Deck 8: Early Civilizations in Africa

Question 1

From 8000 to 4000 B.C.E., the Sahara featured lakes and ponds and vast grasslands.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The king of Mali who went on a famous pilgrimage to Mecca in the fourteenth century was Mansa Musa.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The vast grasslands that border the great desert region of the Sahara are known as

A)meoris.
B)wetlands.
C)savannahs.
D)jungles.
E)transvaals.

Answer 3

savannahs.

Question 4

The Bantu languages feature a "click" sound.

Question 5

The great river that dominates the western region of Africa, the so-called "hump of Africa," is the

A)Nile.
B)Niger.
C)Congo.
D)Zaire.
E)Zambeze.

Question 6

The Kush adopted many of their political and cultural institutions from Egypt.​

Question 7

In the fourth century, the rulers of Axum adopted the Roman Catholic form of Christianity.

Question 8

In Ethiopia in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, during the era of Zagwe dynasty, Christian churches were carved out of solid rock.

Question 9

Which of the following statements about the Sahara Desert is true?

A)Its western half was under the Atlantic Ocean until 2000 B.C.E.
B)All evidence indicates that it was never anything other than a vast desert region.
C)At one point, it was an area that was green and flourishing with life.
D)It contained no significant trade routes.
E)It completely cut off Egypt from the rest of Africa.

Question 10

Axum was

A)the capital city of Kush.
B)founded possibly by migrants from the Kingdom of Saba/Sheba in the Arabian Peninsula.
C)the home of Mansa Musa.
D)fatally defeated by the army of Zimbabwe.
E)on the Congo River.

Question 11

Slavery in Africa began only with the arrival of the Europeans in the late fifteenth century.

Question 12

Which of the following is not a valid observation about the ancient civilization of the Kush?

A)It was located in Nubia.
B)Evidence suggests that it may have developed an agricultural kingdom before the Egyptians.
C)It spread its empire to the north by driving the Romans out of Egypt.
D)It had emerged as a major trading state by the end of the second millennium B.C.E.
E)It declined in the mid-first millennium B.C.E.

Question 13

A unique aspect of the ancient Ethiopian civilization was the fact that

A)it was the only Muslim society in the area.
B)it adopted the form of Christianity practiced in Egypt.
C)its assimilation by Kush was brought about through the development of trade ties.
D)the Syrians were able to make it a Muslim nation.
E)it remained animist in religion until the twentieth century.

Question 14

Competition to Meroe's economic predominance came from

A)Yoruba.
B)Kush.
C)Sahara.
D)Axum.
E)Saba.

Question 15

Some archeologists claim that agriculture may have appeared first in Nubia rather than in the lower Nile valley.

Question 16

The population of Madagascar was settled by Malay settlers.​

Question 17

If one traveled south from the grasslands of central Africa, one would reach the region of

A)the transvaal.
B)the Great Divide of the continent.
C)the area in which the predecessors of modern human beings first lived.
D)some of the world's richest deposits of minerals.
E)the Nile River

Question 18

The first conversion of rulers to Islam in Africa was the royal family of Gao.​

Question 19

The people of North Africa, who served as trade intermediaries for the great trans-Saharan commerce, were the

A)Kurds.
B)Phoenicians.
C)Carthaginians.
D)Berbers.
E)Cree.

Question 20

The geographical obstacle which divides Africa's northern coast from the rest of the continent

A)is the Niger River.
B)is the Nile River.
C)are the Atlas Mountains.
D)is the Sahara Desert.
E)is the Kalahari Desert.

Question 21

All of the following statements about the arrival of Islam in Africa are true except

A)it began with the Arab defeat of the Byzantines in Egypt.
B)Muslim conversion was probably stimulated by tax incentives.
C)the Arab capture of Carthage unified their hegemony over what they called al-Maghrib.
D)Berber resistance blocked Arab expansion to the westward continental limits until after 1200.
E)Arab merchants played a notable role in trade in much of northern, central, and eastern Africa.

Question 22

The local chieftain of a Mali farming village was called a

A)mansa.
B)nkisi.
C)bantu.
D)saba.
E)sheikh.

