The Age of Exploration brought many unforeseen changes to the people of Africa. On a path seeking gold, glory, and God, many explorers reached new parts of Africa. Explorers were seeking a more direct route to Asia and believed they must travel through Africa to reach these Asian lands. Namely, Portugal was interested in this under the direction of Prince Henry. There, he believed they could capture the riches of Muslim trade and convert the natives to Christianity. King Henry died before the route to Asia could be accomplished but he laid the groundwork for later exploration and encounters with Africa. During the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans desire to find Asia greatly impacted the lives of native Africans through the slave …show more content…
trade, new African states arising, and the European presence of Africa continuing to expand. First, Europeans during the 1500 and 1600’s, entered into the age-old practice of slavery, believing slaves to be an important commodity.
Shortly after, Portuguese traders entered the practice of slave trading, Europeans did. Europeans brought exorbitant amounts of slaves to work on plantations in America. European traders “relied on African rulers and traders to seize captives in the interior and bring them to coastal trading posts and forts” (Ellis & Eysler 453). Captives were then traded for textiles, metalwork, rum, tobacco, weapons, and gunpowder; the slave trade led to three hundred years of profitable trading. Eventually, African leaders like Affonso I, ruler of Kongo, began to try and end the practice of transatlantic slave trade. Affonso I was alarmed as Portuguese continually came to Kongo to buy slaves but wished to continue his solid relationship with Europe. He was unsuccessful in his attempts to end slave trade; however, many African rulers followed in his footsteps. Another African to lead in the example of Affonso I, was the almany of Futa Toro, a religious leader during the eighteenth century, in present day Senegal. The almany forbade slave trade transport through Futa Toro for sale abroad. However, this attempt was also unsuccessful because traders just found a different route along the coast. African slave trade greatly increased during the times of European exploration and many African leaders saw the negative impact of the slave trade and attempted to …show more content…
terminate it. Next, new African states arose due to the large numbers of men and women taken by the slave trade. However, without the presence of these African peoples, many smaller states were left with a minute population. Due to this, a great number of these African states vanished. Unlike these states, the Asante kingdom emerged during the seventeenth century in present-day Ghana, after Osei Tutu won control of Kumasi. After conquering this trading city, he continued to conquer many neighboring cities and towns; to with stand enemies such as the kingdom of Denkyera Tutu believed “in order to withstand the Denkyera, the people of his kingdom needed to be firmly united” (454). He successfully accomplished unity by claiming that he was sent from heaven to rule and continued to conquer nearby states like the Denkyera kingdom. The Oyo Empire also arose, due to the people of Yoruba’s successive migrants to area of present-day Nigeria. The Oyo Empire used riches from slave trade to build an impressive army that was used to conquer the kingdom of Dahomey. While some African states were lost, many African states expanded due to the loss of many Africans and the wealth from slave trading. Finally, the European presence in Africa expanded due to established forts along the coast of Western Africa.
While Portuguese power declined, the British, Dutch, and French powers rose due to firmly standing footholds along the coast. In 1652, Dutch immigrants sailed to the southern tip of Africa and established Cape Town, which was the first permanent European settlement to supply ships sailing to and, from the East Indies. Boers, Dutch farmers, settled in Cape Town and believed they were superior to the native peoples; there, they ousted, enslaved, and killed the people who lived there. The migrations of the Boers “… would eventually lead to battle with several African groups” (455). By the seventeenth century, British and French presences had both reached present-day Senegal. The French established a fort in this region by 1700. After hearing stories about British explorers’ quest for the Nile River’s source, the French and British were intrigued and set off to find this source. These forts led to the continuation of European exploration during the next century in Africa.
Africans felt the impact of European exploration through the slave trade, the rise of new nations, and the rise of European power in Africa. Europeans entered into the slave trade taking thousands of native Africans from their homelands. Due to profits gained from slave trade, many new African states were settled including the Asante Kingdom and Oyo Empire. Europeans like the British, French, and Dutch
settled permanently along the coast of Africa where they continued to trade and enslave Africans. The European exploration of Africa led to vast changes which indefinitely changed the culture and face of Africa.
The article “Navigating the Age of Exploration” by Ted Widmer explains how people view American history with only the assumptions pertaining to the present boundaries of the United States instead of seeing the world as explorers did during the Age of Exploration and expanding our boundaries to understand America’s history more fully. Widmer points out that many teachers of American history don’t teach a full continental perspective extending beyond American borders, which doesn’t give credit to the various cultures that contributed to the foundation of the United States. Today, people know little about the contributions of explorers during the Age of Exploration, and their impacts on America. During the Age of Exploration, the Europeans created
The African empires, kingdoms, and cities had many achievements before the arrival of the Europeans. Some of these achievements had influences many other places in the world. Three major achievements were the trading systems, their military forces and strengths of its people, and the wealth and success.
Throughout the 19th century, European Imperialism had a major effect on Africa. As countries expanded in terms of wealth, resources, and innovation, more territory and workers were needed. The first solution to solve these problems was to begin colonizing in Africa. The driving force for imperialism in Europe and Africa was mainly economical. This economical approach was established through many ways including cultural and nationalistic ideas.
