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27 Cards in this Set
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The Atlantic Age |
Refers to the period from c. 1450-1800 when trade and travel (by sail)around and across the Atlantic ocean was a major force of change in the historyof Africa and the rest of the world. This period is divided intosub-periods, so that the Early Atlantic age refers specifically to the firsttwo hundred years, when transatlantic trade was NOT primarily oriented aroundthe trade in enslaved Africans and the products of their labor. |
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Songay Empire |
A vast territory in the Western Sudan (in the region of the former MaliEmpire) governed by Muslim or nominally-Muslim rulers. The founder of theempire, Sunni Ali, faced continued opposition from the Muslim ruling elite ofTimbuktu and other cities along the Niger. Subsequent rulers were morepious Muslims and extended the rule of the empire by using horses (cavalry) intheir military campaigns. |
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Luanda |
An island of the coast of modern-day Angola; in the 1570s whenPortuguese traders arrived, Luanda was controlled by the King of Kongo whomonopolized the island's nzimbu shells which were the local currency; Portuguese military forces seized the island in 1575 and used it as abase from which to establish the mainland colony of Angola |
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Elmina |
a town on the coast of modern Ghana (Gold Coast) where Portuguesetraders built a trading post, or "castle", that became the base forthe Portuguese' buying African gold; in the late 15th and early 16thcentury, the Portuguese sold African captives purchased elsewhere in Africa toAfrican buyers at Elmina; these slaves were used in the Gold Coastinterior to mine gold |
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Ottoman Empire |
The most powerfulstate in the world from the fifteenth century to the seventeenth century; extended in northern Africa to the Magreb, east to Iraq, and into theBalkans; The commercial and military power of the Ottomans promptedwestern European kingdoms to seek maritime access to Asia and thus encouragedexploration of the African coast; |
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Oromo |
An ethno-linguistic group living on the edges of the Solomonic empire inthe fifteenth century; As the Solomonic rulers were weakened by internalwars, the Oromo became increasingly influential throughout the south-centralEthiopian highlands; many people who had lived under Christian feudalismin the Solomonic empire adopted Oromo ethnicity and the Oromo age-grade systemof political organization; Over time, Oromo culture became less orientedaround pastoralism (cattle) and more rooted in cereal and plow agriculture |
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Borno |
A kingdom thatemerged during the decline of the older Kanem state, near Lake Chad, in thesixteenth century; the kings granted land holdings to families who helpedin the military expansion of the kingdom. The economy of Borno waslargely based on the export of enslaved Africans across trans-Saharan traderoutes; one of the things they imported in exchange for slaves was gunsfrom the Ottoman empire; these guns were used in further militaryconquests |
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Luba Kingdom |
A state founded among Luba-speaking people in central Africa in theseventeenth century which became the foundation for a larger Luba empire in theeighteenth and nineteenth centuries; The structure of political power inthe region became more complex, involving several strata of chiefly rule, withlesser chiefs owing tribute to higher-ranking chiefs |
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Act for Abolition of the Slave Trade |
A law passed bythe Parliament of Great Britain in 1807 which outlawed the trade in slaves fromAfrica across the Atlantic Ocean; it did not outlaw slavery; thetrans-Atlantic slave trade continued on a massive scale until the 1880s |
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Transatlantic slave trade |
Refers to the human trafficking from Africa to the Americas between c.1500-1880; Roughly 12.5 million enslaved Africans were sold into thistrade and taken from Africa; During the time of the transatlantic slavetrade, enslaved Africans were also being sold to buyers in the Middle East(including north Africa) and within Africa itself |
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Cape Verde islands |
The first base of European trading operations in sub-Saharan Africa,settled in the 1460s by Portuguese entrepreneurs in pursuit of West Africangold, which could be purchased nearby at the mouth of the Senegal River; by the late-1400s, European settlers were attempting to develop sugarplantations on the islands |
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Sao Tome |
An island off thecoast of modern Gabon, settled by Portuguese in the 1470s, and the birthplaceof the "plantation complex" (i.e., the economic system in whichlarge-scale production of sugar is conducted by foreign colonizers usingAfrican slave labor). The model of growing sugar with African labor wastransplanted by the Portuguese from Sao Tome to Brazil, where it came toinvolve millions of enslaved Africans |
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Gold Coast |
a stretch of theWest African coastline that corresponds to the coast of modern-day Ghana, andwhere Elmina is located; named by the Portuguese because they foundAfrican gold available for sale here; gold continued to be the primarycommodity of purchase by Europeans from the 1470s to the 1690s, while elsewherethe African coast saw a growing transatlantic slave trade. |
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Plantationcomplex |
Plantationcomplexes were estates that required large workforces who could be made toperform arduous tasks. The rising economic value of sugar propelled theimportance of the establishment of sugar plantations by Europeans, in Brazil,Mexico, West Indies, and the New World. These plantation complexes necessitatedhuge amounts of labor, which could not be fulfilled by native and Indianpopulations. This situation pushed European merchants to front the higher costsof African slaves, thus beginning the extreme demand for African slaves. |
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Sugarrevolution |
