1. The Beginnings of Our Global Age: Europe, Africa, and Asia
Witness History Audio: Great Seabirds Arrive
The African Slave Trade Explodes
European traders bought large numbers of slaves to work on plantations in the Americas.
In the 1500s and 1600s, slaves were viewed as the most important item of African trade
Slavery had existed around the world since ancient times
The word slave comes from the large number of Slavs taken from southern Russia to work as unpaid laborers during Roman times
The Portuguese quickly entered the slave trade.
High profit margins
Europeans brought large numbers of slaves to plantations in the Americas and elsewhere.
Notes: Listen to the Witness History audio. Then read aloud the main idea for each subheading in this section and show the related visuals.
After listening to the Witness History audio, ask, “What view of Europeans do the quotation and the photograph suggest?” (that they are powerful and perhaps unpleasant; that they are not very familiar to Africans)
When showing Color Transparency 85, use the lesson suggested in the transparency book to guide discussion.
Note Taking Transparency 107
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2. The Beginnings of Our Global Age: Europe, Africa, and Asia
Witness History Audio: Great Seabirds Arrive
large estates run by an owner or an owner’s overseer
Europeans also bought slaves as exotic household servants
Europeans relied on African rulers and traders to seize captives and bring them to the coastal trading posts
There, they were exchanged for textiles, metalwork, rum, tobacco, weapons, and gunpowder.
Over the next 300 years, slaves were brought across the Atlantic to work on sugar, rice, tobacco, and other plantations in the Americas
They were considered to be property, and had no hope of bettering their situation
Notes: Listen to the Witness History audio. Then read aloud the main idea for each subheading in this section and show the related visuals.
After listening to the Witness History audio, ask, “What view of Europeans do the quotation and the photograph suggest?” (that they are powerful and perhaps unpleasant; that they are not very familiar to Africans)
When showing Color Transparency 85, use the lesson suggested in the transparency book to guide discussion.
Note Taking Transparency 107
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3. The Beginnings of Our Global Age: Europe, Africa, and Asia
Witness History Audio: Great Seabirds Arrive
Some African rulers tried to slow down or stop the slave trade,
Affonso I, ruler of Kongo, was an early opponent of the slave trade
Tutored by a Portuguese missionary
Someone sent to do religious work in a territory or country
In the end though, profits were too high for others to join the resistance.
Notes: Listen to the Witness History audio. Then read aloud the main idea for each subheading in this section and show the related visuals.
After listening to the Witness History audio, ask, “What view of Europeans do the quotation and the photograph suggest?” (that they are powerful and perhaps unpleasant; that they are not very familiar to Africans)
When showing Color Transparency 85, use the lesson suggested in the transparency book to guide discussion.
Witness History Audio: Audio from Chronicle of Discovery and Conquest of Guinea
Note Taking Transparency 107
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4. The Beginnings of Our Global Age: Europe, Africa, and Asia: Section 2
Note Taking Transparency 107
Effects of European Exploration
European Footholds
Portuguese establish forts and trading posts.
Portuguese attack coastal cities of East Africa.
Portuguese expel the Arabs and take over the East African trade network.
Slave Trade
European involvement encourages broader Atlantic slave trade.
Europeans rely on African rulers and traders to seize captives and bring them to trading posts and forts.
Some African leaders such as Affonso I, try to stop the slave trade.
New African States
Asante kingdom arises in the area of present-day Ghana.
Oyo empire arises from successive waves of settlement by Yoruba people.
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