1. Disrupting an “Old World,” to Create a “New World.”
Lecture One:
Disrupting an “Old World,” to Create a “New World.”
Key Themes
#1 The World and Water
#2 European Exploration and Colonization
#3 Indigenous Communities in North America
#4 Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

2. #1: The World- 15th Century
By 1500
Geo-political map: trade, conflict, and disease
Spice World: Japan, China, Molucca Islands, Borneo, Sumatra, India
Gunpowder Empires: Ottoman Empire, Portuguese, Spanish, Safavid, Russia
Rodolfo Acuna: Occupied America: Spain in North America: violent disruption
15th and 16th Centuries
Era of Western global exploration, expansion.
Warfare in the “New World- Land and Religion. Spanish verses English
Foundations for “contact and conquest”- Africa, Meso-American states

3. Water: Cross-Cultural Interactions
Commercial
New trade routes= increase in port cities
Merchant houses in Europe
Bankers in Italy
Mercantilism
Network of over-seas European colonies
Supported by war
Triangle Trade= Enslavement in New World
Cultural- Religion, Ideologies, Laws, Customs, and Values (Also institutional)
Biological
Food crops, animal stocks, disease (The Columbian Exchange)
European mariners
New sea routes to markets of Asia
Direct contact with sub-Saharan Africa and Asia
Gave rise to early modern history: (the Atlantic World)
15th century, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch trading posts on coast of West Africa
“Liquid foundation”- empire building/ conquest of “New World”

4. #2: Motives and Support Systems for European Colonization
Economics: Establish trade routes
Religion
Adventure/Fame
Competition: Spain and England
Occurred
Emergence of centralized European monarchies
Obtained means to finance endeavors
New technologies: maps, charts, ships, compass, knowledge of winds
Support System: Trade
Transportation networks
Silk Roads in China
Caravans in Sahara desert
Sea-lanes: Water: Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins

5. Exploration and Colonization in the “New” World
China: Indian Ocean Basin
Portuguese: Africa’s west coast 15th century
Goals: Commercial activities + Religious (missionary work)
Colonization of Atlantic Islands
Indian Ocean trade
Muslim intermediaries
Portuguese ships with cannons=European imperialism
Christopher Columbus: rejected by Portuguese/sponsored by Spain
Place in history.
Spain: Violent intrusion into Americas: Occupied America, (Acuna.)
Conquistadors H. Cortes
Encomienda System: Institution of laws
Indigenous became Spanish subjects
Catholic Missionaries: “a double-edged sword”
Protestant Reformation intensified national rivalries
Decline of Indigenous population- import of enslaved Africans
Results of Spanish conquest
Economics, Environmental, Political, Religious/Spiritual, Social.

6. #3: Indigenous Societies
Physical Environments of North America
Three Types of Regional Cultures
Matrilineal societies and Patriarchy
Three Eras
Paleo-Indian era
Archaic Era
Pre-Columbian Era
Indigenous Knowledge
Relationship with Land/Environment

7. Indigenous Communities Encounter European Invader
View of Colonizers
Christopher Columbus- called indigenous “children of nature.”
2. Gender Assumptions of Indigenous Women
Political Power
3. European Stereotypes
Squaws
Patriarchal assumptions
4. Cultural Assumptions
Europeans were “convinced of their own superiority…”
5. Consequences of Contact
Environmental
Economics
Gender: Women in Power
Political
Social
Language: Power (laws and trade “agreements”)
Writing of History: Cyclical verses Linear

8. Indigenous Perceptions of the Invader
Odd, Foolish, Strange
Body Odors
Food Preparation and Seasoning
Ignored Religious Rituals
No Gifts
Housing
Ignored Women as Negotiators

9. #4: Enslavement: Africa: The Point of Contact
Islam 8-10th century
Mutually beneficial to African rulers and Muslims merchants
15th Century: Affects of Portuguese in Africa (Colonialism)
Political upheaval
Outright conquest and settlement
Created tensions and warfare
Economic exploitation
Social Disruption
States of West and East Africa
Songhay Empire: Muslim emperors, engaged in trans-Saharan trade
Fall to Moroccan army in 1591
Decline of Swahili city-states in east Africa
Vasco da Gama- forced Kilwa to pay tribute/ Created economic imbalance
Portuguese naval fleet- secured trade routes
Kingdoms of Central and South Africa
Kongo: 14th century/ established diplomatic/commercial relations 1482
King Afonso
Wrote letter to Portugal about horrors of chattel enslavement (early 1500s)
Different than African slavery
Slave raiding in Kongo
Resistance
At Point of Contact.
Kingdom of Ndongo (modern Angola)
Queen Nzinga ( )- rebelled against Portuguese

10. The Atlantic Slave Trade
1. Foundations of Slavery in Ancient World
Every ancient society: war captives, criminals or outcasts (Rome)
Labor: cultivators, administrators, enemies, soldiers, earned freedom (African slavery)
Islamic slave trade- East Africa (10 million-8th and 18th century) (Qu’ran and slavery)
2. Foundations for Enslavement in Modern (Atlantic) World (Chattel Enslavement)
White Supremacy: Ideology and Praxis. Institutional: Legal.
Enslavement: economics and creation of social construct: Race.
Scholars: Walter Rodney, Eric Williams, David Brion Davis.
Industrialization, creation of labor force, destruction of the African past and culture. (Cedric J. Robinson)
From Cradle to Grave: Chattel Enslavement. No freedom. Reduced to labor force in North America.
3. Human Cargo (First Atlantic System )
Triangular Trade: All three legs of voyage profitable
Middle Passage- “Bones on the floor of the Atlantic”
Earliest 1441 Portuguese/ five hundred slave ships per year
15th century-Sugar plantations- Caribbean/ 1530s Brazil
Spanish- Caribbean, Mexico, Peru, Central America
English, Dutch, French- 17th century North America (Second Atlantic System )
4. Myths & Distinctions-Enslavement in the Atlantic World.
Research and Scholarship: Numbers, (ship logs), merchant records, wills, probate records.
“Africans sold their own…” Enslavement disrupted African history. Research numbers and geographical locations.
“But others were slaves too…” See Chart: “Indentured servants, Slaves, Enslaved.”
“But some Blacks owned slaves too…” Early colonial history. Legal institution created in 1640s (Virginia)
Historians call this apprenticeship. Not chattel. Future children are not enslaved.
Different work patterns. Opportunity to purchase freedom.
See Anthony Johnson Purchased contracts of five indentured servants. (early colonial period)
See William Johnson The Barber of Natchez. (Antebellum Natchez.)
Owned 15 slaves. Extensive remarks about shades of skin color=support of white supremacy.
Wanted to be accepted into Natchez society. (Wealth and Power = land and slaves. )

12. Resistance to Enslavement
Occurred
At point of Contact
During Middle Passage
Every Facet of Society, Each day, in the “New World”
Forms
Overt
Covert
Creation of Maroon Communities
Hispaniola 1522
Haiti- 1790s.
Impact:
After Affected every part of Africa
Introduced fire-arms
Fostered conflict and violence
Growth of the state of Dahomey
The African Diaspora: Ashanti proverb, “the tree is not cut…”
Plantation Societies- Introduction of cash crops- Colonies: tobacco, sugar, rice, cotton
Sustaining African cultural traditions
Creation of Slave Family: Survival. Resistance.
Charter Generation: Abdul Rahman (Futa Jalon to Mississippi to Liberia.)