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Home , Atlantic slave trade, Slavery in Africa

THE2fES IN AFRICAN AND WORLD HISTORY

George E, Brooks, Jr,

Prepared by the Program

Indiana University

Blooming t on,

1973/1983 Copyright 1982 by African Studies Program Indiana University All rights reserved ISBN 0-941 934-0603 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number : 82-0736 94 I * I 8, :. . *# d , ., p %t .#. w , I h' ' L , , *:_. j'" -, 5 .,I, .' -8 F

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i b," ' * of ~von.Nelson County, Virginia my first tutor*in Afro-American Studies

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4 i " Little did I realize how much valuable ; knowledge they imparted PREFACE

The three papers following offer bmad overvieva of some of th major themes of African History. The essays are written for the general reader and for use as introductory or supplementary readings in college and high school courses in African, Mrodmerican, and World History. Principally, however, this ipublication is addressed to fellow teachers re~ponsible for World History .and ~f ro-berican History - courses in colleges and higE'. schools. Notwithstanding that my specialized field is . Africansd History, I coneider World Bistory the most important subject 1;t'ehch young' . * Uhen I arrived in Korea in 1954, I was almost completely uninformed concerning Asian societies and cultures, and .unprepared and drained to learn much from obaervat ion -.and - experiedce . Another generat-ion of Americans debarked in Viet Nam no better prepared,' and perhaps even more ignorant and culturally arrogant ' vis-a-vis other cultures. The findings of the American Council on Education in 1977 that only three percent of American undergraduates were enrolled in any course dealing vith international affairs or foreign peoples and cultures, and that -less than five pekcent 'of *individual$'preparing to t&cb kindergarten through 12th ,grade had any exposure to international studies or training, suggests that "dmericans . long" remiin ill-prepared to understand a rapidlythanging andr'increasingly integiated world. The first two papers were published in the January 1970 and January 1969 issues of The History Teacher, a journal admirably dedicated to bridging the gap between specialized historical research . and the broader interests of college and secondary teachers. I am . grateful to the editors for permission to reprint my articles in this publication. I am likewise indebted to Patrick O'Meara, Director of the African Studies Program, for providing an inexpensive format to. make the papers available to. teachers and students. The second printing provides an opportunity to revise the papers and add new material: The first and second essays are substantially rewritten. I hope the publication will continue to serve its intended purposes, and

I welcome communicationsA ,, - -from readers suggesting possible future r @ , '1:. " + $,., !*,p 8 revisions. +. . c I am indebted to Sue' Haason for typingm'and editorial assistance, to Merry Merryfield for encouraging me to undertake the revisions and for pedagogical advice, and to Phyllis H. Martin, Patrick J. Munson. Richard E. Stryker, and Phyllis Yuhas for information and advice concerning subject matter and analyses. The maps vere prepared by Cathryn L. Iombardi and were originally published in , edited by Phyllis M. Plart in and Patrick O'Meara (Indiana University Press. 1977) . CONTENTS Page

A Schema for Integrating Africa into World History

Tropical Africa: The Colonial Heritage

The African Heritage and the Slave

Map #l Inferred Distribution of Language Groups, ca 500 B.C. - A.D. 1 Hap 62 'Language Families of Modern Africa

~a~ 83 Main Vegetation Areas and Some Prehistoric Sites

Map 14 Independent Africa 8 @a 0 ) d/* I I b

+.. A Schema for :integrating Af sica into, world :~ibtory <,** 1,. . 4r L c 1. ' > 1" :'! -> , '* >' A World "History can' be one of the most stimulating and rewarding courses a *teacher is ever called upon to offer, 'arid at the same time one of the most frustrating experiences -imaginable. OneRof its' chief attractions is that it provides a unique vehicle*for viewing

affairs .in a time perspective. 1' Such a course can present analyses and insights 'not offered in the synchronic approaches employed in the social sciences which have successfully 'upstaged' history teaching in recent decades. Capable and imaginative .students instinctively respond .to a course which offers an- opportunity to gain a greater understanding - of the historical processes that have. made the modern, world. But the difficulties of teaching World History are as inanifest

as the advantages.. Many teachers are daunted by the task of mastering what seems to be an' impossibly large corpus of knovledge,' as well as + keeping abreast of the flood of new materials'and recommended teaching' strategies. As a result, numerous teachers do not want to offer World . b History, and morale is lowiamong some who do. t a .Many of the difficulties8 in teaching World History 'stem frdm the fact. that :it is a relatively new field of instruction and suitable3 materials and approaches 'are st ill in the planning and 'testing stages. It can be argued, too, that until*quite recently there was no really' per suasive rat ionale for teaching World History courses, whether in high .schools or colleges. Textbooks and teaching6 plans reflect that the genesis .of most such courses was the gradual recognition that the standard "West ern Civilization" approach needed to be kxpanded to include other parts of the world of increasing significance to Americans. The response to this need was *in many cases 'temporary stopgap courses which become permanent offerings inVthecurriculum. School curriculuin coordinators organized new lesson planst- and , publishers added new lchapters to standard textbooks, but in most cases' little was .done to integrate the new material with the old in any systematic or. meaningful way. 'Teachers and students are' given additicnal infomation to master but little guidance how to go about it. Many World History course outlines and textbooks are hodgepodges of disparate and discrete information,

