...Jazz Mason 2/21/2013 AFAM The Urban Heritage of West Africa Africa is a vast country with an infinite amount of history, resources, and life. Africa also holds the roots of our family and ancestors more specifically, West Africa. West Africa is the 2.5 miliion squares miles of land that most of the black people of America originate from. West Africa is nearly the size of the United States and stretches from the countries of Chad to Senegal. The urban heritage of West Africa is endless in the numerous cities and town that dot the area. West Africa is dominated by people, in Nigeria alone there are an estimated 100 million people. There are numerous countries in Africa including Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Benin, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Togo and a few others. Today there are nearly 180 million inhabitants of West Africa. The area is rich with resources and agriculture is plentiful. The area is not all grasslands and deserts as we are taught and assume, its filled with millions of people and culture. More than ¾ of West Africa is vast grasslands similar to those in North America. These grasslands are usually watered by river systems which makes the land extremely fertile. According to the book, The Urban heritage of West Africa, “the flood plains of the western Niger River are nearly the size of Portugal and intensely cultivated.” Other river systems include the mighty Volta, the Benue, Senegal, Gambia and many other smaller rivers which agriculture thrives...
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...Befo nization occurred on the continent of Africa, the natives lived well and created a tradition of wholeness. These natives created a society where African traditional religions embraced all aspects of life. Juju (also known to western as Voodoo or vodun) is one of these many religions that are widely practice in West Africa and the Americas. Unlike the strict parameters that are drawn in western religions between the secular and non secular world, Juju is a traditional religion that is all surrounding in all aspect of ones life. This essay will focus on Juju religion in West Africa and how it end up in the Americas. In modern day, most people in the western world have been taught to tribute Juju existence and development exclusively to the Fon tribe who inhabit the country of Benin in West Africa. However, there are more than thirty five different ethnic groups in West Africa who are responsible for the development of Juju religion. Another popular misconception regarding Juju’s religion is that it was developed in Haiti by African slaves who were transported to the new world. This theory is wrong, due to Haiti only been an independent republic since 1804, and some anthropologists have estimated Juju to be as much as 10,000 years old. Juju religion was already well established, completely developed and widely practice religion prior to its arrival in Haiti. Juju is also the official religion in Benin, the only African country that still proudly recognizes it as traditional...
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...world was different kinds of immigrants who came to North America between the sixteenth century and eighteenth century, roughly 250,000 of them came from Africa, as slaves. (Schultz, 2012) Most West Africans were from a place call Lower Guinea. Society had developed trade routes in varies regions of the continents. This helped civilization grow and thrive. Africa was transformed by the religion Islam. It was spreading from Africa, the Middle East, and Spain, making its way to West Africa, having a huge impact of society. A Kingdom in West Africa called Ghana was ruled by the West African’s from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries. (Schultz, 2012) Ghana opened up trade through West Africa with horses, camels, and advanced weapons to transport goods. Ghana was made up of many large cities. The people from here were very artistic, and used political structure. North African Muslims used the trade routes of the Ghana to attack the Kingdom, and eventually succeeding, and taking over the Kingdom in 1235 C.E. Mali was an Islamic Kingdom that took the place of the Ghana after its demise. People came from Southern Europe to be a part of this cultural and artistic place that had opportunities for growth in many ways. Although Islam did not spread to North Africa as fast it did in other parts, it did slowly make its way. Mali is important to history because most of the slaves who were forced into slave trade in North America came from here, and kept their religion and did not convert...
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...Three hundred and ninety seven years ago, the first of many enslaved Africans arrived on American soil in Jamestown, Virginia thus beginning what is to be now known as the African-American experience. Over the course of almost four centuries, African-Americans have faced a plenitude of oppression, racism, and violence from the W.A.S.P majority and through it all was able to retain many Africanisms native to West Africa and more specifically Sierra Leone. The documentary Family Across the Sea (1990) by Tim Carrier explored these specific connections and debated the common notion that enslaved Africans and their descendants lost all ties with their origins in West Africa when in truth the Geechie Gullah people of Georgia's Low Country are a prime example of how Africa’s cultural, spiritual, agricultural traditions continue shape the black experience in America today....
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...European countries because most Europeans would get Africans and sell them in European markets to work in their farms. They would be punished, beaten, overworked and also not well taken care of. Most of them died in the work places due to lack of energy and food. So they would not go on with the work. The Portuguese were people who were specialized in many different types of work like merchants, artisans, vendors and shoppers (David, 1987). They were very hardworking people such that by early morning they were moving towards the docks in Lisbon. Portugal built an empire based on commerce. This was in September 1600. The people who had arrived early had the opportunity of getting goods from the four continents; Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. Each of these countries provided different goods that arrived by ship in Portugal (Bland, 2001). Example of these goods are, wheat, ,glass, weapons, honey, ebony, coral, salt, coconut oil, and camphor, among others. Brazil supplied sugar and Brazil wood. There was massive competition for cargoes and profits between Italian city states like Venice and Genoa, and Muslim merchants (David, 1987). This stimulated the Europeans to look for overseas routes to the Indies and the spice lands. By this time, the Portuguese were looking for sea routes. Their main aim was to spread Catholicism, expand trade, and expand the Spanish kingdom and the Portuguese language to new lands they would discover. This soon enlarged the European...
