Three Worlds Collide: Columbus' Effect on the Old World and the New Flashcards
Center of the world trade from 1200-1450?
The Abbasid Empire in Saudi Arabia
What were gold and slaves from Africa traded for?
Steel and salt
The gold was sent to China and India and traded what?
Spices, silk and tea
Prince Henry the Navigator learned about what in 1417? Where?
the gold trade while on crusade in Ceuta in 1417
Prince Henry decided to find the source of the gold by exploring where?
The coast of Africa
In 1417 who controlled gold?
The Kingdom of Mali controlled the gold
Why couldn’t Prince Henry establish colonies on the Mali coast?
The Islamic rulers of Mali drove Prince Henry’s men out
Where did Henry look after? Why?
Henry looked further south for a trading partner
Songhai was a tribute state to the Mali Empire
Songhai
Songhai was willing to trade ___ for ___
Songhai was willing to trade GOLD for GUNS
What did Songhai used its new weapons for?
To take control of the Mali Empire
By 1450 what did Portugal and Songhai manage to do?
They managed to take the gold trade over entirely
Why couldn’t Songhai keep Portuguese ships full?
Songhai did not have enough gold
What and to who did Songhai begin to sell by the 1460’s?
Songhai began selling prisoners of war to the Portugese as slaves
These slaves were brought to Portugal where rich elites bought them to use as house servants and personal attendants
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Under Islamic law, non-muslim prisoners of war could be kept as slaves
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These slaves were used as personal servants, and were considered a symbol of status for successful nobles and warriors
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Under Islamic laws, these slaves were freed after seven years of service.
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Many remained free servants of their owners by choice.
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When Columbus got to the new world he instantly realized there was tremendous money to be made by building colonies there
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But he had a little trouble getting the natives to help build them
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Africans proved more robust against the disease and back breaking labo Europeans demanded.
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By 1500 the Portugese began using enslaved Africans to build sugar plantations in Brazil
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The Spanish quickly copied them
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Suddenly a slave was no longer a personal status symbol- he/she was raw anmal labor, and a source of massive profits
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In the mid 1500’s Songhai tried to kick the Portugese out of Africa and put an end to the slave trade.
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Portugal cut off trade with Songhai, and started trading guns for slaves with Benin instead.
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With Songhai’s supply of guns cut off they were quickly conquered by Benin
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The Shift from the gold-salt trade to the transatlantic slave trade destroyed the economies of Mali and the Middle East- both are still poor today
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Paying one African nation after another to capture and enslave other Africans started a cycle of perpetual warfare that still exists in much of Africa today
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As many as 40 million Africans were forced from their homes between 1450 and 1878. Nearly 80 million died in wars during this time, preventing most African nations from achieving a large enough population to build a strong self-sufficient economy. All of the poorest nations in the world today are in Africa as a result
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The production of sugar, bananas, and cotton on North and South American plantations robbed African nations of their most valuable agricultural exports- further damaging the African economy.
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The discontinuation of trans-Saharan trade routes led to the decline of most major interior cities in Africa
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