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• The Atlantic Slave trade came into contact with existing forms of African Slavery

and resulted in demeaning changes to the pre-existing conditions of African slavery.

o Pre-existing African slavery = from peasants to property with some benefits

o Slavery after = servants, concubines, administrators, and field workers.

o Control of slaves was one of the only ways in which individuals or lineages could

increase their wealth & statuso Western African states already had slavery, but the Atlantic slave trade expanded 

and intensified it 

• The African slaves were restricted from freedom of choice regarding their own lives.

o Polygamy = established along with creation of harems

o Women = low position in African societies

o In Sudan, Islamic slavery = begun

o Only nonbelievers = enslaved legally, but believers and nonbelievers alike =

enslavedo Slaves produced agricultural surpluses for the upper classes, and used for gold

mining and salt production

• Because there was pre-existing slavery in Africa, Europeans were able to easily take

over and manage the slave trade using established trade routes and methods turningslavery into a form of wealth and labor control in Africa, intensifying the conditions

of slavery in some African societies.

o Europeans = aided by ambitious kings who wanted European commodities in

exchange

o African states only enslaved their neighbors, not their own people so expanding

and centralizing states = best suppliers and supporters of slavery

o Small/fragmented states = instability in Africa caused by conflict and warfare

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Warfare was usually neighbors trying to defeat/enslave one another 

Result = warriors were an important part of social class

o Warfare turned slavery into extension of regional African politics

societies who enslaved others = hierarchy/centralization

societies that were enslaved = self-sufficient, anti-authority ideologies

coastal states attempt to monopolize trade with the Europeans = shift in power 

Europeans feared powerful coastal states that could disrupt trade.

 beyond the coast, Western/Central African kingdoms expanded

their influence because of access to European goods

States with European guns conquered/enslaved their neighbors;

traded new slaves for more guns

Resulted in unending warfare

• Asante = empire by the Gold Coast

o Members of Akan who settled around Kumasi (region of gold and nut prod)

o comprised of 20 small matrilineal states

Osei Tuto created role of the asantehene (the supreme civil and religiousleader)

preached ideology of unity among traditionally warring clans

1700, Dutch= use power to deal with Asante Gold = important, but slaves = made up over ⅔ of their exports

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• Dahomey = kingdom developed among Fon peoples and had different response to

European presence

In 1720s, Dahomey = known as a powerful and brutal state with firearmsthat was based on the slave trade.

Dahomey got more involved with the cycle of guns and slaves as

expansion ^^ cultures of conquered peoples were eliminated along with royal

family

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• Regardless of the negative impacts that the slave trade made, there were also

various positive effects and developments in many of the African societies.

o Measures = taken to produce political forms to check the power of the king,

creation of state bureaucracies

o Traditional arts such as woodcarving and weaving flourished

o To show off power of king, majority of arts = commissioned

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o Religion = common theme in the arts as well

o Europeans = used African artists/art

o Africa = developing stronger/more ties with rest of the world

• Many old patterns of economy and society in areas of Africa such as Eastern Africa

and Sudan continued but were influenced by recent developments made.

o Swahili Indian/Arab merchants founded plantations on Zanzibar and other islands

that produced cloves through labor of African slaves

Population of over 100k slaveso Slavery too became important feature of Eastern Africa

o  Nomadic status of majority of Eastern Africa made it less known

o Process of Islamization in Northern Savanna entered a new and violent stage

Muslim reforms = sweeped western Sudan

“pure” Sufi brotherhoods expanded connections,

Usuman Dan Fodio = preached reformist ideology

o slavery increased in western and central sudan -- in some places as much as 30 to

50 % of the pop were slaves

• Although Southern Africa was the place least affected by the slave trade, progress

too was made here as the powerful chiefdom obtained by the Bantu peoples

expanded and affected the whole region

o Bantu peoples practiced agriculture, herding, and metalworking/characterized by

chiefdoms of various sizes

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o Chiefly authority varied but held by family connections/loyalty of the people

o Process of expansion = created because population growth issues/competition

for foreign trade with Portuguese

Chiefdoms expanded south right into the path of the Dutch settlers

In 1652, Dutch East India company est. colony at the Cape of 

Good Hope Meant to serve as refueling place for ships sailing to Asia

17,000 settlers/26, 000 slaves.

Colony = seized by Britain