Africa and the Outside World (1500-1884)

UNIT ONE

Africa-the second largest continent

-Home of the first humans, thus called motherland.

-It has the longest history with diverse people, civilizations…

-Excessive natural and human resources

History- search or inquiry for the facts

- The study of past events

- Provides a connection between past, present and future
as a bridge
Importance of history
-To know the past
-recognizing red flags to avoid wars, conflicts, holocaust
-to understand past generations
-to understand modern society
The study of African History
Preserving, recording and saving African history

Sources and Historiography

Sources are the data, information, which obtained from the events
of past or present.

A bridge that connect the historians to the past events

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As some Historian described source, is raw material without source
writing history is nothing. And Source is deed documents that used
to reconstruct history of any society.

 Types of Sources

Sources have different categories; however for this level we divided

sources into two namely

-Primary sources (original data, eyewitness, first hand

document) etc

- Secondary sources (second hand document, not original

data, rather it interpreted or revisited data).

 Sources to reconstruct African history

- It may linguistic evidence

- Archaeological evidence

- Oral tradition

- Oral source

- Arabic source

- European document (may written by missionary or travels

account)

 What is historiography?

Historiography -means, discipline or method that, study how

historian write and rewrite history and also the principles, theories,

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and methods of historical research or writing and Writing of history
based on scholarly disciplines such as the analysis and evaluation
of sources.

If you want to know African history you should read a lot of African
history, especially history written by the historians you most admire
for their research, their interpretations, and their writing abilities.
There are almost as many kinds and styles of history to choose from
as there are historians, probably more, since many historians write
more than one kind of history, and many works combine different
types of history. Because writing history, including African history,
is a practical affair. If you know African History you will understand
and describe how historians of Africa investigate Africa’s past, what
sources they use and some of the ways they interpret those
sources.

African history has tended to depend more on nonwritten sources

than on written ones. The reason is that most of Africa was not
literate until perhaps 1,000 years ago, and contact with literate
foreigners is quite recent. Hence the source of African history has
been predominantly archaeology. Some- times assumptions have
been made directly from archaeological finds. Africa is rich in
archaeological sites-Zimbabwe, Mwenamutapa in south-central
Africa, and, perhaps most important, Olduvai Gorge. The findings
from these sites have been used by historians to cross-check
written history or to make tentative deductions about the past.
Ethnography is also important in the study of African history,

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especially since African society is fragmented into many tribes and
clans. Ethno historians working in Africa today need no longer
accept the generalization of early nonprofessional historians that
most African tribes were essentially the same: uncivilized and
anarchistic, with no centralized government. Linguistics has played
a major part in African historiography. Languages can help the
historian classify tribes and show their origins and dispersion.
Greenberg (1972) has attempted to trace the movements of the
Bantu from the Chad area through the Congo to East and Central
Africa by comparing the percentages of Bantu words found in the
languages of different tribes. Oral tradition is probably the richest
source of African history, for two reasons: First, most foreigners
who have written on African history have relied on stories told by
natives and lacked written documents to cross-check the oral
evidence. Secondly, most natives of this continent traditionally
preserved their history orally because they could not write. A
number of ethnographers have found Africans particularly gifted in
telling their history orally, generation to generation. In most tribes
there were experts whose duty it was to preserve the history. In
some, chiefs and kings could only retain the respect of their
subjects if they were capable of recounting the history of the tribe or
clan. Consequently, most Africans were able to pass on their history
without leaving out much. Today oral tradition is still important,
because the historian needs it to verify the facts of African history
recorded by early colonialists and missionaries who were not
professional historians. Further, it is very important for any new

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topic of research, since there are very few written documents in the
archives of African history. Last, but probably most important, are
the written sources. The earliest contributor of these was Ptolemy, a
Greek of the 2d century A.D. Later there were contributions from
the Arabs, such as al-Ya'qubi, in the 9th century, Masudi, in the
10th, and Ibn Batuta, in the 14th. Also invaluable are the writings
of the Portuguese, who established fortresses on the east and West
African coasts (e.g., at Mombasa and in Ghana) in the 14th century.
The use of these various sources is problematic unless caution is
employed. While recognizing the importance of archaeology in
African historiography, we must bear in mind that some of the
remains are difficult to get at, for example, because of thick forests
such as in the Congo; that some materials are poorly preserved,
eroded by chemicals in the soils; that some fossils and artifacts are
difficult to interpret; etc. Nor can we accept all the evidence of
linguists. For example, Greenberg's formula for determining the
source and spread of the Bantu may not work in all cases. Again,
there are some Ethiopian words in Luganda (in Uganda), but so far
no genealogical connection has been found between the two. We
should guard against the shortcomings of oral history as well. The
storyteller may exaggerate the role of his family, clan, or tribe; with
the passage of time, stories passed on from one person to another
may become distorted, what happened several generations ago
rarely being remembered in full. Lastly, but most important, we
should not automatically accept what has been written as the truth.
African history has suffered from the errors of nonprofessional

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historians and the biases of professional historians who approached
it with preconceived ideas. The nonprofessionals should be forgiven,
because they wrote out of ignorance, but the professionals who
deliberately distorted the history of this continent should not escape
our condemnation. Among the nonprofessionals were colonialists
and missionaries who wrote down their impressions and did not
bother to do research or even to interpret the facts they recorded.
These called the continent of Africa dark and uncivilized and argued
that it needed light from the benevolent Europeans. Both the
missionaries and some early merchants justified colonialism on the
grounds of a moral duty to civilize their back- ward brothers. They
did not mention that some tribes had well-established centralized
kingdoms, trade and commerce, cities, and religions of different
kinds. Of course, technologically these societies were inferior to the
European, but does this mean that they were uncivilized, backward,
and barbarous, as they were described? For quite some time, Africa
has been described as a country without a history. Lowie
(1915:597) asserted, "I cannot attach to oral tradition any historical
value whatsoever.... the primitive native, African, or Indian has
neither a sense of history nor historical perspective." Such a
reactionary attitude is difficult to comprehend and has been
challenged by, among others, Herskovits (1959). It is even more
alarming to learn that Hegel declared in 1830 that Africa was not a
historical part of the world. This brings me to a delicate question:
What is history? Some scholars, Herskovits among them, have seen
it as a four-based pillar: archaeology, written sources, oral

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tradition, and ethnography. The Greek root of the word means
"inquiry," and Herodotus, the father of history, relied less on written
records than in inquiring of people. Carr (1967) gives a number of
conventional definitions of history from different historians and
offers his own definition: the analysis of the past in the present.
Africa had a history prior to written history. We have seen that
there was an emphasis on passing on history orally from one
generation to another. Since most of the written history of Africa is
derived from oral tradition, to argue that Africa had no history prior
to the European writing of it is incorrect. Furthermore, Africa's
history fits all the definitions I have just cited. Have other countries
been described as devoid of history prior to literacy? How did the
European countries formulate their histories? The Anglo-Saxon
chronicles have been accepted as history by some historians, yet we
know that they are no more than the traditional history of the
settlement of Kent, Sussex, Wessex, etc. Later historians have
checked and filled in these chronicles where possible with the
discoveries of archaeologists and the evidence of place-names. What
English historians have done with the Anglo-Saxon chronicles is
what African historians are doing with African oral traditions.
There- fore, if we accept that the chronicles contributed to English
written history, we can argue that the oral traditions have
contributed to written African history. African history has suffered
from biases and exaggerations, but modern Africanists, both native
and foreign, are making great efforts to repair these defects,
drawing on various other disciplines for this task. Most foreign

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Africanists are handicapped by lack of knowledge of the local
language and lack of familiarity with the customs of the people
whose history they are studying. Learning the local languages and
staying longer in the areas in which they are doing research will
maximize their ability to get at the information preserved orally and
recorded in the languages of those areas. Native Africanists, in their
turn, should avoid emotionalism in writing about their past and
resist the temptation to glorify that past at the expense of
intellectual objectivity.

