AP WORLD HISTORY
Study Guide: Chapter 20 – Africa and the Slave Trade
Intro:
1. Describe the debate between scholars on the importance/impact of slavery. Which side do you agree
with? Why?
The Atlantic Slave Trade
2. Does Portugal or the African kingdoms hold the advantage in their early relationships? Why? How do
the Portuguese begin to affect the balance of power?
3. What are three examples of the impact that Portugal has on African society?
4. How does the slave trade begin? How does it evolve as time passes?
Trend Towards Expansion
5. How does this section change/expand your understanding of slavery in British North America (the
future United States)?
6. Create your own question and answer based on the charts on pg 452
Demographic Patterns
7. How does the slave trade impact population in Africa?
Organization of the Trade
8. How is the slave trade organized by the various European countries? What are some of the unexpected
effects of the trade on Europeans?
9. Why is it so difficult to determine whether or not the slave trade was as profitable as we’ve always
believed?
African Societies, Slavery and the Slave Trade
10. Describe the institution of slavery within Africa. How does it differ from the type and degree of
enslavement created by Europeans on these same people?
Slaving and African Politics
11. Explain the “gun-slave” cycle. Based on the information in the section, why do you agree/disagree with
this theory that tries to explain the continuation of the slave trade despite the obvious negative effects on
Africans?
Asante and Dahomey
12. Compare and contrast the relationship between Europe and EACH of the major slave kingdoms of the
West African coast (Asante, Benin, and Dahomey)
East Africa and the Sudan
13. Is the East-coast slave trade more similar to or different from the West-coast slave trade? Why?
14. Describe the work of Islam in East Africa. What impact does it have on African society?
White Settlers and Africans in Southern Africa
15. What does South Africa look like (politically, socially, economically) before Europeans arrive?
16. Describe the relationship that develops between the Dutch and native Africans. Describe the later
conflict between the Dutch and incoming British.
The Mfecane and the Zulu Rise to Power
17. Explain the Zulu’s rise to power. What allowed them to be successful? How do the neighboring tribal
groups/kingdoms respond?
The African Diaspora
18. Read twice – no question
Slave Lives
19. Read twice – no question
Africans in the Americas
20. Create your own question and answer
American Slave Societies
21. Describe the hierarchy that develops within slave societies. What aspects of this system seem most odd
or illogical?
The People and Gods in Exile
22. Describe the ways in which African culture survived in a slave society. In addition, describe the ways
in which African and European culture became intertwined.
The End of the Slave Trade and the Abolition of Slavery
23. List and Explain three reasons or justifications for the end of slavery/the slave trade.
Points to Ponder (these are the questions you will turn in) – 4 points each
1. To what extent was slavery a feature of African society prior to the coming
of the Europeans? How was it intertwined with the development of more
centralized states?
2. Compare and contrast African slavery, Latin American forced labor, and
Russian serfdom.
3. Compare and contrast the effects of the slave trade on Africa with the
Black Death’s effects in Europe.
4. What changes do you notice in the practice of Islam in Africa by 1750?
How has it remain unchanged since it was first introduced in the PostClassical period?
5. Evaluate the causes for the end of the Atlantic slave trade. (*This means to
not only “describe” them, but to also critique or judge them based on the
thinking at the time.)