africa

Question 1

savannah

Answer 1

a seaport in E Georgia, near the mouth of the Savannah River.

Question 2

plateau

Answer 2

a land area having a relatively level surface considerably raised above adjoining land on at least one side, and often cut by deep canyons.

Question 3

sahara desert

Answer 3

a desert in N Africa, extending from the Atlantic to the Nile valley. About 3,500,000 sq. mi. (9,065,000 sq. km).

Question 4

bantu

Answer 4

a member of any of several peoples forming a linguistically and in some respects culturally interrelated family in central and southern Africa.

Question 5

swahili

Answer 5

a member of a Bantu people of Zanzibar and the neighboring coast of Africa.

Question 6

subsistence farming

Answer 6

farming whose products are intended to provide for the basic needs of the farmer, with little surplus for marketing.

Question 7

ghana

Answer 7

a republic in West Africa comprising the former colonies of the Gold Coast and Ashanti, the protectorate of the Northern Territories, and the U.N. trusteeship of British Togoland: member of the Commonwealth of Nations since 1957. 91,843 sq. mi. (237,873 sq. km).
Capital: Accra.

Question 8

mali

Answer 8

Republic of, a republic in W Africa: formerly a territory of France; gained independence 1960. 463,500 sq. mi. (120,000 sq. km).
Capital: Bamako.

Question 9

zimbabwe

Answer 9

Formerly Southern Rhodesia, Rhodesia. a republic in S Africa: a former British colony and part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland; gained independence 1980. 150,330 sq. mi. (389,362 sq. km).
Capital: Harare.

Question 10

timbuktu

Answer 10

a town in central Mali, W Africa, near the Niger River.

French Tombouctou.

Question 11

mohammed

Answer 11

(“the Conqueror”) 1430–81, sultan of Turkey 1451–81: conqueror of Constantinople 1453.

Question 12

sonni ali

Answer 12

Sonni Ali, also known as Sunni Ali Ber or “Sunni Ali”, was born Ali Kolon. He reigned from about 1464 to 1492. Sunni Ali was the first king of the Songhai Empire, located in west Africa and the 15th ruler of the Sonni dynasty.

Question 13

matrilineal

Answer 13

inheriting or determining descent through the female line.

Question 14

oral traditions

Answer 14

a community’s cultural and historical traditions passed down by word of mouth or example from one generation to another without written instruction.

Question 15

gold and salt trade

Answer 15

The gold-salt trade was an exchange of salt for gold between European economies and West African countries during the Middle Ages. West African kingdoms, such as empire of Ghana and the empire of Mali that succeeded it, were rich in gold but lacked salt, a kind of good that countries around the Mediterranean had in plenty. Salt was important for replacing fluids and preserving food in the tropical climate

Question 16

sub-saharan

Answer 16

of, relating to, or in Africa south of the Sahara Desert:

Question 17

songhai

Answer 17

a member of a group of peoples living along the Niger River in the area of Timbuktu and Gao in Mali and in adjacent areas of Niger and Burkina Faso.

Question 18

griot

Answer 18

a member of a hereditary caste among the peoples of western Africa whose function is to keep an oral history of the tribe or village and to entertain with stories, poems, songs, dances, etc.

Question 19

diviner

Answer 19

a person who divines; soothsayer; propther

Question 20

diviner

Answer 20

a person who divines; soothsayer; prophet