Patterns of State Formation in Africa, 600–1450 CE

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. In the 400s, Nubian chiefs established three small kingdoms that prospered in large measure as a result of the rapid spread of ________________.

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. _________________missionaries converted the Nubians to Christianity.

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. During the period ____________, Nubia was a Christian kingdom along the middle Nile in the Sahara and sub-Saharan steppe.

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. Power remained largely decentralized after the unification of the three Nubian kingdoms, with an appointed official called a(n) ______________, who governed the northern subkingdom.

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. Unlike________________, where kings appointed church officials, the Coptic patriarchs of Alexandria appointed the bishops, and these would remain independent from kings.

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. A source of income for kings and eparchs in Nubia was ____________.

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. Which Egyptian dynasty conquered Nubia in the thirteenth century CE?

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. Nubian churches were outposts of the____________.

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. The kings of Aksum and the patriarch of the Coptic Church abandoned the capital perhaps as early as the_____________ and reestablished themselves in a modest chiefdom with better agrarian resources farther south.

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. The Zagwe kingdom was synonymous with "Ethiopia" or___________.

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. Under the Zagwe kings, the conversion of the peoples in the central and southern highlands to Christianity____________.

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. Under a king ruling by divine right, Ethiopia was a confederation of:

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. In 1270, a new dynasty of kings, the_____________, emerged some 300 miles south of Aksum, in the region of today's capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa:

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. The religious heritage of the Solomonids still lives on among Afrocentric Christians on the island of

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. According to the official foundation narrative, the kings of Aksum were not only the descendants of the Queen of Sheba and the Israelite King Solomon but also the heirs to the Israelite __________________.

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. What did the Solomonid King Amada Seyon initiate in the fourteenth century?

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. What facilitated sea voyages between Africa, the Middle East, and India?

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. During the period 600-1450, the Swahili people emerged as an indigenous African population of:

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. Coastal East African villagers, having adapted themselves to long-distance trade with the_______________, eventually evolved into an urban society, with religious scholars, sailors, fishermen, and farmers based in small port cities.

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. Swahili _____________were Muslims claiming Middle Eastern descent and, by virtue of profiting from long-distance trade with the countries around the Indian Ocean, either ascended to the throne of their cities as kings or governed their cities in a council along with their peers.

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. The earliest Muslim merchants in East Africa were primarily interested in the______________, a profitable enterprise in the Islamic empire.

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. __________descent is the possession of genealogy going back to the Prophet Muhammad.

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. The __________________ of southern Africa was the first region of the interior where a pattern of increasing wealth and population density became visible, during the period 600-1505.

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. The kingdoms of ________________ and Great Zimbabwe represent examples African kingship.

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. The earliest evidence for the existence of permanent agricultural and fishing settlements around Lake Upemba in central Africa points to the period around____________.

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. Village formation expanded across the _______ and northern savanna from 600 BCE to 600 CE.

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. The kingdom of ancient Ghana emerged in the 600s as a chief from the ___________ declared himself king in Wagadu.

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. The Empire of Mali was founded by Malinke King_____________.

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. Mali's supply of _________ enjoyed an increased demand in the Islamic realm on the other side of the Sahara.

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. ______________was the most famous ruler of Mali and a staunch promoter of Islamic culture, science, and religion, especially in the city of Timbuktu.

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. The earliest of the rainforest village clusters to urbanize, Ife was the spiritual center of the _________ ethnic group and its oral traditions.

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. Some of the later rainforest kingdoms achieved great feats of engineering, including elaborate moats and ramparts, the most famous of which is Ijebu´s:

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A map of northeastern Africa and Middle East Asia traces major trade routes and the direction of trade. The major trade route was from Cairo in northeastern Egypt to Syria and Anatolia in the east by land and to North Africa in the west. The trade route connected the Egyptian cities of Asyut, Aswan, Aidhab, Kharga, Dakhla Oasis, and Kufra. From near Cairo and from Aidhab and Suakin, the route passed through the Red Sea, around the Arabian Peninsula, to Iraq. The route branched east to India and south along the eastern African coast. The direction of trade was south along the Red, east along the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and west toward Africa. An inset map locates northeastern Africa and Middle East Asia.


The map above shows important trade routes in northeast Africa and the Middle East. Who played an important role in trade in this region?

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A map of eastern Africa and southern Asia shows the Swahili settlement in 1450 C E, the trade routes and the traded goods, and gold and copper fields. The Swahili settlement in 1450 C E was along the eastern coast of Africa, along eastern Tanzania and Mozambique, and in the northern tip of Madagascar island. A goldfield was to the west of the southern part of the settlement, surrounded by scattered patches of copper fields. The major trade route was along the important cities in the settlement. From the settlement, the routes extended to northern Africa, around the Arabian Peninsula, and to various ports in southern Asia. Ivory, timber, slaves, copper, gold, and iron ore were traded from the southern part of the settlement to the northern part. Gold, copper, and iron ore from the fields were transported to the settlement. Beads from the southern part of the settlement were transported west and were also transported west across Lake Victoria. Ivory was transported to north central, south-central, and the northeastern part of the settlement from regions slightly to its west, and was also transported east across Lake Victoria. Slaves were transported to the central and north-central parts of the settlement. Incense was transported from Somalia to the north. Gold was mined near Ethiopia. Glass and porcelain were manufactured in southwestern coastal Yemen. Slaves and incense were transported east along the southern part of the peninsula. Porcelain, spices, beads, sugar, and textiles were transported from southern Asia to the west. In India, beads were manufactured in Cambay, textiles and spices were made in Calicut, and porcelain and beads were transported north along the eastern coast. Glass and spices were also manufactured in Ceylon. From the Indian Ocean, summer monsoon winds traveled northeast to southern Asia and winter monsoon winds traveled southeast to eastern Africa and Madagascar.


According to the map above, what goods from the African interior went to Kilwa?

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A photo of a statue of a woman's head.


What African people produced the shrine head pictured above?

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