Native Americans lost many things during conquest. One of most important their past Became frozen in time waiting for

1. Native Americans lost many things during conquest. • One of most important • their past • Became frozen in time waiting for modern ‘civilized’ Europeans

2. Similarly, Africa seen only in terms of slavery and racism • People have failed to give Native Americans and Africans • Agency • i.e. an active role in their own lives and past • Also important to remember that all three worlds • America, Africa, and Europe • neither new or united when they came into contact.

3. To change this we need to look beyond the thirteen colonies We have to look at the ‘Atlantic World’

4. Square miles Africa 11,717,218 North America 9,351,970 South America 6,882,128 Europe 3,827,308

5. During the colonial period main region of Africa involved western and central Africa • Primarily sub-Saharan Africa • Africa is not a country • It is a continent! • Multiple nations with diverse and varied cultures

6. 3rd millennium BC • Change in climate created Sahara Dessert into what we know today • 3,500,000 miles (=USA )

7. Divided continent into two regions • North Africa • Remained an integral part of “world history” • In part due to later influence of Islam • Sub-Sarahan Africa • Partially isolated

8. Due to lack of geological rippling main boundaries in Africa run east to west • East Africa had volcanic activity • Winter rain • Desert • Savanna • rainforest • Equator • Savanna

9. Majority of Africans who came/ taken to America from sub-Saharan Africa Primarily west coast Slavery not only impact on European expansion Islam also played a role

10. Following death of Prophet Muhammad • 632 • World sees expansion of Arab / Islamic power • Pushing across North Africa • Then south and east in to Sub-Sharahan Africa • But also North into Europe • Islam and Europe

12. Conquest & conversion of North Africa allowed Islam to spread to West Africa Arrival brought West Africa back into broader world As in Europe it met a pre-existing culture

13. Archaeological evidence shows • Iron smelting south of Sahara from 7th C BC • Among the people of the Nok culture around Taruga iron work from 4th C • As well as some of earliest sculptures depicting human form

14. 3c BC substantial town in Old Jenne • Artifacts from town show trade items from north and south • Part of independent West African Trade system • Also seen in Igbo Ukwu • S.E. Nigeria

15. In grave goods of local leader • Bronze works of specific African style • 100,000 glass beads from Egypt and Indian

17. Iron and agriculture allowed internal expansion/ colonialism Not a regulated, common, or large scale expansion Environment and political structures dictated small scattered communities Usually based around Important trade location Access to good land and water

18. Two factors also played against growth • 1) hostile environment • 2) Famine • Locust, heavy rains, excessive warfare • Drought • 300 -1500 AD low rainfall • 1500-1630 good • 1639-43 major drought in Niger River

19. Religion • Many African groups recognized a single creator figure • Often smaller lower level deities were the focus of day to day life • Linkage between humans and deities through ancestors

20. Christianity was almost entirely unknown • Islam was not • ~1030 King of Takur converted • Trans-Saharan trade brought Islam to the region • Combined with African religious practices • Although it did not spread rapidly until the nineteenth century

21. North Africa and Europe Islamic presence driven by conquest then conversion Western Africa driven by trade Result Islam often confined to the court and merchants

22. Extended family was the primary focus for individuals • But these could be and were on occasion spread to Clan and occasionally by force into states or empires • At the time of the first European arrival there were several such powerful states in the region • Eg. • Songhai - upper Niger river • Mali • Benin • Kongo

23. Ghana first mentioned in written sources around 788-93 North of Goldfields Made important position on the linkage between West and North Africa Trade across Sahara Controlled gold trade not production

24. Capital was a dual town model • Royal town and trade or merchant town • About 6 miles apart • King was not a Muslim some advisors were • The king has a palace and a number of domed dwellings all surrounded with an enclosure like a city wall ... The king adorns himself like a woman round his neck and on his forearms, and he puts on a high cap decorated with gold and wrapped in a turban of fine cotton. • He sits in audience or to hear grievances against officials in a domed pavilion around which stand ten horses covered with gold-embroidered materials. Behind the king stand ten pages holding shields and swords decorated with gold, and on his right are the sons of the [vassal] kings of his country wearing splendid garments and their hair plaited with gold

25. Power in region shifted around 1100 • headwaters of the Niger river • Malinke speaking people • Muslim • Non Islamic people attempted take over region

26. Sundiata Keita • Warrior/Hunter led successful resistance • Created kingdom of Mali early 13th Century

27. Notices

28. Group and individual book reviews • Each assigned group will be assigned one of the required books • They will produce two pieces of work • A group book review – max 1000 words – to be made available to whole class • A personal book review – max 750 words to be handed in • Weber Spanish Frontier • 24 Sept. A & F

