Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Eurasia and the African trade
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Europe’s desire for trade goods from the Far East drove men such as Bartolomeo Diaz and later Vasco da Gama around the horn of Africa in search of a trade route to the luxurious products from China and India; where upon supply depots needed to be established somewhere along the coast of the African continent: Portuguese built several along the eastern coast while the Dutch built at Cape Town. While the initial establishment of supply ports were built and manned by both the Dutch and Portuguese; both were soon to discover a truth discovered in the New World not many years past—Africans were not as industrious as their European counterparts much like the indigenous people of the Caribbean and coastal regions of the Americas and later deep into the interior. Africans began to resent the presence of the Dutch and Portuguese both were dealt with in kind, but were doomed as the push for land, minerals, and cattle drove the Europeans deeper into the veldt, highlands, and savannah of Southeast Africa. The Portuguese under Vasco da Gama were the first to begin trading along the Indian Ocean rim—surprised to have found so many Muslim cities along the eastern coast of Africa da Gama was quick to develop an alliance with the city of Malindi against the Swahili city of Mombasa for access to a guide across the Indian Ocean to Calicut. The Portuguese were surprised at the lackadaisical attitude toward religion when revenues were in the offing. “…merchants in the western Indian Ocean seem to have been more interested in profits than prophets” (Gilbert, 221). With all the bluster and pride of the Portuguese their influence in Africa and trade in the Indian Ocean was nothing more than the bite of a common housefly. Without settlers to pioneer a h... ... middle of paper ... ...master was carried off with the key to the ammunition cases—the British troops ran out of ammunition—this is the reason break-a-way clasps are put on ammunition cases today—no locks). A resulting action from an encounter with the Zulus carried forth until present time. African encounters with European nationals affected the Africans immensely—yet what affected the Africans had far-reaching effects on the Europeans as well. Case in point: ammunition boxes. Had Arabs and Europeans not made inroads into Africa and the lives of its people with technology, language, religion, and culture Africa would still be the “Dark Continent” and the rest of the world would be in the dark as well. After all, we would not have peanut butter. Works Cited Gilbert, Erik & Reynolds, Jonathan T., Africa in World History. Third Edition. Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, 2012.
Mazrui, Ali A. "The Re-Invention of Africa: Edward Said, V. Y. Mudimbe, and Beyond." Research in African Literatures 36, no. 3 (Autumn 2005): 68-82.
The site of study is the port city of Elmina, which traded hands between the Portuguese, Dutch, and British over a period of about 400 years. This site is off the coast of Ghana in Africa and straddles the Gulf of Guinea. It is known that Elmina started in the hands of the Portuguese in 1482 as a trading settlement and later transformed into a major stop along the Atlantic slave trade. It then shifted into Dutch hands in 1637 and the slave trade continued under them until 1814. Elmina and much of the Gold Coast shifted into British hands in 1872. This project attempts to establish an economic relationship between Elmina, the Americas, and Europe before, during, and after the slave trade, and study the effect of cultural mixing between the
Rodney, Walter, A.M Babu, and Vincent Harding. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Washington, D.C.: Howard UP, 1981. Print.
The immediate cause of the European voyages of discovery was the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. While Egypt and Italian city-state of Venice was left with a monopoly on ottoman trade for spices and eastern goods it allowed Portugal and Spain to break the grip by finding an Atlantic route. Portugal took the lead in the Atlantic exploration because of the reconquest from the Muslims, good finances, and their long standing seafaring traditions. In dealing with agriculture, The Portuguese discovered Brazil on accident, but they concentrated on the Far East and used Brazil as a ground for criminals. Pernambuco, the first area to be settled, became the world’s largest sugar producer by 1550. Pernambuco was a land of plantations and Indian slaves. While the market for sugar grew so did the need for slaves. Therefore the African Slave start became greatly into effect. Around 1511 Africans began working as slaves in the Americas. In 1492, Columbus embarked on his voyage from Spain to the Americas. The Euro...
Although the French eventually became the ones to colonize Dahomey, known as of 1975 as Benin, the Portuguese were actually the first Europeans to reach Dahomey and establish a trading fort at Port-Novo. Many other European countries such as Holland, Spain, and France followed and established trading ports along the coast as well, (“Benin”, 2008). Throughout the mid-1600s the British began to arrive at Ouidah and construct a trading fort. As a result of the trading forts being constructed, trade along the coast of Dahomey had flourished, the main export being slaves, (Republic of Benin, n.d.). Consequently, the western African coast became known as the “slave coast” until slavery was abolished in the early 1800s, (Bondarenko, n.d.). The kings of Dahomey grew rich from this trade and obtained guns from European traders that were used to conquer other Western African kingdoms. This expa...
