Page 141 - Empires of Medieval West Africa

Empir E s of m E di E v al w E st africa

nomad a person with no permanent home savanna a grassy plain with few trees
who moves from place to place siege cutting off a town or fort from the
oasis an area in the desert that has water and outside so it cannot receive supplies and the
growing plants; the plural is oases citizens cannot escape
oral tradition remembering history by tell- silt fine particles of ash, clay, or other mate-
ing stories rial that is carried by running water and
pilgrimage a journey to a special sacred eventually deposited down the river as
place; people who take such a journey are sediment
called pilgrims sohanci diviners and sorcerers in Songhay
polytheism worshipping more than one god sorcerer a wizard or magician; a female is a
praise name a substitute for a person’s sorceress
name that describes the person’s best char- sub-Saharan south of the Sahara Desert
acteristics or deeds. successor a person who comes after
quran the sacred scripture of Islam another and inherits or continues in the
reign the period during which a particular offices they held
ruler rules textiles cloth, or items made from cloth
ritual a ceremony carried out according to tribute riches paid to a foreign ruler to pre-
laws and customs vent an invasion or show obedience
Sahel the area on the southern fringe of the tyrant a ruler who uses power in a cruel and
Sahara Desert where the land changes from unreasonable way
desert to savanna

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