The African culture was great and thriving even before European settlement. They had art, architecture, trade, and a thriving military to protect their great civilization. All of these things contributed to a civilization that no one could say was not thriving.
One example of something that made African civilizations great and thriving was their art and architecture. The first document talks about how, “It is large and possesses a dozen mosques... The king had a palace of conical huts surrounded by a fence wall... The court of appeal is held in a domed pavilion around which stand ten horses with gold-embroidered trappings... ten pages holding shields and swords decorated with gold....[on the right] are the sons of the subordinate kings of
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his country, all wearing splendid garments and with their hair mixed with gold”(al-Bakri, 11c Arab geographer). This describes the greatness of the mosques and courts of the city of Ghana. The next artifact comes from document 5. It is a beautiful staff with three human-like faces on it. It has purpose, being a staff, and luminosity as well as bilateral symmetry, and youthfulness. The luminosity is shown because it is a smooth wood-like surface with some scarification. It has bilateral symmetry and could be cut in half to form two identical pieces. And lastly it shows youthfulness in the faces that look like they could be a young man or women. The last document that shows great art is document 7. This document is a black and white image of the ruins of a prehistoric African civilization. The picture displays a great stone structure that could at one time have been a beautiful building. All of these artifacts show how even before the Europeans came the African civilizations were thriving. African people were great traders long before the Europeans came. In document 4, the trade area is described, “The inhabitants, and especially strangers living [here] are exceedingly rich. Corn, Cattle, milk and butter in the region are great in abundance; but salt is very scarce here; for it is brought here by land from Taghaza which is 500 miles distant”(Leo Africanus, a Moroccan traveler, 1510). This document established how although some items were still far away from the civilization, they used the goods they had in order to trade for the items they needed. In document 6 trade is described again, “And in this town was a great plenty of gold, as no ships passed towards Sofala without first coming to this island”(Duarte Barbosa, a Portuguese trader, about 1500). This quote indicates how certain cities were full of trade simply because ships had to pass through their ports to get to other places. This allowed for great trade among this and many other African civilizations and made them great even before the European settlers. Lastly, African civilizations had a terrific military.
In document 2 Ghana is described as, “[The empire that] controlled the land... It had the military forces...to maintain peace in the area, thereby assuring safe trade for the Arabs and the Wangara...[and] a strong army equipped with advanced weapons, and a foreign policy that led to peace and cooperation with other people”(Through African Eyes, ed. By Leon E. Clark, Praeger Press, Ny, 1970). The army in ghana was strong, but they still wanted peace. This shows how complex and advanced the civilization was. In document 3 it says, “Their sultan shows no mercy to anyone who is guilty of the least act of it. There is complete security in their country. Neither traveler nor inhabitant in it has anything to fear from robbers”(Ibn Battuta, Muslim traveler in his Travels to the kingdom of Mali, 1352). This shows once again how Mali had a strong military system. Even in well developed countries today travelers and inhabitants still have to fear robbers. Finally in document 4 it says, “...when he goes to war, and all his soldiers ride upon horses. The king has always 3000 horseman and a number of footmen that shoot poisoned arrows, attending upon him”(Leo Africanus, a Moroccan traveler, 1510). Because 3000 horsemen go with the king to war, and they have the technology to create poisoned arrows, the African people were thriving long before the Europeans came. All the evidence given proves that the civilizations of Africa were
strong even before European settlement. Overall the Africans had a great and diverse culture along with many achievements in art, architecture, military and trade. All of these things were going on before the Europeans came, so there is no question that Africa was thriving before them. This matters because some people say that Africa is not developed, and although most of it does not have all the modern technologies and cities of a 1st world country, it has culture and history that show it’s diversity and achievement. Africa will always have a great history filled with culture, and meaning even in the time before the Europeans came.
Document three explains the rich and powerful and fierce people Ghana. It was an extremely complex empire with many characteristics of a powerful nation. It had a strong army that had been armed with advanced weapons for its time, and it controlled the land and military forces of the Arabs and the Wangara. In addition, document six explains the strength of the people in Mali. Its sultan shows no mercy whatsoever to anyone who is guilty of some of the smallest crimes. A sultan is a Muslim sovereign. This shows that even if someone does a small crime and is convicted guilty for it they will get no mercy and will still get a harsh punishment, its people showed no favoritism or humanity to anyone These two documents explain the strengths of the people in African empires, kingdoms, and cities along with their military
...e, unlike the surrounding nations which were powerful, rich empires, Africa consisted of small tribes and kingdoms. These kingdoms’ greatest exports would consist of gold, salt, and slaves, in exchange for the goods imported from the surrounding empires.
The colonization of Africa gave the Europeans more workers and workspace that boost them economically and financially. According to Document D, many African colonies exports very many resources such as cotton for fabrics and various foods for processing and meals. The help of African colonies was very beneficial to Europe. The economical growth can be proven with Document E, where the amount of exports from Africa grew from less than 5 million British pounds in 1854 to over 20 million in 1900. So the most beneficial part of the African colonies was the boost they gave Europe in economical
Before the arrival of European traders, Africa had successful in maintaining complex civilizations. The cities of Timbuktu and Mali demonstrate this with their qualities. A Moroccan traveler journeyed to Timbuktu and described it as a land of “many doctors, judges, priests and other learned men, that are well maintained at the king’s cost. Various manuscripts and written
When ancient Greek historian Herodotus travelled to Africa, he described the African civilization and their achievements as “different but equal.” Davidson’s video is a valuable historical resource that presents the viewer with the information to believe so.
