Introduction for Chapter 20

20 Africa And the World 1400–1800

> What were the short-term and long-term consequences of the transatlantic slave trade for African societies? Chapter 20 examines early modern Africa. Early modern African states and societies included a wide variety of languages, cultures, political systems, and levels of economic development. African societies of this period were connected to each other and to the outside world by extensive trade networks. Modern European intrusion into Africa beginning in the fifteenth century profoundly affected these diverse societies and ancient trading networks. Most important, the intrusion led to the transatlantic slave trade, one of the greatest forced migrations in world history, through which Africa made a substantial, though involuntary, contribution to the building of the West’s industrial civilization.

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Waist Pendant of Benin Worn by Royalty European intrusion in Africa during the early modern period deeply affected the diverse societies of Africa. The facial features, the beard, and the ruffled collar on this Edo peoples’ artifact dating from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries are clearly Portuguese, but the braided hair is distinctly African, probably signifying royalty. (Hip Ornament: Portuguese Face, 16th–19th century. Brass, iron. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls, 1991 [1991.162.9]. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA/Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Image source: Art Resource, NY)

LearningCurve

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1400–1600s 1543
Salt trade dominates West African economy Joint Ethiopian and Portuguese force defeat Muslims in Ethiopia
ca. 1464–1591 1571–1603
Songhai kingdom dominates the western Sudan Idris Alooma governs kingdom of Kanem-Bornu
1485 1591
Portuguese and other Europeans first appear in Benin Moroccan army defeats Songhai
1493–1528 1658
Muhammad Toure governs and expands kingdom of Songhai Dutch East India Company allows importation of slaves into Cape Colony
1498 1680s
Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama sails around Africa Famine from Senegambian coast to Upper Nile
ca. 1500–1900 1738–1756
Era of transatlantic slave trade Major famine in West Africa
1502–1507 1789
Portuguese erect forts at Kilwa, Zanzibar, and Sofala on Swahili coast Olaudah Equiano publishes autobiography
1529
Adal defeats Ethiopian emperor and begins systematic devastation of Ethiopia