West African Kingdoms Essay example

Unusually for a European country the Portuguese, the first nation to reach Benin’s shores, were not interested in colonising the Kingdom of Benin, wishing instead to establish trade links with the Oba (the title of the reigning monarch) trading opulent items and firearms for pepper, ivory and palm oil. Portugal only had a small population and the idea of an overseas empire was not a popular one. The European visitors were willingly enmeshed into the folklore regarding Olokun, god of the sea and earthly wealth, as they had travelled over the sea to get to the west coast of Africa. The Portuguese were impressed with the well-organised and highly civilised urban centre similar to those in Europe, as were the Dutch after them who likened the size

Imperialism is defined as one country’s domination of the political, economic, and social life of another country. In Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, imperialism was present and growing. The main countries involved in the imperialism in Africa were the French, German, and Great Britain. The French’s empire was mainly in North and West Africa while Britain’s colonies were scattered throughout the continent. Germany ruled over such countries as Tanganyika, Togoland, and Cameroon, until their defeat in World War I.

Unlike Ghana, the Mali Empire was dominated by Islam, due to the widespread Islamic merchants and conversions that occurred in during kingdoms. This is significant because it demonstrates that goods weren’t the sole exchange and that religion was able to penetrate West Africa and impact the native people. The main motive for this mass adaptation of Islam as the dominant religion stems from strategic aims, from previous kingdoms, to diminish possible attacks from Muslim territories across the Sahara. This created alliance between Mali and other Arab powers, “the might of the [Mali] Empire was such that the Arabs at times called on it for military aid” (Diop, 93). This was extremely beneficial for Mali because it was the premier power of antiquity, and also had progressive relationships with other Islamic kingdoms throughout the world.

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.

African civilizations prior to initial contact with Europeans in the mid-15th century were scientifically, politically, and economically advanced. Although many scholars claim that Africa was ahistoric until Europeans “saved” them, both Ancient Egypt and Ancient Ghana empires show that Africans had created sophisticated civilizations without European influence.

Keim suggests that colonization of Africa led to “direct or indirect” belief that African culture was inferior. The growth of colonization led to the term “Dark Continent” being thrown around in regard to Africa, ultimately leaving the continent with a single story.

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

In the midst of slavery’s storm, European slave traders used sales tactics that catastrophically diminished Africa’s reputation and African’s humanity. In the process, they destroyed Africa’s historical truth; and created images that Africans were unrefined savages that mindlessly roamed the grasslands with bones jutting from their noses, in loincloths, and spears in hand…simply as if they were mere human and behaved as untamed animals. Classifying Africans as inferior and uneducated is racist in theory

Imperialism is the domination by one country of the political, economic, or cultural life of another country. The major causes of imperialism are related to economy, politics, military, science and inventions. Economy factors are need for natural resources, need for new market to sell products and place for growing population to settle. The major factors related to politics and military are bases for trade and navy ships, power and security for global empire and spirit of nationalism. The imperialism related to society are religion, wish to share western civilization and belief that’s the best culture.

There are difficulties in the study of this topic. The first one is the view of the historiography. Many economist and historians have considered Africa to be underdeveloped even before the colonialism period, which recent studies have proved to be wrong. Africa had a well-developed economic system, where the monetization of the economy had created a class society . There needs to be more investigation about this topic, which hopefully will bring some light to this interesting period in time. Secondly, the lack of primary sources is another obstacle to the study of this topic, many of the ones available are biased because they are from a European perspective. However, it is possible to find other material in archaeology, documents and oral stories. Thirdly, the continent of Africa is huge, and in its study, we should try to avoid generalizations, because it erases the particularities of each territory. Therefore, as said, we are going to focus on West and Central Africa, so the study will be more focused and specific.

In the Chapter, “Sudanese Kingdoms of West Africa”, written by J.I. Dibua, goes over the rise and fall of empires and people in the West Africa region. We see the extent of which environmental factors contributed, impact of trade, and spread of Islam. All of which aided to the rise of power within the region, and the internal and external problems that would ultimately lead to their fall.

Ancient Ghana was originally found in the 830 AD. They built their capital on the edge of the Sahara and the city quickly grew into a thriving trade market and became a very wealthy place. the city turned into one of the most wealthy places on earth and made its wealth from gold and silver.

During the mid-1000s, the Empire of Ghana was wealthy and powerful through its control of trade routes. The empire lasted for many centuries until it collapsed in the 1200s. Three major factors contributed to its end. These factors include invasion of other armies, overgrazing of animals, and internal rebellions within the empire.

Life was affected through settled agriculture in early societies after new crops from Asia and an establishment of settled agriculture Bantu speakers spread their vast knowledge of domesticated livestock and their ironworking skills. Community and extended family were also two very important facets (McKay, 269).

The people of Africa are very diverse. The major tribes of Africa are the Maasai, Tuareg, and the Bambuti. The Maasai and Tuareg tribes were pastoralists, while the Bambuti were made of many tribes. The first humans migrated out of Africa. Scientists have found the oldest known fossils in Africa. One of the biggest migrations in Africa was the Bantu Migration. The Bantu people introduced metal weapons and tools to other tribes influencing them to join them. The African slave trade cut Africa’s population in half, taking 15 million people. North and South American slave traders forced Africans into slavery. The West African Kingdoms were very rich. The Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai each added onto each others kingdoms and trade routes,