glossary Flashcards
1
Q
Abbasids (750–1258)
A
one of two great caliphates during
Islam’s Golden Age; named after one of Muhammad’s
uncles; overthrew the Umayyads, the first great
caliphate
2
Q
Abolitionists
A
African, European, and U.S. activists
who opposed slavery in all forms and since at least the
1500s worked to end it
3
Q
Abolition
A
movement to end slavery and the transatlantic
slave trade
4
Q
Abu Talib (?–619)
A
the uncle who raised Muhammad,
the Prophet of Islam
5
Q
Abyssinia
A
– the ancient name for Ethiopia
6
Q
Acropolis
A
in southern Africa, part of Great Zimbabwe
7
Q
Adinkra
A
symbols created by the Asante to represent
concepts; Gye Nyame is the most famous
8
Q
African slavery
A
bondage within African societies in
which slaves had rights to marry and raise families;
their children were often born free; they provided
functions of servitude and reproduction; see chattel
slavery
9
Q
Leo (al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Fasi)
1485–1554
A
a Moor who in 1518 was captured
by pirates and given to Pope Leo X as a present; he
was freed by the pope and took his name at baptism;
later published Description of Africa, which described
Songhay; family name was al-Hasan ibn Muhammad
al-Wazzan al-Fasi
10
Q
Aristotle (384–322 bce)
A
a Greek philosopher who
thought highly of Egypt and Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
11
Q
Ardrah
A
the center of the slave trade of the Aja ethnic
group in southwestern Nigeria
12
Q
Anokye
A
the priest who with Osei Tutu created the
legend of the Golden Stool and unified the Asante
ethnic group under Osei Tutu in c. 1695
13
Q
Anglo-Asante Wars (1824–1900)
A
the series of five
wars between Great Britain and the Asante
14
Q
Almoravids
A
northern Muslim Berbers who in 1042
invaded and conquered ancient Ghana
15
Q
Allah
A
Arabic word for the one god
16
Q
Ali (601–661)
A
Muhammad’s cousin, son-in-law, and
fourth caliph; revered by both Sunni and Shia Muslims
17
Q
Al-Azhar University
A
a university founded in 970 in
Cairo; Al-Azhar is Sunni Islam’s most important
university in Africa and arguably the Muslim world
18
Q
Akosombo Dam
A
the Ghanaian hydroelectric dam on
the Volta River that opened in 1966
19
Q
Akan
A
one of three West African gold fields located in
the forest and savanna of present-day Ghana; the other
two are Bambuk and Bure; also a language group
20
Q
Agades
A
city in Niger some 720 due east of Timbuktu;
also Agadez
21
Q
Afro-Pessimists
A
those who believe Africa has so many
problems that the foreseeable future is grim
22
Q
Afrocentrism
A
the perception of life through African
eyes inside African culture and environments
23
Q
Afro-Asiatic
A
one of five major language groups of
Africa
24
Q
Ark of the Covenant
A
the Old Testament belief of a
sacred Jewish wooden chest carried by poles in which
two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments are
stored
25
Bamba, Amadou (1850–1927)
– the founder of the
| Murids, a Sufi order in Senegal
26
Bambuk
one of three West African gold fields; located
between the Senegal and Faleme Rivers; the other
two are Bure and Akan
27
Bantu
refers to about 535 languages in the Niger-
Congo language family that spread across Africa
eastward and southward beginning around 1000 bce;
today about 180 million Africans are Bantu speakers
at some level
28
Baobab
African trees from the genus Adansonia; major
| symbol of the West African Sahel
29
Bedouins
the nomadic Arab ethnic group of the desert
30
Berbers
North African ethnic group from the Sanhaja
| region that conquered ancient Ghana
31
Berlin Conference (1884–85)
the meeting of fourteen
Western powers who agreed on thirty-eight articles
to settle their trade and colonial disputes in Africa; no
Africans were present
32
Bernal, Martin Gardiner (1937–2013)
argued in Black
Athena that ancient Greek civilization was partly based
on Pharaonic Egyptian and Phoenician civilizations;
stated that Eurocentric scholars had severed that link
because of nineteenth-century notions of European
imperial supremacy and pseudoscientific racism
33
Arquebus
a forerunner of the rifle used against the
| defenders of Songhay in 1590
34
Asante
a major West African ethnic group in the
southern half of present-day Ghana who participated
in the slave trade; capital is Kumasi; engaged in five
wars against the British
35
Asantehene
the title of a ruling Asante leader
36
Asiento
the asiento or transferable contract originated
in the fifteenth-century whereby the papacy awarded
Portugal the monopoly of European trade with
Africa; by 1518 the Spanish began issuing asientos to
entrepreneurs, companies, or other governments to
supply African slaves to Spanish colonies in America
37
Askia, Mohammed (?–1537)
the West African leader
of Songhay who expanded its territory, improved the
structure of government, and reformed Islam
38
Asma’u, Nana (1793–1864)
the important West
African Muslim woman, teacher, and Sufi who
provided female leadership for theSokoto Caliphate
in present-day northwest Nigeria
39
Assimilation
in French Africa the process by which