assigned to "representative" countries, areas or continents ' --# expedience disguised and dignified by 'the catch-all honorific of a "culture areas approach.'' , Such courses should be abandoned. The perpetuation of a separate areas approach runs diauietrically counter to what should be the most:significant contribution of a World History course, that of fostering an understanding of the principal inter-relationships between peoples, countries, and continents. An

alternative, intenrated, * approach to World History, which is entirely suitable for college, high school and junior-high school courses, has - been available ?or some years. t William H. McNeill pioneered a 'fundamentally different approach, first in a seminal i masterwork, .The 'Rise & she West (University of Chicago -Press, 19631, and subsequently in A_ World History (oxford University Press, 3rd ed., 19791, a textbook designed for college use. HcNeill ''s exposition is grounded on the shared relationships between peoples, 'states, and continents, instead of emphasizing their individual characteristics and reparate,,histories; 1-::Fundamental to thir approach 1s' ~cleill'semphasis on the significance of cultural diffuuion in hirtory:.; ncNciJld ,gives unprecedented attent ion'. to-the diffuriod of.',food~~rop~,political. rymtear, military 'technologies,:and~ p&d&ic dircarrc;.-vhichSfrequent ly apanned great :dirtances, of ten from.- one' cont ivnt ;to .potheri r Such interrelationuhipe and :shared cultural dcvelopmentr '-.,the .commn ,hritageiof humankind. - art -the atuf f of . World Hirtorg, .md the concepta :and . gen,eralizationat vhich derive jf rom Z, r. *1 ruch", an cpproach,,provide new. and exciting .teaching opportunities. " - . . T&'- be aure, ,.teacher on :firat - being informed of the..4fcleil .. approach: romet+s -uprear,wre of a .enre of dismay .than iruikch' a.:they :,feel: cast loore .from familiar moorings: implanted. in high school and college hirtory -courre.. , Gone are "f eudai .pyramids; "*

the, - kipgr, of - England- :,and , lutionrl~:histories - and the coiPfortable, unreflective tradition of ' dulrng vith. "our"; people. andu+ their :: : European ' antecedentr , in: contraat-and-coaparison: - with- other * aocietier ,' around "the globe. - The.fact . ia tbat the. range .of a concepts, and"historial knowledge to,be nartered, rhile .different,, is :no *,,morea'' difficult -.than traditional teaching method8 .. *And,;once maatered, . the McNeill approach -yields far , better .. understanding of broad .-historical$ :, procebaes add a mode of inquiry vhich has ,.many cornparat ive F ,/ , % L) I ., and "icr~is-cultural'applicat ions . ' i IIj_ , .- , . .. '* The *r,chema'which, follov~.is \ designed,.tos extend : .and .amplify - tbe: . l&ited 'coveragealloted- to rub- Africa in +McNeilllr:text, '& .: World ~istorv..?, . Teacher8 .vedded to the "culture , .areas1' approach ' - .' vhether a .by. choice or otheryire , -, vill: find that many - of - the topics diicuesed: 'following can; be. incorporated into exi~tingcourses uring '1 this method: l..~aleolithic:andNeolithic .times;. 2. , the,.- valley,'?and the &rn of Africa; 3. Wert Africa .and .trans-Sahara: trade;/ ., 4. ,East "~frica and 1ndian ocean lcommerce . from pre-Christi6n - $times-to te~ortu~uese ;' 5, African, landlords and Portuguese ..' strangers !; 6 .: ' ': . The, ''~ou'th~-~tlanticSyatem' !from thed-sixteenth:to- the-.nineteenth. . centuries ; 7 uqean imperialism, :. decolonizat ion, , and the problems ' . I' .ia of ' leas developed countries. . i . , . , . 4 ,. :.'I ,* - . id' a - 4 L ,I

1. . Paleolithic .-. &nd Neolithic l$imes *I.. + In: recent ' decades - : archaeologists and paleontologists have subatant ia lly established that a humankind evolved.on.the African continent and, that moat of the major develbpmentdm-;of, Paleolithic times . (c4,000,000 years ago to ~10,000A B.C. 1, occurred there. . ,Tool-making t ,and , the evolution of societal - organisat ion ;ere pioneered by horninids . living inA£ tica. he ~fricin- continent, provided a hospitable environment for hman evolution, in * . coritrast,, for,example, to the ,glacial::advances and retreats in IEurope ,. - during Pleistocene times. *: mei,.. -r-. * - ,., - '~romc9000 B,.C. until ~6000B .C. and f rom..c5500 'B .C. to .cl000. B .C. *: the. sahdra ~ereet,received considerably ore!rainfall than it does at 1 ":

prebent . (two to:? thiee .times, the , c4 inches : it receives today), . resulting' in a ravanna environment with ,-.numerous streams .'- shallow '+

lakes ,, and, rwamplands that , attracted human migrations from the north and, 'south 'and westvards from the Nile valley.: Pcop1e:living in the Sahara, and a .wide belt of territory .extending - ~outhwards.alongr .the 'i upper ,Nile valley and into the lakes :region: of shaied a. vaj, of life tht . J0E.G. Sutton - has characterized as : thet ~B8Aq&t~c...

