Sudanic Empires
The three major empires of the Sahelian region that flourished from the 7th–16th centuries.
What are Ghana, Mali, and Songhai?
The most famous ruler of Mali, remembered as one of the richest men in history.
Who is Mansa Musa?
The West African city known for its book trade, university, and learning community.
What is Timbuktu?
The blending of Indigenous beliefs with Christianity or Islam in Africa.
What is syncretism?
The capital city of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, famous for its ruins.
What is Great Zimbabwe?
The key resource and trade that provided wealth and power to West African empires.
What is gold and the trans-Saharan trade?
The year Mansa Musa made his pilgrimage to Mecca, attracting global attention.
What is 1324?
The name for oral historians, storytellers, and musicians who preserved traditions.
Who are griots?
The Central African kingdom that adopted Christianity after contact with Portugal.
What is the Kingdom of Kongo?
Besides gold, the two main resources that enriched Great Zimbabwe.
What are ivory and cattle?
The last and largest of the Sudanic empires, conquered by Morocco in 1591.
What is Songhai?
The impact of Mansa Musa’s hajj on Europe and the Mediterranean.
What is sparking interest in African gold among merchants and cartographers?
The epic poem that recounts the rise of Mali’s founder, Sundiata Keita.
What is the Epic of Sundiata?
The fraction of enslaved Africans in North America who came from Muslim societies.
What is one-quarter?
The massive architectural feature of Great Zimbabwe, including the Great Enclosure.
What is stone architecture?
The religion introduced through trans-Saharan trade and adopted by elites in Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.
What is Islam?
The two military resources Mali obtained through trade that expanded its power.
What are horses and steel weapons?
The way gender shaped the griot tradition in West Africa.
What is that both men and women served as griots?
A spiritual practice from Africa that survived in the Americas, such as ancestor worship or divination.
What is ancestor veneration, divination, healing, or collective singing and dancing?
The two factors that united Swahili Coast city-states between the 11th–15th centuries.
What are the Swahili language and Islam?
The reason Songhai’s wealth declined as Portuguese exploration expanded.
What is the shift from trans-Saharan to Atlantic trade routes?
The city in Mali that became a center of learning and commerce.
What is Timbuktu?
The reason Mali’s wealth enabled scholarship and the arts to flourish.
What is surplus wealth from trade?
African diasporic religions in the Americas that blended African practices with Christianity.
What are Vodun (Voodoo), Santería, or Louisiana Voodoo?
The European power that invaded Swahili city-states in the 16th century.
Who are the Portuguese?