native americans lost many things during conquest. one of most important their past –became...
Post on 19-Dec-2015
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Native Americans lost many things during conquest.
One of most important their past
–Became frozen in time waiting for modern ‘civilized’ Europeans
Similarly, Africa seen only in terms of slavery and racism
People have failed to give Native Americans and Africans
Agency– i.e. an active role in their own lives and past
Also important to remember that all three worlds – America, Africa, and Europe
neither new or united when they came into contact.
During the colonial period main region of Africa involved western and central Africa
Primarily sub-Saharan Africa
Africa is not a country
It is a continent! Multiple nations
with diverse and varied cultures
3rd millennium BC Change in climate created Sahara Dessert
into what we know today
3,500,000 miles (=USA )
Divided continent into two regions
North Africa–Remained an integral part of “world history”
–In part due to later influence of Islam
Sub-Sarahan Africa–Partially isolated
Due to lack of geological rippling main boundaries in Africa run east to west– East Africa had
volcanic activity Winter rain Desert Savanna rainforest Equator Savanna
Majority of Africans who came/ taken to America from sub-Saharan Africa
Primarily west coastSlavery not only impact on European expansion
Islam also played a role
Following death of Prophet Muhammad – 632
World sees expansion of Arab / Islamic power
Pushing across North Africa Then south and east in to Sub-Sharahan
Africa But also North into Europe Islam and Europe
Conquest & conversion of North Africa allowed Islam to spread to West Africa
Arrival brought West Africa back into broader world
As in Europe it met a pre-existing culture
Archaeological evidence shows
Iron smelting south of Sahara from 7th C BC
Among the people of the Nok culture around Taruga iron work from 4th C
As well as some of earliest sculptures depicting human form
3c BC substantial town in Old Jenne
Artifacts from town show trade items from north and south
Part of independent West African Trade system
Also seen in Igbo Ukwu
S.E. Nigeria
In grave goods of local leader
Bronze works of specific African style
100,000 glass beads from Egypt and Indian
Iron and agriculture allowed internal expansion/ colonialism
Not a regulated, common, or large scale expansion
Environment and political structures dictated small scattered communities
Usually based around Important trade location Access to good land and water
Two factors also played against growth
1) hostile environment 2) Famine
– Locust, heavy rains, excessive warfare Drought 300 -1500 AD low rainfall 1500-1630 good 1639-43 major drought in Niger River
ReligionMany African groups recognized a single creator figure
Often smaller lower level deities were the focus of day to day life
Linkage between humans and deities through ancestors
Christianity was almost entirely unknown
Islam was not –~1030 King of Takur converted
Trans-Saharan trade brought Islam to the region
Combined with African religious practices–Although it did not spread rapidly
until the nineteenth century
North Africa and Europe Islamic presence driven by conquest then conversion
Western Africa driven by tradeResult Islam often confined to the
court and merchants
Extended family was the primary focus for individuals
But these could be and were on occasion spread to Clan and occasionally by force into states or empires
At the time of the first European arrival there were several such powerful states in the region
Eg. Songhai - upper Niger river Mali Benin Kongo
Ghana first mentioned in written sources around 788-93
North of GoldfieldsMade important position on the
linkage between West and North Africa
Trade across SaharaControlled gold trade not
production
Capital was a dual town model
Royal town and trade or merchant town– About 6 miles
apart
King was not a Muslim some advisors were
The king has a palace and a number of domed dwellings all surrounded with an enclosure like a city wall ... The king adorns himself like a woman round his neck and on his forearms, and he puts on a high cap decorated with gold and wrapped in a turban of fine cotton.
