Top Terms
This is the global collection of communities descended from native Africans, predominantly in the Americas resulting from forced dispersal (such as the transatlantic slave trade) and voluntary migration.
African Diaspora
The 14th-century ruler of the Mali Empire known for his immense wealth in gold and his influential pilgrimage to Mecca.
Mansa Musa
The year 1491 marked the voluntary conversion of this West Central African kingdom to Roman Catholicism.
Kingdom of Kongo
True or False: African American Studies helps dispel this specific misconception by documenting the continent's complex, globally connected societies.
True...
This West African empire became famous worldwide for its abundance of gold, which was traded across the Sahara for salt.
What is the Ghana Empire (or Mali Empire)?
This series of migrations between 1500 BCE and 500 CE spread agricultural innovations and linguistic influences across the African continent.
The Bantu Expansion
This 16th-century ivory mask of a "Queen Mother" was designed as a pendant to inspire warriors in the Kingdom of Benin.
Who is Queen Idia?
This movement between 1965 and 1972 involved protests at over 1,000 colleges demanding the creation of Black Studies programs.
What is the Black Campus movement?
In West African societies like the Kingdom of Kongo, this was the primary exchange demanded by Portugal in return for military assistance.
What is access to the trade of enslaved people?
This linguistic family includes languages like Xhosa, Swahili, and Zulu, and accounts for a large portion of African American genetic ancestry.
What is the Bantu linguistic family?
The blending of introduced faiths, like Islam or Christianity, with indigenous spiritual beliefs and cosmologies.
What is Syncretism?
The ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo who voluntarily converted to Roman Catholicism in 1491, taking the name João I.
Who is King Nzinga a Nkuwu?
The creation of this 1375 map by Abraham Cresques depicted Mansa Musa and the global importance of West African trade.
What is the Catalan Atlas?
This type of political and social organization in early Africa was often based on extended family ties and shared ancestry.
What is kinship?
In many West African cultures, these traditional storytellers and musicians are responsible for preserving the history and genealogies of their people.
Who are Griots?
This interdisciplinary field of study emerged in U.S. colleges during the 1960s and 70s to explore the history, experiences, and contributions of Black people.
What is African American Studies?
The son of João I (also known as Afonso I) who corresponded with the Portuguese king regarding the trade of enslaved people in the 1520s.
Who is Nzinga Mbemba?
Following Portuguese exploration in the 15th century, trade shifted from this traditional desert route to Atlantic maritime trade.
What is the trans-Saharan trade?
Though the nobility of this kingdom participated in the slave trade, they eventually found themselves unable to limit the number of captives sold to Europeans.
What is the Kingdom of Kongo?
This massive desert serves as a physical bridge—not a barrier—connecting North Africa with West African empires like Mali and Songhai.
What is the Sahara Desert?
he three major "Sudanic" or "Sahelian" empires that flourished in West Africa from the 7th to the 16th centuries.
The Sudanic Empires
In Yoruba tradition, he is the orisha of thunder, fire, and lightning, and a deified ancestor who was once a monarch of the Oyo kingdom.
Who is Shango?
This 1968 strike at San Francisco State College was a pivotal moment in the formalization of African American Studies.
What is the Black Student Union strike?
These influential West African figures, including ambassadors and children of rulers, traveled to European port cities for diplomacy and education in the late 15th century.
Who are the "Global Africans" (or African elites)?
The "Benin Bronzes" are famous plaques and sculptures made from brass and bronze that belonged to the Oba (King) of this powerful kingdom.
What is the Kingdom of Benin?