Deck 20: Africa and the World, 1400-1800

Question 1

In the fifteenth century, Kano and Katsina in Hausaland became centers for which of the following?

A) Transatlantic slave trade
B) African-style feudalism
C) Islamic scholarship
D) Artistic creativity

Answer 1

Islamic scholarship

Question 2

How would a typical Senegambian community be described?

A) As a highly organized mercantile center
B) As nothing more than a nomadic band of related families
C) As organized entirely around the slave trade
D) As organized in a small, self-supporting agricultural village

Answer 2

As organized in a small, self-supporting agricultural village

Question 3

In the stateless societies of Senegambia, which of the following contributed to community loyalty and law enforcement?

A) Age-grade systems
B) Strong, patriarchal clans
C) Gender-specific roles
D) Communitywide assemblies

Answer 3

Age-grade systems

Question 4

What characteristic distinguished most West African marriages?

A) They were almost always monogamous.
B) They were often forced after war with a neighboring tribe.
C) They were virtually all love matches.
D) They were almost universally polygynous.

Question 5

Which of these was the greatest killer in West Africa?

A) Typhoid
B) Hookworm
C) Malaria
D) Yellow fever

Question 6

How were chattel slaves viewed?

A) Most were considered to be members of the owner's family.
B) Usually, they were slaves who had status and power.
C) They had the right to inherit land and wealth.
D) They were commodities that were considered subhuman property.

Question 7

Who supplied the labor on the royal farms of Songhai?

A) Slaves
B) Indentured servants
C) Tax debtors
D) War captives

Question 8

In addition to famine, what was the greatest obstacle to population growth in West Africa?

A) Warfare and slave trading
B) The small population of women
C) The lack of available arable land
D) Diseases such as malaria

Question 9

In the trans-Saharan trade, Kanem-Bornu traded slaves to North Africa for what?

A) Salt
B) Gold
C) Horses
D) Cattle

Question 10

What brought Senegambia into frequent contact with Europeans?

A) European explorers
B) Christian missionaries
C) The slave trade
D) The ivory trade

Question 11

Why was the city of Timbuktu well known?

A) It was a major port for transatlantic trade.
B) It was the capital and major trade center of Benin.
C) It possessed a thriving urban culture.
D) It was dominated by Muslims and persecuted Jews.

Question 12

Based on Map 20.1, "West African Societies, ca. 1500-1800," which of the following played a major role in the Portuguese slave trade, due largely to its geographic location?

A) Zaria
B) Timbuktu
C) Agadez
D) Benin

Question 13

What army ultimately destroyed the Songhai Empire?

A) A largely slave army from the sultanate of Morocco
B) Armies from the kingdom of Ethiopia
C) Prince Henry's army from the kingdom of Portugal
D) The army of the kingdom of Benin

Question 14

Benin City was known for artistic work in iron, ivory, and what other product?

A) Gold filigree jewelry
B) Decorative copper containers
C) Woven baskets
D) Bronze portrait busts

Question 15

What was the oba in Benin?

A) Priest
B) Chief merchant
C) King
D) Sage

Question 16

For what is Leo Africanus best known?

A) The further expansion of Songhai
B) His descriptions of African society
C) The expulsion of the Jesuits from Ethiopia
D) The establishment of mosques throughout West Africa

Question 17

In the fifteenth century, what state became the successor to Ghana and Mali in the Niger region?

A) Songhai
B) Benin
C) Senegambia
D) Hausa

Question 18

How did slavery in Senegambia compare to slavery in the Americas?

A) In Senegambia, slaves were treated harshly, while they were treated more kindly in the Americas.
B) In both places, slave status passed from one generation to the next, and the descendants of slaves were never free.
C) In the Americas, slave status passed from one generation to the next, while in Senegambia descendants of slaves were sometimes free.
D) In both places, slaves could be bought and sold.

Question 19

What ruler completed the expansion and consolidation of Songhai?

A) Muhammad Ali
B) Muhammad Toure
C) Ewuare
D) Leo Africanus

Question 20

Which of the following statements is true regarding the negotiation taking place in this illustration?

