Important Terms: Part One
• Timbuktu: A large trading hub in West Africa,
important urban center in Mali and Songhai.
• Great Zimbabwe: A great city along the Swahili Coast; known for
having large stone walls
• Swahili: A language that formed from Bantu and Arabic, a result of
trade interactions.
• Polytheism: The belief in many gods, common across many African
tribes.
• Monotheism: The belief in only one god, like in Islam and Christianity.
• Hajj: One of the Five Pillars of Islam, a pilgrimage to the city of Mecca
Important Terms: Part Two
• Nomad(s): A person or group of people who do not settle
in one place, often traveling with their animals.
• Caravan: Group of merchants and traders carrying their goods and
wares, often banding together for protection.
• Trans-Saharan Trade: Major economic activity between West Africa
and Europe/Asia; salt-gold, ivory, other goods.
• Camel: An important pack animal adapted to survive in arid and harsh
environments.
• Oasis: Lush “islands” of fresh water located across the desert, used as
resting points for merchants
…A Sahara Desert
Oasis
• Complex societies that
developed in Africa (before
significant European influence)
• Ghana is founded first
• Mali takes over Ghana
• Songhai incorporates Mali
once Mali becomes too
weak to govern itself
• Kings begin converting to Islam
to stimulate commerce (trade)
with Arab merchants
• Empires fall because of
1. Internal struggle or
rebellions
2. Conquest by other
kingdoms
3. The beginning of the
Trans-Atlantic slave trade
• Connected through long-
distance trade
• Have a common culture
• Swahili: combination
of Bantu and Arabic
languages
• Most important city was
‘Great Zimbabwe’
• Excavation of artifacts
reveals interactions
with Asia
• Beads from India
• Porcelain from
China
• Unique, because its main
religion was Christianity and
not animism or Islam
• Located in the Horn of
Africa, modern-day Ethiopia
• Also contained important
port cities, like Mogadishu
• A very wealthy king of Mali
• Became rich by gaining control
of the gold and salt mines
• Makes the hajj to Mecca
• Islam was an important part of
West African society
• Made the city Timbuktu into
an intellectual center
• Oversaw the construction of
mosques and universities
•A Songhai emperor who
continued Mansa Musa’s
developments by…
• Increasing education
• Promoting Islam
• Expanding the empire
• East African economies relied on trading over the
Indian Ocean
• Ideally located for trade with Asia
• Relationships with Islamic merchants from Arabia
• West Africa traded with Eurasia (Europe + Asia)
through the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea
• Gold and salt very important
• Camels make trans-Saharan trade more feasible (possible)
• Muslim merchants from Arabia bring Islam
• Knowledge of oasis locations
• Internal African trade over the rivers
• Nile in Northeast Africa
• Niger in West Africa
• Congo in Central Africa