Africans adopted French culture; was a component of
direct rule
40
Biafra
the southeastern Igbo region of Nigeria that
seceded in 1967; it was forced to rejoin Nigeria in
1970 after losing the Nigerian Civil War; at least one
million Igbos lost their lives, many to starvation
41
Bilma
the famous salt source for Tuareg caravans headed
| south to trade with the Hausa in northern Nigeria
42
blue nile
one of two major tributaries of the Nile
River; originates in Lake Tana, Ethiopia, and joins
the White Nile at Khartoum, Sudan
43
Bonsu, Osei (1779–1824)
– the Asantehene who in 1820
voiced his opposition to the 1807 British ban on the
Atlantic slave trade
44
Book of the Dead
Egyptian sacred literature dating from
c. 1500 bce that laid out the path to eternal afterlife
after death
45
Bori
traditional African religion led by Hausa women
| during the Sokoto Caliphate
46
Brookes
the notorious slave ship whose illustrations
of decks and shackled prone slaves were used by abolitionists to generate awareness of the cruelty of
the transatlantic slave trade and slavery in general
47
Bahia, Brazil
an important region for Portuguese
| plantation slavery for sugar production
48
Ayatollah
a Muslim Shia leader who rules in the place
of the “hidden” Imam until his return; means “sign of
Allah”
49
Axum
– the ancient capital of Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
50
Awdughast
a transshipment center in the Sahel on the
| northern border of ancient Ghana
51
Austronesian
one of five major language groups of
| Africa
52
Atlantic slave trade
the maritime trade in Africans as a
| commodity to the Americas or Europe
53
Augustine of Hippo (354–430)
born in what is now
Algeria, he was the Christian church father who
advocated for the concept of predestination and
provided many of the basic ideas of modern Roman
Catholicism
54
Bure
– one of three West African gold fields located near
the upper Niger River; the other two are Bambuk and
Akan
55
Zimbabwe
the southern African country in which
| Great Zimbabwe is located; means “house of stone”
56
Yoruba
the major Nigerian ethnic group that
participated in the transatlantic slave trade; created
the Oyo kingdom in southwestern Nigeria
57
Yellow fever
a viral infection transmitted by mosquito;
| impeded the European conquest of tropical Africa
58
Yathrib
the city some 270 miles north of Mecca where
Muhammad and his followers migrated in 622; soon
after their arrival Yathrib was renamed Medina
59
Y chromosomal DNA
the part of DNA that showed
African men to have the oldest genetic markers; only
fathers pass this genetic code to their offspring
60
Xhosa
– the major ethnic group and language of Bantu-
| speakers in South Africa
61
Wolseley, Garnet (1833–1913)
the British officer whose
forces defeated the Asante in the Anglo-Asante War
of 1874
62
Wilson, Allan (1934–91)
with Rebecca Cann and
Mark Stoneking carried out the mtDNA study in
1987 that placed human origins in Africa
63
Wilberforce, William (1759–1833)
the member of
Parliament who led the political campaign to abolish
the transatlantic slave trade; resulted in the Slave
Trade Act of 1807
64
Whydah
the major slave trading center conquered by
| Dahomey in 1727
65
White Nile
one of two major tributaries of the Nile;
originates in Lake Victoria-Nyanza on the western
border of Kenya and joins the Blue Nile at Khartoum,
Sudan
66
Wangara
Bambuk sellers of gold to Ghanaian merchants
| who transported it to Sijilmasa
67
Ummah
the Arabic word for the entire worldwide
| Muslim community; first established at Medina
68
Timbuktu
a major embarkation port for caravans
traveling north across the Sahara Desert to Taghaza
and Sijilmasa and the site of an important school of
Islamic scholarship
69
Tools
– in the context of human origins in Africa, stones
and bones honed to achieve a sharp edge to function
in ways that extended natural human abilities;
prehistoric tools provide valuable evidence about the
lives of the humans who used them
70
Touba
the center of Murid Islam in Senegal; home of
| Murid’s Great Mosque and annual pilgrimage
71
Toynbee, Arnold (1889–1975)
the British historian
| who believed in the cyclic interpretation of history
72
Traditional African religion
– spiritual practices whose
rituals promote bonds with ancestors, help from
nature and spirits, and seek knowledge of the near
future; there is no sacred literature, no afterlife, no
apocalypse, and no separation between the spiritual
and secular world
73
Transatlantic slave trade
often called the Middle
Passage in which about 12.5 million enslaved Africans
were brought to the New World by Europeans as
chattel slaves for labor between the sixteenth and
nineteenth centuries
74
Transatlantic slave trade –
often called the Middle
Passage in which about 12.5 million enslaved Africans
were brought to the New World by Europeans as
chattel slaves for labor between the sixteenth and
nineteenth centuries
75
Triangular trade pattern
the transatlantic slave trade
pattern of traffic of humans and goods between
Africa, the Americas, and Europe
76
Tripoli