~ivili'zation':of ~iddleAfricafa'. * Groups .settled along lakes "land * watercourses subsisted on fish, shellfish, hippos, crocodiles, and < , ::',il::i'+::.c*i.r' ;; l:*i.,,, ,, :',,,.;: !; '!:A::: I , other aquatic fauna, dhides "h'unting game in neighboring savannas and collecting a variety of plant foods. Sutton tentatively associates the people of the Aquatic Civilization with the ~ilo-~aharanlanguage family (Hap P1 and Hap #2). MAP #I

A dry phase extending from c6OOO B.C. to c5500 B .C. greatly attenuated the areas of the Sahara that supported the aquatic lifestyle, causing groups to expand their reliance on hunting and gathering wild grains and other plant foods, or migrate to better watered areas. The aquatic environment in the Sahara expanded again during the period termed the Atlantic .Wet Phase (~5500-2500 B .C .), but not to its former .- extent. .. Many ..groups, including new migrants; f roa the south,' practiced hunting and gathering in the savannas, while - migrants 1 f =om ~otth"~frica' ,introduced a pastoral way of life. : Scenes of :and animals; "living in the Sahara . during ' the Atlantic Wet Phase are ' drahtically'. 'portrayed 'in: rock paint'ings and etchihgs in parts of' the4ahara that ,are too arid for human habitationitoday. Hunters are depicted stalking the rich fauna, including antelopes, buffaloes, and elephants, . , and pastoralists :herded multi-colored " 5: cattle, sheep, and goats ./ : . : . 1

During 1 the. period of .increasing + desiccation foilowing the ~tlhntic Wet Phase,! people living**alongthe receding shorelines of shallow lakes at Dhar ~ichitt;in' Mauretania (Map $3) and elsevhere intensified their collect ion of wild grains' and began, to domesticate them. 'Barley and wheat, {the staple' grain crops of the ~ilevalley and North, Africa, did not thrive inlthe Sahara or the , so *from clOOO B.C. onvards (if not !earlier) people living in these areas concentrated their efforts on ;'domesticating indigenous species of millet, sorghum, and . These; grains. came to be cultivated across a wide-,band of sahel and savanna extending from Hauretania and in the west to the and9 Ethiopian highlands, . where another grain, tef, . vas domesticated and widely. grovn l- I

Much 1 remains to ' be learned concerning the economic and ;social consequences of these developments. "It is noteworthy, for example, that the people of the earlzest sub-~aharancivilization identified to date, the Nok cul\ture of northern (from the 6th9,century B.C., or earlier),:cultivatedI, sorghum and millet '(~a~$3); Except fo= the area of thettinland delta .of the ' (heartland of the : and Songhai states during the .second millenium A.D.) , tropical soilsi are not as productive 'as the rich alluvial soils along, the Nile ~iver,or

the soils\long' the-- Mediterranean coast .,,$ of &.:. Consequent ly , Africans living in the sahe 1 and. savannas practiced

shifting cultivation, which ' suppo~rts 'comparat ively sparse populations

L i and inhibits the development of urban centers. < < As envi,ronmental conditions worsened in the ~ahara,: people* began to out north and south, and eastwards into the Nile valley. These included Nilo-Saharan speaking groups .associated with ; the "Aquatic Civilization"; ancestors of the (Afroasiatic language

family) ; and Plande speaking: groups whose descendants settled widely in western Africa -. (Mande languages -+ constitute -- a -'subfamily - of - the Niger-Congo language family). See Map #l and Hap #2. The tsetse fly, the vector for sleeping sickness which lives in woodland-savanna ecologies, inhibited the spread of pastoralism in areas receiving more than 40 inches of rainfall a year. During the past two millenia changing rainfall patterns have6.,caused the "tsetse fly line" to oscillate north and south within an-c200kilometerride belt extending across Africa between 10 and 15 degrees north latitude. . I I **a +"

b ao. Lo. (0. "0. " m* 1 ?o- rcr '& rw I I I I w- I 8 8 . I.' P I m 4' *; Africans living in rbin forests and along the margins of the savannas may have practiced proto-agriculture beginning several thousand years prior to the Christian era, but dates are yet to be determined. In , oil palms and African yams were protected by brush clearing, and Africans systematically collected a wide variety of plant species, many of which are still resorted to as

