Turbulent Centuries in Africa Chapter 3 Section 4 HF

Vocabulary  Triangular trade-colonial trade route among Europe and its colonies, the West Indies, and Africa in which goods were exchanged for slaves.  Repeal- to cancel  Monopoly- complete control of a product or business by one person or group

European Outposts in Africa  In the 1400’s Portuguese sailors sailed along the West Coast of Africa  They looked for a sea route to India  Set up forts along west coast for food, water, gold, trade, and to repair their ships  The Portuguese were too weak to push into middle Africa  Attacked Eastern Coastal cities  Mombasa and Malindi  Portuguese expelled the Arabs  Arabs controlled East Africa  Portuguese took over land  Portuguese however, got little from their conquering  In 1600’s the Eastern cities sunk into poverty  Interior trade dwindled  Other Europeans soon followed  The Dutch, English, and the French  All set up up forts in the West for trade

The Atlantic Slave Trade  In the 1500’s Europeans began to view slaves as the most import trade item  Slaves were used by the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Persians, Indians, Aztecs, and the Arabs.  Most people became slaves after being defeated in battle

European and African Slave Traders  The Atlantic slave trade began in the 1500’s  It became very profitable over the next 300 years  Every year tens of thousands of African slaves were sent to the Americas to work on tobacco and sugar plantations  The slave trade intensified as demand for more slaves in America and as more luxury items were in Africa

Triangular Trade  The Atlantic slave trade formed on a three-legged trade network known as the Triangular trade  First leg was merchants brought goods to Africa for trade of slaves  Second leg, known as the Middle Passage, the slaves were transported to the West Indies. There they were exchanged for goods  The final leg was products being shipped to Europe or European colonies in America

Horrors of the Middle Passage  The middle Passage was horror for slaves  they were packed under ship decks in single cells  Ships became floating coffins because half of the slaves died of disease or brutal treatment  Some Slaves resisted though  They tried to take control of the ship and return to Africa or they’d jump overboard and commit suicide scv.org/camp28/ MVC-002S.JPG

African Leaders Resist  African leaders tried to slow down or stop the Transatlantic trade  the trade system was simply too strong to stop  An early voice raised against slavery was Affonso, ruler of Kongo  He was tortured as a teen by Portuguese missionaries  In 1505 when he became king he developed Kongo as a modern Christian state  Before long Affonso became alarmed  Yearly more Portuguese came to buy Africans  He noticed even Christian priests and missionaries were eagerly selling Africans for goods

African Leaders Resist (Cont.)  In the late 1700’s, another African ruler, the almamy of Futa Toro in Northern Senegal, tried to stop slave trade  In 1788, he forbade anyone to transport slaves through Futa Toro for sale abroad  Sea captains and chiefs protested and called on the almamy to repeal the law  The almamy refused  The almamy’s victory was short lived however. French slave traders found new routes to the coast

Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade  Historians estimated that in the 1500’s 2,000 slaves went from Africa to America per year  By 1780’s the trade was at its peak and 80,000 slaves were sent to America per year  By 1800 when the trade stopped an estimated 11 million slaves were sent to America and another 2 million died during transport to America  In some parts of Africa the slave trade destroyed some countries but in others it replenished the countries

Rise of New African States  Among the largest states who rose from the trade were Oyo, Bornu, Dahomey, and the Asante Kingdom

The Asante kingdom  In the 1600’s, a military leader Osei Tutu, won control of Kumasi.  From there he conquered neighboring peoples and organized the Asante Kingdom  Officials chosen by merit rather than by birth supervised an efficient bureaucracy.  They managed royal monopolies over gold mining and the slave trade

Islamic Crusades  In the 1700’s & early 1800’s an Islamic revival spread across West Africa  It began among the Fulani people in northern Nigeria  A scholar and preacher Usman dan Fodio denounced the corruption of the local Hausa rulers  He inspired Fulani herders and Hausa townspeople to rise against their leaders  Usman and his successors set up a powerful Islamic state  Under his rule literacy increased, local wars quieted, and trade improved.  Their success inspired more Muslim reform movements in West Africa  From more than a dozen Islamic leaders rose to power

Battles for Power in Southern Africa  Over many centuries Bantu speaking people migrated to Africa  In 1652, Dutch immigrants also arrived in the region  They built Cape Town to supply ships sailing to or from the East Indies  Dutch farmers, called Boers, settled around Cape Town  Over time the ousted or enslaved the Khosians herders who lived there  The Boers held to a Calvinist belief that they were the chosen ones by God  They look on Africans as inferior

Shaka and the Zulus  The Zulus had migrated into South Africa in the 1500’s  In the early 1800’s they became a power force under the leader, Shaka  In between Shaka waged relentless war and conquered many nearby peoples  After conquering their people Shaka turned them into Zulu warriors  Later Shakas half brother took over the kingdom  Around this time they faced a new problem. Well armed, mounted Boers migrating north from the Cape Colony