Deck 17: Africa From Axum to 1400

Question 1

The duty of village elders in African societies was to

A)oversee all decision-making in the village.
B)perform marriages.
C)settle disputes.
D)make laws.
E)lead wars when necessary.

Answer 1

oversee all decision-making in the village.

Question 2

In sub-Saharan Africa, the basic unit of society was the

A)nuclear family.
B)extended family.
C)clan.
D)village.
E)tribe.

Answer 2

clan.

Question 3

All of the following contributed to the growth of the Ife EXCEPT

A)its geography and agricultural practices.
B)its trading activities.
C)it may have contained a local religious shrine.
D)it had the most contact with Muslim leaders.
E)None of the options are correct.

Answer 3

it had the most contact with Muslim leaders.

Question 4

What did 13th century Arabs traveling to Africa find shocking by Muslim standards?

A)Widespread cannibalism in Africa.
B)The freedom of African women.
C)The fact that children were used as slaves.
D)The wealth of African kings.
E)The lack of any form of government.

Question 5

Which of the following would most accurately describe Sudanic kingship?

A)The king acted as intermediary between the living and the dead.
B)African kings were elected to their positions by members of their tribes.
C)A sick or weak king was viewed as a threat to the survival of the group.
D)Both A and B.
E)Both A and C.

Question 6

The figure forest and woodland leaders claimed descent from was

A)Solomon.
B)Oduduwa.
C)Ghana.
D)Mansa Musa.
E)Muhammad.

Question 7

Muslim traders seemed "shocked" at the amount of freedom women had, Europeans found which of the following most disturbing?

A)The matrilineal nature of some societies.
B)The lack of a clear governmental structure.
C)The prominence of Islam.
D)The small number of natural resources in Africa.
E)The amount of dangerous wildlife.

Question 8

The modern-day country of Ethiopia was known as the kingdom of Axum and its rise coincides with its conversion to which religion?

A)Islam.
B)Hinduism.
C)Christianity.
D)Animism.
E)Paganism.

Question 9

Which Sudanese kingdom was destroyed in the 11th and 12th centuries in part because of a Muslim jihad?

A)Ghana.
B)Mali.
C)Kush.
D)Sudan.
E)Meroe.

Question 10

By the 13^th century, the city-states along Africa's east coast had become

A)Arab sultanates ruled directly from Arabia.
B)successful regional trading centers.
C)sophisticated commercial nation-states.
D)overpopulated and less profitable.
E)closely tied through trade with Great Zimbabwe.

Question 11

Which of the following was a forest or woodland civilization?

A)Mali
B)Great Zimbabwe
C)Ife
D)Axum
E)Nubia

Question 12

How did most early Europeans who came to sub-Saharan Africa mistakenly view the native societies?

A)Highly individualistic.
B)Politically unorganized.
C)Non-spiritual.
D)Overly loyal to their kings.
E)Completely stateless.

Question 13

One could safely assume that Ghanian merchants who willingly converted to Islam became

A)confused about the concept of monotheism.
B)well-known in Arabia.
C)feared by nature worshippers.
D)outcasts in their societies.
E)much more economically successful.

Question 14

Which one of the most significant cultural aspects accepted in early Africa was ended by the coming of Islam?

A)Matrilineal descent.
B)Patrilineal descent.
C)The clan as the primary social unit.
D)Slavery.
E)Male polygamy.

Question 15

The peoples of early Africa may most accurately be described as

A)diminutive.
B)primitive.
C)artistic.
D)varied.
E)violent.

Question 16

In the early centuries CE, gold was discovered in the Senegal River region and transported to the western Sudan and North Africa. What were these trade routes called?

A)Coastal Swahili Trade Emporium.
B)The Indian Ocean Free Trade Zone.
C)The Pan African Union.
D)The Road of Great Zimbabwe.
E)The trans-Saharan trade routes.

Question 17

What was the most notable aspect of the kingdom of Mali?

A)The strong Muslim group that founded the empire.
B)Mali's great wealth that was based on gold.
C)Its adoption of a very strict form of Islam.
D)Mali's takeover of Ghana's vast gold holdings.
E)Its strong reliance on taxes imposed on traders traveling through the kingdom.

