The Bantu had knowledge of ____________ working, and their use of_____________ weapons gave them an advantage over other tribal groups.

______________ is one of the best-known of the surviving Bantu languages. For more than 5 million people, this is the language they learn as children, or their first language.

Beginning in the early 19th century, Arab trade _________________ - groups of merchants traveling together for safety - traveled farther into the interior of Africa, spreading Swahili to more people.

Today, many areas in Africa have two groups of people with different first languages. In these areas, Swahili is frequently spoken by both groups as a way to communicate. As a result, Swahili is the _______________, or common language between multiple groups of people.

The promise of valuable trade goods brought Arab traders to a transportation corridor from North Africa to West Africa. This ____________________, or trade across the Sahara, introduced Africans to the Islamic religion, which spread from the Arabian peninsula beginning in the 8th century AD.

Which West African kingdom actively traded with European countries such as Portugal and the Netherlands?

The powerful East African empire of _________ was located in present-day Ethiopia, flourishing between 300 and 600 AD.

Founded in 1390 AD, which central African state became known for its highly-organized government?

Between 1200 and 1450 AD, the Shona people in Southern Africa built a walled city out of stone, called _____________________.

The _________________________, or trading of slaves across the Atlantic Ocean, started around 1500.

After purchase, enslaved Africans were crowded onto large ships headed for European colonies in the Americas. This trip across the Atlantic Ocean, known as the __________________, could take several months.

The incentive, or motivating reason, for slavery was _______________. Europeans bought enslaved people in order to have a cheap and captive labor source.

The English were the 1st Europeans to explore the African coast in the 1400s.

About ___________________ people died in the Middle Passage, many due to malnutrition (inadequate food or nourishment) or disease.