Turbulent
Centuries in
Africa
By Michaela Hoyt
European Outposts in Africa

In the 1400’s, Portuguese ships explored the coast
of west Africa.


Looking for a route to India
Portuguese lacked power to push into the African
interior.

Instead they attacked the coastal cities




Mombasa
Malindi
Drove East African cities into poverty while they
gained a profit from them.
Led the way for other Europeans

Dutch, French, and English
The Atlantic Slave Trade
 Soon
Europeans saw slaves as one of the
most important trades.
 Slavery existed in Africa as well.
 The word “slave” comes from the large
number of Slavs taken as unpaid laborers.
The Atlantic Slave Trade
(cont.)
European and African Slave
Traders
 The
Atlantic slave trade began in the
1500’s

To fill labor needs in Spain
 Tens


of thousands were imported
Worked on tobacco or sugar farms
Could also be traded for other goods

Textiles, rum, weapons etc.
3rd leg
The Atlantic Slave Trade
2
(cont.)
nd

1st leg


Triangular Trade
Merchants brought goods to Africa to be
traded for slaves
2nd leg (Middle Passage)


leg
Slaves were transported to the West Indies and
exchanges for sugar, molasses and other
products
3rd leg

The merchants took the goods back to Europe
or the Americas
1st Leg
The Atlantic Slave Trade
(cont.)
Horrors of the Middle Passage
 Hundreds
of slaves were packed below
deck on a single ship.

The ships became “floating coffins”
because half of the slaves on board died
from disease or mistreatment.
 Some
slaves tried to take over the ship to
return to Africa and others threw
themselves overboard.
The Atlantic Slave Trade
(cont.)
African Leaders Resist
 Affonso
I became king in west-central
Africa in 1505


Wanted to turn Kongo into a Christian state
Tried to stop the slave trade
 Other
officials kept the trade going because
of how much they were offering
 Believed that trading humans was evil
 There
were others too that also failed
The Atlantic Slave Trade
(cont.)
Impact of the Atlantic Slave
Trade


In the 1500’s about 2,00 slaves a year were
sent to America, by 1780 it was around 80,000
a year.
By the 1800’s when the slave trade stopped
there was about 11 million enslaved Africans


About 2 million more died on the trip here
The slave trade destroyed some small states in
Africa but caused others to flourish.
Rise of New African States
 In
the 1600’s and 1700’s large states rose
in West Africa


Oyo, Bornu, and Dahomey.
The Asante kingdom emerged in present
day Ghana
Rise of New African States
(cont.)
The Asante Kingdom

Osei Tutu




A military leader who took control of Kumasi. He
later took control of surrounding states and
formed the Asante Kingdom
Claimed that his rule came from heaven
Chiefs that formed his council bent to his will
The Asante traded with Europeans
Exchanged gold and slaves for firearms
 They shrewdly pitted the Europeans against
each other for their best interests.

Rise of New African States
(cont.)
Islamic Crusades

In the 1700’s and early 1800’s and Islamic
revival spread across West Africa


Usman dan Fodio denounced the corruption
of their rulers.


The Fulani people, who lived in Nigeria, started it
He inspired Fulani herders and the Hausa
people to rebel
His successors set up a new rule

Increased literacy, local wars quieted, and
trade improved
Battles for Power in Southern
Africa


Bantu-speaking people migrated into
southern Africa.
In 1652 Dutch also arrived in the area.




They built Cape Town
Boers, Dutch farmers, settled around cape town
and enslaved Khosian herders that lived there
The Boers thought they were chosen by God
and that Africans were inferior to them
In the 1700’s Boers began to push North

Had to battle many powerful African groups
Battles for Power in Southern
Africa (cont.)
Shaka and the Zulus

They migrated into southern Africa in the 1500’s



Emerged as a major force
Their leader was Shaka
Between 1818 and 1828 Shaka was constantly sending
troops to war

Conquered many people


The wars disrupted the lives of other people


Took their young people and made them part of his troops
Some tribes moved north, took on the Zulu’s tactics and
conquered other colonies
Shaka’s half-brother took over the Zulu’s

Soon the Boer troops arrived with weapons and horses.
Battles for Power in Southern
Africa (cont.)
Boers vs. Zulus

In 1815 the British took control of Cape Town
from the Dutch

To avoid their rule, the Boers migrated north in
the 1830’s.


When the Boers ran into the Zulu’s fighting
began.


It became known as “The Great Trek”
At first the Zulu’s had the upper hand but they
were defeated by the Boers guns
The war lasted until the end of the century.
Vocabulary/ Review
 Triangular
Trade- Gold, Slaves, sugar from
Europe to Africa to America back to
Europe
 Repeal- to take back
 Monopoly- total control of a business
 Shaka- Zulu leader, lead conflicts with the
Boer’s
 Great Trek- Boers movement north from
Cape Colony after British took control
Vocabulary/ Review






Triangular Trade- Gold, Slaves, sugar from
Europe to Africa to America back to Europe
Middle Passage- Slave ships from Africa to
Americas—extremely HORIFING conditions
Asante Kingdom- First Monopolies in gold and
Silver in Africa
Boer- Dutch Farmer in South Africa
Shaka- Zulu leader, lead conflicts with the
Boer’s
Great Trek- Boers movement north from Cape
Colony after British took control