Question 23

The San

A)was the largest tribal grouping in West Africa.
B)kept the Bantu out of their lands for eight centuries by using a guerrilla war strategy.
C)created the largest city in southern Africa in the eleventh century.
D)linguistically were related to the Khoi, distinguished by the use of "clicking" sounds.
E)overwhelmed the fortress at Marrakech in 1066.

Question 24

The lowest and most basic level of African social groupings was the

A)tribe.
B)lineage group.
C)nuclear family.
D)clan.
E)caste.

Question 25

In southern Africa,

A)an integration of Khoisan and Bantu-speaking peoples took place.
B)the people of the area were generally darker and taller than the migrants from the north.
C)the culture of the Khoisan-speaking society came to dominate the area.
D)Islam became dominant in the 700s.
E)Christianity survived in the mountains in the south until recent times.

Question 26

The Kingdom of Mali

A)profited greatly from the pearl trade.
B)was sufficiently dry to enable its farmers to grow corn, as well as sorghum and millet.
C)maintained a very active pro-Islamic policy under Mansa Musa.
D)rejected Islam in favor of Ethiopian-style Christianity.
E)disappeared in the fifth century C.E.

Question 27

The original reason for the rise of the kingdom of Ghana was

A)its water resources.
B)its rich silver deposits.
C)the role it played in the gold trade.
D)its commerce in silk.
E)its religious ties to the Byzantine Empire.

Question 28

In regard to the urban life of African towns, it can be said that

A)they initially developed in areas with poor farmland.
B)they usually developed from smaller, fortified walled villages.
C)they were composed solely of individual linear family groupings.
D)there was no commercial relationship between the ruler and the business people.
E)slaves were in the vast majority.

Question 29

In regard to state building in West Africa, it can be said that

A)Ghana was the first great commercial state there.
B)warfare with the Byzantines resulted in the eventual decline of the kingdom of Ghana.
C)trade and commerce produced the growth of an integrated empire in the region.
D)Zimbabwe replaced Ghana as the predominant trading nation of the area.
E)it was conquered by Arabs.

Question 30

Social practices typical in many African societies included

A)election of kings by all adult males.
B)a lineage system that was often matrilineal rather than patrilineal.
C)behavior patterns between the sexes that were more relaxed than those found in societies in other parts of the world.
D)both a lineage system that was often matrilineal rather than patrilineal and behavior patterns between the sexes that were more relaxed than those found in other societies.
E)none of these

Question 31

The family of languages spoken by people who inhabit the region south of the Sahara Desert and Axum is

A)Kalaharian.
B)Nok.
C)Swahili.
D)Bantu.
E)Khoisan.

Question 32

The great iron-working culture of northern Nigeria was the

A)Nok.
B)Axum.
C)Kush.
D)Berger.
E)Malagasy.

Question 33

Which of the following states developed in the center of Africa?

A)Luba
B)Timbuktu
C)Marrakech
D)Ditripoli
E)Axum

Question 34

The Kingdom of Ghana

A)remained poor, in spite of large lead deposits, because of series of spendthrift rulers.
B)exported gold, leather goods, slaves, and ostrich feathers.
C)was the first African state to develop large-scale fish farming.
D)had an merchant class but refused to trade with Berbers from the north.
E)accepted the tenets of Buddhism.

Question 35

A Malay settlement was established on the island of

A)Madagascar.
B)Zimbabwe.
C)Saba.
D)Rhapta.
E)Malawi.

Question 36

Which of the following statements accurately depicts the nature of the African lineage group?

A)It was similar in many respects to the clan in China and the caste system in India.
B)Outsiders were never permitted to join it.
C)It maintained the same limits of social class that the Maya had developed.
D)It was similar to the nuclear family.
E)It was disappeared with the coming of Islam.

Question 37

All of the following were true about the southern African state of Zimbabwe except

A)it was located south of the Zambezi River.
B)it played no significant role in the gold trade with the Swahili states to the east.
C)it derived great wealth from its role in expanded trade activities between coastal Africa and regions of the continent's interior.
D)a possible explanation for its demise may have been its unsound environmental practices, such as overgrazing.
E)it had a significant role in the gold trade with the Swahili states.

