Chapter 17: Africa in the Early Colonial Period Flashcards
creole
West Africans combined European colonizers’ languages with parts of their West African languages and grammatical patterns to create new languages known broadly as creole. In SC and GA creole languages Gullah or Geechee exist, in places where slaves once composed 75% of the population.
Gullah
A creole language spoken by some West Africans in SC.
Geechee
A creole language spoken by some West Africans in GA.
Santeria
Cuban combination of Christian and traditional African religions.
Vodun
Haitian combination of Christian and traditional African religions.
Candomble
Brazilian combination of Christian and traditional African religions.
gumbo
A popular southern US food which has roots in African cooking.
polygyny
The practice of taking more than one wife, which was popularized following the boom of slavery in West Africa, which took more than two-thirds of the male population.
Saint Dominique
Slave revolts in Saint Dominique led by Toussaint L’Ouverture in the late 18th century brought the end of slavery to the newly independent nation of Haiti.
Dahomey
Like the Oyo, the Dahomey was an African city which raided other villages for slaves and sold them to European merchants. The rich got richer, because when a society like the Dahomey exchanged slaves for guns, its raiders easily took advantage of rival societies that had no firearms. Without firearms, it was hard for neighboring groups to resist slave raids, so raiding societies became even richer and more fortified with firearms. Intergroup warfare thus became more common and bloodier as a result of the slave trade.
Sunni Ali
Gao regained its independence from the Mali Empire, which had faced unrest among its factions, and in [1464] Sunni Ali became ruler of the Songhay people and began to aggressively conquer territory on both sides of the Niger River and created the Songhay Empire. He was known for repressive policies against the scholars in Timbuktu. Songhay was conquered by gun-wielding Moroccans from northwest Africa.
Oyo
Like the Dahomey, the Oyo was an African society that conducted slave raids and became richer from selling their captives to Europeans.
barracoons
Captive Africans, swept away from their families, were taken to holding pens in West Africa or “slave castles.”
Ile de Goree
This “House of Slaves” was a barracoon on the coast of Senegal.
Vasco da Gama
[1498] Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama invaded the Swahili city-states of East Africa, most of which were thriving commercial centers in the Indian Ocean trade. The Portuguese took over trade in Kilwa, Mombasa, and other city-states, throwing the region into a devastating decline.