the northern destination of the eastern part of
the West African trans-Saharan trade from Kanem-
Bornu
77
Tuareg
the nomadic pastoralists of the Sahara; also
| called Berbers
78
Umayyads (661–750)
the descendants of Muhammad’s
powerful Meccan enemies who took control of Islam
about a generation after the death of Muhammad; the
first of the two caliphates of the Golden Age of Islam;
the second was the Abbasid Caliphate
79
Tawhid
oneness of God in Islam; Islamic dogma
80
Tangier
a major port city of Morocco and the home to
| Ibn Battuta
81
Tamahaq
the language of the Tuareg who often
transported goods across the Sahara between ancient
Ghana and Sijilmasa
82
Taghaza
a location of great quantities of salt deposited
during the evaporation of an ancient Saharan sea;
approximate midway point on the Timbuktu-Sijilmasa
caravan trade route
83
Swahili
an East African maritime language and culture
made up predominantly of Muslims and Bantu-
speakers; extends from southern Somalia to northern
Mozambique; means “coast” and is influenced by
Arabic; some Swahili claim an ancestral connection
to Shirazi, a city in southwestern Iran
84
Sorghum
an edible grain plant from which molasses is
| derived
85
Sonni Ali (? –1492)
the founder of the Songhay empire
86
Soninke
the major ethnic group and rulers of ancient
| Ghana
87
Songhay (1450–1591)
the third of three great West
| African Sahelian empires; sometimes spelled Songhai
88
Sokoto Caliphate
the Muslim empire founded in the
early nineteenth century in present-day northeastern
Nigeria; created by Usman dan Fodiyo to imitate
Muhammad’s early community at Medina
89
Socrates (469–399 bce)
the Athenian teacher of Plato;
promoted ethics by engaging in dialogues described
by Plato; executed for believing in false gods and
corrupting the youth of Athens
90
Social Darwinists
those who attempted to apply
Charles Darwin’s biological ideas about the evolution
of species based on natural selection to imperial and
colonial expansion on a global scale
91
Slave Trade Act of 1807
the Parliamentary act in Great
| Britain that abolished the Atlantic slave trade
92
Sunni
the largest Muslim sect containing about 85
percent of Muslims; “people of the tradition;” in
contrast to the Shi’a, who insisted that Muslim leaders
had to descend from Muhammad, Sunnis argued that
any rightly guided Muslim could be a caliph
93
Sunna
Muhammad’s actions whose guidance forms
| part of Muslim law
94
Sundiata Keïta
established the West African Malinke
empire of Mali that succeeded ancient Ghana; ruled
from 1235–55; the most famous West African epic is
about Sundiata’s life and is still told today
95
Sufi
a part of the Sunni tradition that developed as a
mystical alternative to more worldly Muslim practices;
also a mystical Muslim who helps other Muslims
attain spiritual understanding
96
Sudan
the region where the Blue and White Nile
Rivers meet at Khartoum; region of northern
Nubia; contested region between French and British
imperialists; shared a border with French Equatorial
Africa
97
Stoneking, Mark (b.1956)
with Rebecca Cann and
Alan Wilson carried out the mtDNA study in 1987
that placed human origins in Africa
98
St. Domingue
a Caribbean French colony and the site
| of a slave revolt in 1791
99
Sosso
the empire that brought an end to the great West
African empire of Ghana in 1203; ancient Ghana had
been in decline after its losses to the Almoravids in
1042
100
Shirazi
– the ethnic group from Persia that contributed to
| the formation of the Swahili maritime network
101
Shona
the ethnic group that built Great Zimbabwe
102
Sierra Leone
the modern country which served as a
haven for slaves taken from seized slave ships and
Africans who fought for the British against the
Americans in the Revolutionary War
103
Sijilmasa
the ancient city located in southeastern
Morocco one thousand miles north of Timbuktu in
the Sahara Desert; destination via Taghaza for West
African camel caravans laden with gold, salt, and
other items
104
Slav
the word from which the word “slavery” originated;
| referred to an Eastern European ethnic group
105
Slavery
the social or legal system in which people are
involuntarily held as property with no rights (Western
chattel slavery) or in which they have the somewhat
flexible status of extended family members (African
slavery); the word originated from the Muslim
enslavement of ethnic Slavs of the Black Sea region
in the 800s
106
Shia
– a minority sect in Islam followed by about 13
percent of Muslims worldwide; called followers of Ali,
who was the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad;
the Shia claim that one has to descend directly from
Ali and Muhammad’s daughter Fatimah to lead Muslims; their defunct leaders were called Imams;
those who lead them today are called Ayatollahs
107
Reparations Movement
efforts to get Western
countries to pay African countries to account to some
extent for slavery and colonialism; also the effort to
have the U.S. pay reparations to the descendants of
African slaves in the U.S. for chattel slavery and Jim
Crow
108
Shehu
