Africa and the Atlantic World

Change over time Africa• Socially

• Politically

• Trading

Kongo, Songhai, Ndongo kingdomsCompare influence of Islam/Christianity

on African societiesSlave trade

• Middle passage

Rice

AFRICAN VERSION EUROPEAN VERSION

People were wealth ergo

slaves were wealth

• Therefore living slaves

were better than dead ones

Intermarriage with slaves

allowed

Family members rarely

sold

Land and specie are wealth

Slaves are property

Chattel slavery

Intermarriage forbidden

Racial component

600-1450 1450-1750

Trans-Saharan trade connects Sub-Saharan Africa

Trading empires – Ghana, Mali

Swahili City-states on E. Coast of Africa

Gold, Ivory, Salt, Slaves Merchants & elites convert

to Islam Kin-based social

organization

Maritime trade becomes

more important than Trans-

Saharan trade

Africans play a vital role in

global economy

Slaves become main export

Slave trade transforms

parts of Africa, other parts

not affected

European colonization

Takes over Mali

empire

15th century takes

over

Based in Gao

Swahili city states

begin to decline

• Why?

Centralized state –military, judicial, financial

1483 Portuguese merchants establish diplomatic relationships with kings• Advisors, support

Kings converted to Christianity

King Alfonso I sought to convert his subjects

Textiles, weapons, advisors exchanged for copper, ivory, slaves

Portugese traders undermined authority of the kIngs of Kongo

Kings appealed for limits to slave trade

Portuguese settlement Colonies war with

Kongolese and decapitate King

Ndongo = Angola

• Became wealthy

through slave trading

Queen Nzinga

• Allied with Dutch to

expel Portuguese

1st Portuguese colony

Europeans formed alliances with local

tribes

Intervened in disputes

Dutch mariners built Cape Town in 1652

• Claimed land belonging to the Khoikhoi

1700 large influx of Europeans

ISLAM CHRISTIANITY

Commercial centers in WA

Swahili city states in EA

University at Timbuktu

Syncretic religious

practices

Men and women associated

with one another

Fulani tried to impose strict

form of IslamC

Kongo & Angola

Adapted to be syncretic

Portuguese introduced

Catholicism

Antonian movement (Dona

Beatriz)

• Jesus was a black African

Man executed for heresy

CHANGE – Empire building, political turmoil

CONTINUITIES – kinship groups as basis for organization

CHANGE – trade w/Europeans brought textiles, metals, arms

CHANGE – American crops such as manioc, maize, peanuts

Write a thesis statement based on this slide.

0

10,000,000

20,000,000

30,000,000

40,000,000

50,000,000

60,000,000

70,000,000

1500 1600 1700 1800

On a piece of paper explain the effects of

European involvement in African trade.

Include:• Trading patterns

• Items traded

• Population impacts

Sub-Saharan trade, Swahili city state trade, Islamic trade, Silk road trade

African property laws“African Law did not recognize private property,

but rather vested ownership of land in communities… Slaves were a form of private investment, a type of heritable property, and a means of measuring wealth. Those who controlled large numbers of people were able to harvest more crops and accumulate more wealth than others.” (706)

Early slave

trading supplied

the Azores,

Madeiras, and

Cape Verde

Islands

(Portugal)

Triangle trade

brought slavery

to the Americas

SLAVE TRADER – ALEXANDER FALCONBRIDGE

SLAVE – OLAUDAH

EQUIANO

Arrival on ship

Condition of the Africans

Confinement on board

Sanitation

Food and eating process

Disease/maladies

Sale of enslaved Africans

Overall impressions of

Africans

Arrival on ship

Condition of the Africans

Confinement on board

Sanitation

Food and eating process

Disease/maladies

Sale of enslaved Africans

Overall impressions of

Europeans

POLITICAL SOCIAL

Wars for slaves

Weaponry technology

outpaced natural political

progressions

PRE-U.S. involvement

created a shortage of men

Polygamy

Increased roles for women

to fill the gap

Rice – N. America’s

potato, banana, silk

Brought by African

slaves

• Women in the Bight of

Benin and Bight of

Biafra had the

technology and

knowledge

Analyze this primary

source document

• Where are they from

and why do we care?

• Where are they being

sold?

• What is the perceived

danger?

• Why is this relevant to

the study of rice

culture?

•Things to think about:

•How many females/males

•What ages are these people?

•What are their listed occupations?

•What percentage are rice workers?

•Who is publishing this information

and why?

•Question to answer:

•Describe how you would

use this document to prove

that knowledge of rice

cultivation was a

motivating factor in the

slave trade.

Checking for Understanding:

Part 2

On your CFU page complete the

following primary source

document analysis.

Change over time Africa• Socially

• Politically

• Trading

Kongo, Songhai, Ndongo kingdomsCompare influence of Islam/Christianity

on African societiesSlave trade

• Middle passage

Rice