Question | Answer |
Rifts | Long, deep valleys formed by the movement of the earth's crust. |
Sub-Saharan Africa | Africa south of the sahara. |
Sahel | a strip of land that divides the desert from wetter lands. |
Savannah | Open grassland with scattered trees. |
Rain Forests | Most, densely wooded areas. |
Extended Families | Included father, mother, children and close relatives in one house hold. |
Animism | The belief that bodies of water, animals, trees and other natural objects have spirits. |
Traditional | Customary, time-honored |
Silent Barrier | The process in which people exchange goods without ever contacting each other directly. |
Tunka Manin | This king reached the empire of Ghana to its peak. He also had a splendid court that showed the vast wealth of the empire. |
Almoravids | A strong army that defeated Ghana in the late 1,000's and invaded the empire. |
Sundiata | He was the founder of the empire Mali. His reign is also recorded in legends. |
Mansa Musa | Mali's greatest and most famous ruler, he was a devout Muslim. He made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca that helped spread Mali's fame. |
Sunni Ali | He was the emperor of Songhai and conquered Mali and made Songhai into a powerful state. |
Oral History | A spoken record of past events. |
Griots | West African story tellers. |
Proverbs | Short sayings of wisdom or truth. |
Kente | A hand woven, brightly colored fabric. |
Tuareg | A group of nomads from the Sahara who seized Timbuktu in 1431 and hastened the fall of MAli. |
Mansa | Local chiefs and leaders bore this title, which had both political and religious significance. |
Mali | One of the largest empires in African history, which rose from the ruins of Ghana. |
Maghan | The son of Mansa Musa, unlike his father, he was a very weak ruler. |
Ghana | An empire in West Africa that gained control of the valuable Saharan trade routes and became a powerful state. |