First European Contacts Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal
sowed the seeds of tremendous change for Africa in the early to
mid-1400s He and his men cautiously explored farther and farther
south along Africas west coast Following their conquest of the
Moroccan city of Ceuta in 1450, the Portuguese became intensely
curious to discover the origins of the gold and slaves were brought
to North Africa via well established trade routes from the
continents sub-Saharan interior They also sought to spread
Christianity to any lands they might discover, and counteract the
expansion of the rising Ottoman Empire These economic, religious,
and political motives combined with European advances in maritime
technology during the 15 th century to spur the Portuguese to reach
the southern tip of Africa before the centurys end Along the way,
they found many West Africans who were experienced in trade and
ready for new contacts that would expand their volume of exports
and imports
Slide 3
Beginnings of the Slave Trade In 1482, the African King
Caramansa allowed the Portuguese to open a trading post on what the
Europeans would call the Gold Coast of West Africa, Where vast
amounts of African gold were soon traded for goods from Europe,
Asia, and other parts of Africa that arrived on Portuguese ships
Soon after, monarchs such as the oba of Benin and the manikongo of
Kongo sent delegates to Portugal to gather information on the
homeland of these foreign men Satisfied with what they had learned,
the traders of Benin continued to provide the Portuguese with
pepper, ivory, and textiles They also allow the Portuguese to
purchase prisoners of war, who would be taken as slaves to work on
the sugar plantations of the previously uninhabited island of So
Tom off the African coast Africa would soon be forever transformed,
and the effects of the European slave trade would be felt in nearly
every corner of the world
Slide 4
Slide 5
Slave Trade & Other Trade Routes The leaders of Benin chose
to restrict contact with the Portuguese by the 1530s, But by then
the king of Kongo had made Catholicism the official faith of his
lands, And begun providing the Portuguese with more and more slaves
The Kongolese slave trade soon got out of control, however, with
unauthorized traders resorting to kidnapping to meet the growing
demand for slaves The Kings plea for help from the Portuguese met
with no response; the Portuguese had already begun to turn their
attention to finding the route with the Indian Ocean trade The
manikongo faced rebellion, and by the 1540s the center of the slave
trade moved farther south, to what was dubbed the Slave Coast
Sudden social, political, and economic changes such as these would
later become the norm for Africa, as the Europeans continued their
exploration and eventual exploitation of the continent
Slide 6
Portuguese Involvement Meanwhile, by the end of the 15 th
century, the Swahili coast of East Africa featured a number of
prosperous Muslim- ruled trading states In 1505, nearly all of them
were attacked and plundered by the Portuguese, who just recently
rounded the southern tip of Africa in their continuing quest for
sea route to India Only Ethiopia was spared Portuguese aggression
in East Africa Under attack from the Muslim state of Adal, the
Christian queen of Ethiopia pleaded for Portuguese aid The Muslims
were held off, but Ethiopian hopes for permanent alliance with
Portugal went unfulfilled as a result of the Ethiopian rulers
refusal to affiliate their church with the Pope in Rome, rather
than the Patriarchof Alexandria More significantly, by the
mid-1500s, Portuguese attention had shifted to the Indian Ocean
trade as well as their colonial conquests in the New World European
involvement in Africa would level off temporarily but as the 17 th
century unfolded, the seeds of change planted by Henry the
Navigator would begin to burst forth with dramatic
consequences
Slide 7
The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Portugal led the way in bringing
change to the Americas as well as to Africa; By the late 1500s, the
Portuguese had copied the plantation style sugar production of
their Western Atlantic islands, such as Madeira and So Tom, in
their New World colony of Brazil Initially the Portuguese planters
relied on Amerindian slaves to produce their crops, But as
epidemics of old world diseases ravage the indigenous American
population, African slaves were taken across the Atlantic in
ever-increasing numbers by the Portuguese, Spanish, British, and
other European colonists By the 17 th century, the European ships
of the so-called Atlantic system Were transporting large numbers of
young African adults (more males than females) to a life of slavery
in the Americas, In exchange for European manufactured goods
(including guns) and Indian textiles African gold, timber, and
other products also found their way into the expanding global
economic network
Slide 8
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade It must be noted that European
traders were not the only ones to profit from these transactions:
European guidebooks provided detailed information on the preferred
trade items of different areas of Africas Atlantic coast, as
African traders were often found to be shrewd bargainers Indeed
over the 18 th century, the price demanded for a slave on the Gold