"hunger foods" in times. s wof . . ,.. shortage.. %v ,..,a.- +., .Unfortunately . for Africans living in.'-rawin:f o%et and vet savanna environments ,:" except -.for the +-." " - African !yam' the most valuable species of plants suitable for ddnestication , were' not indigenous and vere .'not introduced :to the African =ant inent hnt il -,after the beginning of ' the -Christian era'. As a conseq$exke, df ricans living ' in mbny parts of the 'continent remaiced hunters and gatherers exploiting the abundance of food availabie' from the rich:flora and fauna, until the introduction 'of Asian cultigens promoted a :food producing'~revo1utionin tropical Africa. 1, . , -:\ > t* t , 2. E~ypt,the " ~ilevallev. and the Horn pf Africa he' '~ile:valley connects !North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, and together. with the Red dr&ides a water corridor linking the peoples of Africalwith those of :,the Mediterranean, , and ,. 1 i From earliest :known times the' inhabitants of ~~~~t,..~udan*,. and shared conaaercial;' .and icultural 'exchanges - with' one- another, ;with Africans 1iving"to' the west, and with"the peoples of the %ddle' ~ast. ~uringthe. time of -,~~~~tlsold Kingdom. (~2680-2260 B.C.) Egyptians traded albng ',the upper Nile and probably overland across the Sudan to the southwest, although the latter remains the subject of scholarly speculation. Egyptian ;mariners undertook voyages down the to the coastb*bf Yemen :and ~Eritrea("lancl of punt") to obtain myrr~(an aromatic irCsin to bu*b; as incense -in temples), ivory, and other conmodit ies. During Middle Kingdom times (~2050-1785 B .C. ) , traders in the state of Kush which developed south of ,the&:third.Nile cataract served as ' intermediaries '.betveen Egypt, thdhighlands' of ~thio~ia'via routes along the8"Atbara :'and Blue. Nile river valleys, and societies living west'of the White Nile. Egypt's New Kingdom (~1580-1085;~'.C.) conquered i and'!.kled Kush. Numerous ~~~~tianssett led in Kush, as * I administrators ;* ' Tmerchants, priests ,' :; soldiers, etc., fostering economic, ;social, and cultural exchanges throughout the region. \ After the fail+"£ the New Kingdom, Egypt came under the control of a Libyan (~erber)dynasty (~950-730 B.C.). In c751 B.C., ~ush's-army invaded northward and after ' a campaign lasting a number of years, expelled the Libyan dynasty. Kush's rulers controlled a re-united Nile valley 'until 656 B.C., when the Assyrians -invaded Egypt and drove the army !of Kush southward into the Sudand.*"' The state of ~Kush continued its existence for some thousand years thereafter, exploiting the advantages of its central location along the upper-.Nile. ' Kush traded wit,h ' Egypt, successivel~ruled, by ~ss~rians,Persians,- Greeks (Ptolemaic -Dynasty),*and Romans; with Egyptian, Greek, and Roman seafarers at Red Sea ports; with the inhabitants of Ethiopia via the Atbara and Blue Nile valleys; and with Africans living southwards along the White Nile and to the westwards across the savannas for distances yet to be determined by scholars. Heroe, the capital of Kush from the sixth century B.C., was. a major center of iron production, and one of the conundrums of African history is Kush's role in the diffusion of iron-making techniques to sub-Saharan Africa. (Nap #3). i r' -7' ,: "' L' ' se&ingly the host 'hbbrtant f ac'tor in Kush's decline ias the rise of the state of Axum in the Ethiopian highlands during the .early . centuries of the Christian era. Axum prospered from commercial links with Kush 'via the Blue Nile and Atbara river valleys, vith southern Arabia and the ~ndianOcean trade complex,. and with the growing

numbers a of vessels dispatched down the *Red .Sea from Egypt.. The expansion of '~ium'e' trade and territorial control +along the Red Sea coast, ,combined with*destructive raiding by Beja nomads living in ,the eastern desert, stifled Kush's commerce and contributed to .a long decline that culminated with the destruction of Heroe. probably by Beja raiders, in the fourth century A.D. The state of Kush ceased to

exist, but the commercial and cultural linkages previously described b5 coqt inued down to modern times . ) 't 1

3. ' -West ~fri'=a'-- and trans-%hark trade ~h; =incept '*of the " Mediterranean Sea as linking - not separating - peoples is atuseful theme in teaching "world histdry and serves as a lead-in' to discussion of commercial and cultural links between North Africa and sub-saharan . Africa.' 'One important topic is the development .of "Phoenician and Greek trade ' diasporas across . the Mediterranean*. . From . c1000 B .C. Phoenicians began trading at ~adesjcadizin southern for and tin, and at ~ixus]~arache'on the ,Atlantic coast of where they could obtain copper mined at Akjoujt in Mauretania and. more

specu1at ively , ' transported along a route linking a the . :*Following the founding

tone (Hap #I and Map #3). I. J i h I' Trans-Saharan contacts apparently became. sporahic and, perhaps ceased after c300 B.C. as the Sahara Desert became increasingly arid. Phoenician settlements along the coast of southern Morocco seemingly were sbandoned before the' destruction of Carthage by Rome in 146 B .C. Camels were introduced to North Africa and to the saheliadwzone south of the Sahara during Roman tihes, but the development of trans-Saharan trade on a {sustained basis by means of camel caravans seemingly dates to the period of increasing rainfall after c300 'A.D. that culminated in the c700-1100 A.D. wet 'period. 46 i. ~rans-~aharan. exchanges of commodities such as gold. ivory, captives, malaguetta pepper, etc., for cloth; swords, horses, paper, and other luxury goods were .made possible by the *prior development of commercial networks