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.
There was also a Kingdom called Mali that broke off from the Ghana Empire. At this time they had embraced the religion of Islam and had been under the great rule of Mansa Musa. This empire had the job of protecting the caravans or shipments carrying the goods, so that they can trade. They helped towards the function of trade so that both the importer and exporter gained something. In document 3 it explains how their wealth was great because of their trade. The document also talks about the fact that they had exhibited the characteristics of an advanced divination like sufficient food to feed its people, a strong army equipped with advanced weapons and income derived from taxes. Even though the Mali Empire had wealth there was very little corruption if there was with the ruler. He did not go mad with power but he was generous. In document four it states they there was no person who did not receive a sum of gold from him.
Brief History From the 1500s to the 1700s, African blacks, mainly from the area of West Africa (today's Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Dahomey, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon) were shipped as slaves to North America, Brazil, and the West Indies. For them, local and tribal differences, and even varying cultural backgrounds, soon melded into one common concern: the suffering they all endured. Music, songs, and dances as well as traditional food, helped not only to uplift them but also quite unintentionally added immeasurably to the culture around them. In the approximately 300 years that blacks have made their homes in North America, the West Indies, and Brazil, their highly honed art of the cuisine so treasured and carefully transmitted to their daughters has become part of the great culinary classics of these lands. But seldom are the African blacks given that recognition.
Politics is the science that guides or influencing governmental policies. Politics plays important role in the daily life of everyone’s decision making all over history. The political leaders of Europe viewed the world as a stomping ground they took powers into their hand to take control over unconquered land. They believed that once they take over less advanced places they will be able to get richer by exploiting the uneducated and weaker people. According to an to an article from Africana Age called “The Colonization of Africa” by Ehiedu E. G. Iweriebor, “By 1900 much of Africa had been colonized by seven European powers—Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. After the conquest of African decentralized and centralized
http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/~patrick/151/africa.htm Patrick M. Patterson designed this website. A description of Africa before European imperialism is provided here. There are also explanations of the delay of imperialism and some causes of it.
Colonialism impacted Africa in many different ways, some positive and some negative. Colonisation was the biggest factor in ending the slave trade between Africa and countries around the world. The Europeans brought to Africa modern things such as; legal systems, democratic institutions, improved economic institutions, and technology (railroads, mining, etc.) . Europe also helped to integrate them into world trade and to get their property rights secured.
African countries have coasts, forests, desert, and a lot of arid land. It was too costly to develop models of control for each type of regions. Long distance transportation was an issue as well. There were few shorelines and river transportation was hard, especially because of rapids and seasonal shallows (Herbst, 2014). Overland travel was very difficult due to lack of good roads. For African states, the natural boundaries hindered trade, which means they didn’t have access to knowledge and technology like Europeans did. This provided an edge to European nations in
After the Europeans began to colonize Africa, they saw great results rather quickly. European influence had caused the opening of many lumber, mining,and planting corporations, as well as many other means of wealth. Document 4 shows this when it says, “...who were largely responsible for the for the opening of the region to the lumberman, miner, planter, and other means of wealth.” By having colonies in the prosperous continent of Africa, countries would have a terrific source of income. By having a colony in Africa, Europeans would have easy accessibility to cheap labor, and be part of the slave trade. Document 1 shows this when it says, “These holdings are worked by natives under their direction. The foreigners take wealth out of the country. All the hard work is done by the enslaved natives.” This would make an already outstanding profit into an even better one. There are many positive effects for the Europeans when they conquered Africa. However, some may argue that the negative effects outweigh the positives. The want to conquer Africa often led to violent conflict, this led to many battles, and wars, resulting in a lot of money, and men lost. Document 7 shows this when it...
During the time of European expansion, many in Europe only knew of Africa, though the letters of self-appointed anthropologist and adventurers who described Africa as a dark continent; the people were dark skinned and primitive; they worshiped idols and practiced mysticism. This was evident in the way that British colonist described the Africans and Africa as “the savage was the very embodiment of dirt and disorder, his moral affliction all of a piece with his physical degeneracy and his pestiferous surrounding” (Comaroff 216). The land was dark, warm and moist; full of jungles that had all kinds of hidden dangers. The animals were ferocious and fierce, every step whether on land or on the river was a step into the unknown. The idea that Africa was Europe before it became civilized, excited people who were weary of their mundane life and wanted to have an adventure. Unfortunately, this image of Africa and the Africans never diminished; in fact, it only grew. Soon, it was the duty of the Churches of Europe to go to Africa and bring them salvation, it was the duty of the empires to go there and bring with them the light of civilization. This image of Africa as a place of primitive cultures and decay created the stereotype of what Africa was in the eyes of the world. This same stereotype, a dark, primitive place, still occurs ...
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.