Vocabulary
Largest desert in the world, covering almost all of North Africa.
What is the Sahara desert?
These two main commodities shaped trade networks across the Sahara
What are gold and salt?
This commodity was rare in the savanna, but essential for human health.
What is salt?
The highest-selling video game franchise of all time, starring a famous Italian plumber created by Nintendo
What is Super Mario?
"Mogadishu served as a key trading hub for Swahili merchants trading gold from Kilwa."
What is networks?
Professional West African storytellers who preserved histories, genealogy, and traditions orally through generations.
What are griots?
This West African Kingdom was located between the Niger and Senegal rivers, Arab writers who visited this city called it "the land of gold."
What is the kingdom of Ghana?
This East African trading kingdom developed a unique written language called Ge'ez and adopted Christianity
What is Axum?
This artist released the country-inspired album Cowboy Carter in 2024.
Who is Beyonce?
A growing population put severe strain on local resources, leading to land depletion, salt shortages, and possible water contamination or drought.
What is communities?
Another word for "waterfalls."
Catarcts
The year that Mansa Musa took his famous pilgrimage (hajj) from Morocco to Mecca
What is 1324?
Geographic isolation helped this state protect its religious independence, combining Christian and local East African traditions
What is Ethiopia?
The age of the sun
What is 4.6 billion years?
Mogadishu became famous for its thriving textile industry, producing a specialized fabric called toob benadir for Egyptian and Syrian markets.
What is products/distribution?
Grassy lands with irregular patterns of rainfall.
What are savannas?
This West African kingdom peaked during the rule of Mansa Musa, who promoted religious tolerance.
What is the kingdom of Mali?
Led by Sonni Ali and Askia Muhammad, this state grew to become the largest empire to ever exist in West Africa.
What is the Kingdom of Songhai?
The amount of bones in the human body
What is 206?
Ibn Battuta also highlighted the local culture of hospitality, noting how residents welcomed travelers into their homes to boost trade and the local economy.
What is community?
Process by which savannas or semi-desert land becomes desert.
What is desertification?
This historical figure documented his 30 year journeys across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia in a book called Rihla
Who is Ibn Battuta?
Abundant in West Africa, this precious yellow metal was exported across the Sahara and served as a major global currency.
What is gold?
The year the first Apple iPhone was released
What is 2007?
Main exports included ivory, spices, gold, millet, and coconuts. Local prosperity supported impressive stone architecture, like the 14th-century Mnara Mosque and the 16th-century Mandhry Mosque, proving that Swahili stone masonry was an original African development rather than an imported style.
What is products/distribution?
A word that describes a valuable product
What is a commodity?
This West African kingdom was established more inland and connected regional trade routes to ports in East Africa.
What is Great Zimbabwe?
Under rulers like King Lalibela, this isolated Christian kingdom constructed 11 famous churches carved directly out of solid rock.
What is medieval Ethiopia?
The most watched YouTube video of all time
By the 16th century, traveler Duarte Barbosa described heavy trade with the Kingdom of Cambaya in India; merchant ships brought cloth and spices to Mogadishu in exchange for gold, wax, and ivory.
What is networks?
A decision-making process in many traditional African societies where choices were made by general agreement
What is consensus?
This forest kingdom was known for its famous bronze, brass, and ivory work. It was surrounded by a 3 mile wall around the capital city.
What is Benin?
During his famous 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca, this ruler distributed so much gold that he temporarily inflated economies across the Mediterranean.
Who is Mansa Musa?
The name of Ms. Surdell's family dog
What is Mudge?
Kilwa grew into a major trading hub thanks to its strong connections with the Arabian Peninsula, India, and China. While Islamic customs and language influenced the culture, its roots remained distinctly African.
What is networks?