Foundations
This interdisciplinary field studies the history, culture, and political experiences of people of African descent in the U.S. and globally.
What is African American Studies (or Black Studies)?
This major population movement, which began around 1500 BCE, spread ironworking technology and a family of languages across much of sub-Saharan Africa.
What are the Bantu Migrations (or the Bantu Expansion)?
The trans-Saharan trade network primarily exchanged this valuable metal from West Africa for salt from the Sahara region.
What is gold?
This powerful 16th-century woman of the Kingdom of Benin was the first Iyoba, or Queen Mother, and used her political and spiritual influence to help her son, Oba Esigie, win a crucial war.
Who is Queen Idia
A term defining the forced or voluntary migration and settlement of Africans and their descendants outside the continent of Africa.
What is the African Diaspora?
The concept that unites people of African descent across the globe, emphasizing their shared history, culture, and experience
What is the African Diaspora?
Located along the Nile River south of Egypt, the Kingdom of Kush was historically known by this other name.
What is Nubia?
The earliest and arguably most powerful of the three great West African Sudanic empires, known as the "Land of Gold."
What is the Ghana Empire?
This Central African kingdom, located in present-day Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, was a major early source of enslaved people for the Portuguese and saw its ruler convert to Catholicism.
What is the Kingdom of Kongo?
This large-format world map, created by Abraham Cresques in 1375, is historically significant for its detailed and famous depiction of the wealthy West African ruler Mansa Musa.
What is the Catalan Atlas?
This massive and diverse biome is often misunderstood as a barren wasteland but has historically been crossed by extensive trade networks, like those that supported the Ghana and Mali Empires.
What is the Sahara Desert?
Emerging in the Ethiopian highlands, this ancient kingdom was notable for adopting Christianity as its state religion in the 4th century CE.
What is the Kingdom of Aksum (or Axum)?
This West African Empire, founded by Sundiata Keita, was later famously ruled by Mansa Musa, whose pilgrimage to Mecca demonstrated its vast wealth.
What is the Mali Empire?
Born in the early 17th century, this resilient queen of Ndongo and Matamba resisted the Portuguese slave trade for decades through diplomacy and guerrilla warfare.
Queen Nzinga Mbande (or Njinga)?
The blending of two or more religious or cultural belief systems, often seen in the Caribbean and Brazil, where African spiritual traditions merged with Catholicism.
What is Syncretism (or Syncretic)?
Located in the East African Highlands (modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea), this ancient Christian kingdom was one of the four great powers of the world in the 3rd century CE, dominating Red Sea trade and minting its own currency.
What is the Kingdom of Aksum (or Axum)?
This West African society, which existed from about 1000 BCE to 500 CE in modern-day Nigeria, is famous for its distinct terracotta sculptures and early use of iron smelting.
What is the Nok culture (or society)?
This city, located in the Mali and Songhai Empires, was a major center of trade, Islamic scholarship and featured the Sankore University.
What is Timbuktu?
Under this empire, which emerged after Mali's decline, cities like Gao and Timbuktu continued to flourish as centers of Islamic learning and trans-Saharan trade until their defeat by Moroccan forces in 1591.
What is the Songhai Empire?
In West Africa, a patrilineal system of kinship traces descent and inheritance through this side of the family
What is the father's side (or the male line)?
This ancient West African culture is famous for its development of iron smelting, with evidence dating to around 1000 BCE or earlier.
What is the Nok culture?
The great stone enclosures and towers of this sophisticated Southern African kingdom, which flourished between the 11th and 15th centuries, served as a center for trade with the Swahili Coast.
What is Great Zimbabwe?
The name for a professional West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, or poet who preserves historical traditions and genealogies, often orally.
What is a Griot?
When Queen Nzinga met with the Portuguese governor, she refused to sit on the floor. Instead, she had one of her attendants form a human chair, demonstrating her commitment to maintaining her royal sovereignty and equality.
What is Queen Nzinga Mbande?
The most famous section of the Catalan Atlas depicts Mansa Musa holding a gold nugget while seated on a throne, symbolically representing this trade network between West Africa and the Mediterranean world.
What is the Trans-Saharan Trade (or the gold trade)?