The Slavery Of The Slave Trade

Africa, like many other continents, was a very tremendous and a very diverse civilization that is very complicated to introduce due to all its wonderful but also diverse features and beliefs. From the differences between its society and language to its religion and politics, Africa always had the reputation that its empires, cities, and kingdoms never progressed in the developments and achievements for their civilization. Many people believed that the Europeans were actually the cause of Africa’s achievements and advanced developments for their civilizations. However, this is further than the whole truth. Before the arrival of the Europeans between the 15th and 16th century, African kingdoms, empires, and cities had many achievements and accomplishments

In Basil Davidson’s video “Different but Equal,” he outlines the European perception of Africa upon their discovery of the continent. Claims that the Europeans were making about African culture, however, were far fetched and did not depict Africa in a positive manner. History according to pre-European Africa was rich and diverse, but once Europeans saw for themselves how different their continent was from Africa, they began to make up their own version of African history.

The incomprehensible mainland of Africa is so rich and different in its society with it transforming beginning with one of the nation then coming the next one as well as inside an individual nation numerous diverse societies might be found.

The cultural diversity and advancements portray the progression developed in African history. The growth of these two subcontinents prove that American and European historians were incorrect on how advanced and civilized Africa was.

Africa accomplished great feats, but some of the most historical ones are from the trade throughout Africa, Political Status, and culture in Africa. Trade in Africa thrived in the Kingdom of Aksum, known as Ethiopia today, as African traders used their nautical skills to reach nearby lands to trade goods and ideas. The Kingdom of Aksum was located in a unique location where it thrived in multiple trade routes. This unique location of, “Aksum reached its height between 325 and 360 A.D.” (Doc 1).

The history of Africa is very complex. Europeans invaded Africa and stripped them of their culture and denied future generations their history. Despite the focus on the time of enslavement in modern history, African history expands far beyond that. African history has been consistently whitewashed and many historians have attempted to put our history in a box. In order to understand and study the African experience, one must realize that the history of Africa extends far beyond the times of enslavement and colonialism.

We begin with the early origins of Africa, and the civilizations in place before, the Western world had an influence on them. Africa like the other continents had its array of civilizations set up in the different nation states, their own power systems, economy, and way of living, ways that differed, but resembled other civilizations as well. In validating this claim, I will be looking and analyzing the source, Ibn, Battuta, Visit from Mombasa and Kila, Rhila (c. 1358). The source is an account by Ibn Battuta, who was a scholar from Morocco, who is known for his travels to different lands, over a 30-year period of time. In this source, he visits the Swahili coast of Mombasa and ends his trip in Kilwa, a city in modern-day Tanzania. It is here we see the initial state of some of the nation-states in Africa, Battuta described the two cities “the city of Kulwa is amongst the most beautiful of cities, and most elegantly built” (57). The description

Screams for relief, cries for comfort, and moans for death all revolved around the slave trade. The slave trade is an event that not only impacted Africa, but the whole world even still today. This essay will explain how cultures were ruined and families were torn apart. The slave trade has influenced history worldwide because it has impacted continents economically, socially, and politically.

For what little history is taught about Africans institutionally and publically presently, it used as a tool to disempower people of African descent. To start present interpretations of African history denies the feats and accomplishments done by Africans as well as the roots from which all people come from. Presently history is made for people

Skips Gates video interrogate the critical notion of a pre-logical Africa, by showing that the first Homo Sapiens being found in the contient of Africa. It is the oldest fossil dated that has been found. It showed that pre-logical Africa were Black people that existed from one woman named “Lucy.” Her DNA can be found it all existing humans in today. The humans that exist in Africa was not primitive, but instead advance in many different things. They were traveling all over Africa to adapt to their surroundings. Blacks were creating paints on the inside of caves, that showed Sahara being a green savannah. It showed them swimming in lakes, herding of animals, people working together. This was all before the Sahara became a desert. Even while the land was changing, Blacks could understand and make the change, so that they can survived the environment. While Blacks was advancing in arts, language, hunting, and even writing, Europe was still in the Neanderthal stage. This means that Whites could not had went down to Africa and help them advance. Instead, they came down and stole the African civilization accomplishments and achievements. Europeans

During this semester I personally learned a lot more than I expected about Africa. While learning about numerous events after the slave trade I feel that the discovery of diamonds the most important event. It is said that diamonds were first discovered in Africa around 1866-1867 by a young boy on a farm near the Orange River. Since the first discovery of diamonds, diamonds have had a major impact on the continent of Africa in positive and negative ways which will be explained immediately.

At the southern tip of the country, the Boers and British are fighting for control of the area that they both want. The artist of the cartoon, has given it a negative connotation. The leaders of each country are acting greedy and avaricious by yanking on the edges of the continent that they want for themselves. It almost looks like they are going to tear apart the country if they do not let up on their actions. The artist of the cartoon has a point with this image. These European countries did essentially "tear apart" the continent. Within twenty years, nearly the entire African continent was possessed by European powers. As they stole, killed and destroyed to get a hold of more than their neighbors back home, these powers gave little thought and consideration to the varieties of peoples who already inhabited the land. It was truly a mad grab for more and more land. Among the powers grabbing for land, the British came out on top possessing most of the South, East and significant areas in the North, but there was an unusual player in this Imperial game who managed to receive nearly the whole center of Africa. King Leopold II of Belgium took control of the Congo and began a reign of terror that lasted at least forty years.

This chapter in Africans and Their History by Joseph Harris presents some of the roots of the stereotypes and myths about Africa in the past and for the most part are still held today. Harris discusses how the “greats” of history, geography, and literature starting a path of devaluation of Africans that writers after their time followed. Harris also denounced the language that these “greats” used to describe and talk about Africans. He asserts that this language inherently painted Africans as inferior and subhuman.

Much of Africa had not yet been explored therefore it remained mysterious to European imperialists. On a deeper level, one might find that Africa was ‘dark’ during this time period because of the colonization the Europeans were imposing on the natives. It was ‘dark’ for the African’s people because they were being forced to succumb to colonization. It was a time of excessive racism, suffering, and cruelty towards the natives. Perhaps more literally, ‘darkness’

Africa is one of the most beautiful continents in the world—from its numerous rich resources to the diverse culture of the people who reside there. Africa is considered to be the oldest inhabited territory on earth, with the human species originating from the continent (New World Encyclopedia). Studying maps of Africa from the centuries ago and those from more recent times show how the perspective of the African continent has changed over time. From the earliest map on record, I found out a lot about how the African continent was perceived by the artist and presumably others during that time period. The time in which this map was created is not known; however, it was entitled “Tabula Africa IIII”. This map was written in Latin, which was first Latium and used predominantly by the Romans (Cambridge University Press). This map is very simplistic compared to all of the others and is not in color. There are mountains, rivers, and seas depicted on this map. The cartographer used humps to distinguish the mountainous areas from the surrounding plains. The streams are also depicted in a different manner than the plains and mountains. The names of some of the mountains are included, in addition to the names of countries or inhabited areas; there are also names of some of the tribes who lived in Africa at the time. An example is the Troglodite people who were known to live in caves, dens or holes. The only animal name I could decipher was “elephas” which translated means elephants.