History Journal 3

Western African Societies History 111 – World History since 1500 Spring 2022 Jorge Minella ([email protected])

Northern Africa Western Africa Central Africa Eastern Africa Southern Africa

UN Subregions of Africa

West and West Central Africa, 15th century

 Hoe agriculture.

 Chiefdoms.

 Some kingdoms (Mali, Benin, Loango, others).

 Long distance land-based trade.

 Islam in trade routes and Northern West Africa.

West and West Central African Kingdoms

Mali and Songhai

 Mali (~1200-1400 c.e.)  Gold.

 Trade caravans, gateway to the Sahara.

 Cultural crossroads.

 Songhai (~1400-1590s)  Took most of Mali’s territory.

 Thriving trade of gold, salt, forest products.

 Some slavery in both.

Benin and Yoruba

 Benin.

 Confederation in the twelfth century.

 Centralized kingdom by the fifteenth century.

 Yoruba.

 City-states.

 Thriving religious tradition.

Depiction of Benin City in the seventeenth century. D. O. Drapper (Dutch physician and writer).

West Central Africa

 Kingdoms of Loango and Kongo (~1300 c.e.)

 Ndongo (~1500 c.e.)

 Well developed metallurgy.  Iron works with political importance.

 Columbian Exchange diversified agriculture.

Slavery in Africa

Slavery in Africa before European Interlopers

 How did it work?

 Understand European slave traders’ strategies.

 Understand changes after European slave trade.

 Consequences for Africa.

Slavery in Africa

 War captives.

 Debt.

 Condition not passed to descendants.

 Pathways to freedom.

 Household service, military service, agricultural work.

African Slave Trade

 Internal African trade.

 External trade (since the eight century).  To the Arabian

Peninsula and Indian Ocean.

 To the Mediterranean.

 Small if compared to the transatlantic slave trade (16th to 19th centuries).

An important distinction

Societies with slaves.

Slave societies.

Slavery in Early Modernity

 Slavery in Africa: societies with slaves.

 Slavery in Iberia (1440s): societies with slaves.

 Slavery in parts of America: slave societies.

 Europeans based enslavement on race.  Major difference in relation to slavery in African societies.