Coast more than doubled The Africans bargaining advantages resulted
in part from exploitation of the rivalry among several European
nations that establish trading castles along the West African coast
Traders from the Dutch East India Company and other European
concerns found themselves forced to supply the Africans with more
and more guns and gun powder (thus increasing African military
strength in preventing European takeover of African territory) in
order to compete in trade The Europeans were also forced to follow
African trading rituals and paid customs duties to African
leaders
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Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade The European fervor for African
slaves fueled the growth of a number of West African kingdoms The
small kingdom of Whydah, An early Gold Coast Center for the slave
trade, Was overtaken in 1727 by the neighboring kingdom of Dahomey,
Which had been able to supply its army (of males and females) with
firearms furnished in exchange for slaves by European traders
Dahomey was in turn dominated by the inland kingdom of Oyo in 1730,
Then was forced to pay tribute to Oyo to remain independent For Oyo
and the adjacent Kingdom of Asante, The Atlantic slave trade was
merely one element of a thriving economy that also included
extensive commercial activity within West Africa and across the
Sahara desert
Slide 11
Slide 12
Sources of Slaves Contrary to the belief of many in Europe at
that time, only rarely did parents sell their children into slavery
Instead, prior to the 18 th century slaves sold to the Europeans by
West African traders were usually prisoners of war; However,
historical debate continues over just how frequently wars were
initiated solely for the purpose of capturing slaves for export
Current theory holds that most wars in the region were fought over
territory and other political disputes, The capture and sale of
enemy prisoners was simply a side endeavor Later, the Europeans
moved farther south and east to the Bight of Biafra in search of
new sources of slaves Here there were no large kingdoms, Hence few
large scale wars, So slave traders turned to kidnapping to maintain
their supply, Which was supplemented by debtors and convicted
criminals
Slide 13
Cape Colony For the most part, outright European colonization
of Africa would not take place until well after 1750 Two exceptions
occurred before that time: Both the Portuguese and Dutch
established African colonies after 1500 The Dutch East India
Companys Cape Colony, Located at the far southern tip of Africa,
Played a very minor role in African affairs during this period, as
was the companys economic activities were oriented almost entirely
to the Indian Ocean trade and focused very little on commercial
ventures within Africa Even the Cape colonies slaves were imported
primarily from places outside of Africa such as South Asia and East
Indies
Slide 14
Angola Colony Angola was a somewhat different story: As the
African slave trade move steadily south and east during the 16 th
century, the Portuguese realized they could profit from maintaining
a permanent settlement along Africas Atlantic coast Centered on the
ports of Luanda and Benguela, the colony of Angola soon became the
primary supplier of African slaves for the Americas Portuguese
settlers in the cities found profitable employment acting as
middlemen, transferring slaves brought by caravan from Africas far
interior to ships bound for Brazil The ships had brought goods from
Europe and the Americas, which were taken back to the interior for
exchanging in huge markets and fairs for more slaves, Thus
continuing the internal cycle of commerce that fed into the larger
Atlantic circuit
Slide 15
Angola Colony The Portuguese presence on the Angola coast was
maintained via relationships partnerships, even with inland African
leaders, many of whom were loosely allied in an enormous federation
of kingdoms Environmental crises in the region actually aided these
leaders in boosting their subject populations and maintaining a
steady supply of young adults for the slave trade Severe droughts
in Africas southern grasslands forced refugees to flee to less arid
areas After providing the refugees with food and water, African
leaders would then assimilate the children and women of
reproductive age (who were also valued as the regions primary food
producers), While selling most of the adult males into slavery The
Angolan leaders were thus able to: Consolidate an ever-growing
population with little threat of rebellion, since few adult males
remained Stabilize the land sometimes by planting new high-yield
crops such as maize and cassava from the Americas; Repopulate
drought ravaged territory Reap substantial profits from the
European slave trade
Slide 16
Ending of Slave Trade The strong African states that emerge
from this process were able to discourage further encroachment and
territorial takeover by the Europeans, who preoccupied with the
Indian Ocean trade and colonization in the Americas remained
basically content to trade Textiles, Metals, Weapons for African
slaves until the 19 th century. At that time the combination of
humanitarian and economic pressures would bring an end to the slave
trade and drive the Europeans to formal colonization of African
territory
Slide 17
Africa and Islam While the 15 century marked the beginning of
