INTRODUCTION
This paper attempts to evaluate the extent to which renowned scholar, Peter P. Ekeh’s claim applies true to the contemporary politics of the Democratic Republic of Congo by tracing its historical struggle with slave trade and colonisation; and its resultant internecine warfare and exploitation of resources.
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE SLAVE TRADE
(West and West-Central Africa)
Slavery is one of the most emotive issues in history. According to Black (2015), slavery is similar to war: in one light, enforced servitude, like large-scale, violent conflict, is easy to define. But, what the slave trade means for the history of East Africa or the Mediterranean lands is different from what it means for the Atlantic world.
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It is merely the motivation that has changed over time, as compared to the commencement of the same. As analysed by Marcus Rediker in his magnum opus, ‘The Slave Ship’; Africans would enslave people for different reasons contrary to the modern stereotype, profit. He highlights how war was a major source of slaves in West Africa, and had gone on much before the arrival of the Europeans. The memoirs of an Italian born French slave trader, Captain Theodore Canot, can testify to this claim. According to his writings, there were five principles for the enslavement of Africans by other Africans. Domestic issues, debt-riddled individuals and gamblers added generously to the slave market; in addition to the prisoners of war. The fourth principle of African slavery, according to Captain Canot, contained those "inculpated with witchcraft, the Crim Con [criminal conviction] cases (not few in Africa), orphans of culprits, vagabonds who dare not to return to their tribes, and unruly sons." This shows a more focused rationalization to the …show more content…
But when we proceed to analyse the ascent of the slave trade in Africa, it goes without notice that this slave trade was facilitated by the native ruling groups of Africa itself to such an extent, that it was commonly known as the “black trade”. Rediker (2007) goes on to exemplify this with a study of the Asante group in the Gold Coast region in around 1680. The Asante were skilled at war, and would not be sold into slavery, which led to them becoming reliable players and valuable partners to the Europeans in the slave trade. Therefore, this tumultuous saga of enslavement and
This chapter addresses the central argument that African history and the lives of Africans are often dismissed. For example, the author underlines that approximately 50,000 African captives were taken to the Dutch Caribbean while 1,600,000 were sent to the French Caribbean. In addition, Painter provides excerpts from the memoirs of ex-slaves, Equiano and Ayuba in which they recount their personal experience as slaves. This is important because the author carefully presents the topic of slaves as not just numbers, but as individual people. In contrast, in my high school’s world history class, I can profoundly recall reading an excerpt from a European man in the early colonialism period which described his experience when he first encountered the African people.
Again, the slave owners of the American slave system saw their slaves as property and were known to discriminate against skin color, as mentioned in document 7. Also, they saw slaves less as people and more as “resources”. This “resource” was wanted by participants of the slave trade. This “resource” could be compared to gold during the Age of Exploration. Seeing the slaves were seen as nothing more than property, they were transported from place to place in horrible conditions and then, once they got to their destination, were put through the most strenuous work.
Europeans and Africans were close neighbors and allies, until the Europeans got lazy and greedy and jumped to the conclusion that if they to their loyal neighbors into slavery then all of their problems would be solved. In the mid- 15th century the Africans and Europeans broke their alliance as the Africans had been betrayed for money and labor. The Europeans got very greedy and sold their neighbors for a large amount of money, or used them for personal labor. During the middle passage the Africans were beaten and starved to death. The journey through the middle passage and the slave trade experience caused physical,emotional, and social pain among the captured Africans who were separated from family, treated with mounds of disrespect, and forced to make life changing delicious that could lead to brutal punishments.
The Gold Coast of Africa during the 1870s was full of social, economic, and political issues.. Politically, in the early 1870s, the British were working to push the Asante and their allies off of the coast to set up colonies. In the graphic novel Abina and the Important Men written by Trevor Getz, we learn that the British were successful in pushing away the Asante around 1873 and that “the British managed to create a system of agreements with local rulers that was formalized in the creation of a colony and a protectorate” (Getz 122). After occupying this region of Africa, the British would quickly learn how big the problem of slavery was. According to Getz, “an appreciable proportion of that Protectorate population was made up of people whom
In History of Africa, Shillington focuses on many aspects of African culture and factors that made Africa to be the continent that it is today. Chapter 5 primarily focuses on the Northern region of Africa and how empires took over and spread their ideology technology, and culture all through out the region. Even today some remnants of the Roman and Greek empire live on to this day (Shillington, 69.) Despite many people getting the impression that Northern Africa is only influenced by Arabic and Islam, these empires and their conquests are best understood through topics like intricate trading routes, farming, and the spread of religion. Shillington provides an in depth analysis of how many of these conquests affected Northern Africa centuries ago and today.