Question 38

All of the following are correct about the land of Zanj except

A)it had a large minority of residents from the Persian Gulf and Arabian peninsula.
B)it was ruled by the Zagwe and Azim dynasties for 400 years.
C)it exported rhinoceros horn, gold, and ivory.
D)it included the cities of Pemba, Kilwa, and Mombasa.
E)most of the coastal states were self-governing.

Question 39

The Ethiopian Christian dynasty which experienced a long-lasting conflict with African Muslims was the

A)Solomonid.
B)Coptic.
C)Zagwe.
D)Adal.
E)Gamal.

Question 40

The following were true about the trans-Sahara caravan trade except

A)the Arab introduction of the camel into Africa enabled this trade to greatly increase.
B)cultural exchanges were stimulated by the growth of the caravan activity.
C)it enabled the Sahara region to become a major crossroad of international commerce.
D)it brought the first Islamic traders to central Africa in the first century B.C.E.
E)it allowed Islam to influence much of Africa south of the Sahara.

Question 41

Which of the following is the earliest form of surviving architecture found in Africa?

A)the Moorish palaces at Zanzibar
B)the pyramids of Egypt
C)the ruins of Great Zimbabwe
D)the mound city of Timbuktu
E)the ruins of Carthage

Question 42

The first Arabic settlement in Africa was in ​

A)​Egypt
B)​Axum
C)​Tunisia
D)​Morocco
E)​Ghana

Question 43

Which of the following is a true statement about African building materials during the first millennium C.E.?

A)Stone was increasingly used in West Africa during in the first millennium C.E.
B)The only construction material used during that period was dried mud.
C)Mosques were always constructed of wood.
D)The heavy use of mortar was predominant in buildings constructed at Great Zimbabwe.
E)Metal became an important building material as early as 1000 B.C.E.

Question 44

Recent archeological and anthropological discoveries have shown that

A)Africans took over the Arabian Peninsula before 1,000 B.C.E.
B)African societies were much more involved in worldwide developments of human history than had previously been believed.
C)the process of state-building was more advanced in sub-Sahara Africa than it was in ancient India, China and Mesopotamia.
D)farming and kingship were concepts brought into Africa from Mesopotamia.
E)Africa was totally isolated from the rest of the world until the tenth century C.E.

Question 45

The people in trade in North Africa who were not nomads were the

A)Saba
B)Lebanese.
C)Garamantes.
D)Mauritanians.
E)Phoenicians.

Question 46

The preferred crop of many Bantu peoples was the​

A)​yam.
B)​manioc.
C)​banana.
D)​beans.
E)​potato.

Question 47

African music

A)never served a religious function.
B)refused to employ the use of strong motifs of repeated beats.
C)produced a totality of music in its combination of voice and instrument sounds.
D)played no role in the ceremonies, rituals, and education processes of the society.
E)was restricted only to non-Islam societies.

Question 48

There are San rock paintings discovered in Africa that depict illustrations of ritual ceremonies directed by the village shamans to

A)induce rain.
B)propitiate the merchants.
C)bring nirvana.
D)prevent floods.
E)prevent war.

Question 49

​According to the Periplus, the cosmopolitan population engaging in trade in Southeast Africa was found at

A)​Lake Victoria.
B)​Port Rhapta.
C)​Madagascar
D)​Ethiopia
E)​Axum

Question 50

Bronze head sculptures and relief plaques depicting West African court life were created in

A)Benin.
B)Ife.
C)Nok.
D)San.
E)Kongo.

Question 51

The distinctively carved stone pillars used to mark the tombs of Axum kings are known as

A)stelae.
B)mansa.
C)sasa.
D)zamani.
E)ziggurats.

Question 52

African art

A)consists only of poetry and sculpture.
B)is very limited, due to the fact that wood was the universal medium of artistic statement.
C)contains no other major examples of architectural achievement except the pyramids.
D)includes the impressively crafted, mortar-less structures at Great Zimbabwe.
E)appeared only with the coming of Islam.

Question 53

​What was the chief reason for migration of peoples in North Africa to go east and south to resettle?

A)​Invasion by Egyptians.
B)​Warfare among tribes in the the Sahalian kingdoms.
C)​Egyptians dammed the Nile river and made settled agriculture impossible.
D)​Drying up of the Saharan grasslands.
E)​Trade connections with the Indian ocean network.