the Hausa word for “sheik” meaning ruler;
| Usman dan Fodiyo was a shehu
109
queen o f sheba
the queen associated with Solomon in
| the Old Testament
110
Ra (also spelled Re)
the sun god of ancient Egyptians;
| sometimes identified with the Pharaoh
111
Quraysh
Muhammad’s tribe, which controlled Mecca
112
Qur’an
the sacred literature of Islam; contains God’s
revelations to Muhammad via the Archangel Gabriel
in both Mecca and Medina; divided into 114 chapters
called surahs
113
Senghor, Léopold (1906–2001)
the French-educated
Senegalese political leader and intellectual who led
Senegal to independence; advocate of négritude,
which was a Pan-Africanist anti-colonial philosophy;
opposed assimilation because of its advocacy of the
inferiority of African civilizations
114
Senegal
a former French colony in West Africa; home
of Amadou Bamba, the Murids, Cheikh Anta Diop,
and Touba
115
São Tomé and Príncipe
the equatorial islands off the
coast of Gabon where the Portuguese created an early
example of plantation slavery
116
Sáo Joáo Bautista
the Portuguese ship thought to have
transported the first African slaves to North America,
taken to Virginia’s Port Comfort colony in August
1619
117
Sanhaja Berbers
the Muslim ethnic group called the
Almoravids from the Sanhaja region of Morocco who
conquered ancient Ghana
118
San
hunter-gatherers who preceded Bantu-speakers;
absorbed or conquered by the Bantu-speakers as
they migrated southward; sometimes paired with the
Khoi-Khoi into the Khoisan grouping; mitochondrial
DNA and Y chromosomes of the San are some of the
oldest on earth; also one of five major language groups
of Africa
119
Sahel
the semi-arid transitional zone that stretches
from west to east and connects West Africa to the
Sahara Desert
120
Sahara Desert
the largest hot desert in the world,
it covers most of North Africa and measures about
3,000 miles from east to west and about 800 to 1,200
miles from north to south
121
Robinson, Ronald (1920–99)
the historian who
with Jack Gallagher argued that collaboration with
indigenous populations was the key to understanding
the success of colonialism in Africa
122
Pan-Africanism
the political and economic movement
to unite African countries to give them a voice in
world affairs; promoted in different ways since the
nineteenth century by W.E.B. Du Bois, George
Padmore, C.L.R. James, and Kwame Nkrumah,
among others
123
Pharaoh
the god-king of ancient Egypt’s dynasties;
protector of Ma’at, which symbolized truth, justice,
order, and harmony; translates as “great house” or
“palace”
124
Plato
the Athenian philosopher and
student of Socrates who used Egyptian knowledge to
create his program for education and teaching
125
Polo, Marco (1254–1324)
the Venetian traveler and
merchant who spent about twenty-four years traveling
in Asia a generation before Ibn Battuta
126
Predestination
the belief that God has chosen a few
to share heaven; those not chosen can do nothing to
enter heaven
127
Prejudice
a strong belief not based on reason
128
Ptolemaic Egypt (332–30) –
the dynasty established by
| Ptolemy, which lasted for three centuries
129
Ptolemy (367–283)
Alexander the Great’s general who
| took over Egypt and Palestine after Alexander’s death
130
Qadiriyya
the Sufi order of Usman dan Fodiyo and
| Nana Asma’u
131
Quakers
the Protestant Christian religious group that
began the abolitionist movement in Great Britain in
the 1600s; founded the first abolitionist society in
England in 1783
132
Oyo
the powerful slave trading empire of the Yoruba ethnic group in west and north central Nigeria
133
Osiris
in Pharaonic Egypt the God-Ruler of the
| underworld
134
Osei Tutu
the leader who in c. 1695 created the legend
of the Golden Stool with the priest Anokye that
united the Asante ethnic group
135
Orthodox Christians
includes Catholics, Protestants,
and Greek and Russian Orthodox who adhere to the
creed created at the Council of Nicaea in 325 that
explains the nature of Jesus and the Trinity
136
Organization of African Unity (1963–2002)
the
Africanist organization, somewhat like the UN,
created to oppose colonialism, promote human rights,
and defend sovereignty; replaced by the African Union
137
Old Kingdom (c.2686–2160 bce)
the first of three
| kingdoms of Pharaonic Egypt
138
Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Chukwuemeka (1933–2011)
the military officer who led the Igbo secession of
southeastern Nigeria; leader of the Republic of Biafra
until it lost the Nigerian Civil War and reunited with
Nigeria
139
Nubia
the African civilization that shared its northern
border with southern Egypt and was influenced by
Egypt
140
Nkrumah, Kwame (1909–72)
U.S.-educated Ghanaian
and Pan-Africanist leader; organized the construction
of the Akosombo Dam; overthrown via coup in 1966
141
Nilo-Saharan
one of five major language groups of
| Africa
142
Nile River
about 4,200 miles in length, the Nile is the
world’s longest river; tributaries begin in Ethiopia
and the Great Lakes region and join at Khartoum,
Sudan; flows through Egypt before emptying into the
Mediterranean Sea
143
Niger River
