| A | B |
|---|
| Sahara | desert stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea; size of the United States |
| savanna | grassy plains |
| Sahel | "coastline"; the southern edge of the Sahara desert |
| desertification | the steady process of drying of the soil |
| extended family | parent and children with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins |
| clan | a group that shares common ancestors |
| animism | a religion in which spirits played an important role in regulating daily life |
| griot | storytellers; kept history alive, passing it from parent to child |
| Djenne-Djeno | the oldest known city in Africa south of the Sahara; found in 1077 on a tributary in the Niger River |
| Nok | West Africa's earliest known culture |
| Aksum | an African kingdom, in what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea, that reached the height of its power in the fourth century |
| Adulis | Aksum's chief seaport; helped Aksom become an international trading power |
| Ezana | ruler of Aksom between AD 325 and 360; conquered the Arabian peninsula and Kush |
| Bantu-speaking peoples | the speakers of Proto-Bantu; includes many different ethnic groups |