A) Given the expense involved in conducting slave raids, the African male with whom the European trader is negotiating was likely a wealthy entrepreneur.
B) Other than being taken captive, the African people played little, if any, role in the African slave trade.
C) The African male engaged in negotiation was likely a poor merchant.
D) Based on his style of dress, the African trader most likely lived in the region of Benin.

Question 21

Which of these was true of the great majority of slaves in the Islamic world?

A) They were black.
B) They were white.
C) They were Muslims.
D) They were Jews.

Question 22

Swahili independence ended with the arrival in 1498 of which Portuguese explorer?

A) Prince Henry the Navigator
B) Vasco da Gama
C) Giovanni da Verrazzano
D) Ferdinand Magellan

Question 23

What West African industry had the greatest level of specialization?

A) Textiles
B) Salt mining
C) Gold working
D) Iron working

Question 24

Which European nation monopolized the slave trade until about 1600?

A) Venice
B) England
C) Spain
D) Portugal

Question 25

What was the chief means of transport for the West African salt trade?

A) Donkey caravans
B) Camels
C) Horse-drawn carts
D) Slaves

Question 26

What was the justification for slavery adopted by African rulers that originated from Islamic societies?

A) They argued that Africans were an inferior race who were better off as slaves.
B) They rationalized it by saying slaves lacked immortal souls.
C) They believed slavery was necessary for economic development.
D) They argued that prisoners of war could be sold and that captured people were chattel.

Question 27

Defeated by General Ahmad ibn-Ghazi in 1529, the Ethiopian emperor Lebna Dengel sought aid from which of the following?

A) The Ottomans
B) Portugal
C) The Dutch Republic
D) India

Question 28

Between 1690 and 1807, which European nation was the leading participant in the transatlantic slave trade?

A) England
B) Portugal
C) Spain
D) France

Question 29

By the eleventh century, what important change had the Swahili peoples made?

A) The majority had become full-time farmers.
B) They converted to Islam.
C) They established a large inland empire.
D) They developed trade with Portugal.

Question 30

What missionary group attempted to introduce Roman Catholicism into Ethiopia in the sixteenth century?

A) Franciscans
B) Dominicans
C) Jesuits
D) Benedictines

Question 31

What evidence in this illustration shows European influence on the African slave trade?

A) The restraints are of European design.
B) The guards are carrying European-style firearms.
C) The large number of captives suggests traders are attempting to meet high European demand.
D) Europeans preferred younger slaves, as they typically sold for a higher price.

Question 32

Cowrie shells were used for currency in North Africa and originated in the Maldives, which are islands located in what body of water?

A) South China Sea
B) Pacific Ocean
C) Philippine Sea
D) Indian Ocean

Question 33

What was the chief trade good in the trans-Saharan trade routes?

A) Salt
B) Silver
C) Amber
D) Iron ore

Question 34

Which of these was true of the black population of eighteenth-century London?

A) Most black Londoners were agricultural laborers.
B) Most black Londoners were merchants and traders.
C) Most black Londoners were well-educated freemen.
D) Most black Londoners were sailors or personal servants.

Question 35

What New World country received the largest numbers of slaves from the transatlantic trade during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries?

A) Mexico
B) British North America
C) French Canada
D) Brazil

Question 36

What important role did the Portuguese forts and markets at Kilwa, Zanzibar, and Sofala have?

A) They became the foundation of Portuguese economic power on the Swahili coast.
B) They continued to provide the independent Swahili city-states with money.
C) They represented the merging of Portuguese and Swahili trade powers.
D) They benefited the inland gold mines of Sofala by opening new markets.

Question 37

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, who did the elite of Mali and Benin import to be slaves?

A) Songhai warriors
B) Berber women
C) Slavic women
D) Yoruba children

Question 38

What was the primary religion of Ethiopia?

A) Byzantine Christianity
B) Islam
C) Coptic Christianity
D) Judaism

Question 39

Roughly 75 percent of the slaves imported into the Dutch Cape Colony were from where?