UNIT TWO

The Beginning of European Contact with Africa

The Portuguese Epoch

The Europeans didn’t have sufficient knowledge about tropical

Africa before 15th century. The only exception was probably North
Africa where they maintained contacts for a long period of time.
Since ancient time in fact, Africa was known to Europe as a source
of gold and because, most of the gold supply of Europe came from
Africa via North Africa through the agency of Muslim traders.
However, with the expansion and consolidation of Islam in North
Africa and the Middle East, the Europeans were denied access to
the commodities of Africa and Asia, because the way was closed by
the Muslim merchants.

It was thus, this event that forced the Europeans to start

exploration along the coasts of Africa, so as to get direct access to

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the gold of Africa and spices and goods of Asia. The first European
country that started exploration along the Atlantic and Indian
Ocean and coasts of Africa in the 15th century was Portugal. The
first African land to be discovered and conquered by the Portuguese
around 1415 was the Moroccan coastal town of Ceuta. Embarked
on some 60 years of exploration along the coasts of Africa the
Portuguese established a series of European foot holds along the
coasts of Africa. Accordingly areas like Maderia (1419) and the
Azores (1439) were discovered and conquered by the Portuguese.

In 1471 the Portuguese discovered Mina, which literarily means

“the mines”, along the coasts of modern Ghana (Gold coast), this
land was very rich in gold. The discovery of Mina gave the
Portuguese direct access to the gold rich areas of Africa.

In 1482, the Portuguese explorer called Diago Gao had reached the
mouth of the Zaire river. In 1488, another Portuguese explorer
known as Bartholomew Diaz sailed further south rounding the
southern tip of Africa and reached the Cape of Good Hope ( South
Africa to means hope of reaching Asia). Two Portuguese travelers
named Pedro Covilha first and Vasco da Gama later reach the coast
of East Africa and discovered Calciut.

Portuguese Interest in Africa

The Portuguese had specific interest towards different regions in

Africa. In East Africa firstly, they wanted to monopolize the gold of
Mono Mutapa. Secondly, they wanted to establish relation with

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Christian Ethiopia against their Muslim enemies. In West Africa the
Portuguese wanted to control the gold reach areas of that part of
the continent. In Congo, the Portuguese were highly impressed by
size, organization and trading system of the kingdom. In Angola, the
Portuguese decided to establish direct colonization, in order to
establish colonial plantation agriculture.

In East Africa the Portuguese had mainly two objectives:

1) To establish an alliance with the Christian Ethiopia against

Muslim Ottoman Turks. The Portuguese searches for a Christian
align in east Africa was based on a legend that existed in Europe
since 12th century A.D. According to this legend a king called
Prester John of Indies was believed to rule a powerful Christian
state somewhere in Asia. But, gradually, the Europeans began to
identify this Prester John of Indies with Ethiopian Christian
kings. The Portuguese believed that Ethiopia would be a
valuable Christian ally against their Muslim enemies. In order to
effect this the Portuguese frequently sent missions to Ethiopia.
However, the response from Ethiopia was not initially
encouraging until the onset of war of Ahmed Gragn. After this
emperor Libne Dingel of Ethiopia asked the Portuguese for
military assistance against the forces of Ahmed Gragn. The
Portuguese also reacted very quickly by sending 400 soldiers to
Ethiopia in 1541. These Portuguese soldiers helped the
Christian to defeat the forces of Ahmed Gragn at the battle of
Woina Dega. Following this, the Jesuit missionaries came to

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 Ethiopia and made attempt to convert the Orthodox Christians
to Catholicism. The Portuguese intervention in Ethiopian affaires
achieved very little. Because:
 Ethiopians were not strong enough to drive the Ottoman
Turks who were strongly established along the Red Sea.
 The attempt of the Catholic missionaries was also
followed by a policy of European expulsion from
Ethiopia.
2) To secure control of the gold trade in Sofala. Sofala was a port
on the coast of Mozambique and was very rich in gold.

Portuguese Interest in West Africa

In West Africa the Portuguese wanted to monopolize the gold
coast trade. Towards this end they established a series of ports
of which the most important one was Mina (Elmina) along the
coast of modern Ghana. The major role of these ports was to
protect other European trading with Africans and to ensure the
monopoly of trade by the Portuguese.

Portuguese Interest in Congo and Angola

Since 1482, when they made their first contact with Congo the
Portuguese were highly attracted by the size, well developed
trading system and well organized nature of the kingdom. In the
Congo the Portuguese pursued a policy of Christianization and
peaceful penetration.

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 The Congo rulers particularly the 16 th century monarch called
Memba-a-Nzinqa, popularly known by his Portuguese name of
Dom Afonso I, established alliance with the Portuguese hoping to
secure technical aid and artisans’ from them. However, he
instead gets priests not artisans. The Portuguese were also
succeeded in converting Dom Afonso I and his successors to
Christianity (Catholicism). The bulk of the people remained to
their traditional religions.
Economically, however, Congo was a great disappointment for
the Portuguese because of two reasons:
 Congo proved to be very far from the Indian Ocean
trade
 The kingdom also lacked the precious that the
Portuguese were looking for.

Consequently, the Portuguese shifted their attention towards

Angola where they initiated a policy of direct colonization under the
responsibility of Paulo Diaz. The major objective of the Portuguese
in Angola was to establish colonial plantation agriculture and to
develop Silver mines.

However, all this plans were not realized then, the Portuguese
turned Angola as a major source of slaves for their plantations in
Brazil and Caribbean (Central America). General speaking, the
Portuguese were not as successful in attending their objectives in
many parts of Africa. However, the Portuguese presence in Africa
had left two legacies:

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  The Portuguese language became lingua franca for
foreign trade along the Western coasts of Africa from
Senegal to Angola.
 They introduced new crops like Casava and Maize which
proved to be productive on the African soil.

Spanish Claims for North Africa

Morocco was viewed as a strategic trade location because of its

position at the Strait of Gibraltar. Although it was not included in
the original plans to divide up Africa at the Berlin Conference,
France and Spain continued to vie for influence in the region.
Algeria, Morocco's neighbor to the east, had been a part of France
since 1830.

In 1906, the Algeciras Conference recognized France and Spain's

claims for power in the region. Spain was granted lands in the
southwest region of the country as well as along the Mediterranean
Coast in the North. France was granted the rest and in 1912, the
Treaty of Fez officially made Morocco a protectorate of France.

Spain continued its influence in the north, however, with control of

two port cities, Melilla and Ceuta. These two cities had been trading
posts since the era of the Phoenicians. The Spanish gained control
over them in the 15th and 17th centuries after a series of struggles
with other competing countries, namely Portugal. These cities,
enclaves of European heritage in the land the Arabs call "Al-

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Maghrib al Aqsa," (the farthest land of the setting sun), remain in
Spanish control today.

Melilla is the smaller of the two cities in land area. It claims

approximately twelve square kilometers (4.6 square miles) on a
peninsula (Cape of the Three Forks) in the eastern part of Morocco.
Its population is slightly less than 80,000 and it is situated along
the Mediterranean coast, surrounded by Morocco on three sides.

Ceuta is a little larger in terms of land area (roughly eighteen

square kilometers or about seven square miles) and it has a slightly
larger population at approximately 82,000. It is located north and
west of Melilla on the Almina Peninsula, near the Moroccan city of
Tangier, across the Strait of Gibraltar from mainland Spain. It too is
located on the coast. Ceuta's Mount Hacho is rumored to be the
southern Pillar of Heracles (also vying for that claim is Morocco's
Jebel Moussa).

