African slave trade and European contact with sub-Saharan Africa during the Age of Discovery is a very debatable topic in world history. However, this was not mutually beneficial in terms of economic exchanges and political relationships. Europeans almost always took advantage of those in sub-Saharan Africa as well as treating them horribly in many different scenarios. Nzinga Mbemba, the King of Kongo, wrote several letters to King John III of Portugal about his state’s poor situation. Mbemba tells John III how King John’s agents are giving too much freedom to allow merchants from all over to sell goods that are forbidden to be sold in Kongo. Also, merchants are taking people who live there and forcing them to become slaves, and so Mbemba
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In this document, Lavanha starts off by saying that Africans from the Eastern Cape and South Africa do not worship anything and are unrefined. Lavanha essentially mocks the fact that these Africans believe in the fact that the sky contains another world and even criticizes how the act, saying, “They are very sensual, and have as many wives as they can maintain, of whom they are jealous”(Document 3). Lavanha also makes the claim that these Africans never go far away from their hometowns and that they value only necessary minerals. While Lavanha, does not necessarily discuss slave trade, he clearly sees these Africans as people who can be taken advantage of and who are not at the level of thinking that everyone else …show more content…
The Europeans immediately started taking advantage of the Africans’ resources. Diamond says, “Europeans entering Africa enjoyed the triple advantage of guns and other technology, widespread literacy, and the political organization necessary to sustain expensive programs of exploration and conquest”.They were clearly trying to obtain guns as well as other items in order to increase their power. However, there is still the question of how the Europeans were able to develop all of these technologies before the Africans did. According to Diamond, all of these technologies went back to food production, with Eurasia having much more food production especially as compared to sub-Saharan Africa. Due to Eurasia’s more advanced systems they were able to benefit from these technologies while the Africans were not able to do the same. Eric R. Wolf, an anthropologist, sought to discover why Africa was the main source of slaves for the Western Hemisphere. One claim could have been that Africans were better workers than Native Americans, while another could have been that Native Americans could have tried to escape back to their homes. Africans were, at this point, being enslaves almost around the entire
In this document, Lavanha starts off by saying that Africans from the Eastern Cape and South Africa do not worship anything and are unrefined. Lavanha essentially mocks the fact that these Africans believe in the fact that the sky contains another world and even criticizes how the act, saying, “They are very sensual, and have as many wives as they can maintain, of whom they are jealous”(Document 3). Lavanha also makes the claim that these Africans never go far away from their hometowns and that they value only necessary minerals. While Lavanha, does not necessarily discuss slave trade, he clearly sees these Africans as people who can be taken advantage of and who are not at the level of thinking that everyone else …show more content…
The Europeans immediately started taking advantage of the Africans’ resources. Diamond says, “Europeans entering Africa enjoyed the triple advantage of guns and other technology, widespread literacy, and the political organization necessary to sustain expensive programs of exploration and conquest”.They were clearly trying to obtain guns as well as other items in order to increase their power. However, there is still the question of how the Europeans were able to develop all of these technologies before the Africans did. According to Diamond, all of these technologies went back to food production, with Eurasia having much more food production especially as compared to sub-Saharan Africa. Due to Eurasia’s more advanced systems they were able to benefit from these technologies while the Africans were not able to do the same. Eric R. Wolf, an anthropologist, sought to discover why Africa was the main source of slaves for the Western Hemisphere. One claim could have been that Africans were better workers than Native Americans, while another could have been that Native Americans could have tried to escape back to their homes. Africans were, at this point, being enslaves almost around the entire