Atlantic Slave Trade

Advanced notice!: For Thursday's class, please read Abina and the Important Men, a copy of which will be on reserve in the library by tomorrow morning. There are no reading prompts, but I think you will find this graphic novel easy to tackle.

For Tuesday's class please read Africans, Chapter 7, and Short, Chapter 4, and be able to answer the following questions (p. 2nd edition/3rd edition). 

Reading Questions, Part I (Africans, Chapter 7):

1. Slavery had existed in Africa as a response to what shortage? (p. 133/135)
2. What kind of societies in Africa refused to participate in the slave trade and resisted slavery the most? (p. 133/137)
3. Why did the Portuguese start trading in slaves? (p. 133/137)
4. Why did the King of Kongo try to back out of the trade and what was the response? (p. 134/138)
5. Why in 1524 did the Portuguese begin shipping slaves directly to the Americas? (p. 134/138)
6. What sources are used to determine the numbers of slaves exported from Africa? (p. 135/138)
7. Why did slave trading boom in the mid 17th century? (p. 135/139)
8. What percentage of exported slaves went to the Caribbean? Brazil? North America? (p. 135/139)
9. How could someone become a slave? (p. 136f./140f.)
10. Who sold slaves? (p. x/141)
11. What were slaves traded for? (pp. 138f./142)
12. What percentage of enslaved people died before they even started to work as slaves? (p. 139/143)
13. What is the estimated demographic impact of the slave trade on Africa? (pp. 141f./145)
14. Describe the conflict between mercantile kingdoms like the Wolof and Islam. (pp. 143f./148f.)
15. Tell us about Asante (pp. x/151ff.) and Dahomey (p. x/153)
16. Did the trade effect Western Africa's economic development? Why or why not? (p. 150/154)
17. How did the trade influence religion and medicine? What is the Lemba society? (pp. 151f/156f.)
18. What European nation abolished the trade, and what did they do to enforce the ban? (pp. 152f./157f.)
19. Was the transition to legitimate (non-slave) trade entirely beneficial? (pp. 154ff./157ff.)
20. Why did the Kongo Kingdom embrace Christianity? (pp. 158f/164)
21. How were the coastal colonies created, and what role did education play in them? (p. x/167). This last section helps illustrate what you will be reading in Abina and the Important Men.

Reading Questions, Part II (Short, Chapter 4):

1. "How does the history of Africa fit into that of the rest of the world?"
2. Describe two examples of how Islam and Christianity were integrated into local African cultures.
3. What do the Atlantic slave trade and the Islamic slave trade have in common, and how do they differ?
4. Would you agree that the Atlantic slave trade has been given too much prominence? (p. 81)
5. What are two things make Baquaqua' narrative unusual/unique?
6. Why should the idea of diaspora include Africa itself? (p. 85)
7. What is notable about the Sokoto caliphate? (p. 88)
8. What changed the balance of power in many regions? (p. 89)
9. How do the four themes of this chapter illustrate the trick of "getting the balance right" between the agency of Africans and the impact of global forces (done/done to)?