Historically, these cities were centers of trade and commerce,

connecting North Africa and West Africa (via the Saharan trade
routes) with Europe. Ceuta was especially important as a trade
center because of its location near the Strait of Gibraltar. Both
served as entry and exit ports for people and goods going into and
coming out of, Morocco.

Today, both cities are part of the Spanish Eurozone and are
primarily port cities with much business in fishing and tourism.
Both are also part of a special low tax zone, meaning that the prices

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of goods are relatively cheap when compared to the rest of mainland
Europe. They service many tourists and other travellers with daily
ferry and air service to mainland Spain and are still points-of-entry
for many people visiting North Africa.

Early European Completion in Africa

For a long period of time, roughly from the middle of the 15 th

century to the middle of the 17th century, the Portuguese were the
dominant European powers in Africa. But, beginning from the
middle of the 17th century, Portuguese pre-eminence was challenged
and taken over by the Dutch, Britain and French. Portuguese trade
in Africa increasingly attracted rival European traders who, in the
16th century created competing stations or attempted to capture the
existing trade.

The principal early struggle was between the Dutch and the
Portuguese. With the loss of Elmina in 1642 to the Dutch, the
Portuguese left the Gold coast permanently. The next 150 years saw
kaleidoscopic change and uncertainty, marked by local conflicts
and diplomatic maneuvers, during which various European powers
struggled to establish or to maintain a position of dominance in the
profitable trade of the Gold coast littoral. Forts were built,
abandoned, attacked, captured, sold and exchanged, and many
sites were selected at one time or another for fortified positions by
contending European nations.

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Both the Dutch and the British formed companies to advance their
African ventures and to protect their coastal establishments. The
Dutch East Indian Company operated throughout most of the 18 th
century. The British African Company of merchants, founded in
1750, was the successor to several earlier organization of this type.
These enterprises built and manned new installations as the
companies pursued their trading activities and defended their
perspective jurisdictions with varying degrees of government
backing. The British gained possession of all Dutch coastal forts by
the last quarter of the 19th century. Possession of these areas made
them the dominant Europeans powers on the Gold coast.

Between the 15th and the 18th centuries, Europeans traders,

missionaries and soldiers arrived in sub-Saharan Africa
establishing economic and to a lesser extent political relations that
gradually led to the expansion of the capitalist industrial economy.
The most notorious aspect of the early contact period between
Europeans and Africans was the trade in men and women which
brought millions of Africans out of their home country across the
Atlantic to the plantations of the new world.

At the onset of the Industrial Revolution (circa 1750-1850),

European countries began scouring the globe looking for resources
to power their economies. Africa, because of its geographic location
and its abundance of resources, was seen as a key source of wealth
for many of these nations. This drive for control of resources led to
the "Scramble for Africa" and eventually the Berlin Conference of

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1884. At this meeting, the world powers at the time divided up the
regions of the continent that had not already been claimed.

Slave Trade and its effects on Africa

Was the slave trade only limited to Africa?

Slavery and trading of slaves was not only confined to the

continent of Africa. Instead, the whole world has known trading
slaves since the days of the Roman Empire. In fact, an interesting
aspect of slavery and slave trade was that all races of the world had
at one time or another sold their members in to slavery. Therefore,
slavery was not something necessary related to race, color or the
continent of Africa. Actually, the English word slave has driven from
a major southern European ethnic group called “Slav”.

What makes the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade unique?

The trans-Atlantic slave trade was unique from other kinds of trade
in slaves in its:

 Volume
 The geographical extent of the regions it covered
 The economics of the trade
 The type and amount of commodities produced using
slave labor

The Origins and Development of Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

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Since, the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus around
1492, the Europeans were highly attracted to the resources of the
new world. In order to carry out their plan of exploiting the
resources of the region, the Europeans developed plantation
agriculture and established many mining sites.

Initially, the Europeans used the labor of the indigenous Red

Indians for working on the plantation and mining fields. Gradually,
however, the indigenous people died in mass while working as a
result of tropical diseases and the harsh treatment of their masters.
It was therefore, this problem that forced the Europeans to look for
other sources of labor. Finally, they found that Africa was a
potential source of slave supply.

Why the Europeans preferred African slaves than Europeans or

others?

It was because:

 Africans were believed to have natural immunity to resist

tropical diseases
 Africans were believed to have a good knowledge and skill
about mining, metal working and agriculture in tropical
crops.
 The price of African slaves was much lower than
European slaves.
 The readiness of African rulers to sell their war captives
and outcast group in to slavery.

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It was a round 1532 that the first African captives were transported
across the Atlantic Ocean to the new world. However, the European
slave traders were not active in the hunting of slaves. They didn’t
practically participate in the process of hunting in the interior parts
of Africa. The slave traders were rather supplied with slaves by
African rulers. In some cases however, the Europeans participated
in the process by instigating conflicts among rival African states.
The best example was the region of Congo, where the Europeans
stirred conflicts between the kingdoms of Congo and Ndongo.
Therefore, warfare was the major sources of slave in Africa.

The trans-Atlantic slave trade was part of a triangular trade. It was

called triangular because European ships setting out from Europe
completed three main stages in their voyage. These were:

1st Stage

In this stage European ships carried manufactured goods such as

alcoholic drinks, fire arms, cotton cloths and so on from Europe to
Africa. At the western coast of Africa they exchanged these
manufactured goods with slaves.

2nd Stage

In this stage European ships transported African slaves from Africa

to the Caribbean and Southern America. There they exchanged
slaves with plantation crops.

3rd Stage

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 In this stage European ships returned to Europe carrying
plantation crops such as coffee, tobacco, sugar, cotton etc.

Impacts of Slave Trade on Africa

1) It caused great human suffering and horrors on Africans.

Throughout Africa there were frequent conflicts and civil
wars among different African kingdoms as their rulers want
to secure more war captives.
2) It depopulates Africa of its productive young men and women
every year. The displacement of African energetic and
productive population made the continent very poor.
3) Psychological impact both on Africans and Europeans. The
Europeans developed xenophobia (belief of I superior and you
inferior) and Africans also began to undermine themselves.

The Abolition of Slave Trade

The first European country that had initiated the abolition of

slavery and slave trade around 1807 was Great Britain.
Following its independence from the British colonial rule, USA
also officially banned slavery and slave trade in 1808.
Eventually, Holland in 1814 and France in 1817 banned slave
trade.

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The reasons why they abolition slave trade were:

 Economic reasons

In the late 18th century sugar plantation had should greater

expansion in South America and Caribbean. This resulted in over
production. Over production in turn lead to the fall in the price of
sugar. As a result the profit of the plantation owners greatly
declined. This decline in the profit highly discourages European
investors and bankers to invest on slave trade and plantation
agriculture in America. Instead, they found the newly expanding
industrial economy at home more attractive and profitable.

 Political reasons

The America war of Independence of 1777-83 and the French

revolution of 1789 (which was fought in the name of equality,
liberty and fraternity) greatly contributed to the growing believe
among European in the universal rights of human beings to
equality and freedom.

 African resistance

The African slaves from the time of their enslavement resisted

slavery in many ways and some affected the system by exposing the
evils of slavery in the publication while others resisted forcefully.
Among the former group two Africans named Olaudah Equiano and
Ottobah Cugoano were the best examples. These two men ex-slave
(freed slave) from West Africa but got their freedom and educated in
England. Equiano was especially famous for his autobiography

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which was well-read in England. In1787, Cugoano urged the British
to play leading role in the abolition of slave trade.

