Africa’s Resistance to the Portuguese
The African history has been affected tremendously due to the influence of some European countries. Portugal, who probably had the greatest impact on the continent, was not shy in invading what they thought to be profitable circumstances. One of these areas that they profited from was the kingdom of Kongo. Kongo was a major Bantu-speaking kingdom astride the Congo River in west-central Africa, probably founded in the 14th century. It was governed by a king, the manikongo, whose economic power was based upon trade in ivory, hides, slaves, and a shell currency of western Africa.
Within a few years after the Portuguese first encountered the kingdom in 1484, the sixth manikongo, Nzinga Mbemba, later
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By 1570 the power of the Kongo kingdom had begun to decline, and severe internal tensions had developed. Alfonso I knowing what was going on wrote a series of papers to King Joao III of Portugal. In these papers, Alfonso I pleaded with the king to take away all the corrupt Portuguese from his kingdom. With false assurance from the king of Portugal, he asked to have sent those people of religious and medical backgrounds to help modernize his kingdom. With the corruptness still noticeable in the Kongo, Alfonso I was forced to pass a law stating that “…any white man living in our Kingdoms and wanting to purchase goods in any way should first inform three of our noblemen and officials of our court whom we rely upon in this matter…” (57). These futile attempts of writing letters to the king were not making any significance. The king of Portugal was money hungry along with the majority of all his servants who worked for him down in Africa.
Some of the areas of Africa knew that letters to the king would not work alone. They were forced to use action against the Portuguese. People known as Zimba did the military launches. Most of the attacks were economically motivated. They were being used for the trade circuit. Zimba attacks were successful against the Portuguese but they did not succeed in reestablishing the traditional market for their ivory.
Power and Control. These are the two big factors for imperialism.At the time period one of the most formidable empires in the world (The British empire/European empire),still wanted more ‘power’. Whether that power came from having more land,much more resources,and simply “bragging” rights,it’s very apparent that power was main influence. Europe enacted imperialism on Africa for resources,land,and power.
In the late fifteenth century the Portuguese were expanding its kingdom in Africa where it tapped into the existing gold and slave trades of the western Sudan and West Central Africa (Ehret 339). By the early sixteenth century, the Americas became a major player in the global commerce system as the Spanish and Portuguese began to carve at the land and importing and exporting sugar, tobacco, and slaves. Slaves in this moment were the chief commodity that the Portuguese sought from West Central Africa as they provided the free labor that was needed to cultivate and maintain sugar plantations in the Americas. However, the slave trade was not a one-sided system, in fact many African elites, like King Afonso a Nzinga of the Kongo allowed for the buying and selling of African people to Europeans. In other words, Europeans traded with Africa because Africa allowed it to happen, however, there are moment when the demand overshadowed the supply. The slave trade and its many complications is one way in understanding the expanding commercial exchanges between Europeans and West Central Africans during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This essay will analyze the letters King Afonso Nzinga wrote to the King of Portugal, Joao
“Letters to King Jao of Portugal,” was written by the king of Kongo, King Affonso, who’s real name was Nzinga Mbemba. King Affonso writes this letter directed to the king of Portugal, King Jao, to inform him about his concerns of his people. The letter is dated 1526 and takes place in the Kingdom of Kongo, which by during this time slave trade is going on (705). Throughout the letter of King Affonso seems to beg King Jao for help rather than being demanding, “again we beg of your Highness to agree with it”(707), remarks King Affonso.
In letters written by the Manikongo, Nzinga Mbemba Afonso, to the King João III of Portugal, he talks about that the resources coming in through the merchants is what is making the trading successful. He requests the King only send missionaries and not send anymore merchandise.The letter reveals the anger and frustration between the African residents and the merchants. The African residents did not feel like they were being treated right and that they could have been treated a lot fairer then they were at the moment. This problem at the time was the beginning of racism between Europeans and African people. The Europeans felt they were superior to the Africans and thought they could treat them in a bad way because of that. Countries would try
Imperialism is defined as one country’s domination of the political, economic, and social life of another country. In Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, imperialism was present and growing. The main countries involved in the imperialism in Africa were the French, German, and Great Britain. The French’s empire was mainly in North and West Africa while Britain’s colonies were scattered throughout the continent. Germany ruled over such countries as Tanganyika, Togoland, and Cameroon, until their defeat in World War I.
The predecessors of many Angolans moved from different parts of Africa much sooner than the arrival of the first Portuguese in the late 1400s. By the time of the Portuguese’s landing in Africa, the Kongo Kingdom was already founded in the northwestern part of modern day Angola. The first Portuguese to explore the Congo River had many intentions. They planned to bring religion, to promote European ideas of civilization, to find and use resources, and eventually to build up the slave trade. By the mid-1400s, the Kongo Kingdom was the most influential of the states located along Africa 's Atlantic coastline. The kingdom had been founded in the late 1300s by a party of Bakongo, which is the plural for Kongolese individuals. These Bakongo had ventured south of the Congo River into northwestern Angola. The Bakongo then defeated the local population and built the capital city of Mbanza Kongo, which translates as
After the fall of Ghana, a Black state called Mali became the successor power in West Africa. The king of Mali formed alliances with other Islamic rulers, and this military and religious strength made him the most powerful ruler in Africa. Mali was founded by the Mande people of the upper Niger River, famous for their weaving, mining and architecture. By the close of the fourteenth century, the Mali empire had achieved greater wealth and power than Ghana. Civil warfare, attacks from Mossi and Songhay, and the arrival of the Portuguese in Africa mortally reduced Mali's power.
