Africa (4)MTRA. MARCELA ALVAREZ PÉREZ

• Arrival of the Europeans– Related to Arab conquest by the East and

Mediterranean• Separation of the Latin world and the East:

Byzantium and Alexandria• Arabic control of European market

– Crusades, conquest of Spain,… attempts to break up Arab monopoly• European expansion policy of 15th and 16th centuries: India

– Spanish and Moroccan Jews goods and information• Valuable knowledge of geography• Arabs: spreading myths about the dangers of

Africa to dissuade Europeans from direct contact.

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• Portuguese Expeditions – Henry of Portugal “The Navigator”• Knowledge, reconquest, legend of “Preste

Juan”, monopoly of commercial route to India

– First Stage: To settle stopovers • 1420: Madeira Island• 1431: Azores• 1445: Fort in Arguin commercial center• 1447: Green Coast and Gambia river

– 1460: Death of Henry navigation open to the Coast of Gold• 1462: Sierra Leone• 1469: Sr. Fernao Gomes finance

exploration/rental of the coast for 5 years4

– 1482: El Mina disperse population– 1472: Shrimp River– Equatorial Line crossed– 1482: Congo river

• African Coast: not an objective in itself– Search for a passage to the Indian Ocean– 1488: Bartholomew Diaz passes Cape of the

Storms/Good Hope• May 4, 1493: Pope Alexander VI Inter Caetera Bull

– East India and their route for Portugal• .1497-98 Vasco de Gama: leaves the coast India

– Manuel of Portugal: “Lord of Guinea and conquests, navigations and commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India”

– Egypt and Venice defeated in 1509– A century of Portuguese dominion over the Indian

Ocean

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• Africa: stopover on the way to India– Objective: economic, religious, political– Political and Commercial strategy: ensure bases

and maritime /military support against Islam– No wish to conquer or colonize mainly a

mercantile policy:• Poor market when compared to India

• Contact: according to the circumstances– East Coast: elimination of Arab commerce and

annihilation of the Zendj civilization• West Africa and the Congo:

– friendly relationships, regular commerce with the interior slavery

– cooperation/association for nearly two centuries

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• 1489: Manicongo Nzinga Nkuwu sends embassy to Portugal—beginning of cooperation, technical and cultural assistance. – Portugal insists on their conversion to

Christianity– Subjects baptized but not really converted• Resistance

– Alphonse I: Christianization and Europeanization program consolidates dynasty that will last until 17th century

– Portuguese-like administration

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• Main 2 problems: – European civilization not completely assimilated– Portuguese help was not uninterested:

• They are asked to favor slavery and it is enhanced into a commercial scale.

• Portuguese exploit African rivalries• Island of Loanda: Portuguese center for slavery• No black-Portuguese civilization created:

– Bad missionaries, slavers promoting activities contrary to Christianity, destruction of traditional structures, plundering, permanent war

• Riches of the East Coast: access to the Monomotapa’s kingdom– Treaty imposed to place him under Portuguese

dominion– Gold mines closed: no further interest

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Dutch (ca 1600)• Capture of El Mina, 1637; commerce with other

Portuguese outposts• Better ships: only one halfway stop-off

– April 6 1652: settlers land in the south, Cape Town founded

– No colonization: technical base for the East India Company severe policies

• Boers (peasants): circular migration no return the purpose of their implantation is lost

• No manpower: slave imports

• 1685: Huguenots flee to Holland550 Cape Town– Demographic pressure = territorial expansion– Collision with other groups (Hottentots vs Herero

people) 11

Other European presence: • 1533: Queen Elizabeth grants licenses to

commerce in Senegal and Gambia– 1581: Francis Drake passes the Cape of Good

Hope, but is confronted by the Portuguese establishment of Fort James until 1663

• 1626: French East Africa Company• 1657: Cape Coast (Sweden)

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• Origins and development of European slavery– Middle of 14 century: slave markets in southern

Europe• Labor shortage: Black Death

– Discovery of America: increase in demand

• Africa: willingness to sell slaves– Low population and control of labor slavery– Some African peoples, Muslim peoples of the

savannah, lineage slavery

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European Presence and Slavery

• Portuguese: El Mina– Gold: ¼ of the Portuguese Crown income in 1506

and superior to that of slavery until 1700– Buy gold with: firearms, cloth, metals and slaves– Portuguese: maritime intermediaries in an

indigenous trade network• Congo King: mutually advantageous relationship

– 1500; sugar cane in Sao Tome– Greed for goods: “corruption and depravation”

• Slavery limited and regulated by King Alphonse of Congo:– 1576 Portuguese establish a base in Luanda: base

for conquest and slave search

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• 1532 Africa America– End of 16th century: nearly 80% of the slaves were

“exported” from West Africa– Between 8.000.000 and 10.800.000 (possibly

over13 million)• Middle of 17 century: Dutch at the head of slave

commerce– Cheaper, towards Caribbean colonies– Great Britain and France enter the trade– Companies with royal privileges (Royal African Co.