African slaves also resisted slavery forcefully. An example of

successful early revolt and resistance took place in Brazil in the 17 th
century. Here “ran away slaves” established an independent black
republic known as “Palmares”. This republic lasted for over a
hundred years, until it was finally destroyed by the Portuguese. In
Jamaica a similar revolt took place by escapes known as “Maroons”.
They succeeded in setting up their own self-governing farming
community in the central high lands of Jamaica. Of all the revolts
the most outstanding one took place in French highland colony of
Dominque (the modern Haiti). The slaves of Haiti revolted in 1791
under the leader ship of Toussa int L’ouverture and killed their
white masters. The French and British forces tried to suppress the
revolt but the rebels defeated them and successfully established the
independent republic of Haiti in 1803.

Why Was Slavery Abolished?: Three Theories

After centuries of slavery, it was suddenly ‘abolished’, or made

illegal, in most places in the nineteenth century. Was it morals,
economics, or activism that finally made abolition a reality? Various
theories make a case for each.

The abolition (ending) of slavery over the course of the nineteenth

century and into the beginning of the twentieth marked an
important moment in world history, especially in the Atlantic. In

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1800, plantations worked by enslaved people, particularly Africans,
stretched across the Americas. These plantations were sustained by
a murderous system that brought tens of thousands of captives
every year from Africa to the Americas in the most horrendous
conditions. Their initial capture and enslavement and journey
across the Atlantic posed so many dangers that many died before
leaving the boat. Those who survived suffered a life of harsh labor,
atrocious (terrible) living conditions, and an almost complete lack of
rights or security until their deaths. Slavery existed elsewhere in
the world—particularly in South Asia and the Islamic World—but
nowhere was it as extensive or deep-rooted as in the Americas.

Then, beginning in 1803, slavery and the slave trade were outlawed
in many parts of the world, beginning with the European and
American countries that benefited most from these institutions. In
1803, Denmark made it illegal for its citizens to participate in the
Atlantic slave trade. In 1807-1808, both the United States and
Britain criminalized the importation of slaves into their territory.
(But they continued to enslave the people they had already
imported, as well as their descendants.) Independent Haiti became
the first country in the Americas to abolish slavery in 1804,
followed by Cuba in 1823, Mexico in 1829, and much of Latin
America soon after. The United States would not follow suit until
after the Civil War in 1865. Meanwhile, the major European slave-
trading powers gradually abolished the trade—the Netherlands in
1814, followed by Portugal, Spain and France by 1820. Of course,
enslaved people were still smuggled into the Americas, in particular

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to Cuba and Brazil, where it remained legal until quite late in the
nineteenth century. But the tide had definitely turned, and slavery
would be outlawed in many other regions of the world in the years
that followed.

Why did abolition just "happen" in the nineteenth century? What

shifted in this era that caused some of the biggest slave-owning and
slave-trading societies to suddenly become abolitionists? There are
at least three important theories to consider.

1: free labor and free wages

Perhaps the most dramatic shift toward abolitionism at the end of

the eighteenth century occurred in Britain and parts of English-
speaking North America. In the 1790s, Britain had the world's
largest slave trading industry. One of Britain's largest companies,
Lloyd's of London, insured almost every slave trading voyage
between Africa and the Americas. In 1807, however, Britain became
the first large country to criminalize the slave trade. In 1835,
slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. English-
speaking northern U.S. states and parts of Canada followed quickly.
In 1827, for example, New York passed a law abolishing slavery in
that state. What changed in these regions?

One theory is that it was economic. Some argued that the emerging
middle class, especially in Britain, believed that slavery didn't really
help them economically. These middle-class industrialists and
business owners did their work without slaves. Their only

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participation was that they had occasionally invested in slave
trading voyages, but profits were dropping in that terrible industry.
Instead, they invested in businesses that paid wages to its workers.
As a result, they saw slavery as unfairly competing with these
businesses. Also, the slave trade created chaos in Africa. Many of
these business people were hoping to make money from trade in
Africa by selling finished goods to Africans and buying palm oil and
other African resources to use in their factories. Ending the slave
trade, they hoped, could make business in Africa more stable and
profitable.

Of course, this class of businesspeople generally believed in the

Enlightenment ideal of freedom. These ideals included "free labor"—
people paid wages for their work rather than enslaved. So their
support for abolition was partly philosophical. But it is important
that they also hoped to benefit financially from abolition.
Additionally, these businesspeople were often competing for power
politically with an older upper class of land-owning nobles, many of
whom made their money partly from slave plantations. Ending the
system of slavery could undercut their political opponents and help
level the playing field.

Thus, as historian (and later prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago)

Eric Williams argues, it can be argued that slavery was only
abolished when it made economic sense for some people.

2: morality

25
Not everyone agrees that money and economic motives were at the
heart of abolitionism. Philosopher John Stuart Mill, who lived in
this period, argued that abolition was a result not of "'any change in
the distribution of material interests," but rather "by the spread of
moral convictions." Mill wrote: "It is what men think that
determines how they act."

These changing ideas may have had something to do with the

Enlightenment. In the late eighteenth century, a new conversation
about morality was emerged in Europe. Thinkers were debating who
was human, and developing ideas about the brotherhood of men.
These discussions inspired many leaders of the French Revolution
and got people talking about the morality of slavery. The most
famous image of the abolitionist movement is of a black man in
chains, asking "Am I not a Man and Brother?" But there were limits
to this brotherhood. In general, the new morality did not see
enslaved blacks as equals. Even in this famous image, the enslaved
man is depicted looking up to the European viewer, powerless and
on his knee. These Enlightenment ideas were partly a result of new
ways to interpret the Bible. Slavery had often been defended
through readings of Old Testament texts that seemed to justify
enslavement, especially of Africans. Some abolitionists were
humanists (those who believed strongly in the worth of individual
humans) who rejected these texts entirely. But most of the leaders
of the movement—especially in Britain—were actually evangelical
Christians who found new freedoms to reread these texts. Noting

26
that the gospel called for "goodwill towards all men," they argued
that slavery went against the spirit of Christianity.

Am I not a man and a brother? By American Anti-Slavery Society,

public domain.

We can't forget that many of these same evangelical abolitionists

were also businessmen who stood to profit from the abolition of
slavery. However, at the same time working-class people in Britain
and other locations began in the 1790s to support the abolition of
the slave trade, even though they knew it wouldn't really affect the
working class financially. They were motivated by a belief that the
slave trade was evil, and that supporting abolition was the moral
and ethical thing to do. Their main weapon was a boycott of sugar
and rum, two products produced overwhelmingly by slaves. This
was pretty hard for many workers, but—often led by their wives,
who did the buying—working class families around Britain stopped
using sugar in 1792 in support of a ban on the Atlantic slave trade.
They did it again in the 1820s during the campaign to abolish
slavery across the empire. These families had little reason to boycott
two of their favorite products, except for the moral issues. For some
it was probably true morality, for others it may have been a more
self-serving wish to make others see them as moral.

3: the actions of Africans in the Americas and Europe

There is another theory about abolition that does not focus on the
actions of white Europeans. This theory argues black Americans

27
and Europeans—many of them formerly enslaved or the
descendants of slaves—took actions that led to the end of slavery.

This story centers partly in Britain, where some of the most effective
abolitionists in the 1790s were black. One of these leaders was
Olaudah Equiano, a formerly-enslaved man who liberated himself
and lived in Britain. Equiano was baptized a Christian after his
capture. In his autobiography, he used the Bible to show how the
disciple Paul had clearly stated that slavery conflicted with
Christian belief. His book was one of the most powerful abolitionist
texts of the day, and he spoke against slavery all across Britain.
Another free African, Ottobah Cugoano, also played an important
role and called for the abolition of slavery in his autobiography.