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...always in contention with one another. For every civilization that triumphs, others must suffer. For a majority of human history the strongest nations were comprised into a group known as the West. The west is home to the ideologies of democracy, capitalism, and consumerism. The idea of democracy has been forced upon many nations in the world by the Western states. Democracy however has been shown to be a very easily manipulated system. Capitalism has shown the need for expansion and exploitation over Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The west has always been in contention with other nations, along with contending with each other. Competition between western nations has led to a technological race and an arms race, which is now more apparent than ever in the United States. With military might came the need to take over other nations and thus the ideas of imperialism, and nation aristocracy. Africa, Latin America, and Asia has suffered and continues to suffer a great deal because of the triumph of the west through exploitation, expansion, and wealth, all major goals of capitalism and imperialism. The West has retarded the development in all facets for many countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia and thus led to the suffering of the world. One of the oldest ideologies from the west to the world is democracy. Democracy comes from the Greek words “demo” meaning people and “kratia” meaning rule, therefore rule of the people. Democracy is an egalitarian system of governance...
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...History always requires us to place things in their context and to avoid judging the past through the eyes of the present. But this is not true and it’s actually the opposite looking at the ideological forces that have shaped North (First World) and South (Third World) countries relations for half a century. In this essay one will be looking at the question of to what extend can the process of colonialism be blamed for the problems being experienced by developing countries today? Also matters pertaining to African migration, the spread of Islam, gold and slaves will be included in this essay as they are central to the process of colonialism. Towards the end of the last century, with a long history already behind it European colonization branched out in quite different forms according to the place and the interests of the metropolis. According to Thirlwell (1994:60) it was “a transitional period in which brutal power relations existed alongside paternalist feelings of responsibility towards natives who needed to be civilised” thus, great powers put the then dominant ideas into practice opening up the way to the so called “development” (Thirlwell, 1994). According to Rist (1997:100) “colonialism is a practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people to another”. The term colony comes from the Latin word colonus, meaning farmer. Thus, one believes that this root reminds us that the practice of colonialism usually involved the transfer of population to a new...
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...this industry was slaves from West Africa. This business did extremely well since North America, also known as the “New World”, had an unreliable work force. Before Africans were used, Europeans relied on indentured servants. They would have a sentence of about four years work with no pay after that time they had to be freed and paid to work. Other people were used as slaves such as Native Americans and Caucasians but they were killed by diseases that foreigners carried which their immune system could not handle. A lot of people feel that slavery does not exist anymore, but if slavery is making people work for little to no money and taking away some of their rights then sweat shops is slavery. In this paper, I will show how profitable the Transatlantic Slave Trade was. I will prove this first by acknowledging how many places were involved with the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Second, I will explain how other trades affected slavery. Third, I will show how we still use sweatshops as a form of slavery today. The Transatlantic Slave Trade supplied the main base of the New World’s economy. The majority ships that sailed yearly for Africa were from the city of Newport. A little over sixty percent of North American voyages that involved the Transatlantic Slave Trade were founded in Rhode Island because of their ports. Spanish America had 1,552,000 slaves, Europe had 175,000 slaves, British North America/ United States had 399,000 slaves, French America had 1,600,000 slaves, Brazil...
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...Columbus. It is commonly thought and accepted that with the approval of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Columbus went in search for India which was located in the East. However Columbus unknowingly sailed to the west across the Atlantic Ocean which led him to a land mass which was unknown to the Europeans at that time which he name “The Americas. Although this theory is commonly accepted as it has been popularized by the Europeans, there is significant physical evidence that suggest that Columbus was not the first to discover “The World”. Many Historians such as Ivan van Sertima believe that the West Africans discovered the Americas...
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...A Resource to Accompany History Alive! The United States Through Industrialism Brings Learning Alive! Teachers’ Curriculum Institute 1 Introduction I n this reading, you will learn about the Age of Exploration. This period of discovery lasted from about 1418 to 1620. During this time, European explorers made many daring voyages that changed world history. A major reason for these voyages was the desire to find sea routes to east Asia, which Europeans called the Indies. When Christopher Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean, he was looking for such a route. Instead, he landed in the Americas. Columbus thought he had reached the Indies. In time, Europeans would realize that he had found what they called the ”New World.” European nations soon rushed to claim lands in the Americas for themselves. Early explorers often suffered terrible hardships. In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan set out with three ships to cross the Pacific Ocean from South America. He had guessed, correctly, that the Indies lay on the other side of the Pacific. But Magellan had no idea how vast the ocean really was. He thought his crew would be sailing for a few weeks at most. Instead, the crossing took three months. While the ships were still at sea, the crew ran out of food. One sailor wrote about this terrible time. “We ate biscuit… swarming with worms…. We drank yellow water that had been putrid [rotten] for days... and often we ate sawdust from boards.” Why did explorers brave such dangers...
