Essay on Hansa Verses Swahili

“No nation was ever ruined by trade.” This quote was said by Benjamin Franklin in the late 1700s. These words are so simple, and it seems like anyone could have said them. However, this quote has a bigger meaning in that throughout world history, trade has been so important to so many countries and it has led to many empires successes. It has occurred for a very long time, and it has progressed dramatically. Trade has changed a lot, but some parts of trade stayed the same over a long periods of time. In the era between 300 CE and 1450 CE, trade between Eurasia and Africa changed because the empires and kingdoms in power were replaced and their control over trade differed;

“Ibn Battuta’s stories give us a picture of Africa through eyes of a devote Muslim traveling all over the continent of Africa and the world. In his accounts sub-Saharan Africa is described prior to colonialism and racism. Ibn Battuta’s stories as they are transcribed in “Ibn Battuta, In Black Africa” by Said Hamdun and Noel King are representative of the only written account of this period and give us the most realistic and accurate account of this time in history.

The document 10-4 was written by IBN BATTUTA from Travels in Asia and Africa. This document was based on his impressions of the east coast of Africa, a description of his trip across the desert, and his thoughts on the Kingdom of Mali. The viewpoint of this document is from Ibn Battuta. It suggests to me that this document was biased, because it is only based on one person’s opinions and viewpoint.

The Encounters in Early Societies in the Americas and Oceania were very fascinating encounters. These encounters of early societies in the Americas and Oceania were quite similar to the ones in Africa and Eurasia. Geography also played an important role in these early societies. A few topics I will address are: in what ways were the societies of the Americas and Oceania similar to those in Africa and Eurasia in spite of such isolation. The factors in which contributed to the difficulties in sustaining log distant trade of the societies in America and Oceania with neighboring societies. The last topic I will address is what the existence of such interactions despite such

Other tribes desired corn, as was the case for the “corn hungry Assiniboines” who were “eager to exchange meat and manufactured items for grain” (Fenn 230). This multilateral need influenced the establishment of trade “distribution centers” in “Mandan and Hidatsa villages” (Fenn 254). . Such Mandan villages contained a vast number of corn “storage pits” and “caches” that “represent[ed] space for some seventy thousand bushels” (Fenn 254). In addition to necessary foodstuff acquired through trade, Mandans aquired European goods such as “arms, ammunition, axes, kettles, and other articles of European manufacture” (Fenn, 237).The great desire for corn and its ability to be traded for other items reflects how corn acted as a form of currency for the Mandan people. An example of this concept appeared when “many natives visited the blacksmith John Shields and paid him “considerable [quantities] of corn” for his work” (Fenn 232).

At first Native Americans, Europeans and Africans were separated by the vast oceans in between their continents, but as technologies and trade in Europe advanced the three region’s worlds collided. There were various similarities and differences in policy, economy and religion amongst the three regions but alas, contact between these empires reaped inevitable change among all these for the better or worse.

Ibn Battuta’s 1331 journey to West Africa provides a contrast of two worlds: Battuta’s pre-modern Islamic culture conflicting with African societies’ interpretation of Muslim beliefs and tribal traditions. He is especially critical of the various roles of women he observes—thus, allowing us insight into his own judgments formed by his culture and society.

For example, Nzinga ran her army based on Imbangala combat mechanisms (Strickert 2). The Imbangala have a stystem according to which they are loyal and pay tribute to whoever provides them a spiritual and physical realm of sanctuary, which Nzinga accomodated(Skidmore-Hess 307). More importantly, however, Nzinga created out of these Imbangala bowmen an army that helped her during battle (Strickert 1) and benefited her in capturing slaves to sell and trade(Skidmore-Hess 301). This slave trade is where Nzinga’s next and final partnership stemmed from: the Dutch. They were mesmerized by the prosperous slave trade Nzinga oversaw, and upon agreeing to trade with them in 1641, they became Nzinga’s strongest allies, and battled with her against her Portuguese enemies until the dutch were defeated in 1648 (Toler 267). This demonstrates how essential it is to form strong alliances and how it will benefit a country in the long run.

The motivations behind the civilization of Africa are viewed in documents 1, 4, 7 and 11. Economic motivations and political global power such as the advantages of

There are different experiences of the slave trade that are reflected in these documents such as those of an enslaved person (Olaudah Equiano), a European slave trader (Thomas Phillips – an English merchant), an African monarch (King Jao) whose kingdom and personal authority suffered from the slave trade, and an African monarch (Osei Bonsu) who opposed the ending of the slave trade. Of all the commercial ties that linked the early modern world into global network of exchange, none had more profound or enduring human consequences than the Atlantic Slave Trade. And in all these documents, we can see how people reacted differently to this system based on how they encountered it and how it affected them.

17.  What kinds of changes were transforming the societies of the West African Igbo and the North American Iroquois as the fifteenth century unfolded?

While reading both ethnographies “The Hadza: Hunter-Gather of Tanzania” and “From Mukogodo to Maasai” it is easy to spot out differences and similarities between both these simple, yet complex, societies. People tend to believe that indigenous populations are always very similar, as I once did, but I would say while reading these ethnographies I found more differences between these communities and cultures than I did similarities. For my essay I am going to compare both the Mukogodo’s culture and life before and after the transition to Maasai to the life and culture of that of the Hadza. I am going to focus specifically on the similarities and differences between labor and labor

Africa’s persistent poverty interrogates the continent’s past through institutions, government, demography, economics, colonialism, and the impact of the trading. The colonial era affected the variety of Africa’s historical development for it was quite the game changer since it put a halt to the continuous drain of scarce labor and paved the way for the expansion of land concentrated forms of agriculture, and engaging smallholders, estates, and communal farms. The establishment of the colonial rule over the African interior reinforced African commodity growth in export. The colonial control facilitated the construction induced significant inflows of European

The effects of the Trans-Saharan trade are evident through looking at the currencies used in Western Africa. Igbo-Ukwu, in modern day Nigeria, shows that by the ninth century West Africa was not isolated from the outside world, as for some its trading goods included over one-hundred thousand glass beads, mostly from Egypt and India. The Almoravids also exported gold coins to infiltrate Europe’s economy by accompanying its silver currency. During the height of Western African empires, Africans had a lot of interaction with people outside the continent that they were both influenced by and affected themselves. East Africa after the sixteenth century had grown to be an international center where many outsiders would come to trade.

Some trade from the Swahili coast was transported to China, on the other side of the world. Merchants saw elephant ivory,