A) West Africa and Angola
B) The Balkans and Anatolia
C) India, Southeast Asia, and Madagascar
D) Swahili-speaking areas

Question 40

Roughly 35 percent of Swahili words come from which of the following languages?

A) Arabic
B) Coptic
C) Yoruba
D) Egyptian

Question 41

What was the nature of trade and commerce in the Swahili city-states? What kinds of goods were traded?

Question 42

Most slaves exported by the Portuguese to Brazil came from

A) Angola.
B) Madagascar.
C) Ethiopia.
D) Swahili.

Question 43

How is disease related to African enslavement in the Americas?

Question 44

What was the Middle Passage?

A) The transfer of slaves from inland locations to coastal cities
B) The voyage of African slaves to the Americas
C) The transfer of slaves from ship to market
D) The shipping lane from the American colonies to Europe

Question 45

What kinds of external threats did Ethiopia face in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries? How did Ethiopians deal with these threats?

Question 46

Scholars have determined that the transatlantic slave trade had what effect on African societies?

A) It led to wars that destabilized the political structure of many states.
B) It led to technological development because of population decline.
C) It laid the foundation for European colonies.
D) It hastened the Christianization of the sub-Sahara.

Question 47

How did the transatlantic slave trade influence the economy of the European colonies of the Americas and beyond?

Question 48

How is the insatiable demand for coffee and sugar reflected in this chart depicting slave imports by destination?

A) The largest numbers by far were sent to Brazil and the Caribbean, where these crops were produced.
B) The Spanish, who consumed massive amounts of both products, imported nearly 13% of slaves overall to their American colonies.
C) A relatively sizable number were sent to the West Indies.
D) Less than 1% were sent to Europe, where neither product was produced.

Question 49

In the eighteenth century, what city was the world's greatest slave-trading port?

A) Bristol
B) London
C) Liverpool
D) Edinburgh

Question 50

Compare and contrast the economy of kingdoms in West Africa with those in East Africa during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Question 51

Male slaves were more highly desired in the Americas. Why? Was there a market in which female slaves were more highly desired? If so, where was this market, and why were women more highly prized?

Question 52

What goods were African slaves traded for in the American colonies?

A) Horses
B) Raw materials
C) Textiles
D) Firearms

Question 53

The great majority of the slaves sent to the Americas were to be employed in which of the following?

A) Tobacco plantations of British North America
B) Cotton plantations of British North America
C) Gold and silver mines in Central and South America
D) Coffee and sugar plantations in the Caribbean and South America

Question 54

Who were the nhara?

A) People of mixed African and European heritage
B) Female slaves taken as concubines by their owners
C) Dahomey slave raiders
D) Women slave merchants in Guinea

Question 55

In the English slave trade, a "sorting" referred to which of the following?

A) An assortment of slaves presented for inspection by English purchasers
B) The throwing overboard of sick or weak slaves during the Middle Passage
C) A selection of goods traded in one lot for a slave or slaves
D) The division of Africans by age, gender, and perceived strength for a slave sale

Question 56

Describe the typical West African diet prior to the sixteenth century. How did contact with Europe alter that diet?

Question 57

What factors led to low population growth in West Africa? How did the low population growth affect gender relations?

Question 58

In addition to the slave trade, what other economic impact did European powers have on West Africa?

Question 59

How did the Portuguese take control of the trade between the Swahili city-states and the Indian Ocean trade networks? How long did that dominance last?

Question 60

The massive increase in the slave trade, as illustrated , "The Transatlantic Slave Trade, 1501-1866" can be attributed, in part, to which of the following?

A) European demand for precious metals increased sharply.
B) A significant number of slaves being transported for sale died.
C) Slavery grew in the United States.
D) An increasing number of nations engaged in the trade.