1672)– By 18th century private companies

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• ¿How did slavery work?Step 1, Capture: hunted in wars (war spoils) ;

made captive in slaver expeditions (rulers against subjects); kidnapped (Stateless peoples); Judicial Process; the weak (slaves of other Africans, orphans, widows, the poor, the loiterers, the slow witted, the weak of spirit); the opposition of powerful men; by debt; by hunger

Step 2: perishable goods get rid of them quickStep 3: risky/costly business: kings, rich people,

select merchants- “interior” commerce: African monopoly- Final sales through mediators (Afro-Portuguese

or African)18

Step 4: European merchants had two systems: the Factory and the Ships-Goods: cloth, iron, alcohol, tobacco, manufactures, firearms, powder

-Imported goods = Fatal attractionStep 5: Brand the slaves, load them into

the ship quickly- traumatic moments, rebellions, high mortality rates

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• 18th century: prices rise more companies– Slave sources move to the south– 1807: Biafra, Angola and Mozambique

over 80% of British and French exports and nearly all Portuguese

– 2/3 of the slaves sent to America were men• More children sent due to European

legislation

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• Slave trade: extensive and complex effects– Interruption of demographic

growth–Stimulation of new political and

social organizations–More slaves used inside of Africa– More brutal attitudes–Mayor delays in technology

developments24

• Demographic consequences:– Data not clear, or no data at all– No consensus on population decline– Other influences: American crops (Corn

and Manioc); disease• Not known exactly how demographics were

affected: importance of low population rates in African history– Demographic disaster but not a

catastrophe?

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• Political Consequences: – Slavery can coexist with any kind of

political organization– Commerce greatly held by citizens of the

main States

• Main political consequence: mercantilism introduced in Africa– Fusion of political and commercial power– International commerce: more harmful than

slavery itself– Dominion of armed minorities over larger

population26

• Collapse of large States

– Affected negatively by changes in trade flows access to firearms in the north and south

– Internal tensions + imperial expansion + Islam

– New mercantilist states emerge: – Coastal States like Asante and

Dahomey

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• Economic/Social Consequences: – Complex economic impact: only one sector in

predominantly agricultural economies– Slave trade: grows over time but it was never

equally distributed in all of Africa– Stimulates few changes no considerable

economic development in West Africa• Bigger impact of imported goods: – Metals help stimulate blacksmiths and

artisans– New labor specialization: boatmen and

porters– No real changes encouraged in industry or

transport system structures28

• Slavery grows inside the African continent.– Female slavery–Mass slavery: rural freemen ‘s status

diminishes– Not enough data on how the rest of

society was affected– Family destruction

• “Africa’s previous history made the slave trade possible, but also that they could survive it” 29

• Abolition– 18th century humanitarian reaction– 1772 abolished in Great Britain 1807 abolition of

transatlantic trade 1834 liberation in all the Empire

• Negative “return” experiences:– Sierra Leone—Freetown– USA: American Colonization Society— buys Liberia

in 1821– France: Libreville 1849— base for colonial

administration• Belief that a new chapter in history was beginning

• Parliamentary resolutions: scarce effect on Africa– Imposition over British citizens use of force on

foreigners– Still more exports than liberation 30

• Changes in the system: Permanent Spanish factories– More benefits through illegal commerce– Changes in origin of slaves: further south to

elude British patrols• 19th century commerce: agricultural and

forestry products– Same commercial structures – Europe: demand for vegetable oils

• Some African leaders resist abolition: – Aristocracy crisis: agricultural exports

benefited small producers and merchants– Intensification of slavery in Africa

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• Political continuity:– Internal traffic continues slow transition

with political continuity• Greater impact on Equatorial Africa:

destructive slavery– Rulers in crisis– Hunting groups attracted by commercial

expansion• Diffusion of slavery inside Africa between

18th and 19th centuries

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• Great Britain: forced to oversee smuggling— administrative cells that would become colonies– Denmark and Holland give up their

establishments– 1874: Gold Coast is proclaimed as

belonging to Great Britain

• End of transatlantic trade: 1875–Trade regular activity

establishment of ports centers of prosperity new kinds of activity and exchanges

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