the major river of West Africa, which is
| about 2,600 miles long
144
Niger-Congo
one of five major language groups of
| Africa; includes Bantu-speakers
145
Nicene Creed
the orthodox view of the relationship
between Jesus the human and Jesus the God approved
by Christian leaders at the Council of Nicaea in 325
146
Newton, John (1725–1807)
the slave ship captain of the Greyhound in 1748; published a tract in 1788
renouncing slavery; wrote the lyrics to the hymn
“Amazing Grace”
147
New Kingdom (1550–1069 bce)
the third of three
| kingdoms of Pharaonic Egypt
148
New Imperialism (1870–1914)
the European material
and religious expansion in Africa that coincided with
advances in hygiene, weapons, and medicine
149
Neo-colonialism
despite the formal end of colonial
empires, the continued sovereignty of the former
imperial rulers by other means, usually through
economic loans and policies that keep newly
independent African countries dependent on
European banks and global capitalism
150
Negus
the ancient title of kings of Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
151
Muslim
a follower of Islam; means “one who submits to
| the will of God”
152
Musa (1280–1337) –
a Muslim ruler (Mansa) of Mali
noted for his hajj, piety, and generosity; financed
the construction of the Great Mosques of Gao and
Timbuktu and transcription of Qur’ans
153
murids
the followers of Amadou Bamba
154
Muqaddimah
the cyclic interpretation of world history
| from a Muslim perspective written by Ibn Khaldun
155
Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative
an effort to reduce
| the debt of Africa’s and the world’s poorest countries
156
muezzin
one who gives the call to prayer five times a
| day in traditional Muslim societies
157
mosuqe
house of prayer for muslims
158
moor
muslim born in spain
159
Monsoons
seasonal winds and currents in the Indian
Ocean that propel dhows toward Arabia and India
from November and March then reverse to the south
and west from April to September to return dhows to
the Swahili coast
160
Monophysites
same as Coptic Christians
161
Muhammad ibn Abdallah (c.570–632)
the prophet of
| Islam to whom the Qur’an was revealed
162
Muhammad al-Mahdi (c.868–c.941)
the Twelfth
and “hidden” Imam of the Shia; a descendant of
Muhammad
163
Mogadishu
an ancient seaport important to Swahili
| mercantile trade; located in coastal Somalia
164
Mitochondria DNA (mtDNA)
the cellular structures
whose content proved that Khoisan women contained
the oldest genetic mutations of women on Earth; only
mothers pass this genetic code to their offspring
165
Millet
a grain plant from which cereal is made
166
Middle Passage
a portion of the journey from Africa to
| the Americas that took place on transatlantic voyages
167
Middle Kingdom (c. 2055–1650 bce)
the second of
| three kingdoms of Pharaonic Egypt
168
Mercantilism
the economic system during the
sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries that sought a
positive balance of trade and the accumulation of gold
and silver as a means to strengthen a kingdom against
its opponents
169
Menelik
the Abyssinian leader who allegedly brought
the Ark of the Covenant to Axum; the ark now
supposedly resides in the Chapel of the Tablet at the
Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion
170
Memphis
the capital of the Egyptian Old Kingdom on
| the Nile River
171
Medina
formerly Yathrib, the city where Muhammad
| and his followers sought sanctuary in 622
172
Mecca
the Arabian trading town, birthplace of
Muhammad, home to the Ka’bah, and holiest city in
Islam; pilgrimage destination
173
McCarthy, Sir Charles (1764–1824)
the British
military commander and Governor of Gold Coast
whom the Asante defeated and beheaded in 1824
174
Mbiti, John (b.1931)
the Kenyan-born Anglican
| minister and writer of traditional African religion
175
Maxim Gun
an early example of a fully automatic
machine gun; invented by American-born British
engineer Sir Hiram Maxim around 1884; enabled
small colonial armies to overcome more numerous
African armies
176
masai
a language and ethnic group in southern Kenya
| and northern Tanzania of East africa
177
mansa
the title for king or emperor of the medieval
| West African empire of Mali
178
Lenin, Vladimir (1870–1924)
the Russian communist
revolutionary who wrote Imperialism, the Highest Stage
of Capitalism to explain how imperialism was a stage
in the development of global capitalism
179
Leo X (1475–1521)
the pope who baptized Leo
Africanus, gave him a pension, and encouraged him
to write his Description of Africa
180
Levant
the eastern part of the Mediterranean world
181
Liberia
the modern country on the western coast of
Africa that in 1822 became a haven for slaves seized
from slave ships and U.S. freed slaves; a resettlement
project was first promoted by the American
Colonization Society
182
Liberalism
Enlightenment belief that promoted
progress, liberty, and equality; contributed to the
abolitionist movement
183
Lincoln University
founded in 1854, it was the first
degree-granting historically black university in the
U.S.
