The Rise of African Civilizations

an area of high flat land

• Axum

• griot

• plateau

• dhow

• Sunni Ali

Which of the following did NOT trade in salt?

• Axum

• Ghana

• Mali

• Songhai

an empire in the rain forest

• Benin

• Camels

• jazz

• plateau

• plantations

All of the following facts about Africa are true EXCEPT:

• Africa is the second largest continent

• Africa’s landscape is 10% rainforests

• Africa’s deserts are smaller in size compared to those found within Europe.

• Africa, being a plateau, has many waterfalls throughout the continent.

The Kingdom of Mali was replaced by the Kingdom of Ghana.

• True

• False

The largest desert in the world is the _____________ .

• Gobi

• Sahara

• Sonoran

• Kalahari

“The economic decline [of Kush] may have been hastened by overgrazing of the land and by the progressive desiccation of the Butana. But the most serious threat came from Axum, a kingdom that rose to power in the highlands of Ethiopia to the southeast. . . . Axum challenged Kush’s monopoly of trade in the African interior. The two inevitably clashed, and Axumites, on the offensive, carried the battles into the Butana. But by the time the Axumite king Aezanas marched into Kush around A.D. 350, its monarchy apparently no longer existed. A detailed Axumite inscription makes no mention of the Meroites, but does refer to the Noba, a people who were known to have harrassed the Meroites from the west bank of the Nile. So the final downfall of the Kingdom of Kush is veiled in almost complete darkness.”—

William Y. Adams, archaeologist,as quoted in Splendors of the Past: Lost Cities of the Ancient World

The causes of the final downfall of Kush are

• well-known

• detailed

• mysterious

• unusual

Sundiata Keita was a

• great warrior king who seized Ghana.

• great griot in Mali.

• powerful soldier in Ghana.

• lion worshipped in Mali.

Which river is not located on the African continent?

• The Niger

• The Nile

• The Amazon

• The Congo

Movements in tectonic plates caused a valley that stretches from East Africa to the Red Sea. What is the name of this valley?

• The Congo River Valley

• The Great Rift Valley

• The Great Plateau Valley

• The Nile River Valley