During the late 19th century and the early 20th century many of the European nations began their scramble for Africa which caused Many Africans to suffer from violence like wars, slavery and inequality. Although the Europeans felt power as though they were doing a great cause in the African continent during the Scramble for Africa; Africans had many reactions and actions including factors as rebellion for freedom, against the white settlers and violent resistance.
Prior to the 19th century, the Europeans traded mainly for African slaves. It turns out they were not immune towards certain diseases and therefore had an increasing risk of becoming sick. For years to come this continued, but not much land was conquered. Eventually, conference between only the Europeans was held to divide up the land appropriately, and the scramble for Africa began. The driving forces behind European imperialism in Africa were expanding empires, helping natives, and natural resources.
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...
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...
Many people would be surprised that the things they associate with certain countries are not native to those lands. Sugar was not originally grown in the Caribbean and cows are not indigenous to the United States. Before the Age of Exploration, a period lasting for centuries with long-extending effects, Europeans had not truly begun to explore Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Even with the fearless adventures of the Vikings, Polynesians, and Ming Chinese, no extreme, lasting difference was created. Once people began exploring outside of their own worlds, great social, political, and economic change was ushered in with the exchange and alteration of people, plants, animals, technology, diseases, religion, and political systems.
Throughout history, there have been turning points that have changed the course of society. The three most important turning points were the Age of Exploration, the Renaissance, and the Reformation. Each had many positive and negative effects on history. During the Age of Exploration, many explorers set out in their massive sailing ships to find another way to get to India, but what they discovered was a major turning point in the history of the world. During the Renaissance, many people in Europe began having new ideas and concepts about life and even started believing in humanism, which was emphasizing the value of humans in many forms (during this time it was art). And finally during the Reformation, it was a time of religious conflict was shaped Europe into what it was today.
Starting in the prologue, the destruction of Europeans on Africa is seen in the Kongo when King Alphonse writes letters to King Joao of Portugal explaining his disdain for traders coming to the Kongo and kidnapping his people and sending them back to Portugal as slaves. While he himself was a slave owner, he did not want to see the population of his people diminish so greatly. However, many natives were amazed by the wonder of European goods and were willing to trade family members to get these goods. This was the beginning of the Europeans conquest and colonialization of Africa. Europeans wanted to use Africa's raw materials to help support the Industrial Revolution. They would take ivory, rubber, diamonds, and gold from Africa and become wealthy while Africa suffered the loss. After this time many countries sent troops and officials over to take part in the scramble for Africa. In the later 19th century a young
In 1441 a man by the name of Prince Henry the Navigator opened Europe’s age of exploring by providing a number of voyages down the West African coast. This opened up a new branch of people to explore a new part of the world that was known for being dangerous to reach because of the Saharan Desert. Many people went and explored in seeking gold and merchandise to sell back in there homesteads but instead some saw a new kind of trade, slave trade. Prince Henry's voyages saw many kinds of people such as Christopher Columbus’s first expedition and also to a man named Antam Goncalves a Spanish explorer, Goncalves’s voyage enslaved more than 230 Africans and he soon took them to a town of Lagos,Portugal. Many of Goncalves
In 1415, portugal had expanded into muslim North Africa, seizing the port of Ceuta on the North African Coast. Henry was neither a navigator or sailor, he sponsored a great deal of exploration along the west coast of Africa. Henry is regarded as an originator of the age discovery and the atlantic slave trade. In about 1418, Prince Henry wanted to tell everyone about what he did, so he started his own oceanic navigation school for whoever wanted to join. In this school, people were trained to navigate, map making, and science in order to sail down to Africa.
The Age of “Discovery”, a period that brought notable changes to regions spanning the globe, began in the 15th century. Following the end of the highly influential Renaissance period, many people in Europe developed an interest in the foreign lands of the world. This resulted in the beginning of the Age of Discovery, which was marked as the period of great global exploration and expansion. The country of Portugal fueled the start of this period. Portugal, which had been blocked from making advancements in trade in the past due to the overwhelming presence of more influential countries, spearheaded exploration during this time. After successfully taking control of regions in Africa and the Atlantic archipelagos following minor exploration expeditions,
During the 19th century, Europe found a way to use Africa for its own growth and power. Using Africa for their resources, the Europeans colonized Africa without a second thought. European imperialism in Africa had a negative impact because of social disarray, cultural loss, and death it caused. As the Europeans started to invade Africa and split up the land, they paid no attention to the already existing natural boundaries. Over time, villages with different cultures had set these boundaries.
In order to properly understand the effects of colonization, one must look at its history. Most of Africa was relatively isolated from Europe throughout early world history, but this changed during the 17th to the 20th centuries. Colonization efforts reached their peak between the 1870s and 1900 in the “Scramble for Africa” which left the continent resembling a jigsaw puzzle Various European powers managed to colonize Africa including Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, and Spain. This intense imperialist aggression had three major causes. The primary reason was simply for economic gain. Africa is refuge to vast, unexplored natural resources. European powers saw their opportunity and took it. Another motive was to spread the Christian religion to the non-Christian natives. The last major incentive was to demonstrate power between competing European nations. African societies did try to resist the colonial takeover either through guerilla warfare or direct military engagement. Their efforts were in vain, however, as by the turn of the century, only Liberia and Ethiopia remained not colonized. European powers colonized Africa according to the guidelines established by the Berlin Act (1885). Many of the colonized nations were ruled indirectly through appointed governor...