Describe the development of West Africa prior to contact with the European Atlantic sea trade. Discuss its economic, demographic, religious, political, and social ... more
Describe the development of West Africa prior to contact with the European Atlantic sea trade. Discuss its economic, demographic, religious, political, and social characteristics. Also describe the contact between Sub-Saharan African and North Africa - what types of trade existed between these regions prior to 1500? Many Europeans argued that Africans were inferior to Europeans and they used this to help justify slavery. However, the reality was very different. Studies of African history show that Africa was by no means inferior to Europe. The people who suffered the most from the Transatlantic Slave Trade were civilized, organized and technologically advanced peoples, long before the arrival of European slavers. Egypt was the first of many great African civilizations. It lasted thousands of years and achieved many magnificent and incredible things in the fields of science, mathematics, medicine, technology and the arts. Egypt has the Nile River, this great river provides fertile soil, a transportation and communications artery, while their desert surroundings protected them from foreign invasion. To the south of Egypt is the ancient region known as Nubia, the Nubians established a kingdom known as Kush. During the eighth century BCE, the Kushites took control of upper Egypt, which means the southern part of Nile. By the early 16th century, most West Africans were farmers live in hamlets or villages of extended families and clans. Elders had great power over the economic and social lives of their members. Most West Africans lived in hierarchically organized states headed by monarchs. Beneath the royalty were classes of landed nobles, warriors, bureaucrats, and peasants. Lower classes included butchers, weavers, wood carvers, and turners. Slavery has been part of this social structure since ancient times. There were two religious traditions, Islamic and indigenous. Islam was the religion of merchants and bureaucrats while indigenous religion was stronger in forest region. .Like Africa as a whole, West Africa is physically, ethnically, and culturally diverse. West Africans began cultivating crops and tending domesticated animals between 1000 BCE and 200 CE. By 500 BCE, some West Africans produced iron tools and weapons. Separated by the Sahara, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa have been linked by fluctuating trans-Saharan trade routes. From early times, the peoples of West Africa traded among themselves and with the peoples who lived across the Sahara Desert in North Africa, this extensive trade became an essential part of the region's economy and it was the basis for the three great western Sudanese empires that successively dominated the region. The first known kingdom was Ghana, and Ghana traded in several commodities. From North Africa came silk, cotton, glass beads, horses, mirrors, and especially salt. In return, Ghana exported pepper, slaves, and gold. Following Ghana was the Empire of Mali. Mali's most important city was Timbuktu, a major hub for trade in gold, slaves, and salt. After the decline of Mali, The Empire of Songhai was found. They were known for being great traders. They exported gold, salt, kola, palm oil, nuts, ivory, spices, precious woods and slaves and imported textiles, horses and luxury goods. How did trade between Africans and Europeans originate and how did it change over the 15th-17th centuries. How did each European nation get involved, and how did their involvement change over time. In what ways did catering to the trade with Europeans modify the economies of Sub-Saharan African nations? In what ways did European involvement in the slave trade change over time? Before the horrific slave trade began between Europe and West Africa, Europeans, particularly the Portuguese, had already begun trading items such as cloth and metal ware with west African countries as early as the 15th century. In return they received spices such as pepper as well as raw materials including ivory and gold. By the 17th century, these countries' prosperity depended on the slave trade, they began to sell their own people to European slave traders. The Atlantic slave trade started from a tiny scale but soon grew big due to huge demand for slave labor. Sugar plantations employing slave labor spread from Portuguese-ruled Brazil to the Caribbeans islands. Later, the cultivation of coffee, tobacco, rice added to the demand for African slaves. By 1510, Spain had joined Portugal in the enlarged Atlantic slave trade. By 1550, Dutch, French, English were becoming involved. Later, the England and France competed with the Dutch to control the Atlantic slave trade. Victories over France and Spain led in 1713 to English control of the Asiento, which allowed English traders the right to supply all slaves to all of Spain's American colonies. After Africa became a market or cheap English manufactured goods, two triangle trade systems developed. Why did Europeans get involved in the trade for African slaves? How did contact with the American continents influence the development of slavery? In what ways did the Spanish and Portuguese establish the model for the treatment of enslaved Africans? How did Europeans initially justify the practice of slavery? During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, European traders started to get involved in the Slave Trade. European traders had previously been interested in African nations and kingdoms, such as Ghana and Mali, due to their sophisticated trading networks. Traders then wanted to trade in human beings. They took enslaved people from western Africa to Europe and the Americas. At first, this was on quite a small scale but the Slave Trade grew during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as European countries conquered many of the Caribbean islands and much of North and South America. Columbus's encounter led to the European conquest, settlement, and exploitation of North and South America. Columbus and those who followed him quickly enslaved indigenous Americans as laborers in fields and mines. Almost as quickly, many indigenous peoples either died of European diseases and overwork or escaped beyond the reach of European power. Consequently, European colonizers needed