10. ff,":

that linked the different ecological zones of Uest Africa, networks .I - -r that -".date: from 'the' early :centuries of the"Christian era, and probably s. , 8" J 2. * ,'. . . . ,r >.I t . P ir ' 2 p * . earlier. ":,: 4 . The augment ing !.voluie of .tiaria-Sahara ti.adii ;bit iibuted 'tb the. 3' 7 ' , 2 riae of :~f&an empires 'which: dominated commerce - in' tile 'sa;arkaa soukh,. of " the2':Sahara. Theseincluded'tlie atates of Takrur (?-I 2 cent. 1, Ghaii' (?-12 .fenti), khli ".(13-15 cent. I,,'~onghai. (14-16 ; cent ,) , .and'." Kanem orn nu' . (9-19+ cent.). 'These empires- guaranteed' 'xsecurity for

cokerce ojer' vide, areas *and ' fostered an' eipanding' *et~ork,.of. ,. ' tride' " routes which connected*with states developing in the :forest+areas to', th&' :s+uth.s \'Many of 'the rulers of the ,savanna empi~ks~4b6camet'Muslima' and -' ihade "pi-lgr&ages' to ~ecca".. Their dazzlingdret,inues and ,: op=n%ind=d g&nkrosity in their passage's a&osd North ~f'riiaak=?ed :t& enhance the tales of fabulous vealth of the Sudanic 'kingdoms which

spread through the Mu.slim world and became' the subject. of rumor, and *. ) :. s~eculation'inmedieval ~uro~eas well. - , m- i ,"-* .. p, *S% <- - tirob robe an "knowledge: ''of 'trans-Saharan comerce pgradully'%ncr&sed '

fromthe *'time of the Crusadese ..% , @ , ad*theS"1taiiancity-states "gained'nayali' suprtYiiacy~-in, the Mediterranean and augihented* their trade 'Gith Nocthl , r 7 -, b. Af tiS?..' ,, The dilalian Arab ' invasion ?of ~orthl~f i-i-ca. during * the .. eleb'enth to' thirtknth*'centiirib. disiypted tradei: routes 1,ihkink ..the.': I *.*+- . , Middle -* East sand cb'ntiibbted ' t6. ~uropeans' success in d6velo"pi'na-,-.

conrmercial ' ties with the: '. 'L ~f rican 'goid was inCreasingly div=rted=toEurope, ds witnessed :bjr th'e fact' that' a' numbkr' of Euiopein '" , - ,L" ' L3'? stat& ~commenced"&it ing '' gold , coins in the, thirteenth "cenkury; : in~ldd'id~:Florence (1252) France (1254) Edgland (1"257), ,,"and:~aklei ,',' ," . . (127 8) 1' - : >~h6eplc ndrtat ive 'of ~ort-i~&ese','explotat ion and ;cdniu&std'- * . tak'es' on, a new dimension -when 'it is appreciated that the 'goal, of

prince Henry "and '-his associatesa at :the outset , was- not fabled ,'. +

but - the more' practical and realizable' ambition. of ,,bypassing' -- -, Ndrth , . ,It< . %,a Africa, intermediaries by pioneering a , sea route .to West', Africa, +to obtain "gola,"malaguetta pepper, ' ivory ,' captives , dyewoods ,' and :other ,,.. ).L. . -. , .A * + . I a * cooimddities :, : , -' * - ,t - 1 , * -' + .%*', , . )I ! : * 1 * .. . ' 0 L *" , 'I . - I' , . , _I *. . I( _ . *" * , 4. : ~dst'Af lica 'bnd''1hdian ocean*co&&ce''f rbb' pie-~hristian.timeg' &!,' , -the ~ortwuese here are many advantages in treat &rig the Indian -Ocean,.I, aa a "single unit in .a world i is tory course .' ,,' Commercial ties between, '+'- the,'Horn :of*'Africal;-southern Arabia, the 'Perisan Gulf ,'-and '~ndiahave very ancient -"origins, 'andtrade with" the' Eaet :Coast- "of.~fricawa's :a natural outgrowth and expansion ofthese: lopgsxisting trade 'pattern;.

