Review Questions
1
.
Why was the camel important to trans-Saharan trade?
-
Its obstinate nature makes it hard for handlers to control.
-
It produces a fine wool that can be spun into luxurious textiles.
-
Its milk is used to produce cheese, an important source of protein.
-
Its biological advantages made regular long-distance trade in the Sahara possible.
2
.
How did the widespread adoption of Islam help facilitate trans-Saharan trade?
-
by giving Muslim merchants, traders, and caravanners a shared set of customs, laws, traditions, and language
-
by making the caravan trade the exclusive vocation of Tuareg Berber nomads
-
by opening the markets of the pilgrimage route between Niani and Kilwa
-
by causing conflict between dissident Muslim groups, thereby opening competing markets for new manufactured goods
3
.
In addition to gold and salt, what two other types of goods were regularly exported from Africa?
-
obsidian and cobalt
-
hides and cotton
-
textiles and enslaved people
-
ivory and sugar
4
.
In the mid-fifteenth century, who purchased enslaved people from Mali on the Senegambia coast?
-
French
-
Portuguese
-
British
-
Dutch
5
.
What were some of the key exports from Songhai?
-
kola nuts, salt, and gold
-
hides, jewels, and enslaved people
-
ceramics, cloth, and horses
-
enslaved people, pottery, and weapons
6
.
What were Timbuktu and Djenné renowned as?
-
centers of religious pilgrimage
-
river port cities at the confluence of the Senegal and Gambia Rivers
-
types of calligraphy used by Islamic clerics
-
centers of Islamic learning and religious scholarship, as well as trans-Saharan trade
7
.
What was the capital of the Songhai Empire?
-
Kano
-
Djenné
-
Gao
-
Taghaza
8
.
Why didn’t the trading ports of the Swahili coast extend along the full length of the coast of Africa?
-
Hostile tribes in the south kept merchants from establishing cities.
-
Tropical diseases in the south made it too dangerous for people to live there.
-
The southern part of the coast had been colonized by the French.
-
The seas there were too rough for the dhows and the monsoon winds too weak.
9
.
What trade item was produced in the Swahili city-states?
-
glassware
-
gold
-
pottery
-
silverware
10
.
What was the source of most of the enslaved people who were traded on the Swahili coast?
-
the interior of the African continent
-
Eastern Europe
-
the Arabian Peninsula
-
the Swahili city-states
11
.
Which Swahili city-state came to dominate the southern part of the coast, trading in gold with Sofala?
-
Mogadishu
-
Kilwa
-
Mombasa
-
Zanzibar
12
.
The Kanem-Bornu Empire was able to maintain its control over the slave trade partly through military innovations, including weapons imported from _____.
-
North Africa
-
Portugal
-
the Slave Coast
-
the Songhai Empire
13
.
By the eighteenth century, what was the main slave trading center on the West African coast?
-
Timbuktu
-
Bornu
-
Whydah
-
Gao
14
.
Located in modern-day Ghana, ____ was a flourishing center of the ____ trade beginning in the sixteenth century.
-
Benin, sugar
-
Togo, salt
-
Elmina, slave
-
São Tomé, copper