Middle Ages in the Middle East & Africa Quiz

Why was salt so valuable?

• Salt was used as a fertilizer for crops.

• Salt was used in many religious ceremonies.

• People needed salt in their diets and they used it to preserve and season foods.

• Salt was used as a medicine.

The practice of Islam throughout much of West Africa is evidence that

• Islam originated in West Africa and spread to the Middle East.

• Europeans encouraged Islamic beliefs during the colonial period.

• Islam spread beyond the borders of the Arabian peninsula through trade routes.

• Chinese trade carried Islamic beliefs to West Africa.

A similarity between the ancient western African kingdoms of Mali, Ghana, and Songhai is that these kingdoms

• limited the power of their rulers

• practiced Christianity

• established economies based on trade

• isolated themselves from contact with other cultures

The commodities gold and salt were important to many regions of West Africa because they

• were abundant in the region, allowing it to develop self-sufficiently and become wealthy.

• were both vital to health and very rare in the region, which made them valuable.

• helped create great wealth and vast trade networks that spread new ideas.

• increased trade, bringing in great wealth and spreading new ideas such as Christianity, which became the official religion.

Often used in Africa, what type of culture traces its descendants through the mother?

• patrilineal

• matrilineal

• terelineal

• unilineal

How did the Kingdom of Ghana profit from outsider?

• selling fish

• capturing slaves

• finding gold mines

• taxing traders

Buildings for Muslim prayer are called

• mosques

• churches

• temples

• hajj

Mansa Musa is most famous for..

• converting to Christianity and helping spread the religion to West Africa.

• making a pilgrimage to Mecca and showing off his wealth along the way.

• ruling the Songhai Empire and increasing their copper trade.

• bring a terrible leader and leading to the downfall of the Mali Empire.

A major contribution of the Golden Age of Islam was the

• creation of the first polytheistic religion.

• spread of democratic ideals.

• development of mercantilism.

• advancement of mathematics, science, and hygiene.

Which of the following is true regarding Africa's geography?

• Africa's extremely large size and diverse climate cause a wide variety of landscapes from deserts to tropical jungles.

• The small size of the Sahara and its strategic location for trade made it very easy for travelers to cross.

• Africa's is mostly made up of savannas that spread across its more than 5,000-mile long continent.

• Africa is the only continent on earth to have mountains, deserts, plateaus, and dense forests.