184
linguistics
the study of languages; in Africa, used to
determine the origins of Bantu, the largest indigenous
language sub-group in Africa
185
Lugard, Frederick (1858–1945)
the colonial
administrator in Nigeria who articulated the idea
of the “Dual Mandate” which justified British
imperialism in terms of an exchange of African labor
and resources for British technology and civilization,
to the benefit of both sides
186
Ma’at
a concept representing truth, justice, order, and
| harmony personified by the Pharaoh
187
Madeira
Portuguese islands in the Atlantic that were
| early locations for the plantation slavery model
188
Malaria
a disease caused by single-celled parasites
transmitted to humans by mosquitoes; causes flu-like
symptoms that can recur; endemic in tropical Africa
189
Mali
the second great West African empire during the
| thirteenth through the sixteenth centuries
190
mande
the language group of about 30 million people
| spread across thirteen West African countries
191
Mandela, Nelson (1918–2013)
a Xhosa leader of
the anti-apartheid African National Congress in
South Africa; spent twenty-seven years in prison for opposing apartheid; first president of post-apartheid
South Africa; received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993
192
Lat Joor Joop (1842–86)
the anti-colonial Wolof
king (Dammel) who was killed by the French;
a contemporary of Bamba and an inspiration to Senegalese nationalists during their struggle for
independence
193
Lake Tana
the source of the Blue Nile River
194
Lake Victoria-Nyanza
the source of the White Nile
| River
195
Kumasi
the capital of the Asante people; regional
| capital in modern Ghana
196
Krina, Battle of (1235)
the battle in which Sundiata
defeated the conquerors of the Ghanaians, the Sosso,
and established Mali
197
kongo
the ethnic group in the vicinity of Luanda,
Angola, who provided slaves to the Portuguese to
work on sugar plantations on São Tomé and in Brazil
198
Kilwa
an ancient seaport and sultanate important to
| Swahili mercantile trade; located in coastal Tanzania
199
Khoisan
the term used to describe the San and Khoi
Khoi peoples who preceded Bantu-speakers in
southern Africa; the mitochondria of the San is the
oldest on earth; also one of five major language groups
of Africa
200
Kente
Akan cloth made by Asante men; originally for
| royalty
201
keitas
the clan name for the rulers of Mali
202
Kebra Nagast
sacred literature of the Coptics; also called
| The Book of Kings
203
Kaw (1300)
the Mansa of Mali who may have sent a
| fleet of 2,000 ships west; Mansa Musa’s predecessor
204
Katsina
a major city in the far central north of Nigeria
205
Kassonke
a language group of West Africans;
participants in the trans-Saharan gold trade during
the ancient empire of Mali
206
Kanem-Bornu
a trans-Saharan embarkation point
207
Ka’bah
a shrine of traditional religion in Mecca that
| was incorporated into the Great Mosque of Mecca
208
jim crow
the name given to U.S. laws designed to deny
| African Americans their civil rights
209
jihad
the struggle experienced by individual Muslims
to obey God; sometimes “holy war” against enemies
of Islam
210
Ibn al-Asi, Amr (585–664)
an early opponent of
Muhammad; later converted and conquered Egypt in
640; created Fustat, which is now part of Cairo
211
Ibn Battuta (1304–69)
the Moroccan world traveler
who visited Mali and the Swahili coast; wrote a major
travelogue called the Rihla
212
Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406)
famous Muslim historian;
teacher at Al-Azhar University; wrote the first world
history from a Muslim perspective called Muqaddimah
213
Ibn Rabah, Bilal (580–640)
former African slave
in Mecca; one of Muhammad’s first converts and
as the initial muezzin gave first call to prayer in
Medina; Bilal’s descendants allegedly established the
Mandinka clan of Keïta, from which Sundiata derives
214
Idowu, Bolaji (1913–93)
Nigerian Methodist minister
| and writer on traditional African religion
215
Igbo
majority ethnic group in the region that declared
| independence from Nigeria as the country Biafra
216
Imam
a descendent of Muhammad who led the Shia
| until about 941 ce; also the prayer leader of a mosque
217
Imperialism
the comprehensive word associated with
empire and politics to describe the dominance or
sovereignty of one group over another
218
Imperialism: Cultural
the imposition of values,
| language, and beliefs by rulers in an imperial setting
219
Indirect Rule
the British system described by Frederick
Lugard as the Dual Mandate; carried out with the
collaboration of local chiefs
220
Industrial Revolution (1760–1840)
the time period
when the West gained worldwide communications
and weapons advantages and used them to create
empires across much of the world; contributed to the
obsolescence of chattel slavery
221
islam
the world monotheistic Abrahamic religion
followed by about 40 percent of all Africans; the word
means act of submission to the will of God; about half
of West Africa’s population is Muslim
222
jajjs
itinerant female students and teachers of Nana
| Asma’u
223
Hyksos
the chariot-riding warriors who conquered Lower Egypt in 1650 bce and who likely assimilated
into the Egyptian population; they brought musical
instruments, olive trees, and new breeds of cattle
224
Hulks
old ships in the Nigerian delta where Europeans
| lived and carried out trade in slaves and goods