The paucity of archaeological explorat ion and surviving documentation . , precludes much speculation odthe period prior to: 'the -Christian era.", I 1). However, the extension of commerce from the Horn of' ~fricia!ong the( *, 1 East :~fricancoadt apparent 1; was given: considerable impetus . by' tee . , dev

~ndia<'~cean. I ~t'o 1dia ;in the first cehturies B.c., and A .D. 'Tbe'.state 1 ' of Axum, forerunner of' ,thek'empire df'. ~thiodia,: rose to: importance during this period, and gained: control 'of much .of' the , t,rade "previously, .,*s% of :* * carried 'on 'by "the state Ku$h. *,,8>''3+ *": b , ,a -, . I. .. , somet he- during' the, early centuries ,A.D., ~adonesianmariners , ventured across^ the',"IndianOcean .and settled "along the coast,> % t :of ..East I, l_ .. ~fricaand' ' on *- the af.c'islax+.'of Iladagascar. , . They ax&' credited ...with i I introducing" a; number "of , food , crbps . indigenous tbi ?Southeast ~sia,, ,, ./1 ,I inclridinibanana,~--.t, -~-:. A ".. ,'ap:lantkins, Asian yarns ~~d~'coconuts., he" ,dif fgiion.) : ' ". , t* *. . , .,a , ' \ u 4 a C t 1 Ya. I

of these cultigens had enormous inf luenck on the + history of sub-Saharan Africa, and the principal beneficiaries were expandingwv a groups of people speaking Bantu languages. - - - ' The migrations of Bantu-speaking groups eastwards and southwards from the area of ' and -Central African Republic date to perhaps . as early as 1,000 B.C. Their acquisition of Asian cultigens in the early centuries of the Christian era is credited , with enabling them rapidly to populate large areas previously sparsely inhabited. by . Khoisan speaking San ("Bushen") .hunters and,. gatherers in East, Central, and southern Af rica and Khoi ('!Hottentot1') pastoralists in ,.(Hsp #1). San speaking groups,were absorbed by Bantu speakers, relegated to lands unsuitable for cultivation. ' or pushed ahead of the. Bantu speaking groups tha't advanced southwards. Bantu speakers' knowledge of iron working enabled them to clear and cultivate savanna and forest alike, enabling' them to encroach:,into the Central African rain forests previisly inhabited only by pygmies. Today, Africa south of the equator is principally inhabited by people speaking some two 'hundred Bantu languages which belong to .them Niger-Congo language family (Map 12) . i Little i's yet, known . concerning the ' rarly period of Bantu : settlement along ,the East African coast, but commercial relations with Arabs, Indonesians, and other Indian ' Ocean seafarers evident ly expanded. When permanent Swahili communities developed*isiamatter of scholarly debate, but archaeological and documentary evidence attest that from the tenth century onwards there were.,a growing number. of . permanent sett lement s inhabited by a mired population of ~f ricans ; Arabs, and Af rodrabs . engaged in commerce. who spoke a- distinctive Bantu language, "Swahili" (vhich means "coastal") that served as the lingua franca 'for'trade along the coast of East Africa from ~omaliato I

7' I l$ozambique. * t By the fifteenth' century there were several dozen Swahili trading communities along the coast and on offshore islands' such as Kilwa, , and Pemba, the largest being Hombasa with an estimated . population of 10,000 inhabitants at the close of the century. Traders living in these communities obtained ivory, captives, and other commodities from neighboring African societies, but the most valuable commerce 'was the gold obtained from the ~onomotapa state .that controlled a huge territory between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers and neighboring lands to the north and south. +Zimbabwe, thepcapital of the empire (whence derives the name of the modern state) was the magnet for Swahili and Arab traders who ventured up the Zambezi, Buzi,* and' Sabi rivers to barter for gold. ivory, copper, and captives. . Among the commodities brought to East Africa to purchase its exports were metalwork and rugs from Arabia and the , and beads from India, and silks, brocades, and porcelain ware from China, shards of which have been found' in such' quantities as to cause one

archaeologist to assert a that East Africa's past i "written" in ~hinese porcelain, i.e. that it will ,help scholars in dating excavat ions. * r.

5. ~f rican ' landlords ' and ~uroDean 'strangers The storys of Portuguese overbeas ventures ,is generally recounted from a Euro-centric viewpoint, ignoring 'significant aspects of African *(and