Question 18

The Bantus moved into eastern and central Africa and absorbed the people they met there through

A)advanced agricultural methods.
B)help from the Arabs.
C)the use of iron weaponry.
D)guns bought from Europeans.
E)superior use of horses.

Question 19

The Swahili were ____ traders.

A)Indian
B)Arab
C)Bantu-speaking
D)Persian
E)Egyptian

Question 20

Which of the following are most correct regarding the Oyo?

A)The Oyo predate the Ife.
B)They were Swahili migrants to the forests.
C)The Oyo were the only Christian kingdom in Africa.
D)They did not practice agriculture.
E)They were known as the Alafin peoples.

Question 21

Term for identification: Yoruba

Question 22

Which of these has been most famous in African arts?

A)ivory work from the Swahili city-states
B)terra cotta portrait heads from Nigeria
C)bronze busts and other figures from Benin
D)wood sculptures from central Sudan
E)gold work from the various city-states

Question 23

Europeans' initial thoughts on the African slave trade seem to have been that it was

A)despicable.
B)acceptable.
C)shocking.
D)inhumane.
E)necessary.

Question 24

Early settled life in southern Africa centered around which of the following?

A)The production of gold articles for sale.
B)Pastoral life.
C)Coastal trade with the Arabs.
D)Trade with coastal Swahili port cities.
E)The fortress-city of Great Zimbabwe.

Question 25

Ghana and Mali earned some of their income from taxes they imposed on Saharan traders in three vital commodities: ____________________, ____________________, and ____________________.

Question 26

The people of Benin founded their city in

A)1200 B.C.E.
B)200 C.E.
C)500 C.E.
D)800 C.E.
E)1300 C.E.

Question 27

The most important commodity in the diet of most West Africans was ____________________.

Question 28

Mansa Musa was the most famous ruler of which kingdom?

A)Songhay.
B)Axum.
C)Mali.
D)Ghana.
E)Ethiopia.

Question 29

Mansa Musa is said to have ruled over a population of ____________________ million.

Question 30

The ancient civilized center of Southern Africa, whose ruins were only discovered in 1871, is ____________________.

Question 31

The artwork from the Swahili involved the use of

A)wood.
B)silver.
C)gold and ivory.
D)bronze and gold.
E)diamonds.

Question 32

In 1324, the king of Mali, ____________________, made the pilgrimage to the holy places in Arabia.

Question 33

The story of the founding of Benin includes a reference to which pest?

A)Lice.
B)Tsetse fly.
C)Gnat.
D)Locust.
E)Cockroach.

Question 34

____________________ began a history of Christianity in Ethiopia.

Question 35

____________________ was the most valued trading commodity of West Africa.

Question 36

Due to a general absence of written languages in sub-Saharan Africa, the arts became important, and the most famous of these were sculptures known as ____________________.

Question 37

Which of the following was NOT a vital commodity in the Saharan trade?

A)Salt.
B)Gold.
C)Slaves.
D)Silver.
E)All were vital commodities.

Question 38

Axum was located in the ____________________ Highlands.

Question 39

The Swahili cities were invigorated by an influx of ____________________ traders in the seventh and eighth centuries C.E.

Question 40

After Mansa Musa's death, the Muslim faith

A)went into decline.
B)went into disfavor with the nobility.
C)gained acceptance by the lower classes.
D)remained stagnant.
E)became an outmoded faith.

Question 41

Term for identification: matrilineal/patrilineal descent

Question 42

Term for identification: Kumbi Saleh

Question 43

Compare and contrast the West Sudan, forest and woodland, East African and Great Zimbabwe civilizations.

Question 44

Term for identification: Benin/ Benin bronzes

Question 45

Term for identification: Mansa Musa

Question 46

Elaborate on the forest and woodland cultures.

Question 47

Term for identification: Great Zimbabwe

Question 48

Term for identification: Oyo

Question 49

What factors contributed to the "cosmopolitan" nature of the Swahili city-states?

Question 50

Term for identification: madrasa

Question 51

Term for identification: Swahili

Question 52

Term for identification: tribe

Question 53

Describe the cultures of the Western Sudan, and explain what elements made them unique among African civilizations.

Question 54

Elaborate on the social organization of early African civilizations.

Question 55

Discuss the significance of Axum in African history. Include aspects such as religion, trade, and long term impact on that region of Africa.