West and Central Africa: Origins of the Atlantic Slave Trade

By Mats Oosterlaken, Tyler Hermes, Hannah Wixson, Bethany Person, and Catherine Rennell

The Ghana Empire

· Ghana Empire (750-1200) The people inGhana made iron swords, spears, and lancesto defeat neighbors and trade in WestAfrica’s trade routes. At its peak, Ghanawas chiefly bartering gold, ivory, and slaves for salt from Arabs and horses, cloth, swords, and books from North Africans and Europeans. But near the end of Ghana’s era there was a rebellion, which led to the rising of the Mali Empire.

The Mali Empire

· Mali Empire (1240-1400) The Mali Empirewas second of the three West African Empires. When Mali started it was a small successor trading states to a great territory that encompassed nearly 1,800 miles. The Emperor of Mali reserved the right to tax both local and international trade. The main contribution to the lifespan, reputation and prosperity of the Empire was trade. Mali weakened when the smaller states started to break free of its rule. But it actually ended when the rebellion in Gao led to the rise of Songhai.

The Songhai Empire

Songhai Empire(1464-1600) The Empire ofSonghai was created after the downfall andconquer of Mali. Songhai was the largest ofAfrica’s three trading empires. The people of Songhai were skilled at farming, fishing, and trading. The famous trade city of Timbuktu was captured by Songhai. This kingdom grew rich particularly from trade across the Sahara Desert. They expanded their trade network as far as Europe and Asia.

The Ministates

A few of the ministates along the west coast of Africa were Luba, Lunda, Congo, and Nubio. These Mini States were about as big as the counties in the United States of America are today. For ministates along the west coast of Africa, products originating beyond the Sahara were scarce and expensive, while markets for their own products were limited.

Trans-Saharan impact on the Atlantic Slave Trade

The Trans-Saharan trade was made out of ancient routes across Africa which pedomendly traded gold and salt. Even in the 15th and 16th century, Europeans required the help from African rulers, who held power over the trade routes, to get slaves moving across africa towards the gold coast, Africa's west atlantic coast.

Trans-Saharan Trade

Trans-Saharan Trade part 2The major trade centers were:

Ancient GhanaTimbuktuThe Hausa Niger ValleyLake ChadThey mostly exchanged gold and salt, but slaves too,

across 6 major trade routes, 4 of which reached into west Africa

Trans-Saharan Trade part 3

The African slave trade started before Europeans wanted to sell them to colonial plantations. There were middle eastern countries who wanted mostly women for concubine related reasons. Slavery wasn't as much for labor until the plantations needed them. This is why at first, for every two female slaves there was one male.

Coastal Trade (The Gold Coast)

When the first Europeans arrived in the late fifteenth century, many inhabitants of the Gold Coast area were striving to consolidate their newly acquired territories and to settle into a secure and permanent environment. The Portuguese were the first to arrive. The Portuguese position on the Gold Coast remained secure for almost a century. During that time, Lisbon leased the right to establish trading posts to individuals or companies that sought to align themselves with the local chiefs and to exchange trade goods both for rights to conduct commerce and for slaves whom the chiefs could provide.

Coastal Trade (The Gold Coast)

Coastal Trade(The Gold Coast)Part 2

The earliest Portuguese traders on the coast were seeking to outflank Europe’s traditional suppliers of gold from the region, the trans-Saharan caravans. There was also a ready supply of human captives available for trade. By the middle of the sixteenth century, the market for slaves was waning in Europe, but it was booming in Portugal’s new island colonies off the African Coast – the Cape Verdes and São Tomé – and in Brazil, which by 1600 was a major slave importer. The pace of colonization in the Caribbean and the Americas soon became so fast, and the demand for slaves to work the plantations so great, that Dutch and English, together with a few French, Danish, Swedish and even Prussian traders, soon came to fulfill a trans-Atlantic demand that the Portuguese alone were unable to meet.

Spirit WorldGlobal Impact:While some African communities still practice the following form of religion, the overall practices of the African people have changed dramatically since exploration days. Christianity and Islam have spread all over Africa over time, but the way these people practice these religions is very different than the rest of the world. While exploration from Asia and Europe changed Africans, so did the Africans change Asians and Europeans. During the Atlantic Slave Trade, Europeans had Africans come to the New World for work, but their religions spread as well. They influenced the practices of Santeria in Cuba and Brazil, and Vodou in Haiti and a little in the USA.

Spread of African ReligionsChristianity and Islam

Santeria and Vodou

Good Spirits

These spirits can bring good fortunes and healthy living conditions such as protection from bad spirits, bad fortune, and disease, and blessing you with children, crops, wild game and protection of your personal livestock. In order to have these blessings you must have good behavior. Good behavior to the Africans means following the rules of society and the culture, participating in religious rituals, and having respect to everyone. There are two types of good spirits: human and nature.

Human: These spirits come from dead ancestors that continue to return to their families and tribes to bless them. The living often build shrines to the dead and present it with food daily. When the Europeans first witnessed this, they thought that the Africans were worshipping their ancestors, but they actually do this simply out of showing respect. Just as they are to show respect to their living elders, it is more important to respect their dead ancestors.Nature: Not all African religions believe in nature spirits. Those that do believe that things like the sky, the waters, mountains and animals all are possessed by kind spirits that they can receive blessings from. They do worship these spirits through religious ceremonies. The Europeans were wrong about this worship as well because they thought the Africans believed in animism, when they actually praised the spirits inside these things

Bad SpiritsIn order to have misfortune, the bad spirits blessing, an individual must have bad behavior, but bad spirits can also decide to intervene anytime they want. Another way the African people protect themselves against bad spirits is through “spiritual professionals” that use special medicines and the best communication with the ancestral spirits to provide defense.

Quiz1. Before Trans-Atlantic trade, what goods were mostly exchanged?2. TRUE OR FALSE: Europeans had help from Africans to take Africans from

Africa.3. Who were the first europeans to arrive at The Gold Coast?4. Which country became a major slave importer by 1600?5. What is the main way to gain blessings from the good spirits?6. What four places did the spread of the African religions mainly influence?7. What two types of good spirits do they believe in? 8. What was the largest of the three trading empires?9. TRUE OR FALSE: the ministates along the west coast of Africa were

named Luba, Lunda, Congo, and Nubio.10. TRUE OR FALSE: Mali empire encompassed an area of 100 miles.

Quiz Answers1. Gold and Salt2. True3. Portuguese4. Brazil5. Good Behavior6. Cuba, Brazil, Haiti, and parts of the U.S. 7. Nature and Human8. Songhai9. True10.False