225
horus
in Egyptian religion, god of the sky, way,
and hunting; pharaohs of the Old Kingdom were
incarnations of Horus
226
Homo sapiens (200,000 bce–present)
our human genus
| and species; abbreviated as h. sapiens
227
Homo erectus (1.9 million–143,000 bce)
the earliest
| human genus and species; abbreviated as h. erectus
228
hominid
originally meant all human ancestors; now
| sometimes also includes all great apes
229
hieorglyphs
the picture writing technique of the
| Pharaonic Egyptians
230
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (1770–1831)
wrote
in his Philosophy of History that Africa was not a
historical continent and showed neither change nor
development, and that its peoples were not capable of
progress or education
231
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative
an
international effort to relieve the debt of Africa’s
poorest countries
232
hausa
the largest West African Muslim ethnic group;
| live across the Sahel from Ghana to Sudan
233
hashim
Muhammad’s clan within the Quraysh in
| Mecca
234
hajj
the annual pilgrimage all able Muslims must make
| to Mecca once in one’s lifetime
235
haiti
a Caribbean French colony and the site of slave
| revolt from 1791–1804
236
hadith
Muhammad’s words whose guidance forms
| part of Muslim law
237
gye nyame
the Adinkra symbol that means God’s
omnipotence or literally “except for God”; also
associated with Asante hegemony
238
guinea
a former French colony north of Sierra Leone
that achieved independence in 1958 under the
leadership of Sékou Touré, who later gave sanctuary
to Kwame Nkrumah after the Ghanaian coup of 1966
239
griots
West African oral historians who inherit their
vocations and give performances often accompanied
by drums and koras
240
great zimbabwe
literally “house of stone”; a southern
African empire contemporaneous with the West
African empire of Mali whose economy was also based on gold
241
Gowon, Yakubu (b.1934)
the general who seized
control of Nigeria and fought the Nigerian Civil War
to force Biafra back into the country
242
golden stool
the legendary symbol of the spirit of the
Asante; created by Osei Tutu and the priest Anokye
in c. 1695
243
gold coast
the European name given to pre-
independence Ghana due to the proximate Akan gold
fields
244
giza
the location of Egypt’s great pyramids built in
2600–2500 bce during the Old Kingdom’s period of
monument building
245
biggons, ann
an author who argued
in 1987 that genetic traits of Y chromosomal DNA
supported the African origins of men
246
ghana
the first of three great West African empires
(400–1100); was centered in the upper Niger River
valley between the Sahara to the north and tropical
forests on the coast; present-day Ghana took its name
from ancient Ghana
247
Garvey, Marcus (1887–1940)
an advocate for emigration
of freedmen to Liberia; promoted an “Africa for the
Africans” anti-colonial project under the auspices of
the Universal Negro Improvement and Conservation
Association
248
gao
the location of one of Africa’s Great Mosques;
capital of Songhay about 300 miles east of Timbuktu
on the east bank of the Niger River
249
gambia river
West African river about 700 miles long
| that empties at Banjul, The Gambia
250
Gallagher, John (1919–80)
the British historian of
imperialism who teamed up with Ronald Robinson to
write the influential Africa and the Victorians and “The
Imperialism of Free Trade”
251
gabon
a former colony in french equatorial africa
252
Futanke
a West African language group; participants in the trans-Saharan gold trade during the ancient
empire of Mali
253
Fustat
an early Muslim city founded in 640 by Amr ibn
| al-Asi; now part of Cairo
254
fula
the major ethnic group and language of West
| Africa
255
French Equatorial Africa
the group of French African
colonies from the Congo River north of Central
Africa to the southern border of present-day Libya; at
its height FEA included the French Congo, Gabon,
Oubangui-Chari, Chad, and French Cameroon
256
free trade
often associated with capitalism; an economic
policy that does not restrict imports or exports in
global markets; assumes the absence of interference
from anyone not party to the transaction, especially
governments
257
freedmen
people freed from chattel slavery
258
fossils
preserved remnants of life, often bones
259
fon
the major African slave trading ethnic group in
| Benin, southwest Nigeria
260
Fodiyo, Usman dan (1754–1817)
the founder of the
| Sokoto Caliphate in northeastern Nigeria
261
fiqh
the regulation of religious conduct; Islamic
| jurisprudence
262
fertile crescent
land that included the Tigris and
| Euphrates Rivers, Phoenicia, and Palestine
263
Fatimids
a Shia group who created the Fatimid
Caliphate (c.909–1171) across North Africa and the
Fertile Crescent, overthrew Sunni rule in Fustat, and
built Al-Azhar and Cairo; named themselves after
Fatimah, daughter of Muhammad
264
fatimah
a daughter of Muhammad and wife
| of Ali
265
fante
an Akan ethnic group that founded city-states
along the central half of the Gold Coast; one of their
famous towns, Oguaa (Cape Coast), served as the seat
of early British power in the Gold Coast; the Fante in
the vicinity of Cape Coast Castle were sometimes in
partnership with or under the sovereignty of both the
Asante and the British
266
Falconbridge, Alexander (1760–92)
the slave ship
doctor who lobbied for abolition and wrote of the
