History and Civilizations
This South African Civil Rights leader spent 27 years in prison before becoming his country’s first democratically elected president in 1994
Who is Nelson Mandela?
This iconic mountain in Tanzania is the tallest peak in all of Africa and one of the most climbed mountains in the world.
What is Mount Kilimanjaro?
This Nigerian film industry is the second largest in the world by volume of films produced, churning out thousands of movies a year.
What is Nollywood?
This is the largest land animal on earth, found roaming the savannas and forests of Africa in tight family groups led by the oldest female.
What is an Elephant?
At its peak the Ghana Empire controlled nearly half of the entire world's supply of this metal — making it the single most important source of wealth in the medieval global economy.
What is Gold?
This powerful West African empire peaked in the 14th century and was so wealthy that its rulers pilgrimage to Mecca crashed the Egyptian gold market.
What is the Mali Empire? / Who is Mansa Musa?
This small island nation off the southeastern coast of Africa is home to lemurs found nowhere else on earth and is considered one of the world’s greatest biodiversity hotspots.
What is Madagascar?
This character's name literally means “king” or “ruler” in Swahili and was noble the father of the protagonist in a popular Disney Film.
Who is Mufasa?
This small mongoose relative, famous for standing upright on its hind legs as a lookout, lives in tight knit family groups in the Kalahari Desert.
What is a Meerkat?
This essential mineral, traded in massive slabs across the Sahara, was so valuable in West Africa that it was literally worth its weight in gold and used as currency for centuries.
What is Salt?
This system of racial segregation was enforced in a country from 1948 to 1994 and legally classified citizens by race, stripping its Black population of basic rights and citizenship.
What is Apartheid?
This vast grassland region covers much of East and Southern Africa and is most diverse collection of mammals on Earth. Its what most people picture when they think of Africa.
What is the Savannah?
This critically acclaimed 2019 Senegalese film, directed by Mati Diop, became the first film by a Black female director to compete for the Palme d'Or at Cannes and explored the dangerous migration journeys of young West Africans.
Who is Trevor Noah
This nocturnal African animal, whose name means "earth pig" in Afrikaans, uses its long sticky tongue to consume tens of thousands of ants and termites every night. It also makes an appearance as “Arthur” in a famous American TV show.
What is an Aardvark?
This metal, twisted into bracelets and rings, was used as currency across Central and West Africa for centuries — and could be melted down and reworked making it one of the most practical forms of exchange.
What is Copper? Iron? Bronze?
This East African country is considered the cradle of human civilization, with fossil evidence of some of the earliest known human ancestors ever discovered, including the famous "Lucy" skeleton.
What is Ethiopia?
This densely forested region in Central and West Africa, straddling the equator, receives so much rainfall that some areas see over 400 inches per year making it one of the wettest places on earth.
What is the Congo Rainforest?
This critically acclaimed 2019 Senegalese film, directed by Mati Diop, became the first film by a Black female director to compete for the Palme d'Or at Cannes and explored the dangerous migration journeys of young West Africans.
What is Atlantics?
This shy forest animal from Congo, related to the giraffe despite looking more like a zebra, was so elusive that Western scientists didn't even know it existed until 1901.
What is an Okapi?
This Southern African kingdom, entirely surrounded by South Africa, uses a currency called the Loti — pegged equally to the South African Rand — meaning its entire economy rises and falls with its much larger neighbor.
What is Lesotho?
Deemed “Most Dangerous Black Philosopher Who Ever Lived” and “Militant Philosopher of Third World Liberation”, born in Martinique, this man worked as a psychiatrist in Algeria before joining fighting in World War II on the side of the allies.
Who is Frantz Fanon?
This ancient walled city in Mali, sitting at the edge of the Sahara was once home to over 700,000 manuscripts and one of the most important centers of learning in the medieval world.
What is Timbuktu?
This Senegalese director, often called the father of African cinema, pioneered the continent's film industry with his 1966 film “La noire de...” or “Black Girl”, the first feature film by a sub-Saharan African director.
Who is Ousmane Sembène?
Though commonly associated with the Americas, this African relative shares its armored body design and insect-eating habits and is the armadillo's closest living African cousin.
What is a Pangolin?
This is the name of the currency used across 14 francophone African nations, long criticized as a symbol of French economic control over its former colonies and a barrier to true African financial independence.
What is the CFA Franc?