African Kingdoms and Civilizations
This West African empire, known for its wealth and the pilgrimage of its ruler Mansa Musa to Mecca in 1324, was a key center of trade and learning in the medieval period.
What is the Mali Empire?
This field examines the development of ideas about Africa’s history and the continent’s ongoing relationship to communities of the African diaspora.
African American Studies
These West African oral historians, poets, and musicians are responsible for preserving the history, genealogies, and traditions of their communities, often through storytelling and performance. They were instrumental in transmitting knowledge before the widespread use of written records.
What are Griots?
This climate region, characterized by dense vegetation and year-round rainfall, is home to the Congo Basin. It is known for its rich biodiversity and is crucial for the planet’s oxygen supply.
What is the tropical rainforest region?
This term refers to the historical and ongoing dispersal of African peoples, particularly due to the transatlantic slave trade, and includes the spread of African cultural, social, and religious practices across the globe.
What is the African Diaspora?
Located in modern-day Ethiopia, this ancient kingdom was a powerful trading empire known for its adoption of Christianity in the 4th century, long before most of Africa.
What is the Kingdom of Aksum?
This Jewish cartographer and scholar created the Catalan Atlas in 1375, a detailed world map that included significant African and Mediterranean regions, highlighting the connections between Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Who is Abraham Cresques?
This term refers to the blending of Islam or Christianity with indigenous spiritual beliefs in regions like Mali, Songhai, and Kongo resulted in the development of syncretic practices. These combined faiths and local customs were carried across the Atlantic by enslaved Africans, influencing the religious practices in the Americas, such as in Louisiana Voodoo.
What is religious syncretism?
Known for its wide open spaces, this African climate region is found in areas like the Serengeti in East Africa and is home to many grazing animals and seasonal rainfall patterns.
What is the Savannah grassland?
This leader who ruled the kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba in the early 17th century, is known for her military and diplomatic resistance against Portuguese colonization. She is often praised for her strategic and political acumen.
Who is Queen Njinga?
This powerful civilization, located to the south of Egypt along the Nile River, was a key source of gold and luxury trade items. Around 750 BCE, it defeated Egypt and established the 25th dynasty, often referred to as the dynasty of the Black Pharaohs.
What is Nubia (aka Kush/Cush)?
Name one of the spiritual practices that can be traced from African American spiritual practices to West and West Central Africa spiritual practices.
What is --- any of the following: veneration of the ancestors, divination, healing practices, or collective singing and dancing
This figure became an iconic symbol of Black women’s leadership throughout the African diaspora in 1977, when an ivory mask of her face was adopted as the symbol for FESTAC (Second World Black Festival of Arts and Culture).
Who is Queen Idia?
This African climate zone, located along the northern coast of the continent, is characterized by mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers, making it ideal for olive and grape cultivation. It is found in far north and far south Africa.
What is the Mediterranean climate zone?
This resource is notable for its detailed depiction of Africa, including the coastline and the location of powerful African empires. It serves as an important source for understanding European perceptions of Africa before the Age of Exploration and before the beginning of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
What is the The Catalan Atlas?
This civilization, centered in southeastern Africa, is known for its impressive stone ruins, including the Great Enclosure, and its role as a major center of trade.
What is The Great Zimbabwe civilization
Trade cities on the Swahili coast traded raw materials in exchange for finished goods with other countries adjacent to this body of water.
What is the Indian Ocean?
This movement began around 1000 BCE and continued for many centuries, is one of the most significant population movements in African history. It involved the spread of peoples across much of sub-Saharan Africa, influencing culture, language, and agriculture.
What is The Bantu Migration?
Known for extreme temperatures and very little rainfall, this African climate region includes the Sahara.
What is the desert region?
This 16th-century Portuguese piece, created between 1570 and 1580, depicts the African presence in European society, showcasing the complex interactions of African elites and common people within the Iberian Peninsula. It is known for its portrayal of Africans in European settings and symbolizes the early inclusion of Africans in European life before the height of the transatlantic slave trade.
Chafariz d’El-Rey (The King’s Fountain), 1570–1580
In 1491 leaders of this kingdom made a diplomatic move by converting to Roman Catholicism, strengthening the kingdom’s trade with Portugal. This conversion led to an economic boom with goods like ivory, salt, and copper being traded.
What is the Kingdom of Kongo?
Queen Njinga’s reign solidified her legacy as a skilled political and military leader throughout the African diaspora. The strength of her example led to nearly 100 more years of women rulers in this region (ancient or modern name).
Matamba (modern-day Angola)
Ruins made of this material still stand as an important symbol of the prominence, autonomy, and agricultural advancements of the Shona kings and early African societies such as the kingdom of Zimbabwe.
What is stone?
This region lies just south of the Sahara and is characterized by low rainfall, frequent droughts, and a transition zone between the desert and more tropical climates. It is critical for both agriculture and nomadic herding.
What is the Semiarid Sahel region?
This powerful trading state, located along the coast of modern-day Tanzania, was known for its city-states and the spread of Islam. It played a significant role in the Indian Ocean trade network.
What is the Swahili Coast?