Black abolitionists played an even more significant role in France

and its empire. During the French Revolution, black Frenchmen
and Frenchwomen called for an end to slavery. They included
Jeanne Odo, a woman who was born in the vast plantation colony
of Saint-Domingue, as well as Jean-Baptiste Belley, a Senegalese
man who had been sold into slavery in Saint-Domingue (now called
Haiti). Odo, Belley, and others tried to get the French constitution
to outlaw slavery. But undoubtedly the biggest leap toward ending
slavery was the Haitian Revolution. A dramatic uprising of enslaved
people suddenly stopped slavery in what had been the largest
plantation colony in the French Empire. It was only by overthrowing
the whole system, and fighting off the French army, that the
enslaved population gained its freedom. Next, by removing France's

28
largest slave colony from the empire entirely, they created
conditions for empire-wide change. Although France allowed slavery
to continue in its remaining colonies in the 1820s and 1830s, by
1848 it would be abolished across the French Empire. As historian
Sylviane Diouf notes, "It is now recognized that without the
impulsion [force] of the revolt in Saint-Domingue, the French
Revolution would not have decreed [ordered] the abolition. The
Haitian Revolution had radicalized the French Revolution on the
question of slavery."

In Mexico in the 1820s abolitionism was also led by people of

African descent. Abolition was eventually declared for almost all of
Mexico in 1829, by Vicente Guerrero, a president of partly African
ancestry. The United States, however, wouldn't abolish slavery
nationally for another three and a half decades.

The Expansion of Legitimate Commerce

The gradual abolition of slave trade didn’t diminish the importance

of West Africa rather it became an important trading area for what
was known as “Legitimate Commerce”. Following the gradual
abandonment of the slave trade, West Africa societies began to
replace the export of captives with cash crops. Africa ruler and
merchants were very active in the new trade. The major export
items included gum Arabic from Senegal, ground nuts from Guinea,
palm oil from the coastal forest zones. In the place like Ashante gold
became the principal export item. By the middle of the 19 th century

29
palm oil had generally became the principal export item in West
Africa.

The establishment of legitimate commerce however, didn’t allow

African states to be economically strong and independent for three
important reasons:

 In the first place, those that benefited from the trade were
small minority of wealthy rulers and merchants. There was
little important in the social and economic well being of the
majority of the population.
 Secondly, the principal import items from Europe like cloth,
alcohol and fire arms did nothing to strengthen Africa
indigenous economy. For example, the import of cloth
undermined Africa craft industry while, alcohol damage the
sense well-being. Fire arms also made African rulers to have
an upper hand over their subjects and weak neighbors.
 Thirdly, those states that did develop their export trade soon
found their independence threaten by the direct involvement of
European trading partners whose objectives were
maximization of profits.

30
 UNIT THREE

West Africa to the mid of 19th Century

The Moroccan invasion and the fall of Songhai

The empire of Songhai reached the height of its peak during the
reign of Askiya Mohammed Ture. During the course of the 16 th
century however, the empire gradually began to decline. This was
mainly attributed by two reasons.

 Firstly, the power of Askiya was weakened by a succession of

short rains and dynastic disputes that finally reputed in to
civil war.
 Secondly, depopulation and agricultural bases of the economy
was weakened by drought and disease. As a result there was
a losing of Songhai’s control over long distance trading
networks. But, there have been danger of external invasion of
1591.

The Moroccan Invasion

The main reason for the Moroccan invasion of Songhai was to

seizure control of the trans-Saharan trade in gold. Towards this end
the Moroccan sultan Ahmed-al-Mansur sent small but highly
disciplined professional soldiers equipped with the most up to date
weapons. The Moroccan soldiers composed of 4000 soldiers, 600
non-combatants and 10,000 camels that carry their equipments.
At the battle of Tondibi that took place on 12 March in 1591, the
huge army of Songhai was defeated by the Moroccans. The

31
Moroccans then went on to capture Tumbuktu and Jenne. But,
they failed in their conquest of the whole region. On the other hand,
the Songhai army reorganized itself and restored to guerilla fighting.
The Moroccan presence in the countryside was also greatly
challenged by the Fullani and Tuareg nomads.

Apart from early years of looting and enforced payment of taxation-

the Moroccan get little financial reward from the invasion. Instead
the persistent resistance from Songhai incurred great lose of
resources on the Moroccans. After sultan Ahmed’s death in 1603
the Moroccan interest for their sub-Saharan empires were declined.
The Moroccans largely left Songhai, even though some of them who
were married in to the local people and called Arma established an
independent rule in Niger. But, the rule was finally collapsed in
1737 as a result of the expansion of Tuarge nomads and their
control of Tumbuktu. The former empire of Songhai ultimately split
in to a number of kingdoms. One of the more important of these
was the Bamana kingdom of segu, which developed in the region of
the upper Niger delta.

The Sultanate of Kanem-Borno

Kanem

It was founded by the Kanuri speaking people to the north east of

Lake Chad around 11th century A.D. Their wealth was based on
raiding their neighbors and tran-Saharan trade. The use of horses
enabled the Kanem nomads to raid their neighbors effectively. In

32
the second half of the 11th century, the Kanuri speaking Saifawa
clans established a new Islamic dynasty in Kanem called Saifawa
dynasty. Kanem reached the height of its power during the reign of
Mai Dunama Dibalami, their capital was located at Nijimi. Kanem
lacked the natural resources to maintain a large state and was too
dependent on the personal authority of the Mai. Pastures were dried
out and over grazed. The struggle between Bulala and Saifawa clans
for the leadership of Kanem also weakened the state.

Borno

In about 1400 the Saifawa dynasty saved their state from

disintegration by moving their capital to the better grassland region
of Borno. Kanem after wards became a tributary state. The income
of the state was based on taxation and custom dues from trade.
During the second half of 16th century Mai Idris Aloma strengthened
the army of Borno by importing fire arms from North Africa and
receiving Turkish military training. But, Borno’s military superiority
gradually declined as new fire arms were regularly imported.

The Hausa City States

The Hausa City state first emerged from the 9 th -11th century. The
Hausa was from a southern Sahara nomads and local mixed
farmers of the northern Nigerian savanna region. The basic political
unit of the Hausa City State was a compact walled village. The
economic bases of the Hausa City States were agriculture,
manufacturing and trade. Gobir was the northern most Hausa City

33
State whose strength came from its trans-Saharan trade. Katisina
was also another important trading center. Kano on the other hand,
built its trade on its crafts men and manufacturing skills. Zamfara
and Kebbi were also important Hausa City Sates. The southernmost
Hausa City State called Zazzau was the major supplier of slaves to
the other Hausa City States. The Hausa City States flourished from
16th -18th century. There was great rivalry among them. There was
no single Hausa Empire. In the 18 th century Islam was widely
spread in the Hausa City States.

Kingdom of the Forest

Ife

Yoruba, one of the largest language group in western part of

modern Nigeria. State formation among Yoruba started in 11 th and
12th century. It was the original state belonging to the Yoruba
speaking people. The political power of the Yoruba rulers came from
religion. The founding father of Yoruba was called Oduduwa. Ife
was the best placed of all the Yoruba states to produce a food
supply. The artists of Ife produced a wide range of wood and ivory
carvings.

Benin

It was founded by the Edo speaking people in 11 th century. Ruler of

Benin based his authority on claims to descent from Oduduwa.
Ewuare, ruler of Benin set up a powerful army in the mid of 15 th

34
century. It had trade link with Europeans. In the 16 th and 17th
century the main export from Benin to Europeans at the coast were
pepper, ivory, gum and cotton cloth. Since the 18 th century Benin
began to decline due to dynastic dispute and civil war. It was
colonized by British in the 1897.