horrors of the slave ship; participated in the Sierra
Leone settlement for freedmen
267
Divination
rituals in Traditional African Religion that
| attempt to communicate with the spirit world
268
dromedaries
single-humped camels used to carry loads
| in the Sahara Desert as early as the 100s ce
269
dual mandate
Frederick Lugard’s application of
indirect rule; African chiefs enforced colonial laws
in return for British protection; the British gained
access to natural resources and African labor while
the Africans acquired British products and Western
knowledge
270
ebola virus
a viral infection with more than an 80
percent mortality rate that travels through body fluids;
ravaged Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone from
2014–16
271
ebony
a hard black wood traded in Saharan caravan
| commerce
272
elmina castle
the slave fortress in what is now the
coastal central region of Ghana built by the Portuguese
and later occupied by the Dutch and English; now a
UNESCO World Heritage Site
273
enlightenment
the advancement of rational thought
and human dignity in Europe during the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries; accelerated the cause of
abolitionism
274
Equiano, Olaudah
the Igbo slave and
freedman who wrote an autobiography that described
capture, African slavery, Middle Passage, chattel
slavery, life as a freedman, and the abolition movement
275
Ethnicity
the category with which people may be
identified that is based on similarities of culture,
language, and ancestry
276
eurocentricism
the perception of life through Western
| eyes inside Western cultures and environments
277
Evolues
Africans who assimilated into French
| civilization both in French colonies and in France
278
caliph
a spiritual successor to Muhammad, the Prophet
| of Islam
279
caliphates
the Umayyid and Abbasid empires of the
| Muslims
280
calvinism
the Protestant sect named for John Calvin
(1509–64); it holds that God has selected a few people
to share heaven and damned all others; this concept,
often called predestination, was first put forward by
the African Augustine of Hippo (354–430); some
European racism toward Africans has its origins in
the idea of predestination
281
canary islands
an early location for Portuguese and
| Spanish plantation slavery
282
rebecca cann
with Mark Stoneking and
Alan Wilson, she carried out the mtDNA study in
1987 that placed human origins in Africa
283
cape coast castle
a major slave trading fort in the
Central Region of modern Ghana just east of Elmina;
it has the infamous “door of no return,” through
which thousands of Africans were shipped to the New
World; it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
284
capitalism
an economic system emphasizing private
ownership of the means of production and the selling
of goods for a profit
285
cataract
obstructions to navigation; on the Nile River
| the first cataract is at Aswan
286
centering
the adjustment of physical, intellectual, and
| spiritual characteristics to one’s environment
287
cercles
the administrative districts of a colony under
| French rule
288
chad
the modern name for the former colony of French
| Equatorial Africa
289
Chapel of the Tablet at the Church of Our Lady Mary
| of Zion
the church in Axum, Ethiopia where the
| Ark of the Covenant is allegedly stored
290
Chattel slavery
European form of economic bondage in
which humans are considered property with no rights;
see African slavery
291
thomas clarkson
the student abolitionist who in 1785 wrote an influential essay at Cambridge
University condemning slavery and later helped lead
the abolitionist movement in England and the U.S.
292
colonialism
describes subservient relationships
between imperial powers and societies in which the
dominant group remains alien
293
Convention People’s Party
the anti-colonial political
| party established by Kwame Nkrumah in 1949
294
coptic christians
also called Monophysites; the
largest populations are in Egypt and Ethiopia; differ
from orthodox Christians in that they believe Jesus
had a single fully united divine and human nature, not
mixed or blended; declared heretics at the Council of
Chalcedon in 451; Coptic is also an Egyptian language
295
Council of Chalcedon
the Christian council in 451
which determined the relationship between the
human and divine natures of Jesus
296
Council of Nicaea
in 325 it determined the nature
of the Trinity and the Nicaean Creed important to
Orthodox Christians
297
cowries
shells from Persia used in West Africa for
| small amounts of money and jewelry
298
Cugoano, Ottobah (1757–91)
the former slave and
| abolitionist friend of Olaudah Equiano
299
Dahomey
a major center of the slave trade and a
| kingdom of the Fon ethnic group
300
Davidson, Basil (1914–2010)
the first European writer
| who asserted Africans had histories and civilizations
301
Denkyira
a Gold Coast ethnic group whose slave trade
contract at Elmina with the Dutch preceded that of
the Asante
302
Description of Africa
the book by Leo Africanus that
| describes Songhay in the early 1500s
303
Dhow
a Swahili boat designed with a triangular sail
to transport goods along the East African coast by
taking advantage of the Indian Ocean’s currents and
seasonal winds called monsoons
304
Diop, Cheikh Anta (1923–86)
the Senegalese
Afrocentric scholar who argued that West Africans
significantly contributed to Pharaonic Egyptian
civilization
