CXC CAPE HISTORY

LECTURE 4

THE PORTUGUESE IN WEST AFRICA

GENERAL OBJECTIVE

By the end of the topic students will be able to:

Analyse the nature of West African contact with Europe

up to 1493

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE

By the end of the lesson students will be able to:

Discuss the factors that led to contact between West

Africa and Europe up to 1492

PORTUGUESE IN WEST AFRICA

Portugal was the first Europeans to visit the coast of

Africa.

The first and definite sustained commercial connections

between Europe and West Africa were established by

Portugal.

FACTORS

Several factors led to Portuguese contactwith West Africa. These include:

Political factors

Geography

Economic

Technological

Private funding

Religion

FACTORS CONT

Prince Henry

Bases

Wind systems

POLITICAL FACTORS

Portugal was well placed to lead thevoyages of discovery because it was notconfronted with any internal difficulties orexternal threat by the beginning of the 15th

century.

Other maritime European countries werefaced with a number of politicaldistractions (e.g Castile was waging anumber of against the Muslims whichended 1n 1492. The Dutch were involved intheir wars of independence with Spain

GEOGRAPHY

Portugal’s location and early participation in Atlantic

fisheries positioned it to be the pioneer in this venture.

ECONOMIC

The economic factors include:

Alternative sea route

Commercial viability of Atlantic islands

Desire for African and Asian Gold

ALTERNATIVE SEA ROUTE

Portugal wanted to the trade items from the east without

any intervention. They wanted to cut out the number of

middle-men who distributed goods from China to India

This provided the motive for the search for a sea route to

the East which would not be under the control of Muslim

powers.

ALTERNATIVE SEA ROUTE

CONTD

The Portuguese decided that the contact with the FarEast trade had to the way lay in a circum-navigation ofAfrica.

COMMERCIAL VIABILITY

The Atlantic islands proved to be commercially viable

e.g. sugar was cultivated in the Azores, Canary Islands

and Madeira.

DESIRE FOR GOLD

There was a strong desire for commercialgain from the trade of West African gold,spice, ivory. These were attractive andcommercially important items

There was a search for gold and spiceswhich were known to be in abundance inWest Africa.

Since Mansa Musa, King of Mali, dazzledthe world with West African gold in the1300s, gold from Africa had become afascination.

TECHNOLOGY

There was development in the building of ships capableof undertaking long voyages. The caravel for examplewas invented .

There was also the development of navigational aidse.g. astrolabe and cartography(map making)

The improvement in technology made possible theexpansion of Portugal down the West African coast

NB. Much of the technology embraced by thePortuguese came from their interaction with the Moorswho invaded Europe.

RELIGION

The Portuguese wanted to convert Africans to

Christianity and they had a crusading tradition against

the Muslims.

There was an anti-Muslim spirit.

Europeans wanted to move into Muslim dominated

North and Northwest Africa.

PRINCE HENRY

Prince Henry’s moral and financial commitment to

exploration provided much of the infrastructural

foundation for contact e.g. school of navigation at

Sagres.

At Sagres Henry studied and sent forth men on missions

of exploration.

BASES

The Atlantic islands served as vital bases from which to

launch expeditions down the coast of West Africa

WIND SYSTEMS

Comprehension of the wind systems and ocean currents,

which affected the outward and return voyages and the

development of strategies to cope with these.

PORTUGUESE

ASSUMPTIONS

When Portuguese went to Africa the made

certain assumptions about Africans

Africans had no knowledge so they went naked

Had no understanding of certain types of food

PORTUGUESE

ASSUMPTIONS

Had no dwelling/houses

Lived like animals and were lazy (bestial sloth)

Had little morality (no understanding of what was

good)

REASON FORE THESE

ASSUMPTIONS

The Portuguese :

Were ignorant of the way of life of

the Africans as they had not gone

beyond the coastal areas of the

continent

As with other Europeans, had the

preconception that non-Europeans

were uncivilised

REASON FORE THESE

ASSUMPTIONS

As with other Europeans, were culturally

prejudices against others who were obviously

different, especially ‘pagans’ and non-Christians

Bread and wine were basic to the food culture of

Southern Europeans and therefore and index of

civilisation

NATURE OF

PORTUGUESE/EUROPEAN

CONTACT EITH WEST AFRICA UP TO

1600

INTRODUCTORY POINT

While European contact with West Africa

was a by-product of the search for a sea

route to the east, Europeans, since the

early decades of the 15th century, were

interested in mineral wealth and other

products that Africa had to offer. In

general, European interest in penetrating

Africa was limited up to 1600.

PORTUGUESE The Portuguese, the pioneer explorers of

Western Africa, were primarily interested

in finding a route to the East

There were only a few scattered

settlements along the coast and

offshore islands, for example, Atlantic

islands, Algoa Bay and Delgoa

Africa was used largely as provision

bases for ships charting a course to theIndies.

PORTUGUESE

The African coastline was important in charting and

navigating the route to the East

Settlements may have incidental to the main objective

but important trading bases were established, for

example, Elmina.

PORTUGUESE

The traffic increased to the East, and as the route

extended South and East they needed larger provision

bases so Luanda in Angola was established by 1530

TRADE

Early contact with West Africa was also important for

trade but trade with Africa did not necessitate access by

Europeans to the interior lands.

Europeans who arrived off the coast of West Africa

established coastal trade with states such as Benin andGhana

They traded for Gold and slaves

TRADE

Their presence led to the increase in the volume of

slaves traded as they opened the new markets across

the Atlantic

The presence of Europeans on the West African coast

caused the shift of trade routes towards the Atlantic from

the route across the Sahara

The trading activities gave them access to the interior

resources.

TRADE

Along the West African coasts, mixed settlements of

Africans, Portuguese, mulattoes of mixed origin

developed. Here mercantile families carried out trade

with the interior of Africa.

PENETRATION

While direct access to the interior was not a necessity,

the Europeans/Portuguese did attempt to penetrateAfrica

They found it difficult to go beyond the coastal areas

because of the terrain; there were mangrove swamps,

rain forests, steep cliffs and even access by waterways

was hindered by the currents

PENETRATION

Europeans in Africa found diseases to

which they had no immunity. This helped

to impede settlement in the interior by

Europeans well into the 19th century.

Some states were accommodating;

there were sometimes hostile

Christians, i.e Roman Catholic

missionaries were active in Angola and

the Kongo

USE OF FORCE

The use of force against the Africans suggests that the

Europeans were interested in gaining a foothold.

They sacked towns and cities

They carried out raids and pillaged overland trade

routes

They sometimes were able invade the interior but they

could not establish control

IMPACT OF EUROPEANS IN

WEST AFRICA UP TO 1492RELIGIOUS

Africans were converted to Christianity

and in some cases became officers in the

Church, in kingdoms such as the Kongo.

Some abandoned their religious

practices in favour of those of the

Europeans.

Syncretism (amalgamation of various

religious beliefs)

SOCIAL

There was a brain drain from Africa. There was a

trade in Africans to Iberia in the second half of the

fifteenth century.

New family patterns emerged in the coastal

areas: Europeans had children with Africans. The

mulattoes became agents of the Europeans.

CULTURAL

There was cultural penetration/erosion: the

removal obstructed the passing on of cultural

traditions

ECONOMIC

There was a shift in in the direction of the trade to

West Africa from the traditional route across the

Sahara to North Africa

A direct trade developed with the Europeans in

gold, ivory and enslaved Africans.