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Guinea (region)
Guinea is a traditional name for the region of the African coast of West Africa which lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It is a naturally moist tropical forest or savanna that stretches along the coast and borders the Sahel belt in the north. Etymology The etymology of "Guinea" is uncertain. The English term ''Guinea'' comes directly from the Spanish word ''Guinea'', which in turn derives from the Portuguese word ''Guiné''. The Portuguese term emerged in the mid-15th century to refer to the lands inhabited by the ''Guineus'', a generic term used by the Portuguese to refer to the 'black' African peoples living south of the Senegal River (in contrast to the 'tawny' Sanhaja Berbers, north of it, whom they called ''Azenegues''). The term "Guinea" is extensively used in the 1453 chronicle of Gomes Eanes de Zurara. King John II of Portugal took up the title of ''Senhor da Guiné'' (Lord of Guinea) from 1481. It is believed the Portuguese borrowed ''Guineus'' from the Berber term ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Negroland And Guinea With The European Settlements, 1736
Negroland, or Nigritia, is an archaic term in European mapping, referring to Europeans’ descriptions of West Africa as an area populated with negroes. This area comprised at least the western part of the region called Sudan (not to be confused with the modern country). The term is probably a direct translation of the Arabic term ''Bilad as-Sudan'' (بلاد السودان), meaning "Land of the Blacks", corresponding to about the same area. There were various kinds of people in the area, including the Jews of Bilad as-Sudan. The Persians called these areas Zangistān (زنگستان), meaning "Land of the Blacks" and the name ''Zang'' for black still remains in the name of Zanzibar (from Persian زنگبار (Zangibār) meaning "The Coast of Blacks". The name was given by Persian navigators when they visited the area in the middle ages. Some of the greatest states of those considered part of Negroland were the Bornu Empire and the Sokoto Caliphate. "Negroland" represent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classical Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic period (), and the Classical period (). Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a standard subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical periods of the language. From the Hellenistic period (), Ancient Greek was followed by Koine Greek, which is regarded as a separate historical stage, although its earliest form closely resembles Attic Greek and its latest form approaches Medieval Greek. There were several regional dialects of Ancient Greek, of which Attic Greek developed into Koine. Dia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Bakri
Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn ʿAmr al-Bakrī ( ar, أبو عبيد عبد الله بن عبد العزيز بن محمد بن أيوب بن عمرو البكري), or simply al-Bakrī (c. 1040–1094) was an Arab Andalusian historian and a geographer of the Muslim West. Life Al-Bakri was born in Huelva, the son of the sovereign of a short-lived principality there. His family established this self-governed area in Huelva when the Caliphate of Cordoba fell in 1031. Al-Bakri belonged to the Arab tribe of Bakr. When his father was deposed by al-Mu'tadid (1042–1069) of the ruler of Taifa of Seville, he then moved to Córdoba, where he studied with the geographer al-Udri and the historian Ibn Hayyan. He spent his entire life in Al-Andalus, most of it in Seville and Almeria. While in Seville, he was there when El Cid arrived to collect tributes from Alfonso VI. He died in Córdoba without ever having travelled to the locations of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Timbuktu
Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou; Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali and one town of Songhai people. It had a population of 54,453 in the 2009 census. Timbuktu began as a seasonal settlement and became a permanent settlement early in the 12th century. After a shift in trading routes, particularly after the visit by Mansa Musa around 1325, Timbuktu flourished from the trade in salt, gold, ivory and slaves. It gradually expanded as an important Islamic city on the Saharan trade route and attracted many scholars and traders. It became part of the Mali Empire early in the 14th century. In the first half of the 15th century, the Tuareg people took control of the city for a short period until the expanding Songhai Empire absorbed the city in 1468. A Moroccan army defeated the Songhai in 159 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mali Empire
The Mali Empire ( Manding: ''Mandé''Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: ''UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, Abridged Edition: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century'', p. 57. University of California Press, 1997. or Manden; ar, مالي, Mālī) was an empire in West Africa from 1226 to 1670. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita (c. 1214 – c. 1255) and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa (Musa Keita). The Manding languages were spoken in the empire. At its peak, Mali was the largest empire in West Africa, widely influencing the culture of the region through the spread of its language, laws and customs. Much of the recorded information about the Mali Empire comes from 14th-century Tunisian historian Ibn Khaldun, 14th-century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta and 16th-century Andalusian traveller Leo Africanus. The other major source of information is Mandinka oral tradition, as recorded by storytellers known as griots. The empire began as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ghana Empire