Ashante

It was founded by Osei Tutu in the 1670’s. Osei Tutu was a military
and head of Oyoko clan. The capital of Ashante was called Kumasi.
Initially, Ashante was a loose grouping or federation of chiefdoms.
In 1700, he controlled most of the gold fields of the forest. He was
succeeded by Opoku Ware (1717-1750), who expanded the territory
of Ashante until it covers most of the modern Ghana. In the late
18th century Osei Kwadwo(1764-1777), introduced centralized
administration. Federations of hereditary chiefdoms were removed.
In 1874 the Ashante Empire had broken up due to both internal
and external factors these: Internally, the political instability and
externally- the British invasion.

Sierra Leone

The foundation of Sierra Leone was the direct result of the abolition
of slavery. It was founded in 1787 as a settlement for free black
deported from England and Nova Scotia (Canada). In 1803 the
British took over the settlement as a colony. The early settlers of
free blacks were called “Creoles”

35
 Liberia

It was founded in 1822 by freed slaves from USA. The settlement

was organized by the American Colonization Society who believed
the number of freed black slaves in southern states threaten the
keeping of other blacks in slavery. In 1847, independent Liberia was
proclaimed.

36
 Societies of East Africa

Originally, East Africa was inhabited by Khoisan and Cushitic

people. Later on, it was settled by the Bantu speaking cultivators
and Nilotic-speaking pastoralists.

Bantu speakers of East Africa

Their movement to the east was started around 500B.C. One

possible reason for their movement was shortage of land that could
not accommodate the growing population. They largely settled in
Tanzania.

Nilotic speaking people of East Africa

They were moved to the east from Southern Sudan and south
western Ethiopian region. The reason from their movement may
have been drought that exerted pressure on their herds.

The Nilotes spread following three main streams. These were:

i) The Southern(highland) Nilotes

These came to East Africa from the northwest of Lake Turkana and
settled in western parts of Kenya and Tanzania. After some times,
the Southern Nilotes mixed with the Southern Cushites and formed
the Kalenjin people of western Kenya and Dadog of central
Tanzania.

ii) The Western (River Lake ) Nilotes

37
The western Nilotes were the Lwo speaking people of Southern
Sudan, who largely settled in Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi (inter-
lake region). Though many of the western Nilotes mixed with the
Bantu speakers of the region and adopted their language, the Hima
of Nkore and Tutsi of Rwanda and Burundi did not mix so easily.

iii) The Eastern (plains) Nilotes

The plains Nilotes came from north of Lake Turkana and largely
settled in north of Mt. Kilimanjaro. In East Africa, the eastern
Nilotes formed:

 Karamojong and Tetso of northern Uganda

 Turkana and Samburu of Kenya
 Massai of central Kenya northern Tanzania

The Early states in the Inter-lake area

Before the 16th century, there was a state known as “Chwezi” in the
inter-lake area. By the 16th century the people of Bonyoro under the
Bito clan had taken over the political power from the early rulers of
Chwezi state. The state of Bunyoro was a loose confederation of
village based kingdoms. In the 17th century the clans of Buganda
organized themselves and founded a powerful centralized kingdom
of Buganda. The reason for its emergence was probably Bunyoro’s
raids. The king of Buganda used a title called Kabaka.

38
 States of South West highlands of the East Africa Interior

To the south of Bunyoro and Buganda lay the densely populated

fertile highlands of Nkore, Rwanda and Burundi. In contract to
Buganda, the minority of pastoralists dominated the majority of
cultivators here. The ancestor of these ruling clans may have been
people of early Lwo origin( of Western Nilotes from Southern
Sudan).

Some of the Lwo immigrants inter-married with previously settled

cultivators. Hutu and other mixed farming population were the
direct results of this assimilation. In contrast, the Hima and Tutsi,
also of Lwo origin, did not mix freely. They avoid inter-marriage,
kept themselves distinct and established a position of dom ination
over the majority cultivators in the region. By the 18 th century the
Tutsi clans of the south formed two kingdoms:

 The kingdom of Rwanda ( which was more powerful)

 The kingdom of Brundi

Age-Set System, Chiefdoms and States of East of Lake Victoria

In the area east of Lake Victoria, the earlier Nilotic pastoralists had
intermingled peacefully with the existing local farming and hunting
population. However, the expansion of the Massai was carried out
forcefully. This was witnessed when the Massai forcefully occupied
grassland regions of cattle herding people. The raiding of cattle from
others was justified by stating that “all cattle belonged to the
Massai.”

39
The Massai had three main age-set systems (children, adults or
young and elders) and were governed by councils of elders. Before
the end of the 19th century, the Bantu speaking farmers that lived
in the modern Kenya and Tanzania were organized in to small clan
based chiefdoms. Some large states also emerged among the
Chagga, pare and the Shambaa in the East African interior. The
Nyamuwezi in western Tanzania organized themselves as
professional traders in East Africa, mainly exporting ivory and
slaves.

The Early East African Coastal Trading Society and States

Before the coming of the Arabs to east Africa, different states were
existed in the region. These were:

1) The land of Azania

This refers to the coasts of Kenya and Tanzania to 500 A.D. In this
land there were a number of coastal trading ports. Each of the
market towns along this coast was ruled by chiefs. They had also
strong trade relation with Himyarite of Southern Arabia.

2) Zenj or Zanj

This refers to the East African coast to 1000 A.D. According to the
accounts of Massudi, the historian from Hijazi, Zanj means “coastal
people of East Africa” and the place from the Horn to Mozambique.
The people of Zanj used the title called Waklimi (king). The Zanj
belonged mainly to the Bantu speaking people of Arab and Persian

40
ancestry. Before Islam became dominant in the region since the 7 th
century, they worshiped a god known as Maklandjalu.

3) The Swahili City States

The word Swahili refers to the African people of mixed Bantu and
Arab ancestry. They live along the coast of East Africa, from the
present state of Somalia to Swahili. Swahili literarily means “coastal
people.” Kswahili is the dominant language spoken in Swahili city-
states. Following the rise and expansion of Islam, the number of
immigrants from Arabia and Persia to the east-coast of Africa
increased.

Generally, the native and Arab cultures mixed and developed in to

the Swahili civilization. From about 1200 to 1500 A.D, many
Swahili city states became important commercial centers. Some of
these were Kilwa, Lamu, Malindi, Mombasa, and Zanzibar. They
traded gold, ivory and slaves from the African interior for goods
from China, Indonesia and Persia. During the 1500’s and 1600’s,
the Swahili city states were occupied by the Portuguese who
seriously damaged their trade. In the early 1700’s, the Omani Arabs
replaced the Portuguese as rulers of the Swahili area.

41
 Southern Africa to the mid-19th Century

During the previous time the whites in South Africa came to assert
that the blacks only crossed the Limpopo River at about the same
time as the whites arrived South Africa in the 17 th century.
According to the whites there were only scattered Khoi-Khoi
pastoralists and the San hunters in South Africa. During the time
of their arrival, they often referred to these people using derogatory
names like “Hottentos” for the Khoi-Khoi and “Bushmen” for the
San. However, against the claims of the whites archeological and
historical evidences show that the black were the indigenous
inhabits of South Africa.

There are physical similarities between the Khoi-Khoi and the San
people of South Africa. They also speak a closely related language
which belongs to the major super family of African language called
Khoi-San. The two people are however different in their economic
activities. The herdsmen who transformed their hunter and gather
way of life to settled life are called the Khoi-Khoi, whereas those
people who remained as hunters throughout their life are called the
San. But, historians who understand their greater similarities in
origins than their differences call these people Khoi San.

