c 25: africa and the atlantic world - crsd.org 2…• built states based on kinship groups (bantu...
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Sub-Saharan Africa Swahili Coast Kingdom of Benin Mali Empire Great Zimbabwe
Key Geographic Features?
Pre-15th Century?
TRADE ITEMS?? Changes/ Continuities?
• Built states based on kinship groups (Bantu speakers) • Matrilineal (Queen Nzinga r. 1623-1663, Ndongo (Angola) • Traded with Muslim merchants (in N Africa and SW Asia) • Maintained local traditional religious practices
• Regional kingdoms replaced imperial states of west Africa, such as the Songhay empire (Sunni Ali)
• Swahili City states fell under Portuguese control • Extension of trade networks led to formation of regional kingdoms in central Africa and south Africa • Slave trade : GENDER RATIOS? (Portuguese traders brought textiles, weapons, advisors and artisans to Kongo: Portuguese merchants took copper, ivory and slaves-1441- first slaves to Europe (12) By 1460 = 500 slaves/ year to Azores, Canary Is, Lisbon 1518 – first shipment of slaves directly west to Caribbean
With increasingly greater contact with Europeans…..
Pre- contact with Europeans…..
Diet = Manioc led to population surge (34 million- 60 million)
WHY did the imperial states fall? Has to do with trade…….
South Africa: Dutch Boers (Afrikaners) 1652/ wars w Zulu tribe: establish apartheid system
Kingdom of Kongo Songhay Empire (Sunni Ali- Muslims) (Navy- slavery?) Ndongo (Queen Nzinga)
Slave Trade brings MASSIVE DISRUPTION • Portuguese force tribute payments on East Coast • Portuguese undermine local kings • Gender imbalance • Kinship and clans unchanged…
King Afonso I of the Kongo giving audience to the Dutch
Queen Nzinga of Ndongo with Portuguese governors
Ndongo grew from small chiefdom to kingdom due to direct trade • Interest in Christianity (King Alfonso of Kongo: Letter to Portugal?) ( Dona Beatriz of Kongo? St. Anthony- Portuguese patron saint) Christianity and Islam increased…. Blended with indigenous faiths
READ
Compare and Contrast: Slavery in Africa and Muslim World/Europe
AFRICA MUSLIM WORLD/ EUROPE
Slaves were war captives, criminals or expelled from clans Slaves were form of personal investment, heritable property, means of acquiring wealth- often purchased to enlarge their family (Songhay did not trust nobility- preferred slaves in positions of authority) Wealth came not from private ownership of land, but of ownership of labor to make the land productive Slaves were often assimilated into kin groups- purchased to enlarge their families No chattal slavery
Islamic slave trade well established pre 15th Century (between 8-12th C as many as 10 million Africans sold into Islamic slave trade) Portuguese learned they could steal slaves rather than purchase them beginning 1441…) Slaves as pure commodities = Triangular (Atlantic)
Slave Trade
The Middle Passage
Factors Factories
The Biggest Change: The African Slave Trade
1500-1800
The African Diaspora?
(cash crops/plantations) African slave trade mostly supplied
tropical Caribbean 5% went to North America
Most trans-Atlantic voyages took 5 weeks
Early on: 50% of cargo died As slavery became more profitable mortality fell to 5% Overall ¼ of all slaves died en route
Compare and Contrast: Slavery in Caribbean,North America and Latin America
CARIBBEAN NORTH AMERICA
Slaves unable to sustain their numbers by natural means (diseases/ yellow fever/ malaria/ low standard of nutrition and health Mostly male slaves ½ of imported African slaves went to Caribbean (1/3 to Brazil)
Strong support here (S) for slave families (especially when the price of a new slave from Africa rose dramatically) Imported female slaves as well as male
(according to Catholic church) owners not allowed to work their slaves on Sunday Catholic slaves were married in the church Slaves were encouraged to read and write Enjoyed a relatively higher level of esteem
LATIN AMERICA
ALL: Experienced slave revolts (passive/ insurrection) specialized in some form of agricultural crop in demand which required intensive labor Motivated by profit
IMPACT of Slave Trade: involuntary migration of 12 million/ 4 million died en route
Pre 17th Century = 2000 slaves left Africa annually 17th Century = 20,000 annually 18th Century = 55,000 annually
1780s = 88,000 annually, sometimes 100,000
Effects of Slave Trade in Africa? Economic Political
Social (Syncretic Religion?)
Slave Resistance? Passive Resistance Revolts/Maroons
Role of Enlightenment/ American Revolution/ Abolitionists?
(Saint Dominique 1793) (Gabriel Prosser 1800) (Denmark Vesey 1822)
(Nat Turner 1831)
End of the Slave Trade Abolition of Slave Trade=
1803 Denmark 1807 Great Britain 1808 United States
1814 France 1817 Netherlands
1835 Spain Last documented Atlantic Slave ship = 1867 to
Cuba
ABOLITION by early 17th c Great Britain 1845 France
1865 United States 1960 Angola
Olaudah Equiano
The African Diaspora?
(cash crops/plantations) African slave trade mostly supplied
tropical Caribbean 5% went to North America
Spread of African culture/language/music
WHY ABOLITION?
The slave trade ended because: 1. American and French Revolutions/ Enlightenment Ideals = suggestion of
universal human right to freedom and equality 2. Frequent slave revolts = not profitable/ dangerous 3. Olaudah Equiano 4. Supply and demand = supply of sugar prices price of slaves 5. Europeans shifted focus from cash crops to manufacturing industries 6. Made more sense to leave Africans in Africa to harvest raw materials
ABOLITION by early 17th c Great Britain 1845 France
1865 United States 1960 Angola
End of the Slave Trade Abolition of Slave Trade=
1803 Denmark 1807 Great Britain 1808 United States
1814 France 1817 Netherlands
1835 Spain Last documented Atlantic Slave ship =
1867 to Cuba
Olaudah Equiano 1745-1797)
Gibbons Hall University of VA March, 2015
William Saunders statue 19th C secretary of state UNC Chapel Hill March, 2015 Recently Removed
John C. Calhoun College Yale University
Harvard Law School Bushels of wheat symbolize funding by slave holding family