| A | B |
|---|
| Sub Shaharan | the area in Africa south of the Sahara desert |
| Trans Saharan | crossing the Sahara desert, specifically the movement of tade goods across the desert |
| Migration | the act of moving from one place to settle in another |
| Savanna | a flat, grassy plain |
| Caravan | a group traveling together usually with goods to trade |
| Swahili | an Arabic-influenced Bantu language that is spoken widely in eastern and central Africa |
| Matrilineal | relating to a social system in which family descent and inheritance rights are traced through the mother |
| Patrilineal | relating to a social system in which family descent and inheritance rights are passed through the father |
| Silent Trade System | Ghanan merchants set goods out on a large rug and did not say a word, traveling merchants then exchanged their goods for Ghana's goods |
| Bantu speaking people | the speakers of a related group of languages who migrated from West Africa into most of the southern half of Africa |
| conquistador | the Spanish soldiers, explorers, and fortune hunters who took part in the conquest of the Americas in the 16th century |
| astrolabe | instrument used by sailors to measure the height of the sun or a star above the horizon from which they could determine the latitude where they were located |
| magnetic compass | intstrument that helped sailors navigate the open sea by determining true north and which direction the wind was blowing their ship |
| triangular sails | these were adopted from the Arabs and allowed ships to sail against the wind |
| caravel | a versatile shipdeveloped in the 1400's that was sturdy, 65 feet long with a large cargo area and shallow draft |
| sextant | replaced the astrolabe in the mid-1700-s as the instrument for measuring the height of stars above the horizon to determine latitude and longitude |
| tribute | payment made by a weaker power to a stronger power to obtain an assurance of peace and security |
| Mesoamerica | an area extending from central Mexico to Honduras, where several of the ancient complex societies of the Americas developed |
| Columbian Exchange | the global transfer of plants, animals and diseases that occurred during the European colonization of the Americas |
| Encomienda | a grant of land made by Spain to a settler in the Americas, including the right to use Native Americans as laborers on int |