significant European contact with Africa, The Islamic world has of
course long since developed strong ties with the continent,
beginning in the century after Muhammads death Muslim beliefs and
practices have spread from North Africa to the sub-Saharan region
via overland trade, As well as to the Swahili coast of East Africa
through the trade ships that plied the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean
By the time Henry the Navigators men were beginning their
exploration of West Africa, Islamic legal and governmental
structures as well as the Arabic language had become firmly
entrenched in the African trading cities south of the Sahara and on
the southeastern coast Indeed, the Islamic world would maintain a
much stronger influence than Europeans over African culture and
politics throughout the period of 1450 to 1750 But while nearly all
of North Africa had been engulfed by the Ottoman Empire by the 16
th century, The kingdoms and states of sub-Saharan Africa remained
independent from both Middle Easterners and Europeans, A result of
the regions protected geography and the military skills of its
leaders
Slide 18
Songhai Empire One independent kingdom was the Songhai empire,
Which had succeeded in Mali as the leading center of trans-Saharan
trade As Songhai grew from its base in the western Sudan, its
indigenous Muslim leaders began to expand northward into the Sahara
Perhaps fearing an impending territorial rivalry, the kingdom of
Morocco sent the border of their territory, an addition of several
thousand men and camels across the desert in 1590 Half the men died
on the journey, but the remaining 2,000 mounted an attack on
Songhais massive military in 1591 Despite a size advantage of
nearly 20 times, the Songhai Army was no match for the 2500 muskets
of the Moroccans For the next 200 years the Moroccans maintained a
tributary dominance over the people of the western Sudan, Demanding
slaves and goods from them Charging tolls to merchants crossing the
territory Following this decline of the Songhai Empire, those
involved in the trans- Saharan trade route shifted their operations
from western Sudan to the central Sudan, Where the Hausa trading
cities began to provide merchants from North Africa with gold and
slaves in exchange for textiles, weapons, and hardware
Slide 19
Slide 20
Islam and Trade The tenets of Islam played a significant role
in many areas of African life, even economics While the Atlantic
circuit trade brought rum and other alcoholic beverages to coastal
Africa, The Muslim merchants of the Hausa trading cities were
forbidden by their religion to use alcohol Conversely, Muslims (as
well as Christians) of this period felt free to engage in the trade
of slaves In fact, Muslims viewed the enslavement of pagans to be
an act of virtue, as it would bring new followers to their
faith
Slide 21
Comparing Slave Networks While the slave trade with the Islamic
North played an important role in the economy of the Sudan, What
little historical evidence remains, indicates that the size of the
trans-Saharan slave trade was smaller than that of the
trans-Atlantic trade From the 17 th to 19 th centuries, some 1.7
million Africans were marched across the Sahara Or shipped over the
Red Sea or Indian Ocean to lives of slavery in the Middle East and
India In contrast, between 1550 and 1800 nearly 8,000,000 slaves
crossed the Atlantic to the Americas
Slide 22
Comparing Slave Networks Their final destination determined the
type of work that African slaves were forced to do Most slaves sent
to the Americas ended up performing grueling physical labor on
sugar, tobacco, cotton plantations Those who wound up in the
Islamic world were debatably more fortunate, as they were often
placed in employment as soldiers or household servants The gender
balance was different as well: Most African slaves sent to the
Americas were men The majority of African slaves sent to the Middle
East or India were women, Who were forced into service as
concubines, Or domestic servants, Or entertainers Many more
children were taken to the Islamic world, too including boys who
would endure dangerous (often fatal) castrations to be transformed
into eunuchs, because that was considered suitable for males to be
serving as harem guards
Slide 23
Legacy of the Slave Trade By the beginning of the 19 th
century, The slave trade had brought considerable profit to certain
African leaders and merchants (and a great deal more, of course, to
Europe, the Americas, and the Islamic world) It also decimated the
population of young, healthy adults in some parts of sub-Saharan
Africa, particularly the inland territory of the Slave Coast
However, the overall population of the region was still
substantial, The African artisans and traders who persevered in
this era of increasing change were, for the most part, able to
maintain the production and sale of textiles and metal goods,
Despite the volume of competing products flowing in from Europe and
the Islamic world Thus, a very generalized examination of the slave
trade might conclude that, within Africa, its impact was far from
devastating Indeed, it is rather ironic that it was late 19 th
century Imperialism, Which was initiated after the end of the slave
trade, rather than the slave trade itself, that would bring changes
of unimaginable consequence to the continent