Africa Vocabulary
This is a tropical grassland with shrubs and few trees.
What is a savanna?
This river was so important to Ancient Egypt that Egypt was called its “Gift.”
What is the Nile River?
Around 3100 B.C., this ruler united Upper and Lower Egypt.
Who is Menes?
Africa is this number when the continents are ranked from largest to smallest.
What is second?
Africa's highest mountain peak is located in this country.
What is Tanzania?
This geographic feature is a high plain or elevated area of land.
What is a plateau?
This was the title given to the ruler of Ancient Egypt, who was also considered a god.
What is a pharaoh?
These giant structures were built as tombs for pharaohs during the Old Kingdom.
What are pyramids?
Because Africa is the second-largest continent, this continent is the only one larger.
What is Asia?
This famous city in Mali became so associated with being far away that its name appears in the expression “as far away as _____.”
What is Timbuktu?
This is transitional land found between tropical areas and deserts.
What is a steppe?
This ancient Egyptian writing system used hundreds or thousands of symbols.
What are hieroglyphics?
During the Middle Kingdom, Egypt built a huge system to bring water where it was needed.
What is an irrigation system?
Europeans were especially interested in Africa because of valuable mineral reserves and resources such as ivory, spices, and this dark hardwood.
What is ebony?
This enormous geological feature runs through eastern Africa and was created by movement in Earth's crust.
What is the Great Rift Valley?
This is a valley, gully, or stream bed that is usually dry except during the rainy season.
What is a wadi?
This process preserved dead bodies because Egyptians believed in an afterlife.
What is mummification?
This fierce group from Arabia and Syria invaded Egypt and brought the Middle Kingdom to an end.
Who were the Hyksos?
This term means establishing control over another land or territory and settling it.
What is colonization?
Before becoming Zimbabwe in 1980, the country was known by this name.
What is Rhodesia?
This landform forms when sediment carried by a river is deposited where the river meets a slower-moving body of water.
What is a river delta?
This famous stone helped scholars unlock the code of Egyptian hieroglyphics.
What is the Rosetta Stone?
During the New Kingdom, Egypt expanded its power by conquering other lands and increasing this type of expansion involving armies.
What is military expansion?
This explorer is identified as probably Africa’s greatest explorer.
Who is David Livingstone?
This South African system of racial segregation is one of the topics students are asked to research on the Digging Deeper worksheet.
What is apartheid?