Ghana: The Gold Coast of Africa The Gold Coast, now known as Ghana, is one of many civilizations of Africa. It was a British Colony until March 6, 1957, when it became independent as the State of Ghana. In 1471, the Portuguese invaded this area and became involved in gold trade, giving the region the name, The Gold Coast. They built forts to protect their monopoly of gold trade from merchants representing other nations. In 1642, the Dutch West India Company captured all Portuguese strong posts and they devoted their interests in slave trading rather than gold trading. In the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, the Gold Coast was one of the chief West African sources of slave export. At the beginning of the Nineteenth Century the countries involved in slave trading began abolishing it as illegal and immoral. The British abolished it in 1807, the Danish is 1804 and the Dutch in 1814. In 1821, British forts were transferred from private ownership to government control. The Gold Coast became a British colony and the new government was known...
“Sweat” is a short story written by Zora Neale Hurston. It is a story where the husband, Syke, does terrible things to Delia, the wife. Such terrible things are being abusive, and having an affair with someone else. However, this does not hurt Delia any more than it could have. Delia possesses strong characteristics. She is a hard working person, who basically earns for both of their livelihoods, and also very courageous. In order to reveal Delia’s character, Hurston adds in symbols and allusions.
Though the Atlantic Slave Trade began in 1441, it wasn’t until nearly a century later that Europeans actually became interested in slave trading on the West African coast. “With no interest in conquering the interior, they concentrated their efforts to obtain human cargo along the West African coast. During the 1590s, the Dutch challenged the Portuguese monopoly to become the main slave trading nation (“Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade”, NA). Besides the trading of slaves, it was also during this time that political changes were being made. The Europe...
Despite criticism, bigotry and the precarious era in which she lived, Ding Ling’s literary works show her deeply felt concern for gender equality and political reform. Ling fought for women’s social and political equality. In addition to being a writer, Ling was also a political activist. Throughout her years as a writer, Ling faced adversity due to her status as a woman as well as her political affiliations.
"Zora Neale Hurston's Sweat: How Characterization Contributes to the Theme." Yahoo Contributor Network. Mountain Writer, 15 Oct. 2007. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
Liberia owes its establishment to the American Colonization Society; founded in 1816 to resettle freed American slaves in Africa. An attempt at colonization in Sierra Leone had failed in 1815. Six years later native rulers granted a tract of land on Cape Mesurado, at the mouth of the Saint Paul River, to U.S. representatives, and the first Americo-Liberians, led by Jehudi Ashmun, began the settlement. In 1824 an American agent for the society, Ralph Randolph Gurley, named the new colony Liberia and the Cape Mesurado settlement Monrovia. Other separate settlements were established along the coast during the next 20 years. Soon, however, conflicts arose between the settlers and the society in the United States. By the time Joseph Jenkins Roberts became the first black governor in 1841, the decision had been made to give the colonists almost full control of the government. A constitution modeled on that of the United States was drawn up, and Liberia became an independent republic in July 1847. Roberts was its first president, serving until 1856. Liberia was recognized by Britain in 1848, by France in 1852 and by the United States in 1862. The Americo-Liberian communities eked out a precarious existence during the 19th century. Claims over i nterior territory were disputed not only by the indigenous Mandinka (also known as Mandingo or Malinke), Kru, and Gola peoples, but also by European states that did not recognize Liberian jurisdiction over the interior. U.S. support led to a series of agreements with Britain and France between 1892 and 1911, which marked the present boundaries. (Liberian control over the interior peoples, however, was not completely assured until the 1940s.) Loans from Britain and the United States partially eased the country's financial difficulties. Liberia declared war on Germany on August 14, 1917, which gave the Allies an additional base in West Africa during World War I (1914-1918). In 1926 the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company opened a rubber plantation on 400,000 hectares (1 million acres) of land granted by the Liberian government the year before. Rubber production became the mainstay of the nation's economy.
Zhong, Xueping, Zheng Wang, and Bai Di. Some of Us: Chinese Women Growing up in the Mao Era. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2001.
The Chinese people experienced rapid changes, in government and their own culture in the 20th century. In the book, Wild Swans, by Jung Chang, she depicts the experiences of not only oppression and suffering, but the development of the communist revolution, under Mao. Also, to show how the Chinese people, women in particular, fought against impossible odds by interweaving historical and personal stories from the twentieth century China.