Question 54

In addition to woodcarvings, other major African artistic contributions have been

A)steel sculptures of European visitors done before 100 B.C.E.
B)ivory statues from southern Nigeria.
C)bronze and iron statuary produced at today's southern Nigeria.
D)wooden fortresses constructed in Zimbabwe.
E)Saharan aqueducts at Aswan.

Question 55

African culture

A)is notable for its use of bards to retain and spread communal history and religious beliefs.
B)rapidly did away with bards once the Arabic and Swahili languages were established.
C)never used the storytelling talents of women to spread and perpetuate knowledge and beliefs.
D)used only wooden carvings for religious purposes, reserving terra-cotta and metal objects for secular occasions.
E)was never subject to outside influences.

Question 56

Which of the following was not true about the spread of Islam in Africa?

A)It achieved only limited success in the mountains of Ethiopia.
B)It interfered with the efforts of African rulers to strengthen their power.
C)Its concepts of egalitarianism and polygamy had great appeal among the common people.
D)A different and distinctly African form of the religion developed, as local religious practices replaced basic Islamic ones.
E)It had considerable success in both West Africa and in East Africa

Question 57

Music in African societies

A)was almost exclusively composed of singing, with supporting instruments rarely used.
B)was rarely related to religious activity.
C)employed various musical instruments, including the harp, bells, and the xylophone.
D)was exported to the New World in the eleventh century.
E)played no role in most communities.

Question 58

Slavery in Africa

A)was introduced by the Muslims.
B)went back to ancient times, long before the arrival of the Europeans.
C)saved its harshest treatment for the domestic and royal servants.
D)was virtually nonexistent in North Africa.
E)never involved more than two percent of the population.

Question 59

Before Islam developed in Africa,

A)most of the continent, aside from Egypt and Axum, did not have organized religions.
B)most African societies already had well-developed systems of religious belief.
C)the Ashanti worshiped a supreme god, Siva.
D)all Africans were agnostics.
E)Christianity had a strong presence in the far south of the continent.

Question 60

Trade along East Africa ​and across the Indian ocean was facilitated by

A)​a string of islands making distances between landfall shorter.
B)​the Trade Winds.
C)​an extensive network of maritime republics to trade routes.
D)​monsoon winds.
E)​lack of sharks.

Question 61

Identify the following terms.
Congo River

Question 62

Identify the following terms.
savannas

Question 63

Identify the following terms.
Axum

Question 64

Identify the following terms.
Kush

Question 65

Identify the following terms.
Saba

Question 66

According to Swahili oral tradition, the founding of the Zanj ​

A)​was due to the desire to convert to Islam.
B)​an obstacle to prevent assimilation by the Malay peoples.
C)​reflected the degree to which Africa merchants were tied into international trade.
D)​brought Zoroastrianism to East Africa.
E)​initiated the Indian ocean slave trade.

Question 67

Identify the following terms.
the Garamantes

Question 68

Identify the following terms.
Nubia

Question 69

​One of the main reasons for the decline of the kingdom of Axum was

A)​warfare with Berbers.
B)​assimilation by Romans.
C)​a shift in trade routes to the Arabian peninsula and Persian gulf.
D)​competing farming with yam-producing Madagascar.
E)​desiccation of the Sahara.

Question 70

Identify the following terms.
"hermit kingdom"

Question 71

Identify the following terms.
Meroë

Question 72

Identify the following terms.
Nok culture

Question 73

Identify the following terms.
desiccation of the Sahara

Question 74

Identify the following terms.
Coptic Christianity

Question 75

Identify the following terms.
Niger River

Question 76

Identify the following terms.
"fleets of the desert"

Question 77

Identify the following terms.
Karl Mauch/19th century Europeans

Question 78

Identify the following terms.
Ethiopia

Question 79

The impressive Husini Kubwa described by Ibn Battuta was

A)a rock-carved church in Ethiopia.
B)a monument of Nok pottery heads.
C)the Great Mosque at Jenna.
D)a palace on Kilwa.
E)the central marketplace in Mombasa.

Question 80

Identify the following terms.
Madagascar