29. African states around the time of European contact • Songahi • Mali • Benin • Kongo

30. Songahi • On the edge of the desert held authority over thousands of miles • Its primary focus was not the Atlantic but the Sahara • Involved in trans-desert trade

31. Mali • 1324-25 emperor Mansa Musa went on a haji to Mecca • He took a huge amount of gold • possibly 100 camel loads • so much that he devalued the economy in Mecca • Mali, like Songahi, traded across the Sahara • gold for goods from the east • Trading posts • such as Djenni • location of exchange of goods and culture • evidenced by the mud mosque opposite

32. Edo, Capital City of Benin • Described by a Dutch visitor as being • “four miles broad” • Thirty straight streets • Each forty yards across • All meeting at right angles • Lined with fine dwellings • Bennin is and was well known for its sculpture • Late 17th C the ruler of Benin or oba could field an army of 20,000 at a days notice

33. Kingdom of Kongo States had been situated around the lower Congo river for many years The reason for this is a geographical location known as the Pool Malebo Above pool river navigable for several hundred miles Below impassable cascade Control of the portage allowed for the development of a powerful community • Thought to have a population of approximately half a million in 1500 • Had control over • collected tribute from • several smaller states

34. A contemporary snapshot of Africa • Al-Hassan ibn-Muhammad al Wavvan al-Fasi • Better known as Leo Africanus • raised in Fez (modern Morroco) • educated in Islamic law and worked for the Sultan of Fez • went on diplomatic missions • twice went to Sub-Saharan Africa • Captured by Christian pirates and taken to Rome in 1518

35. Presented as a slave to Pope Leo X • converted to Christianity - • Given name Giovani Leone (John Leo) • In 1526 completed Italian version of History and Description of Africa • became known as Leo Africanus (Leo the African)

36. Quotes from History and Description of Africa • Mali • ‘In this Kingdom there is a large and ample village containing more than six thousand families’ • ‘The region itself yields great abundance of wheat meat and cotton’ • ‘The inhabitants are rich and have plenty of merchandise’ • ‘Here is a great number of temples, clergymen, and teachers’

37. Timbuktu • ‘Here there are many shops of artisans and merchants, especially those who weave linen and cotton, and here Barbary merchants bring European cloth.’ • ‘The inhabitants, and especially resident aliens, are exceedingly rich, since the present King married both of his daughters to rich merchants’ • ‘The rich king of Timbuktu has many plates and scepters of gold, some of which weigh 1300 pounds, and he keeps a magnificent and well furnished court’

38. Slavery in Africa • West and West central Africans valued people over land • Whereas Europeans “owned” land and used to increase wealth and power • People were “owned” with the same consequences • But this “ownership” was based in ideas at best mis-undertood by Europeans

39. Slaves part of a structured and separated society • Made up a social group within societies • Land held communally • Use given in relation to the amount that could be used • Therefore, slaves highly prized • Wars were fought not over land but over slaves and the labor they could offer

40. Slaves in African society had numerous and specific roles • Roles that their “owners” often did by their side • Slaves could fight in wars and lead campaigns • Women were valued, in part, for their reproductive value • Over time not unusual for slaves to become recognized members of the household • As we shall see this was a different structure to that of American slavery

41. Africans and the ocean • African's did not have ocean going ships • significant coastal trade

42. “These canoemen, despicable theives think they are more than just labour”

43. Africans played an active role in European expansion • The trading ‘forts’ that were planted drew population • Mouri – • Dutch Fort Nassaw 1612 • 1550 ~200 • 1618 ~1500

44. Elmina • Founded 1482 by Portuguese • Dutch takeover 1682 • Castle Sao Jorge da Mina and town

45. Initially allowed for a space of liminality Development of Creole societies Societies “of but not always in the societies of the Africans who dominated the interior trade and the Europeans who controlled commerce in the Atlantic”

46. Around Elmina manufactories appear • Boat yards • Foundries • Served the Atlantic trade • Operated not by Africans or Europeans but by both • By 1669 time New Amsterdam • Pop 1500 • Was being taken by English • Elmira population 8,000

47. AbeeCoffuJantieSeniees • Leading Creole African Merchant • Appears in Euro journals as • Jan Snees • Jacque Senece • Johan Sinsen • JanteeSnees • Indicates his diverse interaction • Danish at Fredriksburg • Dutch at Elmina • English at Cape Coat • Africans in the interior

48. Not only in Africa • Creoles spread throughout the early Atlantic World • Both to Americas and Europe • Mid 16th Century • 10,000 Africans/Creoles in Lisbon Portugal • 10% of population

49. Group and individual book reviews • Each assigned group will be assigned one of the required books • They will produce two pieces of work • A group book review – max 1000 words – to be made available to whole class • A personal book review – max 750 words to be handed in • Weber Spanish Frontier • 24 Sept. A & F