The name of Kenya was derived from Mount Kenya, the second highest peak in Africa. The Cushitis-speaking pastoralists were the first inhabitants to arrive in 2000 B.C. migrating from the Ethiopian highlands. The second group of inhabitants was the Nilotic-speakers and Bantu-speakers who arrived between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D. Many visitors came from different parts of the world such as Arabia, Rome, Portugal, India and Greece, whom got to settle in Kenya. Ultimately the intermixing of the new settlers with the locals led to the creation of the Swahili language and development of a new culture. In the 8th Century, the first visit to East Africa was made by Arabian and Persian traders who brought a Muslim influence to the culture. At this time, most of the development and trade occur in the coastal region.
In the 15th century, the coastal region becomes the center of trade out of Africa. At this time, the Coast is reach, cities are grown, and Swahili people become wealthy. The trading business expands to Africa, India, Persia and China. With having a successful and rich trade in this region, Portugal shows interest in control of this region. The Portuguese, with 23 ships and 1500 soldiers, invades, kills and robs most of the cities on the East Coast of Africa. For the next two centuries, the Swahili people watch their cities along the Coast getting destroyed in the fight between Arabs and Portuguese to have full control on the region.
Many African countries were under
In a way it was a precursor to the oncoming storm of the slave trade and its global impact. However it is evident through the letters of Afonso, in this moment, that although Africans were collaborating with the Portuguese in trade that they did not want them to kidnap their nobleman or weakening its currency. Furthermore, the trade relations of the Atlantic Age specifically with the Portuegeuse and the Kongo help us understand the expansion of commercial exchange between West Central Africa and Europeans and give us a glimpse at the long-term and widespread impact it would have in
The Indian tribes of America created cultures that still exist in America today. The Mayas and Aztecs of Central America established empires that supported agriculture and long-distance trade. The Mayas created a calendar in silver, copper, gold and pearls. Then Mayas then founded the city of Tenochtitlan and built roads that encompassed about 5 million people. The natives of North America were nomadic, the Adena-Hopwell, Mississippian and Anasazi cultures emerged. There were approximately 240 different tribes speaking in different languages and they were primarily fishers and hunters. The Anasazi established trading centers that were sustained by comprehensive agriculture. The Chibchas and Incas created an empire similar to the Aztecs but on a smaller scale in the south. The Incas created a huge empire with as many as 12 million people and had a vast realm that stretched over 2,500 miles along the Andes Mountains. They had fertile farms, interconnected network of roads, and enduring buildings.
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
The ‘scramble for Africa’ was a phenomenon in the world between the years 1880-1914. The ‘dark continent’ was relatively untouched by Europeans up until this point, with few ports of control on the coasts in the west, which were remnants of the slave trade, and in the south, Britain held the Cape, taken from the Dutch during the French Revolutionary Wars. So, during a period of 30 years, it came to pass that almost the whole of Africa was taken by Europeans. (Except Liberia a colony for freed American slaves, and Abyssinia managed to hold out against Italian aggression). It will be my objective in this essay to analyse the economic factors which resulted in the almost complete colonisation and takeover of Africa, and also to determine to
The first chapter in Boahen’s book is titled “Eve of Colonial Conquest” and this section gives the readers a background of the colonialism in Africa through a look at the fundamental economic, political, and social changes that occurred just a few decades before colonialism took root. Boahen states that the trade of “natural products” is the most significant economic change in Africa by 1880. Just before the trading of “natural products” slave trades were abolished.
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
Trading during the Post-classical era from 1000-1450 C.E. were what the many civilizations at that time heavily relied on, it had flourished and arouse to the point where many alliances were created. Many big cities were most notably successful in their trading and alliances. Smaller cities were also able to succeed by having alliance with one another; German Hansa in North Europe and the Swahili cities along the coast of East Africa were among the most successful cities in their trade organizations. Hansa and Swahili shared many similarities; they both craved for money and desired to emphasize their trading sites to extend. Their differences were as important, they were different in their economical, cultural
The history of West Africa has its inhabitant traces is almost 6000 years ancient, but the earliest human beings who came here first were almost 12000 BCE. The enhancement in the farming took place after the arrival of a modern ancestor in the fifth millennium. After making connections with other civilizations like Mediterranean ones, the development of iron industry took place in every use of daily life. The common or traditional business of trade for them consisted of cotton, leather, metals, gold against horses, clothes, copper, salt, etc. They were modifying their lifestyles and politics as more as they were coming closer to other communities of the world (Ajayi, 1970).
Most questions of whether and how language shapes thought start with the simple observation that languages differ from one another. And a lot! Just look at the way people talk, they might say. Certainly, speakers of different languages must attend to strikingly different aspects of the world just so they can use their language properly.
Be able to describe the East African trading centers PRIOR to the arrival of the Portuguese.
The work of the Portuguese in Africa was far from complete. They continued setting up trading stations spanning across the west coast of Africa, still with the intention of finding gold.
While steamships and railways revolutionize transportation providing quick movement throughout Africa, telegraph lines enable communication, and medicines prolong the stay of Europeans in Africa (Grant). Most importantly, industrialization in Africa further promotes industry in Europe by the ability to reach more resources. This becomes evident by the description of the province of Manyuema, “which, at the time of the death of Livingstone, was the richest in ivory and population, and which the slave-hunters have now reduced to a desert, seizing the ivory, and reducing the inhabitants to slavery in order that they may carry the ivory to the coast, after which they would be sold” (Document 8). Their desire for these resources causes them to overtake an abundant amount changing the landscape of Africa
African kingdom were in war with each other,in Port loko( a river town) there were people that
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)
To begin with, the rise in oceanic trading during this time period had a direct and profound impact on Africa. Though this was not the first time in history that the world’s oceans were used to trade with Africa, there was seen a tremendous rise in both the trade’s significance and volume. Note that this increase in trade was not as prevalent on Africa’s interior as it was on coastal Africa, which includes the coastlines of the continent that touch the Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. (Getz, 25) The use of the Mediterranean Sea was the main catalyst for the “cosmopolitanization” of Mediterranean Africa for many