The exploration of the West African coast was just a preliminary to the India Trade (Parry, 131). Prince Henry encouraged his explorers to continue making their way further and further down the coastline to gain more intelligence and make more money (Parry, 132). His death in 1460 signaled an end to further exploration for a time, as the mariners had gotten to a point of coast around Benin that was more dangerous to traverse and seek a way through than it was considered worth (Parry, 133). Furthermore, Henry died in debt due to these activities, which discouraged the Crown from spending much on exploration (Parry, 133). Little by little, one small expedition after another, they eventually found the coastline trending south and continued to chart the waters and coastline until war broke out between Portugal and Castile in 1475 (Parry, 134).
In the modern day, Africa is seen by the world around it as a relatively underprivileged continent. Since its independence from colonial rule, Africa 's economic performance has been less than stellar and its advancement has been slow, which could be argued through a myriad of different ideologies. Nathan Nunn, the author of “Historical Legacies: A model linking Africa’s past to its current underdevelopment” believes that the slave trade and colonial rule, brought on by the Europeans in the past, is the reason for Africa’s economic hardships, that are still lingering to this day. What he sets out to answer in this academic paper is an interesting question, “Why do these events, which ended years ago, continue to matter today?” Through the
Trupin, James E. West Africa - A Background Book from Ancient Kingdoms to Modern Times, Parent's Magazine Press. New York, 1991.
In summary, Davidson successful traces Africa’s earliest origins and demonstrates that this is a civilization far from having no arts, technology, sophistication and unique culture. Culture and civilization as we know it today can be traced back to Africa, and modern science has verified the early perceptions of Europeans to be wrong. He provides more than adequate evidence of Africa having a history complete with vast and rich civilization, including archaeological finds and specialized interviews with distinguished scholars and philosophers. Despite the fact that society possesses a more positive attitude towards African civilization today in terms of recognition, equality, and acceptance than in the past, negative stereotypes are still acknowledged and modern day racism unfortunately exists. I believe that the existence of Davidson’s work and videos such as Different but Equal are crucial to challenging these stereotypes and discrimination in order to create a more accurate image of Africa and its history. Overall, Davidson proves that the continent of Africa is home to a history that is just as meaningful, comprehensive, and progressive as that of any other civilization in the
In the late nineteenth century, early twentieth century, western nations wanted to expand their territory. After the industrial revolution provided western Nations wealth and technology that could be used to take over less advanced societies. European powers proceeded on building empires in Africa. They found Africa to be home of many valuable natural resources they needed to fuel they industries, and supply cheap raw materials for factories. They wanted new markets where they could trade good produce by factories, and a place to invest profits. European Nations also wanted to spread Christianity, and though themselves to be superior. Meanwhile, powerful industrialized European countries wanted to gain powers by building overseas Empires. Through economic and military powers, European was able to colonize, and dominate Africa. European Imperialism had a negative impact on African’s culture; environment and was racist to African while trying to make them adapt to western manners.
In summary, it is clearly evident that the African civilizations were well on their way to developing to an even higher level than their European counterparts prior to their interference. Through their highly complex civilizations, the Africans exemplified their advances in social welfare programs, ability to simulate a strong economy, and put an effective government in place. Therefore, it is concluded that the Europeans had certainly achieved much in their peak years, and perhaps could have gotten even further than their European counterparts, had they been given more time to
Davidson, Basil. Modern Africa A Social and Political History. Ney York: Longman Group UK Limited, 1983.
The New Imperialism and the Scramble for Africa 1880-1914. Jeff Taylor, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
An overwhelming majority of African nations has reclaimed their independence from their European mother countries. This did not stop the Europeans from leaving a permanent mark on the continent however. European colonialism has shaped modern-day Africa, a considerable amount for the worse, but also some for the better. Including these positive and negative effects, colonialism has also touched much of Africa’s history and culture especially in recent years.
Throughout history, Africa has been a vulnerable player in the eyes of the rest of the world. From the slave trade to various civil right injustices that have taken place over in every century, from what we have studied in this class, we have been able to see the lasting impact on the continent as a ramification of certain events occurring. Using various sources from the text, which serve as evidence, and help prove how the western world exercised its power in order to capitalize on the African continent and exploit the African people and land.