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...Trade Routes 1. Indian Ocean Maritime Trade- A key factor in the trade of the East and West. Thanks to dhows and other long distance ships, this trade route spread from Indonesia to East Africa, and many cities in between. 2. Silk Road- Being 6,400 miles long, the Silk Road connected the East to the west through the vast lands of asia, and up and through Europe. It added many contributions to the development of many civilizations and countries, such as China, Persia, and India. Not only goods were spread through the known world, many philosophies and religions were spread, because of the vast land the Silk Road traveled through. 3. Trans-Saharan Trade- When gold came in demand for the needs of coinage for the mediterranean nations, Berbers...
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...know that the modern human who recognizes as Homosapien, live in Africa over 160000 years ago. The archeological evidence has showed that our mtDNA and Ychromosome ancestors are found in East Africa.[1] From 160000 to 135000 years, there were four groups of traveller who known as hunter-gatherer carried the first generation of mtDNA gene types ‘L1’by started their routes from south to the Cape of Good Hope, south-west to Congo Basin and west to Ivory Coast.[2] There was a creature could adapt well with the environmental changes is prehistoric man. They lived in the grasslands of Africa, the tropical rainforest of South-East Asia and the more temperate areas of southern Europe. The changing in climate, amount of free water and rainfall had affected the amount of lands that used by prehistoric man for feeding the herds and growing the plants. Climatic changes had lead to the evolution of prehistoric man himself such as development of stone tools, site organization, the building of shelter and the use of clothing. From 135000 to 115000 years, a group traveller across a green Sahara via the open of northern gate, up the Nile to the Levant.[3] According to The 1st Exit written by Stephen Oppenheimer, humans had moved out from Africa in the end. The timing and routes were determined by the climate change. There were a two potential routes, one is northern and one is southern. First group of modern human left Africa over 120000 years ago through an open northern gate. The second...
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...RICE IN THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE*." The Journal of African History 42.3 (2001): 377-96. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge University Press, 2001. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. . Dunn, Richard S. "The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 by Alfred W. Crobsy." The Journal of American History 60.2 (1973): 420-22. Jstor: Organization of American Historians, 1973. Web. 11 Oct. 2014. . Gierloff, H., and G. -Emden. "Columbus' Navigation: Navigation and Oceanographic Conditions of the First Discovery Voyage of Columbus." GeoJournal 26.4, Quincentenary of the Discovery of the Americas (1992): 453-64. JSTOR. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. . Guerra, Francisco. "The European-American Exchange." History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 15.3 (1993): 313-27. Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn. Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn - Napoli, 1993. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. . Sokolov, Yuriy. "Columbus, the Discovery of America, and Russia." Geojournal 26.4 (1992): 497-502. Springer. Web. 11 Oct. 2014. . Zhishan, Zhang. "COLUMBUS AND CHINA." Monumenta Serica 41 (1993): 177-87. JSTOR. Web. 11 Nov. 2014....
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...the fifteenth century and became great colonial powers. Later, in the seventeenth century, the Dutch, followed by the French and then the British joined in the colonization activities. The Portuguese sailed around Africa as part of their exploration activities, and their main objective was to find a route to the Spice Islands. The Spice Islands are a group of islands in eastern Indonesia. Although the initial objective of the Portuguese sailing around Africa was to find a route to the Spice Islands, they later realized that they could make some gains or profits from Africa itself. Due to this new idea, the Portuguese constructed forts on both the western and eastern coasts of Africa. One of the economic interests of the Portuguese after they had settled on the coasts of Africa was to dominate and control the trade in gold, which was an important natural resource in Africa. Later in the seventeenth century, the Dutch took control of a number of the Portuguese forts as well as much of the Portuguese trade across the Indian Ocean. The Origins of the Slave Trade Slavery was being practised in the world long before the colonisation of Africa by Europe. You would recall that in our study of the First Civilisations, we came across slaves. Before the Europeans came to Africa in the fifteenth century, most of the slaves that existed were prisoners of war, who mainly served as domestic servants or wageless workers for the local ruler. In the fifteenth century, however, slavery continued...
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...* Adriatic Sea: Water that separates Italy from the Balkan peninsula * Aegean Sea: Water that separates Greece and Turkey * Alps: Mountain range in Europe; contains Mount Blanc and the Matterhorn * Amazon River: Second-longest river in the world, located in South America; greatest waterflow * Andes: Longest mountain range in the world, located in South America * Antarctic Circle: Line of latitude, south of which experiences a period of 24-hour sunlight * Appalachian Mountains: Mountain range in eastern North America * Arabian Sea: Branch of Indian Ocean between India, the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia * Arctic Circle: Line of latitude, north of which experiences a period of 24-hour sunlight * Atlas Mountains: Mountain range in northwest Africa * Black Sea: Large sea separating parts of Europe and Asia * Cartography: The making of maps * Caspian Sea: Largest inland body of water, located in Asia * Chesapeake Bay: Largest estuary in the United States, bordered by Maryland and Virginia * Coordinates: A position on a map, specified by latitude and longitude, ex: 41N 73W * Death Valley: Desert in California; hottest and lowest location in North America * El Niño–Southern Oscillation: A climate pattern where the temperature of the tropical Pacific Ocean warms about every five years * English Channel: Water separating France from Great Britain *...
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