Analyzing human obligation pertaining to all that is not man made, apart from humans, we discover an assortment of concerns, some of which have been voiced by philosophers such as Tom Regan, Peter Singer and Aldo Leopold. Environmentally ethical ideals hold a broad spectrum of perspectives that, not only attempt to identify a problem, but also focus on how that problem is addressed through determining what is right and wrong.
At the beginning of the semester our class was introduced to a new term, listenability. The level of listenability is at the mercy of the speaker, not of the audience. During our semester, we were taught to harness the listenability keys of strategy, structure, support, and style in order to achieve a high level of listenability. Examples of listenability include when a speaker engages the audience by asking questions, using narratives or stories that people can relate to, and has stimulating visual support and content. These are only a couple of keys used to create a listener centered speech.
The concept of the slave trade came about in the 1430’s, when the Portuguese came to Africa in search of gold (not slaves). They traded copper ware, cloth, tools, wine, horses and later, guns and ammunition with African kingdoms in exchange for ivory, pepper, and gold (which were prized in Europe). There was not a very large demand for slaves in Europe, but the Portuguese realized that they could get a good profit from transporting slaves along the African coast from trading post to trading post. The slaves were bought greedily by Muslim merchants, who used them on the trans-Sahara trade routes and sold them in the Islamic Empire. The Portuguese continued to collect slaves from the whole west side of Africa, all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), and up the east side, traveling as far as Somalia. Along the way, Portugal established trade relations with many African kingdoms, which later helped begin the Atlantic Slave Trade. Because of Portugal’s good for...
In 1807, the slave trade was abolished by the British Parliament. It became illegal to buy and sell slaves, but people could still own them. In 1833 Parliament finally abolished slavery itself, both in Britain and throughout the British Empire. Why, when the slave trade and the plantations in the West Indies seemed to be making so much money, were they abolished? It was due to a mixture of white campaigners, slaves and economics of the slave trade which finally brought slavery to an end.
At the end of WWII is when decolonization was brought up as a serious topic of discussion. Over 200,000 Africans had fought in Europe and Asia for the Allies’ freedom and democracy which showed quite the contradiction. They were fighting for something that wasn’t even going to truly benefit them. In 1945 is when the 5th Pan African Conference met to go over the possibility of granting back independence to the colonized areas. Ghana played a significant role during the decolonization process in Africa because Ghana was the first Sub-Saharan African majority government to gain independence in 1957. Not only did Ghana gain independence, but they did this by acting nonviolently. For years following th...
A human induced global ecological crisis is occurring, threatening the stability of this earth and its inhabitants. The best path to address environmental issues both effectively and morally is a dilemma that raises concerns over which political values are needed to stop the deterioration of the natural environment. Climate change; depletion of resources; overpopulation; rising sea levels; pollution; extinction of species is just to mention a few of the damages that are occurring. The variety of environmental issues and who and how they affect people and other species is varied, however the nature of environmental issues has the potential to cause great devastation. The ecological crisis we face has been caused through anthropocentric behavior that is advantageous to humans, but whether or not anthropocentric attitudes can solve environmental issues effectively is up for debate. Ecologism in theory claims that in order for the ecological crisis to be dealt with absolutely, value and equality has to be placed in the natural world as well as for humans. This is contrasting to many of the dominant principles people in the contemporary world hold, which are more suited to the standards of environmentalism and less radical approaches to conserving the earth. I will argue in this essay that whilst ecologism could most effectively tackle environmental problems, the moral code of ecologism has practical and ethical defects that threaten the values and progress of anthropocentricism and liberal democracy.
W. Goldschmidt, ‘Functionalism,’ In Encycolpedia of cultural Anthropology, Vol. 2, David Levison and Melvin Ember, Eds. Henry Holt and company, New York, 1996.
Anthropocentrism is the school of thought that human beings are the single most significant entity in the universe. As a result, the philosophies of those with this belief reflect the prioritization of human objectives over the well-being of one’s environment. However, this is not to say that anthropocentric views neglect to recognize the importance of preserving the Earth. In fact, it is often in the best interests of humans to make concerted efforts towards sustaining the environment. Even from a purely anthropocentric point of view, there are three main reasons why mankind has a moral duty to protect the natural world.