For centuries, European nations had been trading slaves, gold, ivory, and more with the west coast of Africa. Throughout the early 1800s, Europeans barely knew anything about the rest of the country of Africa. This quickly changed as Europe grew a sudden interest in exploring the rest of the country and taking advantage of their many valuable resources. Many wonder what motivated Europeans to Imperialize Africa, or extend their country’s power throughout Africa. The driving forces behind European Imperialism in Africa were the strive for ultimate power in Africa between competing countries, the need for money and technological advancements in European civilizations, and the constant attempt for Europeans to spread their cultures throughout
2. Kongo: Kuba people migrated from the area of present day Gabon to settle the old Kongo. One of the branches of the Kuba, the Bushongo become stronger than the others King Shambo Bulongo who usurped the throne, forced himself on the Bushongo people but eventually respected by them. The Bushongo trade with other forest group with Portuguese. They excelled in wood carving and pottery.
Growing up in Ghana, West Africa in a large family, I was one of 9 children the 8th and the 4th girl; I faced a unique challenge in a culture where boys were the focus pertaining to proper education, not much thought is put in the education of girls, particularly in large families. As fate will have it, an incident in my early school years changed the pattern. My sisters attended the under- resourced public school, after completion of the high school education, they were given the choice by my father to go to a vocational school to learn a trade such as dressmaking, hairdressing etc. another option was to go a commercial school and learn to become secretaries. I believe this was supposed to be the course of my education. Incidentally, a teacher used a stick to hit my buttocks and ripped my flesh during my first year in school at a tender age of 7yrs old, this was the school my sisters attended, and my three brothers attended a preparatory school. I remember my father coming home from work that evening and my mother reporting the incident that had caused the cut on my buttocks; He picked me up, headed to the teacher’s house and confronted him to the point of almost assaulting him. Fortunately for the teacher, people intervened and protected him, due to this incident, my father enrolled me in the preparatory school my brothers attended, which eventually broke the cycle for myself and my younger sibling, who became the other beneficiary of quality education. Therefore,
King Affonso 's letter to King John of Portugal is one of the most important documents in world history. First of all, it is a forerunner in the abolition of slavery, for it states that the Portugese should end their slave trade within Congo. It also is innovative for its time, for it expresses several notions about basic human nature, an idea which wasn 't fully captivated until the American Revolution. Thus, this document was a predecessor to the American Constitution. Additionally, this document expresses the later nationalistic movements expressed by all of the African colonies in the 19th and 20th centuries. During this time, revolution sparked the freedom of all of Africa 's countries. Affonso 's letter, however, also expresses this nationalistic movement, for he desires a county of his own, free of outside oppression. Thus, Affonso 's letter proves to be far advanced for his generation 's society. Additionally, this document is one of the most important texts in world history, for it expresses the weakening relationship between African and European countries. At first, several African countries venerated slavery, for the governments became wealthy due to this trade. However, in situations similar to this one, they all realized the harmful effects that slavery brings with it, thus retaliating against their European tyrants. Ultimately, King Affonso 's letter to King John of Portugal proves to be an extremely
In the early 1880’s, the powers of Europe started to take control of regions in Africa and set up colonies there. In the beginning, colonization caused the Africans little harm, but before long, the Europeans started to take complete control of wherever they went. The Europeans used their advanced knowledge and technology to easily maneuver through the vast African landscape and used advanced weapons to take control of the African people and their land. The countries that claimed the most land and had the most significant effect on Africa were France, England, Belgium, and Germany. There were many reasons for the European countries to be competing against each other to gain colonies in Africa. One of the main reasons was that the
With the collapse of the Great Silk Road, trade routes through the waters became more necessary. Muslims and Europeans fought over the Indian Ocean and the several prosperous ports (plus major cities and villages in Ethiopia) during the fifteenth and sixteenth century. (McKay et al., 2009) Although Muslims had controlled the Indian Ocean trade for centuries, Portugal’s ability to circumvent the southern tip of Africa led to war and Portugal’s eventual defeat of Muslim traders and their imperialism throughout the Southeast Asian market. Africa’s Swahili people and their ivory, copra and rhinoceros horns and China’s “age of commerce”, which was developing within the neighboring countries of Vietnam and Burma, multiplied the available goods for Europeans to bring back home. (McKay et al., 2009) Portugal, as with most European countries, was beginning their recovery financially after years of war and plague. With the growth of trade and the amount of people in the Indian Ocean area, religion quickly followed. (McKay et al., 2009) Again, Muslims and Europeans were in battle. But this time they fought for religious supremacy in numbers. Each faction quickly moved to convert as many people as possible. Settlements were formed, cities grew, and customs and culture began mixing in an early version of a melting pot. (McKay et al., 2009)
In simple terms, the Diaspora as a concept, describes groups of people who currently live or reside outside the original homelands. We will approach the Diaspora from the lenses of migration; that the migration of people through out of the African continent has different points of origin, different patterns and results in different identity formations. Yet, all of these patterns of dispersion and germination/ assimilation represent formations of the Diaspora. My paper will focus on the complexities of the question of whether or not Africans in the Diaspora should return to Africa. This will be focused through the lenses of the different phases in the Diaspora.
The Nguni Bantu clans settled between the Drakensberg Mountains and the sea. The Sotho clans settled in the interior, north of the Cape Colony. The 19th century competition for land led to the conflict between the Bantu clans, which led to the boer war, 1899-1902. Hundreds and thousands died during the wars, entire clans disappeared and it resulted in the creation of many Bantu nations. Now they are unable to communicate with each other, and now they don't have any power to stop the Europeans.