Mandinka Empire

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

The story that surrounds the transatlantic slave trade is notoriously known, by both young and old, across the nation. This story has not only survived, but thrived as “truth” through generations for several centuries; Although, it is much closer to a mystical tale than reality. In Reversing Sail, Michael Gomez lays the myths affiliated with African Diaspora to rest. Gomez shows the path of the amalgamation of the African people along with their resources into Europe. A path that leads to the New World, that would potentially become the Americas, would ultimately result in more than just the exploitation of Africans as slaves. Compacted into an eight-chapter undergrad textbook, Gomez uses Reversing Sail to unground the history, complexity, and instrumentality of the African Diaspora. He does such in a

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.

Randy Sparks highlights a rare aspect of the history of slavery: the relentless effort of the enslaved to use their privilege to free themselves. Although it is not clear when the European and Africans first encountered each other in Old Calabar, it is evident that the constant trading between both parties built a concrete means of communication. As many individuals who have

As time passed, European domination drastically altered the African landscape – both physically and culturally. Traditional roles, practices, and beliefs were either completely subverted or modified to fall in line with European cultural ideals. Doubtlessly, this process of subjugation worked to the detriment of native populations throughout the continent. Even though all members of indigenous communities have suffered under this system, African women remain especially vulnerable to its harmful effects. As Mary Kolawole points out in her comprehensive work, Womanism and African Consciousness, these women must confront a set of oppressions unique to their position as both black Africans and women. During her discussion of African women’s current struggle for recognition, Kolawole argues that, although colonialism displaced many African traditions, the patriarchal social structure remained. In many ways, she holds, European colonization widened the rift between African men and women even further (Kolawole 34). Although African and European traditions share in the elevation of the male over the female, most African cultures offered women a greater position of respect within society, as well as more “positive avenues of self-liberation” than were available to European women

Africans have, since the early settlement of America, has had a great influence in the nation’s growth. These contributions to the United States from enslaved Africans have been greatly portrayed in American culture. Varying from cuisine, to song and dance are not only portrayed today but it has a deep-rooted impact throughout the United States. During the middle passage, enslaved Africans were forced to abandon their everyday lives, their families and their homes and forced to adapt to a new lifestyle they knew nothing of. However, upon arrival into the New World, due to their prior knowledge and wisdom from back home, they were able to quickly adapt and custom themselves to this new lifestyle in order to survive with the hope of potentially one day returning back to Africa. Unfortunately, African contributions to the culture of the United States has received little to no recognition and it has been taken credit for by Europeans and Whites since the early establishment of the United States.

Gomez examines both the African communities from which these people came and the specific places in North America to which they were taken. The ethnicity of Africans brought to Virginia, to South Carolina, or to Louisiana shaped the African American communities on those areas much more than did the nature of their work or other factors. The Bambara and Malinke people from the Senegambia region who were transported to colonial South Carolina and French Louisiana brought with them their technological skill in growing rice. The first slave ships to reach Louisiana, in 1719, brought both African slaves and African rice seeds. By the end of the century, however a greater proportion of African brought to Louisiana were Yoruba, Fon, or Ewe. These people Gomez argues, synthesized the complex Yoruba region into "hoodoo," which Gomez neither romanticizes nor belittles.

The perspectives of African slave merchants, the female slaves, and the plantation workers in the Americans which are missing in this collection might add other dimensions to our understanding of this commerce in people. Knowing the perspective of the African slave merchants who were present during the slave trade in Africa would have

In the book They Came Before Columbus written by Ivan Van Sertima, chapter twelve, “Mystery of Mu-lan-pi”, there is a reoccurring theme of disproving the notion that Columbus brought over many different things and products from his expeditions to American to the Eastern parts of the world when in reality there is factual evidence that Africans made contact with America far before Columbus did. The author of this book, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, has his undergraduates degree in African languages and literature from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Van Sertima also worked as a journalist in Great Britain and did broadcasted to the Caribbean and Africa. With and extensive knowledge and work experience in African American Studies it is clear why he chose to wrote this book. The idea that Columbus was the first to bring things like maize from America is widely believed to be true but Van Setima saw that this was false and published They Came Before Columbus to show the facts and evidence that Columbus was not the first person to accomplish this. After writing this book Van Sertima went on to complete a master’s degree in African Studies at Rutgers University and even became a professor of African Studies at the same university. In this essay I will be going deeper into the theme and its relationship to African American history and discussing three other articles that can be related back to chapter twelve of They Came Before Columbus.

I think it is important to understand that African people have been present on this Earth for a very long time, long before white people decided to rip them from their homes. Many people of America don’t know the true history of Africa and that Africans are the true creators of civilization. Because of this lack of knowledge about our history, I think many people don’t know the greatness that black people are capable of. We come from a long legacy of kings and queens, but many people think of us as thugs and felons and unfortunately some of our people perpetuate this myth. The study of the African experience is important because it is necessary to know where we come from in order to understand where we can go. Reading is the best way to learn more about our history. This semester one of the books that we are reading is Something Torn and New by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong 'o and he talks about the disembodiment of the African people.

The changes in African life during the slave trade era form an important element in the economic and technological development of Africa. Although the Atlantic slave trade had a negative effect on both the economy and technology, it is important to understand that slavery was not a new concept to Africa. In fact, internal slavery existed in Africa for many years. Slaves included war captives, the kidnapped, adulterers, and other criminals and outcasts. However, the number of persons held in slavery in Africa, was very small, since no economic or social system had developed for exploiting them (Manning 97). The new system-Atlantic slave trade-became quite different from the early African slavery. The

The purpose of this book is to offer his perspective on how Africans were treated in the Americas from 1550 to 1812.

In sharp contrast to what most people think, “only about 6 percent of the slaves imported in Africa ended up in what is now the United States.” Most of those taken from Africa ended up, if they survived the long sea voyage, in the West

When you think of the abolishment of slavery, what is the first place you think of? Was it the United States? Maybe even Africa? Although these two regions are well discussed in the history of slavery there are for more areas that were involved. For the purpose of this paper, the two regions that have been chosen are the United States and Haiti. The United States was colonized by a mix of different races. The most predominant were English settlers and Haiti was predominantly French settlers. These two regions bought, sold and traded slaves by the use of the Transatlantic Slave trade. However, both the United States and Haiti played a significant role in the abolishment of slavery.

During the European Renaissance, the immigration of African individual to Europe were mostly for economic purposes which, indirectly caused an increase in cultural diversity within Europe. However, a vast majority of Africans during the European Renaissance were slaves. European’s definition of “civilization” was to classify aliens and divide them into two class, “civilized” and “the barbarian”. To be considered civilized, it depended on a number of factor regarding hierarchical structure, social organisation, and descendant history. This label allowed European to distinguished themselves apart from Africans by labeling them uncivilized. Their notion forecasts the relationship with Africans in the Renaissance. Throughout the European Renaissance, not much was known about Africans due to the European's poor documentation of them. Recovering pieces of Africans’ history, especially the relationship with European, is vital because more knowledge of their past will demystify any misconceptions.