Olanrewaju Lasisi

Why were captives for sale in the Gulf of Benin in the late 1470s? In this paper, I explore changes in the Ijebu and Benin polities before the opening of the Atlantic trade and their consequences in shaping the new trade in slaves in the late 15th and early 16th century. My departure point is the recent dating of the 165-km-long enclosure known as Sungbo’s Eredo in southwestern Nigeria. Based on emerging archaeological data, difficult-to-assess Ijebu oral traditions of the deep past, and scarce early European sources, I propose a scenario of change in the political economy of African polities in the Gulf of Benin during the mid-14th century. A demographic crisis, I suggest, triggered competition among regional polities for the control of people. The necessity to defend the local population and raids into neighboring areas led to radical change in the polities’ organization and to a transformation of the landscape. Kingship was adopted in Ijebu, while a new dynasty took over power in Benin. Both new ruling dynasties were possibly foreign warrior aristocracies that based their spiritual powers in imported cults. The new political economy became dominated by the accumulation and consumption of dependents through raids and wars of expansion. By the time the Portuguese arrived in the Gulf of Benin in 1472, they found ready surpluses of captives that could be exchanged for exotic prestige goods brought by the Europeans, especially copper and brass. This situation contrasted markedly with the demand for captives the Portuguese had met on the Gold Coast. They were able to take advantage of their understanding of these contrasting markets to purchase captives in the Gulf of Benin for resale on the Gold Coast.

New York City’s African Burial Ground and archaeological site prevailed by years of protest and political struggle to produce a U.S. National Monument, newly ethical bioarchaeological practice and sophisticated reports and exhibitions on the origins, physical quality of life, transformations and resistance of Africans enslaved in 18th century New York. New means of managing the delicate balance of sacred ground with the restoration of memory were forged in examinations of the most fundamental remains of African New Yorkers: those of 419 bodies, interpreted in interdisciplinary conversation. We report on some of our latest findings on women’s labor and the ‘Sankofa’ symbol, and their significance for anthropology, historiography, and Africana Studies. We report on the continuing challenges of whiteness as scholarly narratives which exceed their available evidence in an apparent effort to contain our analyses of the past and reify white authority in the present.

Ife is an exception in the historiography of West Africa, with an extensive and detailed socio-political history during the first half of the second millennium CE. This rich historiography is based on three categories of sources: the archaeological record; an outstanding selection of the material record of ancient Ife usually referred to as 'art'; and a large corpus of oral traditions. In this paper, we reflect on the stratigraphy of Ile-Ife and what it tells us about the long-term history of the city. Our data derives from archaeological work conducted in 2015 and 2016 on one of Ife's defensive ditch-and-bank systems at the site of Ita Yemoo. We identified three main levels. The oldest level belongs to the 12th and 13th c. CE, while the most recent belongs to the post mid-19th c. era. In between, a thick layer of rich, dark soil including charcoals and evidence of burnt wood may correspond to a layer of destruction and abandonment, followed by colonization by woody plants. In many ways, the stratigraphy of Ita Yemoo appears comparable to that of other excavated sites at Ife and suggests a long period of abandonment of the city at the end of its classical/florescent period. This contrasts with the previously dominant narratives about continuity in Ife.

This volume draws together scholars from varied disciplines to examine the historical encounters, cultural entanglements, and local conditions that shaped the modern world. Research has well demonstrated the extent and complexity of the varied local economic and political systems, and diverse social formations that predated European contact. These preexisting systems confronted the expanding European economy and, in doing so, shaped its emergence. The case studies presented in this volume seek to understand how the intersections of these different regional systems formed unique historical and geographical complexes that structured European-indigene interactions, economic relations, and their materialities. Moving beyond the confines of national or Atlantic histories to examine regional systems and their historical trajectories on a global scale, the studies draw examples from the Caribbean, Mesoamerica, North America, South America, Africa, and South Asia. Collectively they ask how did the diverse political economies of the early modern world collide, mesh, and merge, and to what effect on the engaged populations in different world areas? The studies examine how the new economic, social, and cultural relations of the modern world, nascent European colonialism, and the Atlantic slave trade are revealed in landscapes, settlements, plantations, dwellings, and archaeological assemblages. How and why did these landscapes differ in their expression and in their temporalities? The chapters are by researchers who share an interest in the emergence and interconnections of the modern world, and the utility of interdisciplinary vantage. While the contributions are rooted in substantive studies from different world areas, their overarching aim is to negotiate between global and local frames, to reveal how the expanding world-system entwined the non-Western world in global economies, yet did so in ways that were locally articulated, varied, and often non-European in their expression.