Reading Questions, Part I (AFRICANS, Chapter 7):
- Slavery had existed in Africa as a response to what shortage? (p. 133)
- What kind of societies in Africa refused to participate in the slave trade and resisted slavery the most? (p. 133)
- Why did the Portuguese start trading in slaves? (p. 133)
- Why did the King of Kongo try to back out of the trade and what was the response? (p. 134)
- Why in 1519 did the Portuguese begin shipping slaves directly to the Americas? (p. 134)
- What sources are used to determine the numbers of slaves exported from Africa? (p. 135)
- Why did slave trading boom in the mid 17th century? (p. 135)
- What percentage of exported slaves went to the Caribbean? Brazil? North America? (p. 135)
- How could someone become a slave? (p. 136f.)
- What were slaves traded for? (pp. 138f.)
- What percentage of enslaved people died before they even started to work as slaves? (p. 139)
- How does one estimate the demographic impact of the slave trade on Africa? (pp. 141f.)
- What were the political consequences of the trade in Africa? (pp. 143ff.)
- Did the trade effect Western Africa's economic development? Why or why not? (p. 150)
- How did the trade influence religion and medicine? What is the Lemba society? (pp. 151f)
- What European nation abolished the trade, and what did they do to enforce the ban? (pp. 152f.)
- Was the transition to legitimate (non-slave) trade entirely beneficial? (pp. 154-158)
- Why did the Kongo Kingdom embrace Christianity? (pp. 158f)
- "How does the history of Africa fit into that of the rest of the world?"
- Describe two examples of how Islam and Christianity were integrated into local African cultures.
- What do the Atlantic slave trade and the Islamic slave trade have in common, and how do they differ?
- Would you agree that the Atlantic slave trade has been given too much prominence? (p. 81)
- What are two things make Baquaqua' narrative unusual/unique?
- Why should the idea of diaspora include Africa itself? (p. 85)
- What is notable about the Sokoto caliphate? (p. 88)
- What changed the balance of power in many regions? (p. 89)
- 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)?