He sits in audience or to hear grievances against officials in a domed pavilion around which stand ten horses covered with gold-embroidered materials. Behind the king stand ten pages holding shields and swords decorated with gold, and on his right are the sons of the [vassal] kings of his country wearing splendid garments and their hair plaited with gold
Power in region shifted around 1100
headwaters of the Niger riverMalinke speaking people
–MuslimNon Islamic people attempted
take over region
Group and individual book reviews Each assigned group will be assigned
one of the required books They will produce two pieces of work A group book review – max 1000
words – to be made available to whole class
A personal book review – max 750 words to be handed in
Weber Spanish Frontier – 24 Sept. A & F
Songahi On the edge of the desert held authority
over thousands of miles Its primary focus was not the Atlantic but
the Sahara Involved in trans-desert trade
Mali
1324-25 emperor Mansa Musa went on a haji to Mecca
He took a huge amount of gold – possibly 100 camel loads
so much that he devalued the economy in Mecca
Mali, like Songahi, traded across the Sahara– gold for goods from the east
Trading posts– such as Djenni
location of exchange of goods and culture – evidenced by the mud mosque
opposite
Edo, Capital City of Benin Described by a Dutch
visitor as being – “four miles broad”– Thirty straight streets– Each forty yards across– All meeting at right
angles– Lined with fine dwellings
Bennin is and was well known for its sculpture
Late 17th C the ruler of Benin or oba could field an army of 20,000 at a days notice
Kingdom of Kongo States had been situated
around the lower Congo river for many years
The reason for this is a geographical location known as the Pool Malebo
Above pool river navigable for several hundred miles
Below impassable cascade Control of the portage allowed for the
development of a powerful community
Thought to have a population of approximately half a million in 1500
Had control over– collected tribute from
several smaller states
A contemporary snapshot of Africa Al-Hassan ibn-Muhammad al
Wavvan al-Fasi Better known as Leo Africanus raised in Fez (modern Morroco) educated in Islamic law and
worked for the Sultan of Fez went on diplomatic missions twice went to Sub-Saharan
Africa Captured by Christian pirates
and taken to Rome in 1518
Presented as a slave to Pope Leo X converted to Christianity - Given name Giovani Leone (John Leo) In 1526 completed Italian version of History and
Description of Africa became known as Leo Africanus (Leo the African)
Quotes from History and Description of Africa
Mali ‘In this Kingdom there is a large and
ample village containing more than six thousand families’
‘The region itself yields great abundance of wheat meat and cotton’
‘The inhabitants are rich and have plenty of merchandise’
‘Here is a great number of temples, clergymen, and teachers’
Timbuktu ‘Here there are many shops of artisans
and merchants, especially those who weave linen and cotton, and here Barbary merchants bring European cloth.’
‘The inhabitants, and especially resident aliens, are exceedingly rich, since the present King married both of his daughters to rich merchants’
‘The rich king of Timbuktu has many plates and scepters of gold, some of which weigh 1300 pounds, and he keeps a magnificent and well furnished court’
Slavery in Africa West and West central Africans
valued people over land Whereas Europeans “owned” land
and used to increase wealth and power
People were “owned” with the same consequences
But this “ownership” was based in ideas at best mis-undertood by Europeans
Slaves part of a structured and separated society
Made up a social group within societies Land held communally
– Use given in relation to the amount that could be used
Therefore, slaves highly prized Wars were fought not over land but
over slaves and the labor they could offer
Slaves in African society had numerous and specific roles
Roles that their “owners” often did by their side
Slaves could fight in wars and lead campaigns
Women were valued, in part, for their reproductive value
Over time not unusual for slaves to become recognized members of the household
As we shall see this was a different structure to that of American slavery
Africans played an active role in European expansion
The trading ‘forts’ that were planted drew population
Mouri – –Dutch Fort Nassaw 1612
1550 ~2001618 ~1500
Initially allowed for a space of liminality
Development of Creole societiesSocieties “of but not always in the
societies of the Africans who dominated the interior trade and the Europeans who controlled commerce in the Atlantic”
Around Elmina manufactories appear– Boat yards– Foundries
Served the Atlantic trade Operated not by Africans or
Europeans but by both By 1669 time New Amsterdam
– Pop 1500 Was being taken by English Elmira population 8,000
Abee Coffu Jantie Seniees Leading Creole African Merchant Appears in Euro journals as
– Jan Snees– Jacque Senece– Johan Sinsen– Jantee Snees
Indicates his diverse interaction– Danish at Fredriksburg– Dutch at Elmina– English at Cape Coat– Africans in the interior
Not only in Africa Creoles spread
throughout the early Atlantic World
Both to Americas and Europe
Mid 16th Century 10,000
Africans/Creoles in Lisbon Portugal
10% of population
Group and individual book reviews Each assigned group will be assigned
one of the required books They will produce two pieces of work A group book review – max 1000
words – to be made available to whole class
A personal book review – max 750 words to be handed in
Weber Spanish Frontier – 24 Sept. A & F