The Congo has been a place of abundant resources and minerals that has put a kind of a target on its’ back. As a result of the land and people being stripped, wars have broken out. Furthermore, western capitalists who steal from the Congo, are the only ones who see the profits while the people of the Congo suffer in misery. Because of the interference of western countries, the Congo as a country has been “under-developed” (Renton 172). The Congolese people have assumed a position of dependence, therefore were unable to grow properly as a country, resulting in the Congo unable to stand on its own.
There is a very general similarity in this however; in both sides, slaves were not free and they had to obey their masters and work. Document 9 outlines observations by Hans Sloan concerning punishment of slaves on the island of Barbados. The punishments were very cruel, ranging from whippings for the smallest offenses to burning alive for
So Europe invaded Africa, took possession of Africa, and divided Africa into colonies of Europe. The period of invasion, lasting some twenty years, was more or less completed by 1900. There followed a longer period, between sixty and ninety years, of direct European rule, called colonial rule. This was a time of profound upheaval for all of Africa’s peoples. It brought irreversible changes” (4).
I. Slavery and the Empire A. Atlantic Trade 1. “Triangular Trade” a. Africa, Europe, America 2. Caused the racism 3. Central to world economy B. Africa and the Slave Trade 1. African elites sold their people to slavery.
The African Kingdoms were kidnapping slaves from other Africans Kingdoms and trading them with Europeans. In the 15th century some enslaved
The Black Man’s Burden In the late-nineteen century, the term new imperialism became an element of politics implemented by many European powers to impose their supremacy around the globe. Between 1870 and 1914, as a result of the Great Depression (1873-1879), imperialistic powers such as Britain, France, Germany, and Belgium, constructed colonies and protectorates in Asia and Africa in order to exploit their resources and their labor . In 1880, France and Britain led European nations in the “scramble of Africa,” which divided the continent from 1880 to 1914. After the king of Belgium Leopold II conquered most of the Congo River with the excuse of promoting Christianity and civilization, other European nations caught “African fever.”
How big of impact could slavery have done to Africa at least that’s what they said? The slave trade had huge and horrible impact on Africa because it resulted in a tremendous loss of life, Africa has not developed economically as a result of the Slave trade, and Africa still suffers and is unable to provide food and water for its people. Africa had a huge loss of people but to be exact “nearly 90 percent of the Africans in these two major regions came from only four zones in Africa. ”(“The Transatlantic Slave Trade”, para 48) all had to go even against their will 10 million enslaved men, women, and children from West and East Africa to North Africa, the Middle East, and India.
In broad terms, this paper explores Belgian colonialism in the Congo and how it contributed to its
The African continent has contained, and continues to contain, an incredible diversity of cultures in a countless variety of historical circumstances. When reading for breadth across the African continent’s past prior to the 18th century, some common themes begin to reveal themselves within this vast history. One trend is that of rulers attempting to expand and strengthen societies through trade with foreign powers, which is often accompanied by conversion to (or earlier presence of) a more globalized religion. This can be seen in the cases of 14th century Mali under Mansa Musa, 16th century Kongo under King Afonso I, and 17th century Ethiopia under King Susenyos I. A comparison of these three examples reveals the interconnected nature of
Since the sixteenth century and throughout the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, the British had secured a virtual monopoly over the transatlantic slave trade, commenced by the Portuguese in the late fifteenth century, on Nigeria’s western coast. In the nineteenth century, at the time when the movement for the abolition of slavery was prevailing in Britain, the British share in the slave trade had been much greater than any other European nation in the Nigerian region. This long-standing commercial prosperity in human slaving, however, came to an end in 1807 when Parliament in Britain made it illegal for British subjects to be involved in the African slave trade and ultimately in 1833 when another Parliamentary Act was passed and fully abolished the institution of slavery throughout the British