King Afonso Pestel Influence Essay

The lives of natives were reduced to nothing but machines of profit. In The Black Man’s Burden, Edward Morel argued that, “To reduce all the varied and picturesque and stimulating ways of savage life to a dull routine of endless toil for uncomprehended ends, to break social ties and disrupt institutions; to stifle natural desires and crush mental development… to kill the soul in a people - this is a crime which transcends physical murder.” European nations withered away at the very character of the nations they subjected to their rule. Their very culture was destroyed, replaced with monotonous slavery. Because of this, African kings made it clear they wouldn’t stay idle. In a quote from Machemba, the king of Yao to a German commander, he explained “I have listened to your words but can find no reason why I should obey you - I would rather die first… [T]o be your subject, that I cannot be. If it should be war you desire, then I am ready, but never to be your subject. I do not fall at your feet, for you are God’s creature just as I am.” The African nations were hoping for friendship between them and Europe, but they wouldn’t be subjected to their rule and would rather go to war. Instead of the vast benefits of actual trade between two sovereign nations, Europeans dismantled any further chance of

One course reading that reflects the ideas and themes of the documentary is Afonso I’s Letter to John III of Portugal. In his letter, Afonso expressed his anger toward the Portuguese merchants who overstepped their boundaries and sold his people as slaves, regardless of whether they could actually be sold as slaves. He was also frustrated that the merchants only sought profit and sold products that were prohibited, and, as a result, the people of Kongo bought wares from the merchants rather than from other citizens, which hurt the economy of the country. Additionally, he emphasized his desire to maintain a friendly trading relationship because of the importance of European goods and guns in securing his position as king.

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

A piece of evidence that impacts the whole document and King Affonso’s concern is that he mentions quiet frankly that he does not want his people or his noblemen taken from his land and sold into slavery. King Affonso pretty much implies that the Portuguese can go and take all the people that they want as long as they do not belong to his kingdom. The text is focused on a letter that is written by the highest authority whom had agreed to trading with these Portuguese but it does not inform on the thoughts of actually civilians experiencing and eye witnessing what is happening nor does it show any response of the King of Portugal. In order to really find out what is really going on, it is important to understand all sides to really make a thorough conclusion of any sort of bias.

When one queries the assessment of the European commercial activities and its impact in the Atlantic Islands and West Africa between the years 1415 and 1600, trickery, social violence, intrusion and the horrors of slavery comes to mind. There were many negative impacts such as population loss, loss of self worth and loyalty, the Europeans involved caused the demise of the European cloth industry. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to set foot in this area in the fifteenth century. During the history of Portugal (1415-1542), Portugal discovered an eastern route to India that rounded the Cape of Good Hope, established trading

Throughout history, a common theme that can be seen is the stronger, acquisitive society preying on the weaker society for their own gain of land, people, materials, and more. The Atlantic Slave Trade had a profound effect on the way states were constructed and transformed in West Africa. Some societies became very powerful, militarized centralized societies, like Dahomey and Kongo, and others were decentralized societies, like Balanta and Igbo. Many scholars argue that the centralized societies targeted these decentralized societies and kidnapped people for the slave trade or for their own lineages, but this issue of strong and controlled preying on weak and dispersed is not as “black or white” as it may seem.

Africa had been the target of colonialism and slavery for many years. The colonies that European’s developed during fifteenth and sixteenth century were the main reason that started slave trade in Africa.

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

The Portuguese first made contact with the Kongolese in the 1400s sparking a long and varied relationship between the two kingdoms. In order to better understand how this relationship played a part in the trade, colonization, and warfare of this region of Africa, the following paper will discuss the relationship between the Kongolese and the Portuguese up until the Battle of Mbwila, what occurred at the Battle of Mbwila, and how this battle effectively destroyed the Kingdom of Kongo in the latter part of the 17th century.

The Portuguese travelers were amazed by its size and recorded their thoughts in a diary stating, “this noble river had determined to try its strengths in pitched battle with the ocean itself.” In more serious parts of his argument, Hochschild used the European sources to prove his thesis. For example, on page 166, the author quoted a Catholic priest who recorded the calamities that King Leopold’s men did in his name in Africa. The priest related the story of how a state official named Léon Fiévez terrorized African villagers by killing a few men (severing the head or cutting the hands of Africans) to make an “example” out of them. Fiévez’s terror was so impressive that even a Force Publique officer quoted him saying “My goal is ultimately humanitarian. I killed a hundred people...but that allowed five hundred others to live.” Hochschild heavily relied on European sources to prove his point for both simple and serious matters. The priest described how “All the blacks saw this man as the Devil of the Equator.” However, this is according to the priest’s own perspective. This is how he perceived Africans to feel about Fiévez. In other words, it is the priest’s perception. There is no way of knowing for sure how Africans truly felt because their voice is silence. Nevertheless, Hochschild made a safe assumption as the terror the sources described can only provoke intimidation and the fact that Belgium became

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.

Abina and the Important Men is the tale of an west African woman from Ashantee who was abducted twice and sold multiple times as a slave. The book is about her trial at court and her prosecution against Quamina Eddoo. Quamina Eddoo is a wealthy man that farms palm oil that owns young slaves. Slavery in the Gold Coast at the time was illegal due to British colonization and their abolition of slavery. Enforcing British rule against slavery was difficult in the Gold Coast. British rule clearly dictates that slavery is illegal, however, slavery was what kept the Gold Coast economy going and was apart of their tradition. At the time, palm oil was one of the staples of their economy, in which the British profited from significantly, and child slaves did the field work. If the British enforce their slavery laws against all the rich landowners who produce this oil, it would destroy the economy and relations with the powerful locals. Abina’s case was one of horrible circumstance, but provides a unique approach of historical significance.

The African Slave Trade (pg 27): Portuguese traders likewise ousted Arab merchants as the prime purveyors of African slaves. Some Africans were held in bondage as security for debts; others were sold into servitude by their kin in exchange for food in times of

The controversial scholarly journal of Robert S Wolff explores the history of the first trade encounters between the Portuguese in Africa and Asia, controversy lying in its separation from the Western narrative. Throughout the article, the author is trying to figure out the motives or other considerations playing a role behind the actions of Portuguese and other Europeans, such as choosing violent ways of making a profit in the lands of Africa and Asia, rather than using the existing trade networks, to emerge as the world ruler. In his view, Europeans had claimed themselves to be the “center of the world” way before they have risen to that title. European countries were looking for profitable trade in wealthy lands full of gold, consequently lack of resources and other valuable goods became a barrier to their success in the already existing channels.This is seen in da Gamma’s first encounter with the local ruler of Calicut, where his gifts were considered substandard to that of the poorest merchant, as seen by the local advisor.

Portugal was mostly focused on the slave trade from Africa to India. In the middle of the 16th century, France threatened to overtake Brazil from Portugal, which made Portugal start to focus on populating and defending Brazil. Brazil had little exporting so in order for Portugal to gain any profit from Brazil, Portugal became very strict on Brazil and would not allow them to print press under their rule. In addition, Brazil was forbidden to trade with any other country besides the motherland. This insured that all profit