Asian) responses. But it was ' Africans. not Europeans. who for centuries controlled comercial and social relationships. . Atlantic reconnaissance , and settlement> commenced more than th;ee-aria'tters df a entury prior,' to' the time of Henry '"the Navigator," of;'p;=tugal. 'Many :of., the *pioneers#' of Atlant ic3-exploration - and settleme,nt were Italian mariners', 1,entrepreneurs, .'and ^experts in' r fl. 'aha the- development of : sugar4 plantat ions .on ~adeira,the . canary:' 1s lbndi , 'the ': Islands, Sao ' ~ome(and .ev.entually' in. 'and : the 'West '1-dies) repreientsqah ' 6xteneion of the spread of sugar'production across : the " Mediterranean Sea from 'the time of the " , * .I, l b I * , b* L .. " crusades .. ': . a . , 'Im s: s: 'hid is ti ma jbi objective of the' ~ortri~ueskie=onnaigsance dong ,'

the j'coist -:of ,:Weat *fri'ca. * LA' trading post 'rounded in the'::1440~~ on, ~~guin*~bian*doff ~a~e~Blanco was successful idasiphoning off some of thea,.ioldcarried' across' the':~a$ara; 'another ' established atElmina oh. the old ~oist''was, the means "'of 'obtaining ad :e~tikted half-ton ' of, ' gold ann;'ally .' ~or'tu~ueseestablishedI ),, , in these' and numerous ' other,,, . "f ict~tiei~'.founded hlo,ng 'the coast :of' ,west and West 'Central Af rici

bart&&i ':for gold,'I iiC captives, ' milaguetta pepper; ivory^, dyewoods, and , orhe=' products. commercial and diplomatic " relations' -with the 'large and'highly :"organized states 'ofn'*~eninand ~on~o'initially prowted: , great expectat ions for, trade and for' cultural 'imperialism, but ' these ' vedtures were relegated 'to secondaryaimpbrtance 'as .the1exploitat ionz,,of f-

the', ~ndi'kn-Ocean , world, I _ came,._ b ' toI i*do"mib&eI IS .. '~ortugal'.~naval 'and , ~ 1 I >i l .. L - coxiimercial'strategies. * '., 'J .,>a +

: t~ortugiie$e:fleets ' quickly' achievedt .'dominance-., of' the sea lan=o of the Indian -<0c'ean, add subdued ~vahilico-nit ies vulnerable to naval ".

gunfire. * ~uf'Portuguese efforts to' control Swahili coa'stal coymerce'.' and : trade : the >Z&bezi River' had only limited 'success', and an att"&npt+to 'conquer 'the Monomotapa Empire was a disastrous"failuie . ' ;' "':; - Neither*'the Portuguesex or 'the ' ~uropeanswho followed them- 'wee: ,' abl& ti -achieve'a d~dinant~~osition"i~thei= relations with Afficdiis. - Except in South ,Africa where European-introduced dis-eases de=imated Khoi and :Sari populations ;-~f ricans cbds trained 'Eu=opeans to adherti to traditional ' landlord-stranger ' relstionihip*': ' Europesnb had to comply

vith &'African.demands asto where they' might trad=,, what ' -rentk .'they muat: 'pay,'retc; ,'"'and while living ashore .they were' *ulije'it. to ,~fiic'an:

' landlords ' - and ' their judic'ial processes. , Stich remained the ca$e unt i.1 ,' the nineteenth' ' century .wheni '~uro~eansacqbired'": overvhe'lming ,: military .power and could' defeat ~fricansand 'seize their' territory. , ' + a ' *Portuguese'-were the .principal .European ' agents 3introducing hew , . cultigens to-,Africa . .They dissem'inateiVsuch Americ,an asbite, : manioc (cdpsava) , peanuts,,, lpineappleb,' and ", and' speeded up the ' diffusion ! 'oft Asian 'cultxgens 1 in West*'Africa :by 'stocking their ' ) 31 settlements with mangos, : coconuts, ;Asian rice :and, -.* other-%vaiuable #,: ' plant3 that +quickly:spread among neighboring Africans. . The ;foregoing becaine 'staple crops fois'manyAfrican ' societier, ahd"are credited :with . = ' ,*

contributing "significantly to population growth. * , - . $.i:. '..:'s- dominance of. the sea 'lanes<.of'the clan tic a'nd 1ndiad ~' * > oceans waned' 'at the ,close+~'ofthe xsi&einth ,&ntury when mislitary and

political 'disasters at 'home 'contributed to ' decline ' and*':weaknessa '*

overseas. By the middle of the seventeenth century, Dutcii,"~=ench, ' ' and British rivals had supplanted- Portuguese and their , Luso-African ,, descendant$ in most: :parts of 'west ,*and-West -central #;Afiica,;,had " '* negotiated new:contracts with ~fricaxi'landlords,' and w&. cncriasinily, - '? concentr'at-iing: on*"the5' trans-~tlanti= slave-t;ad=. ''1; E&t' , ~f,&&) +it t .* ,*. ,'.- " , i 6 .+ -. j" -1.. -, J . .A, " i * ' ' ' L. . , . . ,U . "L " ^ 11" , *,/, ,, , , - ' *" ->v4*-, . ). . ./. $ :.,,-.;+." *." *. ' , , ..I( ' , .. b ,'" . \, .a .* L . 8 b. was the rising Arab stitii"'bf 'Ad that from the* close qf the seventeenth century drove ~ortuguese from the ' coasts of . Somalia ,' , and , restricting Portuguese and Luso-Af rican commerce

to the area of . r Only during the second- half of the nineteenth century did Europeans come * to pos sees the combinat ion of 'great ly superior weaponry and ' a measure of prophylaxis against tropical dibeases that enabled them * to conquer and occupy African territory and subordinate ~f ricans to their designs. ' Prior to that time many African states obtained European ' firearms in commerce and advanced their' own "imperialistic" designs vis-a-vis other societies, investing their lands and enslaving or otherwise exploiting 'their people. d,

