Africa Unit Test: Intro to Africa, Industrialization, & Imperialism

Impact of the slave trade

* disrupted whole societies
* changed power balance
* arms race
* population decreases
* conduct of war shifts

Slavery in Africa was what type of slavery?

Racial Slavery

Slave trade effects on society

* destruction of traditional cultures
* famine
* warlords in control
* social impact of slavery
* increased warfare
* rich got richer

African Diaspora

Africa culture spreads and people fled from their original homeland

What is racial slavery?

Based on skin color and can tell they are a slave by just looking at them

What is Ancient Slavery?

based on…

* religion
* status
* capture during war
* debt peonage
* you have to get to know them to know that they are a slave

Definition of Imperialism

a policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other countries politically, economically, and/or socially

Motives for imperialism in Africa

* Economically
* industrial competition
* raw materials
* Politically
* rivalries grew in Europe
* Increase in nationalism in European countries
* Religiously
* spread of Christianity
* Missionaries

What is nationalism?

loving your country and viewing other countries as inferior

Barriers to enter Africa (Closed Africa)

* escarpments
* steep cliffs on the coastline that protected people
* cataracts
* large waterfalls on many African rivers (ex> Nile, Congo, Zambezi)
* boats cannot sail down many rivers
* early Europeans did not explore the land

Climate

breeding ground for disease

African diseases (indigenous diseases)

* Malaria - mosquitos
* Sleeping Sickness - Tsetse Fly
* River Blindness - flies
* Bilharzia - snails/parasite worms that cause bladder infections
* Ebola
* Blinding Trachoma

Social Darwinism

Charles Darwin’s idea of evolution is added to society: “Survival of the fittest",” meaning that the stronger species dominate and the weaker species fall as prey

White Man’s Burden

the whites frame it as their job and their BURDEN as if they have to enslave the Africans

Technology the Europeans used to dominate Africa

* Maxim gun - first automatic gun
* steamboats
* railroad
* cables

The Europeans invented what to prevent Malaria?

drugs - they kept improving until it fully prevented Malaria

How did the Europeans manipulate rival African groups

by making them fight one another to keep their mind off of the Europeans moving into Africa

King Leopold II

* was involved in the ‘scramble for Africa’
* controlled the Congo River Basin as if it was his home (modern day Democratic Republic Of Congo)
* known as “History’s Deadliest King”
* he mistreated others and forced labor upon them

What 2 C’s did the Europeans bring to Africa?

* Civilization
* Christianity

What happened at the Berlin Conference

* Africa was divided into zones to prevent conflict between the countries because they all wanted a piece of Africa
* lots of obstacles on the land, so they don’t want each other to be an obstacle
* making it easier for each other to ALL get a piece of Africa without getting in each other’s way and making it harder
* divide up Africa in a reasonable and peaceful manner
* the Africans were not invited

Partition of Africa

colonial powers divide Africa into their own

Triangle Trade

It was a triangle of trade between the Americas, Africa, and Europe

\

The Middle Passage

* the sea journey was undertaken by the slave ships from West Africa to the West Indies
* between the Americas and Africa in the Triangle Trade

What did the slave ship captains who went down the Middle Passage earn in cash commissions?

they received cash commissions based off of the number of enslaved people that landed alive and well

What 2 maladies led to both diarrhea and nausea among the captives in the slave ships that went down the middle passage?

dysentery and seasickness

What was the order of the Triangle Trade?

* on the first leg… European ships brought manufactured goods, weapons, even liquor to Africa in exchange for slaves
* on the second… they transported African men, women, and children to the Americas to serve as slaves
* on the third leg… the Americas exported sugar, rum, cotton, and tobacco produced by the enslaved labor force to Europe