Question 61

Use the following to answer questions :
cowrie shells

A)An item of personal property; a term used in reference to enslaved people that conveys the idea that they are subhuman, like animals, and therefore may be treated like animals.
B)Among the societies of Senegambia, groups of teenage males and females whom the society initiated into adulthood at the same time.
C)The title of the king of Benin.
D)A settlement in the western Sahara, the site of the main salt-mining center.
E)Major branch of the nomadic Berber peoples who controlled the north-south trans-Saharan trade in salt.
F)Imported from the Maldives, they served as the medium of exchange in West Africa.
G)Orthodox form of Christianity from Egypt practiced in Ethiopia.
H)Meaning "People of the Coast," the term used for the people living along the East African coast and on nearby islands.
I)Enslaved Africans' horrific voyage across the Atlantic to the Americas under appalling and often deadly conditions.
J)A collection or batch of British goods that would be traded for a slave or for a quantity of gold, ivory, or dyewood.
K)A process for exchanging goods in which European ships sent boats ashore or invited African dealers to bring traders and slaves out to the ships.

Question 62

Use the following to answer questions :
age-grade systems

A)An item of personal property; a term used in reference to enslaved people that conveys the idea that they are subhuman, like animals, and therefore may be treated like animals.
B)Among the societies of Senegambia, groups of teenage males and females whom the society initiated into adulthood at the same time.
C)The title of the king of Benin.
D)A settlement in the western Sahara, the site of the main salt-mining center.
E)Major branch of the nomadic Berber peoples who controlled the north-south trans-Saharan trade in salt.
F)Imported from the Maldives, they served as the medium of exchange in West Africa.
G)Orthodox form of Christianity from Egypt practiced in Ethiopia.
H)Meaning "People of the Coast," the term used for the people living along the East African coast and on nearby islands.
I)Enslaved Africans' horrific voyage across the Atlantic to the Americas under appalling and often deadly conditions.
J)A collection or batch of British goods that would be traded for a slave or for a quantity of gold, ivory, or dyewood.
K)A process for exchanging goods in which European ships sent boats ashore or invited African dealers to bring traders and slaves out to the ships.

Question 63

Use the following to answer questions :
Taghaza

A)An item of personal property; a term used in reference to enslaved people that conveys the idea that they are subhuman, like animals, and therefore may be treated like animals.
B)Among the societies of Senegambia, groups of teenage males and females whom the society initiated into adulthood at the same time.
C)The title of the king of Benin.
D)A settlement in the western Sahara, the site of the main salt-mining center.
E)Major branch of the nomadic Berber peoples who controlled the north-south trans-Saharan trade in salt.
F)Imported from the Maldives, they served as the medium of exchange in West Africa.
G)Orthodox form of Christianity from Egypt practiced in Ethiopia.
H)Meaning "People of the Coast," the term used for the people living along the East African coast and on nearby islands.
I)Enslaved Africans' horrific voyage across the Atlantic to the Americas under appalling and often deadly conditions.
J)A collection or batch of British goods that would be traded for a slave or for a quantity of gold, ivory, or dyewood.
K)A process for exchanging goods in which European ships sent boats ashore or invited African dealers to bring traders and slaves out to the ships.

Question 64

Use the following to answer questions :
chattel

A)An item of personal property; a term used in reference to enslaved people that conveys the idea that they are subhuman, like animals, and therefore may be treated like animals.
B)Among the societies of Senegambia, groups of teenage males and females whom the society initiated into adulthood at the same time.
C)The title of the king of Benin.
D)A settlement in the western Sahara, the site of the main salt-mining center.
E)Major branch of the nomadic Berber peoples who controlled the north-south trans-Saharan trade in salt.
F)Imported from the Maldives, they served as the medium of exchange in West Africa.
G)Orthodox form of Christianity from Egypt practiced in Ethiopia.
H)Meaning "People of the Coast," the term used for the people living along the East African coast and on nearby islands.
I)Enslaved Africans' horrific voyage across the Atlantic to the Americas under appalling and often deadly conditions.
J)A collection or batch of British goods that would be traded for a slave or for a quantity of gold, ivory, or dyewood.
K)A process for exchanging goods in which European ships sent boats ashore or invited African dealers to bring traders and slaves out to the ships.

