Worlds entangled: Africa and Atlantic Worlds

1
Worlds entangledAfrica and Atlantic Worlds

• They resemble us, but in appearance are the
  colour
• of pumpkin-porridge .They are rude of manners
  and
• without any graces or refinement.
• organized, dynamic societies dynamic prior to
  arrival
• of Europeans
• respond to Europeans in a variety of ways
• accommodation
• adoption/adaptation
• resistance
• societies, cultures, economies stressed

2
The Triangular Trade

• The scale 12 men in 1441
• 1460s - 500 slaves py
• 1520 - 2,000 py
• 17C 20 000 py
• 18C 80 000 py
• 1. European manufactured goods (esp. firearms)
• sent to Africa
• 2. African slaves purchased and sent to Americas
• 3. Cash crops purchased in Americas and returned
  to Europe

3
Foundation and Nature of the Slave Trade

• all societies have had slaves
• practice of slaving in the continent dates to
  antiquity
• war captives
• criminals
• people expelled from clans
• indebted kidnappings
• qualitatively distinct from Asian, European
  slavery
• no private property
• therefore wealth defined by human labor
  potential, not land
• slaves often assimilated into owners clan
• non-permanent status slave in society, not slave
  society

4
Characterizing contact with early-modern Europe

• Swahili decline in East Africa
• Vasco da Gama
• Kilwa forced to pay tribute
• by 1505 Portuguese gunships dominated
• Swahili ports
• Kingdom of Kongo
• contact beginning 1483
• King Nzinga Mbemba (Alfonso I)
• Christian convert
• trade
• local power relations

5
Slave Raiding in Kongo

• Portuguese perspective
• Portuguese attempt raiding themselves
• weapons trade
• dealt with authorities outside Kongo
• destabilize regional relations
• Perspective on the ground
• Kongo king appealed to slow trade
• relations deteriorate, Portuguese attack Kongo
• improved slave market develops in the south

6
Outside Kongo

• The Kingdom of Ndongo (Angola)
• Ndongo gains wealth and independence from Kongo
• resists Portuguese control
• Queen Nzinga (r. 1623-1663)
• Strategies of resistance
• alliance with Dutch
• decline of Ndongo power after her death
• connectedness
• armed resistance

7
Horrific Social/Political Impact

• On African regions variable
• resist Rwanda, Bugunda, Masai, Asante,
  benefit Dahomey, Oyo peoples
• increased violence in existing regional
  conflicts
• total pop. grows due to crops like manioc or
  casava but
• deplete regional populations
• distorted sex ratios result
• increased polygamy
• ? acting in traditionally ? roles
• ethnocentrism in modern
• contact

8
The Middle Passage (Africa-Americas)

• Historical amnesia and memory
• new histories 1960s
• i.e. Teaching industrial revolution
• pop. histories Amistad (Spielberg 1997)
• The middle passage
• mortality high btwn 25 and 30 died
• be careful, not a numbers game
• While watching
• 1. Note Portuguese systems of control
• 2. Note all the modes of resistance

9

• John Newton (1733-1807)

http//www.youtube.com/watch?vMxgO94XLFbo