The Ghana Empire, also known as Wagadou ( ar, غانا) or Awkar, was a West African empire based in the modern-day southeast of Mauritania and western Mali that existed from c. 300 until 1100. The Empire was founded by the Soninke people, and was based in the capital city of Koumbi Saleh. Complex societies, some based on trans-Saharan trade in salt and gold had existed in the region for centuries at the time of the empire's formation. The introduction of the camel to the western Sahara in the 3rd century AD served as a major catalyst for the transformative social changes that resulted in the empire's formation. By the time of the Muslim conquest of North Africa in the 7th century the camel had changed the ancient, more irregular trade routes into a trade network running from Morocco to the Niger River. The Ghana Empire grew rich from this increased trans-Saharan trade in gold and slaves and salt, allowing for larger urban centers to develop. The traffic furthermore encourag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niger River
The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Niger, on the border with Benin and then through Nigeria, discharging through a massive delta, known as the Niger Delta (or the Oil Rivers), into the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. The Niger is the third-longest river in Africa, exceeded by the Nile and the Congo River. Its main tributary is the Benue River. Etymology The Niger has different names in the different languages of the region: * Fula: ''Maayo Jaaliba'' * Manding: ''Jeliba'' or ''Joliba'' "great river" * Tuareg: ''Egerew n-Igerewen'' "river of rivers" * Songhay: ''Isa'' "the river" * Zarma: ''Isa Beeri'' "great river" * Hausa: ''Kwara'' *Nupe: ''Èdù'' * Yoruba: ''Ọya'' "named after the Yoruba goddess Ọya, who is believed to embody the ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Djenné
Djenné ( Bambara: ߘߖߋߣߣߋ tr. Djenne; also known as Djénné, Jenné and Jenne) is a Songhai people town and an urban commune in the Inland Niger Delta region of central Mali. The town is the administrative centre of the Djenné Cercle, one of the eight subdivisions of the Mopti Region. The commune includes ten of the surrounding villages and in 2009 had a population of 32,944. The history of Djenné is closely linked with that of Timbuktu. Between the 15th and 17th centuries much of the trans-Saharan trade in goods such as salt, gold, and slaves that moved in and out of Timbuktu passed through Djenné. Both towns became centres of Islamic scholarship. Djenné's prosperity depended on this trade and when the Portuguese established trading posts on the African coast, the importance of the trans-Saharan trade and thus of Djenné declined. The town is famous for its distinctive adobe architecture, most notably the Great Mosque which was built in 1907 on the site of an earli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III
The Biblioteca nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III (''Victor Emmanuel III National Library'') is a national library of Italy. It occupies the eastern wing of the 18th-century Royal Palace (Naples), Palazzo Reale in Naples, at 1 Piazza del Plebiscito, and has entrances from piazza Trieste e Trento. It is funded and organised by the Direzione Generale per i Beni Librari and the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali. In quantitative terms it is the third largest library in Italy, after the national libraries in Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Roma, Rome and Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Firenze, Florence, with 1,480,747 printed volumes, 319,187 pamphlets, 18,415 manuscripts, more than 8,000 periodicals, 4,500 Incunabulum, incunabula and the 1,800 Herculaneum papyri. History and collections The library was founded at the end of the 18th century in the Palazzo degli Studi (which now houses the Naples National Archaeological Museum, Museo Archeologico), with its nucleus formed of book ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Description Of Africa (1550 Book)
''Description of Africa'' was taken largely from the firsthand geographical work '' Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica'' completed by Leo Africanus in 1526IL MANOSCRITTO DELLA COSMOGRAPHIA DE L'AFFRICA DI GIOVANNI LEONE AFRICANO. NOTE IN MARGINE ALL’EDIZIONE CRITICA DEL TESTO HE MANUSCRIPT OF THE COSMOGRAPHIA DE L'AFFRICA BY JOHANNES LEO AFRICANUS SOME NOTES ABOUT THE CRITICAL EDITION OF ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo Africanus
Joannes Leo Africanus (born al-Hasan Muhammad al-Wazzan, ar, الحسن محمد الوزان ; c. 1494 – c. 1554) was an Andalusian diplomat and author who is best known for his 1526 book '' Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica'', later published by Giovanni Battista Ramusio as '' Descrittione dell’Africa'' (''Description of Africa'') in 1550, centered on the geography of the Maghreb and Nile Valley. The book was regarded among his scholarly peers in Europe as the most authoritative treatise on the subject until the modern exploration of Africa. For this work, Leo became a household name among European geographers. He converted from Islam to Christianity and changed his name to Johannes Leo de Medicis (). Biography Most of what is known about his life is gathered from autobiographical notes in his own work. Leo Africanus was born as al-Hasan, son of Muhammad in Granada around the year 1494. The year of birth can be estimated from his self-reported age at the time of v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
%2C_scene_at_the_river_front.jpg "Click for more on -> Niger River")
.jpg "Click for more on -> Djenné")