Question 65

Use the following to answer questions :
oba

A)An item of personal property; a term used in reference to enslaved people that conveys the idea that they are subhuman, like animals, and therefore may be treated like animals.
B)Among the societies of Senegambia, groups of teenage males and females whom the society initiated into adulthood at the same time.
C)The title of the king of Benin.
D)A settlement in the western Sahara, the site of the main salt-mining center.
E)Major branch of the nomadic Berber peoples who controlled the north-south trans-Saharan trade in salt.
F)Imported from the Maldives, they served as the medium of exchange in West Africa.
G)Orthodox form of Christianity from Egypt practiced in Ethiopia.
H)Meaning "People of the Coast," the term used for the people living along the East African coast and on nearby islands.
I)Enslaved Africans' horrific voyage across the Atlantic to the Americas under appalling and often deadly conditions.
J)A collection or batch of British goods that would be traded for a slave or for a quantity of gold, ivory, or dyewood.
K)A process for exchanging goods in which European ships sent boats ashore or invited African dealers to bring traders and slaves out to the ships.

Question 66

How was the transatlantic slave trade organized? Who participated, and who profited?

Question 67

What are the various theories as to why black Africans were enslaved in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries more than other races? What are some of the problems with these theories?

Question 68

Use the following to answer questions :
Coptic Christianity

A)An item of personal property; a term used in reference to enslaved people that conveys the idea that they are subhuman, like animals, and therefore may be treated like animals.
B)Among the societies of Senegambia, groups of teenage males and females whom the society initiated into adulthood at the same time.
C)The title of the king of Benin.
D)A settlement in the western Sahara, the site of the main salt-mining center.
E)Major branch of the nomadic Berber peoples who controlled the north-south trans-Saharan trade in salt.
F)Imported from the Maldives, they served as the medium of exchange in West Africa.
G)Orthodox form of Christianity from Egypt practiced in Ethiopia.
H)Meaning "People of the Coast," the term used for the people living along the East African coast and on nearby islands.
I)Enslaved Africans' horrific voyage across the Atlantic to the Americas under appalling and often deadly conditions.
J)A collection or batch of British goods that would be traded for a slave or for a quantity of gold, ivory, or dyewood.
K)A process for exchanging goods in which European ships sent boats ashore or invited African dealers to bring traders and slaves out to the ships.

Question 69

Use the following to answer questions :
sorting

A)An item of personal property; a term used in reference to enslaved people that conveys the idea that they are subhuman, like animals, and therefore may be treated like animals.
B)Among the societies of Senegambia, groups of teenage males and females whom the society initiated into adulthood at the same time.
C)The title of the king of Benin.
D)A settlement in the western Sahara, the site of the main salt-mining center.
E)Major branch of the nomadic Berber peoples who controlled the north-south trans-Saharan trade in salt.
F)Imported from the Maldives, they served as the medium of exchange in West Africa.
G)Orthodox form of Christianity from Egypt practiced in Ethiopia.
H)Meaning "People of the Coast," the term used for the people living along the East African coast and on nearby islands.
I)Enslaved Africans' horrific voyage across the Atlantic to the Americas under appalling and often deadly conditions.
J)A collection or batch of British goods that would be traded for a slave or for a quantity of gold, ivory, or dyewood.
K)A process for exchanging goods in which European ships sent boats ashore or invited African dealers to bring traders and slaves out to the ships.

Question 70

How did contact with Islam and the later Portuguese intrusion influence the history of East Africa, particularly Ethiopia and the Swahili city-states?

Question 71

Use the following to answer questions :
Swahili

A)An item of personal property; a term used in reference to enslaved people that conveys the idea that they are subhuman, like animals, and therefore may be treated like animals.
B)Among the societies of Senegambia, groups of teenage males and females whom the society initiated into adulthood at the same time.
C)The title of the king of Benin.
D)A settlement in the western Sahara, the site of the main salt-mining center.
E)Major branch of the nomadic Berber peoples who controlled the north-south trans-Saharan trade in salt.
F)Imported from the Maldives, they served as the medium of exchange in West Africa.
G)Orthodox form of Christianity from Egypt practiced in Ethiopia.
H)Meaning "People of the Coast," the term used for the people living along the East African coast and on nearby islands.
I)Enslaved Africans' horrific voyage across the Atlantic to the Americas under appalling and often deadly conditions.
J)A collection or batch of British goods that would be traded for a slave or for a quantity of gold, ivory, or dyewood.
K)A process for exchanging goods in which European ships sent boats ashore or invited African dealers to bring traders and slaves out to the ships.

