Ch. 18: States and Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa

The remarkable oral tradition of sub-Saharan Africa was preserved primarily by

• Muslim African scholars.

• professional singers and griots.

• village chiefs and diviners.

• women.

The story of Sundiata was about

• the heroic deeds of the lion prince in establishing the Mali empire.

• the misery of slaves captured and traded in the Mediterranean basin network.

• the coming of Islam as a dominant faith in sub-Saharan societies.

• the rise of the Swahili city-states.

Trade and communications networks were slower to penetrate sub-Saharan Africa compared to other regions because

• Africans had little contact with each other.

• Africans did not have any goods that others wanted to trade for.

• there was a language barrier.

• there were formidable geographic barriers to overcome.

• All these answers are correct.

The earliest Bantu migrants were

• aggressive warriors.

• hunting and gathering peoples.

• fishing peoples.

• agriculturalists

• horsemen

All of the following stimulated African migrations EXCEPT

• iron metallurgy.

• bubonic plague.

• bananas.

• population pressure.

• agriculture.

Before the tenth century, the dominant form of social organization in sub-Saharan Africa was the

• city-state.

• empire.

• kin-based system.

• kingdom

• theocracy

Which of the following statements describes a typical kin-based society?

• Male heads of families presided over village affairs.

• The most prominent of the family heads acted as chief.

• A group of villages constituted a district.

• Ethnic loyalties were focused at the district level.

• All these answers are correct.

The kingdom of Kongo

• emerged as a powerful state through trading with Muslim merchants of north Africa.

• maintained a royal currency system based on cowries from the Indian Ocean.

• was a loosely organized government with little authority over officials.

• was destroyed by the expansion of the Swahili.

The arrival of camels in Africa

• made communication across the Sahara possible.

• quickened the pace of communication across the Sahara.

• replaced elephants as the preferred transport animals throughout the Sahara.

• still did not make travel across the Sahara possible.

Koumbi-Saleh was to the kingdom of Ghana as

• Mansa Musa was to the Mali empire.

• Niani was to the Mali empire.

• Sundiata was to the Mali empire.

• Zaire was to the kingdom of Kongo.

• Axum was to the Christians.