Contacts and Conflicts between the Whites and the Natives

During the 16th century the Dutch and English traders started to
make regular voyages along the tip of Southern Africa, in order to
trade in India, Southeast Asia and Indonesia. The early contacts

42
between the whites and the blacks in South Africa were generally
healthy. Later on, however, the greatest European need for more
cattle than the Khoi-San prepared to sell became the initial source
of conflict between the two groups.

The Whites Settlement and the Khoi-San Resistance

During 1652 a small Dutch trading company had established

permanent settlement on the southern shores of South Africa to
achieve three objectives. These are:

 To regulate the markets with the Khoi-San

 To have fresh fruits and vegetables for their sailors
 To provide a hospital service for their sailors.

Around 1657 the commander of the company called Van Riebeck

released some of his soldiers from contracts and allowed them to
setup their own business as “Boers”, meaning “farmers.” The Boers
were also supplied with West African slaves. The Boers settlements
on the Khoi-San grazing land directly lead to the first Khoi-Dutch
war of 1659. In this war, the black (the Khoi-San) were able to
drive the Boers back to their former position at the coast.

In the second Khoi-Dutch war (1673-1677), however the Boers

defeated the blacks (Khoi-San), after this decisive victory the whites
rapidly expanded in to the interior. By 1677 the “treck Boers”
expanded very rapidly in to the interior parts of South Africa and
largely occupied the lands of the Khoi-San. As reaction, to this

43
rapid expansion of the Boers the Khoi-San had taken three major
actions. These were:

 They developed a guerrilla warfare

 They moved in to the interior
 Some also collaborated and started to work for the
Boers to get access to land

Consequence of the Boers conquest (victory)

 The Khoi-San lost their political power and right

 The Khoi-San lost their material resources
 The Khoi-San forced to adopt the Dutch culture and
language

Conflicts between the Treck Boers and Xhosa (1795-1870)

The Boers after defeating the Khoi-San began their expansion north
wards. The conflicts between the Boers and Xhosa began when the
whites occupied the lands of the blacks (Xhosa). However, since the
Xhosa were numerically superior, strong political organization and
strong economic base (agriculture), they were able to block the
Boers expansion until the 19th century.

Internal Political Disturbances among the Native

Communities in Southern Africa

Between 1795 and 1870, two radical changes took place throughout
Southern Africa. These were:

44
  A series of disturbances among the African communities
took place. This period of disturbance was known as the
“Mfecane”, meaning “Era of Trouble.” It was a period
characterized by the foundation of new states and the
disappearance of the older ones.
 The expansion of whites and colored races further
northwards. Both internal and external factors cause these
political changes. These factors were:
 Claims for suitable land for farming
 Cattle raids among and between neighboring
kingdom
 Deterioration of the environment
 The demand for large qualities of slaves by the
Portuguese

Gradually, these factors weakened the previous political

organization of Africans and led to the creation of new kingdom.

The Zulu Kingdom

There was stiff completion in 1816 and 1819 between the

Mthethewa and Ndwandwe. Dingiswayo the leader of the Mthethewa
was killed and his forces were disintegrated. But, a new leader
Shaka quickly rose to challenge Ndwandwe domination. Shaka a
former commander in Dingiswayo’s army was the leader of the
Zulu, a minor chiefdom of the former Mthethewa federation. By the
middle of 1819 Shaka had established himself as the all-powerful

45
ruler of a single kingdom which dominated the region between the
Tugela and Pongola. He enlarged his kingdom and exact tribute
from the people of the southern region between the Tugela and
Umzimkulu River.

A vital factor in the rapid expansion of the Zulu kingdom at the time
was the important military change introduced by Shaka. The Zulu
regiments were closely drilled and highly discipline. Shaka’s use of
regiments was closely linked to political control. He developed a
centralized form of government in which the king had absolute
authority. In newly conquered areas hereditary chiefs were replaced
by officials called indunas. They are directly responsible to the king.
Besides performing military duties, male and female had other
duties; men-herded the king’s cattle and hunted for ivory and
female-cultivated the king’s fields. In 1824, Shaka was assassinated
by his half-brother, Dingane, who proclaimed himself as king. He
lacked the military genius and leadership qualities of Shaka. To the
north of the Zulu kingdom, the Mfecane had given rise to a number
of new and powerful states. These were:

 In the mountains north of the Pongola Sobhuza

Ngwane founded what was to become the Swazi
kingdom, nowadays it is referred as Swaziland
 In the southern region of modern Mozambique the
former Ndwandwe military commander, Soshangane
founded the powerful state of Gaza.
The Sotho Kingdom

46
It was established by Mosheshe of the Mokoteli clan between 1821
and 1823. It was not a centralized state in the style of Shaka’s of
Zulu. It was more a confederation of semi-independent chiefdoms.
Hereditary chiefs were remained in their position as far as they
recognized his over lordship. Mosheshe cemented relations within
the kingdom by a complex system of marriage alliances; he himself
had many wives and children’s. He was not raiding weaker
neighbors and pay tribute to the powerful neighbors. In the early
1830’s Mosheshe invited missionaries from the cape colony to come
and settle in his kingdom. He was in attack from Griqua and Kora
from the northern border region of the colony. His relation with the
white Christians would stave off these raids and enable him access
to trade in firearms. In 1830’s and 1840’s, Sotho imports of horses
and guns enable the kingdom to be one of the formidable kingdoms
in Southern Africa.

The Ndebele Kingdom

It was founded by Mzilikazi in 1822. They originated from the

Khumalo clan, former allies to the Ndwandwe. The Sotho called
them “Matabele”, a name which the Khumalo themselves adopted
as “Amandebele” or “Ndebele”. 1838-1840, Ndebele withdrew noth
of the Limpopo.

The British Occupation of the cape and the Great Boers Trek

47
In 1795 the British seized the Cape Colony from the Dutch settlers.
The occupation of the Cape by the British and their positive
treatment for the blacks by abolishing slavery in the area caused
the great movement of the Boers north wards in 1830’s. This
movement of the Boers was called the Great Trek. Great Trek was
the great movement of the Boers from Cape Colony to the interior
part pushed by the British pressure. Within a few years the Boers
controlled the modern province of “Orange Free states” and
“Transival Republic”. Later on they also established the republic of
“Natalia” or “Natal”. In 1843, the British annexed the republic of
Natal with the pretext of abolishing of slavery. But, gradually
agreements were made between the Boers and the British. A few
years later at the Sand River and Bloemfontein convention of
1852and 1854 respectively, the British recognized the political
independence of the Orange Free states and Transival Republic.

British Imperialism in Southern Africa

The major reason that necessitates the British imperialism in

southern Africa was the discovery of huge deposit of Diamond in
Kimberley (Orange Free states) between 1869 and 1871 and gold in
the Transival in 1886. This is referred to as the “Mineral
Revolution”. To control these sources of minerals the British
annexed the Diamond fields of Kimberly in 1871. But, in 1881 by
treaty which had known as Pretoria convention. The British
recognized the independence of Transival. But, the foreign and
native policies of Transival were subjected to the British control.

48
Finally, the British national named Cecil Rhodes formed the
federation of Southern African states under the British flag.

West Africa from the 16th century to the mid of

The 19th century

Islamic Jihads in Western Sudan

In west Africa during the first half of the 19 th century the most
significant historical event were Islamic Jihads which were
spearheaded by the Fulbe(Fulani) people. The west Africa jihads of
the 18th and early 19th century began in the highlands of Futa
Jalon(in the present day Guinea). The Futa Jalon jihad inspired
another similar movement in Futa Toro (in today’s Senegal-north
part). Here, the Fulbe established a new Muslim state under the
rule of Sharia.