Question 72

Use the following to answer questions :
Tuareg

A)An item of personal property; a term used in reference to enslaved people that conveys the idea that they are subhuman, like animals, and therefore may be treated like animals.
B)Among the societies of Senegambia, groups of teenage males and females whom the society initiated into adulthood at the same time.
C)The title of the king of Benin.
D)A settlement in the western Sahara, the site of the main salt-mining center.
E)Major branch of the nomadic Berber peoples who controlled the north-south trans-Saharan trade in salt.
F)Imported from the Maldives, they served as the medium of exchange in West Africa.
G)Orthodox form of Christianity from Egypt practiced in Ethiopia.
H)Meaning "People of the Coast," the term used for the people living along the East African coast and on nearby islands.
I)Enslaved Africans' horrific voyage across the Atlantic to the Americas under appalling and often deadly conditions.
J)A collection or batch of British goods that would be traded for a slave or for a quantity of gold, ivory, or dyewood.
K)A process for exchanging goods in which European ships sent boats ashore or invited African dealers to bring traders and slaves out to the ships.

Question 73

Islam played a significant role in sub-Saharan West Africa. Describe the impact of Islam in this region. How did Islam affect European expansion in Africa? Overall, was the impact of Islam on sub-Saharan African society positive or negative?

Question 74

Use the following to answer questions :
Middle Passage

A)An item of personal property; a term used in reference to enslaved people that conveys the idea that they are subhuman, like animals, and therefore may be treated like animals.
B)Among the societies of Senegambia, groups of teenage males and females whom the society initiated into adulthood at the same time.
C)The title of the king of Benin.
D)A settlement in the western Sahara, the site of the main salt-mining center.
E)Major branch of the nomadic Berber peoples who controlled the north-south trans-Saharan trade in salt.
F)Imported from the Maldives, they served as the medium of exchange in West Africa.
G)Orthodox form of Christianity from Egypt practiced in Ethiopia.
H)Meaning "People of the Coast," the term used for the people living along the East African coast and on nearby islands.
I)Enslaved Africans' horrific voyage across the Atlantic to the Americas under appalling and often deadly conditions.
J)A collection or batch of British goods that would be traded for a slave or for a quantity of gold, ivory, or dyewood.
K)A process for exchanging goods in which European ships sent boats ashore or invited African dealers to bring traders and slaves out to the ships.

Question 75

Use the following to answer questions :
shore trading

A)An item of personal property; a term used in reference to enslaved people that conveys the idea that they are subhuman, like animals, and therefore may be treated like animals.
B)Among the societies of Senegambia, groups of teenage males and females whom the society initiated into adulthood at the same time.
C)The title of the king of Benin.
D)A settlement in the western Sahara, the site of the main salt-mining center.
E)Major branch of the nomadic Berber peoples who controlled the north-south trans-Saharan trade in salt.
F)Imported from the Maldives, they served as the medium of exchange in West Africa.
G)Orthodox form of Christianity from Egypt practiced in Ethiopia.
H)Meaning "People of the Coast," the term used for the people living along the East African coast and on nearby islands.
I)Enslaved Africans' horrific voyage across the Atlantic to the Americas under appalling and often deadly conditions.
J)A collection or batch of British goods that would be traded for a slave or for a quantity of gold, ivory, or dyewood.
K)A process for exchanging goods in which European ships sent boats ashore or invited African dealers to bring traders and slaves out to the ships.

Question 76

Courtship, marriage, and family patterns in West Africa displayed rather striking characteristics. Describe these patterns, and offer an explanation for their development.