17thand 18th century Europe was characterized by growing populations combinedwith a growing purchasing power. Tis fueled the ever increasing European demandfor plantation products, especially sugar. The extreme demand for sugar was solucrative, that it defined the trade of this time period. By the 18thcentury, the West Indies was supplying sugar for the whole Western world, andsugar was referred to as “white gold”. The dramatic rise of the slave trade andthe number of trades in the Americas and West Indies is directly related to therise of demand for sugar, which requires arduous labor to produce. |
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ZacharyMacaulay |
Zacharywas an assistant manager on a sugar plantation in Jamaica, who had a religiousconversion and thus joined the British abolitionist movement. Zachary, in hisprimary source, highlights the arduous work schedule of the slaves on sugarplantations, which allows barely any time to grow subsistence for themselves,nevertheless attend religious instruction. |
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OyoEmpire |
AnAruba city-state originally under the control of the Nupe Kingdom. In the 17thcentury, the Oyo Empire grew powerful because it controlled trade routes goingfrom the rainforests of West Africa to the Sudan Belt. The Oyo adopted a theuse of cavalry, which allowed them to launch military campaigns, which allowedthem to produced war captives to sell as slaves. |
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AsanteKingdom |
TheAsante Kingdom was originally founded as a confederation of tiny kingdoms inthe mid 17th century in the Gold Coast. Under the leadership of OseiTutu, the Asante Kingdom transformed into an empire, stabilizing the localpolitical arena. The Asante Kingdom’s major trade involved kola nuts andslaves. The Asante Kingdom maintained a policy of restricting most foreigncommerce to state-controlled entrepots. |
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Yaomerchants |
TheYao grew in importance in the region of modern day Malawi and Mozambique, whichwas composed of hundreds of small chiefdoms and and clan territories. The Yaofound an economic niche for themselves as transporters of inland commodities tothe coast and of coastal imports to the interior in the late 1500s. As timewent along, the Yao more and more supplied slaves to coastal ports. Because ofthe fractions, there were many wars in this area, which provided the slaves forthe Yao to trade. |
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LubaEmpire |
TheLuba Empire was established in the 17th century. In the late 18thcentury, the Luba Empire began to grow and expand due to their access to thecopper of the Copper Belt, and thus all relating trade. The Luba Empireconquered the surrounding areas and instituted political leaders, and thusestablishing trading links to the Atlantic coast and the Indian Ocean. A uniqueaspect of the Luba Empire was that all rulers and authority had to be tied tomembership to the Bambudye Association. |
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Cape Colony |
The Cape Colony, far south of Africa, was thefirst European settlement in Africa, established by the Dutch in 1652. Thisregion was originally a stopping point and replenishing point for Europeanmerchants. Originally just a few permanent settlers, the Netherlands East IndiaCompany continued to bring in people until it became a settlement, displacingthe native Khoekhoe. |
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Maasai |
The Maasai were a stateless people in EastAfrica who were know for being semi-nomadic and pastoral. Throughout the 17thand 18th century, the Maasai expanded and became very influential inthis region, putting them at as position to expand trade networks in EastAfrica. The Maasai’s peoples prominent political leaders were religious leadersor prophets. |
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Darfur |
The Darfur state was located in Middle EastAfrica in the Marra Mountains. The Darfur State took shape in the 17thcentury when the Keira rulers instituted new classes of estate holding lords,consolidating the smaller tributary territories. The institution of estatelords expanded slave trade because they would send their armies out to raid forslaves in neighboring areas. The Darfur State’s demand for slaves was Arab andEgyptian. The Darfur State was also characterized by the adoption of Arablanguage and culture. |
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KuntaKinte |
KuntaKinte is the main character in the novel, Roots, which was later made in to atelevision miniseries in 1977. Kunta Kinte is portrayed as an Africa who iscaptured in Africa by Europeans with guns, put on a slave ship, and enslaved inVirginia. Kunta Kinte represents the widely held view by Americans that theEuropeans just came into the African continent with superior weaponry andtechnology, and from the beginning, forcefully enslaved Africans themselves. Inreality, however, African leaders supported, participated, and created themechanisms for Europeans to begin slave trade in Africa. Europeans boughtslaves from African merchants. |
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KingAfonso I |
KingAlfonso I was the king of the Kongo Kingdom. His letters of complaint to theking of Portugal represents how as the demand for slaves increased, the Africanleaders’ abilities to control the slave trade gradually diminished. As leadersand merchants competed with each other for shares of the trade, ordinaryindividuals were more subject to violence and enslavement. King Alfonso Ipleads the Portuguese king to control these merchants, who were whisking awayhis people. |
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KingAgaja |
KingAgaja was king of the Dahomey Kingdom, a powerful and major participant of the Africanslave trade. King Agaja militarized the kingdom of Dahomey, establishing thebest-trained and equipped army of the region. He provided soldiers withmuskets, shields, and cannons. King Agaja’s militarization represents theimportance of war and military success in this time period, in order to acquirewar captives to sell for trade. |
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WalterRodney |
WalterRodney in his novel, “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” argues that the slavetrade and then colonialism is what impoverished Africa, at the benefit of theAmericans and Europeans. Rodney views the slave trade as very influential tothe development of Africa, whereas, other scholars believe that the influenceof the slave trade was marginal. |
