Centralized and Decentralized Political Structures in Precolonial West Africa

1. SAMPLE CLASS 3: POLITICAL ORGANIZATION AND THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE: CENTRALIZED AND DECENTRALIZED STATES

2. Today’s Session • The concepts of centralized and decentralized societies and the role which these played in precolonial African political structures. • The ways in which the slave trade affected centralized and decentralized societies through the case studies of Kongo/Angola and Upper Guinea. • The arguments that the slave trade precipitated political fragmentation within West Africa.

3. Starting Points • How much do we know about the political structures of precolonial West Africa, and what they were like?

4. Qualities of Centralized States? • Political hierarchy; • Administrative structure charged with collecting taxes, commercial regulation, etc.; • Military organization (army); • Official relations with foreign powers (attempts at diplomacy)

5. Qualities of Decentralized States • Small-scale political units; • Egalitarian political structure and authority; • Economic structure tending towards self-sufficiency.

6. Case Study 1: Upper Guinea

7. Map of Bight of Biafra

8. Centralized and Decentralized Societies • Activity: Drawing on Hawthorne and Klein – what was the relationship between centralized and decentralized societies and the slave trade?

9. what was the relationship between centralized and decentralized societies and the slave trade? • Not simply the story of aggressors and victims • Centralized States = Warfare as a means of procuring captives • Decentralized States = Kidnap raids as a rite of passage, and to obtain captives as a ransom

10. Case Study 2, Kingdom of Kongo • Kongo History video • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eYMh37BEMk

11. Kingdom of Kongo (16th-17th Centuries)

12. Kongo (1) • The capital is a long distance inland at Mbanza Kongo. • The capital was formed by the strongest clan, the Mwissikongo, at a crossroads of trade routes. • In the 1480s, there are 8 provinces, and probably only Mbanza Kongo is the size of a town, with a population of around 20,000.

13. Kongo (2): Royal Authority • The king (manikongo) comes from one of two clans, who traditionally take it in turns to govern. • The king’s authority is limited by the fact that they have no ritual control over religious practice in Mbanza Kongo – the Portuguese offer this to them, which is why Christianity is attractive. • Over the course of the 16th century, power centralizes as the slave trade increases to 5000/year by mid-century and 10000/year by 1600.

14. Kongo (3): Taxation, Labour and Slavery • Tributes – these were charged annually of crops to the elites, the Mwissikongo. • There was compulsory agricultural labour in the hinterlands of Mbanza Kongo and the provincial capitals. • Slavery increased during the 16th and 17th centuries, and so did the power and authority of the king.

15. Activity Activity, in small groups: Thinking about Kongo, how far did commercial organization facilitate a strong state, and how far did it undermine it?

16. Upper Guinea Coast Map

17. Goree and Cape Verde Videos • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGO9ZHPiIqo&feature=related Goree

18. Ribeira Grande, Cabo Verde

19. Pelourinho, Cidade Velha

20. Fortress, Cidade Velha

21. A Decentralized Region: Upper Guinea

22. The Cape Verde-Upper Guinea Nexus • C.2500 slaves/year exported from Upper Guinea 1525-50 • C. 5000 slaves/year exported from Upper Guinea 1550-1600 • Key is the settlement of Caboverdeans in places like Cacheu and traditions of hospitality of outsider diaspora merchants from the trans-Saharan trade • They are able to play off the various groups against one another – each needs trade to procure goods to protect themselves from their neighbours and the empire of Mali

23. Cacheu

24. Cacheu today

25. Upper Guinea and Mandinka Expansion: 16th century • And, the decentralized societies (Biafada, Balanta, Diola) need trading contacts to protect themselves from Mandinka expansion from the empire of Mali • Small-scale societies could be sold into slavery by larger groups – Kassanke, Brame, Kaabu • IE., a pattern which fits the predatory state hypothesis in the 16th century

26. Upper Guinea in the 17th Century • This pattern changes… • By 1560/70s, members of smaller groups appear to be selling slaves through middlemen to Europeans – both Balanta and Diola. • Smaller groups become much better protected – 1, winding paths, and 2, fortified villages where people lived – it is harder for larger groups to attack • Elders also sanction participation to procure iron, which helps to develop agricultural production – feeding people (rice), and provisioning slave ships

27. Activity • In small groups, think of 3 ways in which West African political organization related to the export trade in slaves

28. Political Fragmentation in this period • The Lovejoy thesis: Paul Lovejoy (1982: 67): There is a “general pattern of political disintegration and small-scale states prevailed along the whole Atlantic basin, in precisely those areas where the influence of European demand for slaves, gold and other commodities was most profound”.

29. Examples of Political Fragmentation • Kongo – we have looked at this today. Centralized state to begin with, but ultimately civil war and collapse. • In Angola, by the 18th century there are up to 20 warring mini-states. • The Loango kingdom is powerful and independent from the 15th century. In 1600 controls a vast swathe of coastline. (see Martin 1972) • …Moves decisively to slave trading in the 1670s. • 1770s: Portuguese report puts Loango coast trade at 20000 slaves/year. • But, by 1800, the Maloango (king of Loango) rules over a territory vastly shrunken in size – subject kings no longer went to visit him in person as they had done previously.

30. Political Fragmentation in Upper Guinea (1) • Great Jolof • Portuguese arrival in 1445 – an emperor rules over 5 subordinate provinces on the coast • By 1550 all the coastal provinces are independent of the central power of Jolof…

31. Political Fragmentation in Upper Guinea (2) • Mandinka hegemony in the pre-Atlantic era • But, by late 16th century, Kassanké power over Brames, Diolas, Bainunk is waning. • The seat of Mandinka power moves further inland, to Kansala (Gabú). • The Balanta, Diola and Brame become more autonomous; i.e., smaller, decentralized societies do better, and the large political space in which previously many other groups had coexisted collapses.

32. Activity • Why might slave trading prompt political fragmentation? • What might the impact of this be for more recent history in West Africa?

33. Some ideas as to why slave trading might prompt fragmentation 1, Competition for access to European trade goods and localized power accruing from this. Rival kings able to gain power through access to weapons etc. 2, Increasing tensions and disputes among neighbours because of violence and instability of slave trade wars. 3, Disruption of agricultural productive cycles, harder to feed large population.