing kingdom in southern Nubia from the fourth century B.C.E. to the fourth century C.E.. In this period Nubian culture shows more independence from Egypt and the influence of Sub-Saharan Africa.

He brought Christianity to Africa and made it the official religion of Axum.

City located in present-day Tunisia, founded by Phoenicians ca. 800 B.C.E. It became a major commercial center and naval power in the western Mediterranean until defeated by the expanding Roman Republic in the third century B.C.E.

A maritime people who spread their alphabet to others including the Hebrews, Romans, and Greeks.

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

A series of three wars between Rome and Carthage (264-146 B.C.); resulted in the destruction of Carthage and Rome's dominance over the western Mediterranean.

A geographical area of fertile land in the Middle East stretching in a broad semicircle from the Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates

native to a certain area

a grassy plain in tropical and subtropical regions, with few trees.

a large waterfall

Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.

area in Africa where parts of the plateau's surface dropped and early human fossils are found

barrier to settlement due to the transmission of sleeping sickness

to use

Moroccan 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.

the longest river in West Africa, and a kind of trading highway in early times

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.

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.

City on the Niger River that became a major major terminus of the trans-Saharan trade and a center of Islamic learning.

Emperor of the kingdom of Mali in Africa. He made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca and established trade routes to the Middle East.

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

Ruler of the Songhai empire from 1493 to 1528 who expanded the empire and organized its government

A system of enforced servitude in which some people are owned by other people.

European trade agreement with Africa dealing with slaves brought from Africa. Integral part of Triangle Trade between the Americas, Africa, and Europe.

Coast of Africa that became center of European slave trade

the founder of Mali empire. He crushed his enemies and won control of the gold trade routes

A pilgrimage to Mecca, performed as a duty by Muslims

invaded the Songhai empire, helping to cause its end

a person captured in war, especially a member of the military

a low, flat ship with one or more sails and up to three banks of oars, chiefly used for warfare, trade, and piracy.

a prisoner of war, assigned to rowing duties

A system of agricultural production based on large-scale land ownership and the exploitation of labor and the environment. This system focused on the production of cash crops and utilized slave labor.

took slaves from merchant ships passing by

The Christian state in Africa that developed its own branch of Christianity, Coptic Christianity, because it was cut off from other Christians due to a large Muslim presence in Africa.

strategic trading port of the kingdom of Axum

Bantu language with Arabic loanwords spoken in coastal regions of East Africa.

East African highland nation lying east of the Nile River.

Ethiopian king who had Christian churches carved downward into mountains

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.

This body of water separates the Arabian Peninsula from Africa.

country in East Africa that juts into the Red Sea

diverse cultural heritage, this blend included traditions of the Arab peoples who crossed the Red Sea into Africa and those of the Kushite peoples they settled among. believed in one god. They were also animists

A tall, four-sided pillar that is pointed on top

the time when Muslims fled from Mecca and sheltered in Axum

church located in Lalibel, Ethiopia

A river in Central and Southern Africa that flows into the Indian Ocean.

River in Southern Africa forming the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Mother, father and children living as a unit

passing through the male line, from father to son; often combined with patriarchy.

the form of society in which family line, power, and wealth are passed primarily through the female side

groups of respected people that lead a society

Professional oral historians who served as keepers of traditions and advisors to kings within the Mali Empire

general agreement among various groups on fundamental matters; broad agreement on public questions

male leader of extended family

direct descent from an ancestor

title for the king of Benin

African tribe located in present day Mali

African kingdom on the Gold Coast that expanded rapidly after 1680. A major participant in the Atlantic economy, trading gold, slaves, and ivory. It resisted British imperial ambitions for a quarter century before being absorbed into Britain.

made up of different parts connected in a way that is hard to understand

a group of small kingdoms along the Zaire River in West-Central Africa, united under a single leader in the late 1400s

Literature that passes by word of mouth from one generation to the next.

a royal and sacred fabric associated with Ghana's Akan people and characterized by geometric shapes, bright colors, and designs associated with proverbs, leaders, events, and plants

Group of people Sundiata was from