The jihads of Futa Jalon and Futa Toro inspired later muslim
teachers in the Hausa City States of Nigeria. The leader of the great
19th century jihad in Nigeria was called Usman dan Fodio, who
established the Sokoto Caliphate. His two main concerns were:

 The conversion of pagan Fulani pastoralists

 Bringing social and religious reforms among the
nominally Muslim Hausa rulers.

He wanted the sharia principles to be strictly followed at this initial

stage. However, he hoped to achieve his objectives by the peaceful

49
preaching of reforms. But, the attempt of the king of Gobir called
Yunfa to assassinate Usman dan Fodio Changed the situation and
lead to a serious conflict. This eventually led to the beginning of
continuous and strong jihads in1804. The jihad quickly spread to
the Muslims and Fulani communities of Hausa land. It was not a
single jihad but a series of simultaneous Islamic risings against the
injustice and corrupt rule of the Hausa rulers. The capital of Gobir
was finally collapsed in 1808 and other Hausa City States like
Kebbi, Zamfara, Zaria, Katsina and Kano had also fallen to the
jihadists.

This because:

 They failed to gain support of the oppressed Hausa

Peasantry
 They didn’t act in union
 Interstate rivalries between and among the Hausa City
States that existed for centuries

When Usman retired in to religious life the leadership of the new

Islamic empire was taken over by his brother Abdullahi and his son
Mohammed Bello. A new capital was also built at Sokoto in Kebbi
and the jihad was also continued in the south and east. Western
Borno was captured and Adamawa was added to the empire and
the expansion continued. However, both Usman and Mohammed
died in 1817 and 1837 respectively.

Borno in the 19th Century

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Borno was another state that faced the invasion of the 19 th century
jihadists from the Fulani. But, Borno was saved by remarkable
religious leader originally from Kanem called Mohammed al-
Kanemi. Al-Kanemi organized strong resistance and protested to the
Caliph of Sokoto that Borno was already an Islamic state. On his
death in 1837 al-Kanemi was succeeded by his son Umar later on
however, Borno was declined due to:

 The invasion of the sultanate of Wadai

 The loss of its income from trans-Saharan trade
 However, the final factor that lead to the fall of Borno
was the invasion of Rabi-ibn Fadl Allah from eastern
Sudan

The Tukolor Empire of al-Haji Umar

The jihad in Sokoto had inspired further Muslim revolution in

Tukolor. The Tukolor jihad was led by a muslim preacher from Futa
Toro named al-Haji Umar. Umar followed a deliberate military
conquest and Islamic state creation. In 1826, Umar made a lengthy
pilgrimage to Meca. On his return he passed through Borno and
stayed several years in Sokoto. Al-Haji Umar pursued his jihad and
conquered many neighboring areas but he failed to established
stable administration. His policy of forced conversion to Islam
provoked strong resistance from the neighboring areas. Following
his death in 1864 the Tukolor Empire was weakened by internal
revolts and lack of unity among his son and followers.

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 The Mandinka Empire

Between 1865 and 1875 a man named Samori Toure built up a

powerful Mandika kingdom by conquering the Dyula states. Samori
did not follow jihad like his contemporaries. But, he used Islam to
unit and strengthens his kingdom. He promoted Muslim education
and the building up of Mosques. He also used Islamic laws as a
base for his rule. The unity which he established in the region
facilitated trade and brought prosperity. Besides the spread of Islam
the strength of Samori’s army was also a major uniting factor in the
creation of the Mandinka Empire. The Mandinka Empire was finally
collapsed as a result of the French colonial expansion of 1880’s.

UNIT FOUR

The Growing of European Interest and Influence in Africa

The Coming of European Missionaries

During the 19th century a number of European Christian

missionaries came to Africa. Among these, the most important were:

 The British based Anglican Church Missionary

Society(CMS)
 The Weselyan Methodist Missionary Society(WMMS)
 The London Missionary Society(LMS)

In addition to these other protestant missions were coming from

European countries such as French, Germany and Holland. The
European Christian missionaries came to Africa under the guise of

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“civilizing the backward” people of Africa and expanding
Christianity among the infidels. Nevertheless, these were only cover-
ups because the European had other hidden objectives. As a result,
these European missionaries ended up being the agents of
European imperialism in Africa. These Christian missionaries were
successful only in coastal regions of South Africa, Liberia and
Sierra leone. But, they failed to penetrate deep in to the inferior
parts of Africa due to the following reasons:

 Language and cultural barriers

 Tropical disease
 Opposition from some African rulers

This lack of success forced the missionaries to look for the

protection of European states which eventually made them agents
of European imperialism in Africa. The best examples were:

 The German missionaries in Namibia

 The British missionaries in South Africa and the
kingdom of Buganda.

European Explorers: the Mapping of Africa as a prelude to

Empire building

Despite centuries of coastal trading contacts between Europeans

and Africans since ancient time the Europeans were largely
ignorant of the people of Africa and their history. Since the 19 th
century however, European interest in Africa was revived. One
important event which paved the way for the revival of European

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interest in Africa was the abolition of slave trade and the beginning
of legitimate commerce. To get maximum profit Europeans needed
to have sufficient knowledge about Africans resources,
transportation facilities and major market centers.

During the early 19th century different explorers came to Africa to

learn more about the continent Africa. Though the explores claimed
that their exploration was for scientific inquiry, was in reality
motivated by commercial interests and the desire to control the
resources of Africa. Most of these explorers were colonial agents of
their home government. The main concern of these explorers at this
time was the exploration of the course of the major rivers of Africa,
which includes Nile, Zaire and Zambezi.

Why emphasis had given by European explorers to the course of

African rivers?

 Transportation facilities meantime

 Establish farming system
 Rivers of Africans were viewed as primary trading arteries
to and from the heart of the continent

Accordingly, three European explores namely, Burton, Speke and

Grant explored the sources of White Nile. David Livingston also
visited the Zambezi River, formerly he was an active missionary.

Similarly, Stanley the Zaire basin and later served as an agent for
king Leopold II of Belgium. Likewise two German explorers named
Barth and Nachtigal discovered the trade routes in the Sahara and

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Sahel. The French man Rene Caillie also discovered the Niger River
in West Africa. Similarly, Samuale Gobat visited the areas of Sudan
and Ethiopia in east Africa. The explorations made by these
explorers finally served European countries for their conquest and
colonization of Africa in the late 19th century.

Women and politics in Africa

While women were never fully equal to men in the political sphere,
women in precolonial Africa governed kingdoms, established cities,
launched military conquests, and founded states. Some governed as
sole rulers often as queens, while others governed together with a
king, as a mother or sister of the king. A third arrangement involved
a tripartite sharing of power among the king, mother, and sister,
and a fourth arrangement involved societies in which an age set or
group of elders governed the society and in which women exerted
either direct or indirect power.

Women lost out in such arrangements, first, with the spread of

Islam and Christianity and later with colonization. Women
participated actively in nationalist movements, but their
motivations sometimes differed from those of men, and were
related, for example, to taxation and the desire to improve female
education. After independence, women were further sidelined from
political life with a few exceptions. It was not until the 1990s that
we began to see the reemergence of women political leaders. This

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happened with the opening of political space, which allowed for the
emergence of women’s organizations, coalitions, and movements
that pressed for an increased political role for women. The decline of
conflict after 2000 created greater stability that enhanced these
trends. Pressures from the United Nations after 1995 and from
foreign donors strengthened domestic actors pressing for women’s-
rights reforms in the area of political representation.

END

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