full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Stephanie Honchell Smith: The warrior who defeated the mighty Mughals

Unscramble the Blue Letters


In 1624, Mughal Emperor Jahangir received word of yet another defeat at the hands of his greatest enemy: Malik Ambar. Despite coming to India as an enslaved yuoth, Ambar had risen to rule over the Indian Sultanate of Ahmednagar. And his brilliant mritlaiy tactics had brought the Mughals’ march of cqouesnt to a scrcineehg halt. jnhagiar was so obsessed with detieafng his rival, he'd commissioned a painting of himself shooting an arrow at Ambar's sklul.

Malik Ambar was born in the late 1540s in central Ethiopia as Chapu, a member of the Oromo polpee. Every year, as part of ongoing conflicts with their norgehbis, Oromo youth were among the thousands of Ethiopians captured and sold into the Indian Ocean Slave Trade. In this part of the world, enslaved individuals rneteiad some legal rights and elvaenrss could be held accountable for severe mistreatment. There was also less legal discrimination against previously enslaved people, awnlolig some iddnaliuvis who gained their freedom to acquire great wealth and power. However, these caetrccinsums shouldn’t overshadow the trauma of enslavement, which violently severed individuals from their lives and loved ones.

Open Cloze


In 1624, Mughal Emperor Jahangir received word of yet another defeat at the hands of his greatest enemy: Malik Ambar. Despite coming to India as an enslaved _____, Ambar had risen to rule over the Indian Sultanate of Ahmednagar. And his brilliant ________ tactics had brought the Mughals’ march of ________ to a __________ halt. ________ was so obsessed with _________ his rival, he'd commissioned a painting of himself shooting an arrow at Ambar's _____.

Malik Ambar was born in the late 1540s in central Ethiopia as Chapu, a member of the Oromo ______. Every year, as part of ongoing conflicts with their _________, Oromo youth were among the thousands of Ethiopians captured and sold into the Indian Ocean Slave Trade. In this part of the world, enslaved individuals ________ some legal rights and _________ could be held accountable for severe mistreatment. There was also less legal discrimination against previously enslaved people, ________ some ___________ who gained their freedom to acquire great wealth and power. However, these _____________ shouldn’t overshadow the trauma of enslavement, which violently severed individuals from their lives and loved ones.

Solution


  1. people
  2. screeching
  3. conquest
  4. individuals
  5. skull
  6. neighbors
  7. youth
  8. defeating
  9. enslavers
  10. retained
  11. circumstances
  12. allowing
  13. jahangir
  14. military

Original Text


In 1624, Mughal Emperor Jahangir received word of yet another defeat at the hands of his greatest enemy: Malik Ambar. Despite coming to India as an enslaved youth, Ambar had risen to rule over the Indian Sultanate of Ahmednagar. And his brilliant military tactics had brought the Mughals’ march of conquest to a screeching halt. Jahangir was so obsessed with defeating his rival, he'd commissioned a painting of himself shooting an arrow at Ambar's skull.

Malik Ambar was born in the late 1540s in central Ethiopia as Chapu, a member of the Oromo people. Every year, as part of ongoing conflicts with their neighbors, Oromo youth were among the thousands of Ethiopians captured and sold into the Indian Ocean Slave Trade. In this part of the world, enslaved individuals retained some legal rights and enslavers could be held accountable for severe mistreatment. There was also less legal discrimination against previously enslaved people, allowing some individuals who gained their freedom to acquire great wealth and power. However, these circumstances shouldn’t overshadow the trauma of enslavement, which violently severed individuals from their lives and loved ones.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
malik ambar 3
chief minister 2
newly freed 2
freed africans 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
newly freed africans 2

Important Words


  1. accountable
  2. acquire
  3. ahmednagar
  4. allowing
  5. ambar
  6. arrow
  7. born
  8. brilliant
  9. brought
  10. captured
  11. central
  12. chapu
  13. circumstances
  14. coming
  15. commissioned
  16. conflicts
  17. conquest
  18. defeat
  19. defeating
  20. discrimination
  21. emperor
  22. enslaved
  23. enslavement
  24. enslavers
  25. ethiopia
  26. ethiopians
  27. freedom
  28. gained
  29. great
  30. greatest
  31. halt
  32. hands
  33. held
  34. india
  35. indian
  36. individuals
  37. jahangir
  38. late
  39. legal
  40. lives
  41. loved
  42. malik
  43. march
  44. member
  45. military
  46. mistreatment
  47. mughal
  48. neighbors
  49. obsessed
  50. ocean
  51. ongoing
  52. oromo
  53. overshadow
  54. painting
  55. part
  56. people
  57. power
  58. previously
  59. received
  60. retained
  61. rights
  62. risen
  63. rival
  64. rule
  65. screeching
  66. severe
  67. severed
  68. shooting
  69. skull
  70. slave
  71. sold
  72. sultanate
  73. tactics
  74. thousands
  75. trade
  76. trauma
  77. violently
  78. wealth
  79. word
  80. world
  81. year
  82. youth