" d I I X 6 .' The "South 'At lahtic ~vsteh" from the Sixteenth -=$he nineteknth centuries Too much and too little has been written about the slave

a,, .- traiie .+ ' Research during" the pasta*two " decades has 'drast'ically lowered ' previous u"gues'stimatea" of the number ,of captive ~f ricansbtransported . to the'~mkricas;Gworking estimates are now 'in the rang'= ok nihe to" ten' mil.lion for the, 'entire period 'from "the >sixteenth8to the nineteenth centuries. ~ncreased.attention 'is being 'focusedqon such 'topics as coinparat ive death rates :'among: Africans and Europeans carried to the ~mericas, contributions made by "Africans din the ~ew'~m~orld,' and the jl transmission :and retent ion 0f.h Af ric'an ' culture. :There is significant' new research on the internal slave trade in Africa :anition the:' characteristics of in Africa+itself. , .: .Treatment .'*f .' thi' slave , ~trbdei no+ - includes discussibri :dt $'the8 following 'attributes and capabilities of 'hf ricana: (a) :Africhans had a much" $'lower death . rate- 'from 'endemic diaease's' than ' Europeans, milaria' especially-in all, a factor of a threen or four' to: oneadvantage; (b)

Unlike . &European laborers ,' Xf ricans $were skilled 'J' in - tropica'l.

agriculture;-',:(,c)'African' laborers' were ,a cheaper ' investment: over the

iong ' run than indentured : servant 8,. convicts or ' "of , ' because ' their*servile~status was made' permanent and pas'sed- toLtheir children, and because' they were readily ;o8btainable in exchange- for' European- maiiuf actures in a seemingly -inexhaustible supply'-the latt'er'b (false) opidion ;being :an indirect tribut'e to t,he capabilities : of

African1middlemen and the ruthlessness of those , who' enslaved their fellows bygwhatever means.In sum, the 'use ?of'captive ~fri,can;workers offered distinct' advantages.overZ.the employment of~'white~~."~'It 5s' perhaps ironic'.that from a demographic vievpoint the' drain of ' human beings &':tothe: : was in 'part *,mitigated by ' the growth of population in ~f rica -following d7the' diifusion of Aiierican ,,and ~sian 6 I '* I "" ' * 11 # I -; j* l 6 food crops. 1. :-.' ,, ' 1- L , " Us

Who was 8s enslaved: in Africa :and sold into' the trans-At l8pt ic (and: trans-Saharan and trans-Indian Ocean) .slave trahe? ' Just whom, one ',might':e expect, and in ways similar to those which compelled 'many: Europeans to 11emigrate" to the ': . firstly, people from. other societies3,

whether captured in war : or . raids,' by kianapping ,- -or'acqu'ired ' by purchase; and secondly, criminals r from one's own': soc2ety and such'

unfortunates as ''witches" and ,,other*social ^ deviants. : Intensified.' demands :: for labor in the lAmericas ,from the ' beginning : of ' the seventeenth century - were; 'ref lecfed ' 'id higher prices in Africa .'and".

created circumstanceq that many 9 societiee'Iound+impossible tod4reeist'-

or cont r~l,..~Some groups , 'organized : for wnrfdre on a rnore-or-less'.' 8, I/ , 1 * 'I ', ' #"."I 8 '* I jr f , '*A - I ) , , 'j~,l' < ,,' *I % ; ,' b .

&&i&iab ,bdiris;, ,mme elites', riid&d- j ,', .their own suGjects for.sole,.& slaveis; and many"'societ'iek came to .. exact enelavepent for cride's and off edecs hithito punished by fines ~r'other* forms 'd rttributiod.,v . . :: t: , Slaving in Africa did not always cease +.or'dimjnish concomitantly with; the buppteseionl of the, Atfait ic, . ~aharan,. and Indian Ocean s!aye , duiiag the,',nineteenth. . century. . Many ,captive hf ricans vere cknf ined to dive v$ilag"cs.where their .,labor was used,to grow, food, orb peanuts, coffee, and other export cropis, or collect palm ~il,tubber,,> and.' other sylvan, products . 8ough< by ~uro~eans, -- in .what .>was]termed.

"~e~itimate,".. ,.I i.e. nod-slave '~o~rce... : , . v, A ., a ' bb The system of slavergwhich developed in -the-,uait,ed,State*. rs better understood vhen compared with the experience of ~fricansin other areas ,in the ~Americas.. ,, In Brazil, , the Westj81ndies, and . -. el~~here,diverse . demographic, .cultural,, , , and ":institutional . cirCuhstances '' combined..to create cohditions of slavery j.conside+riably

different, from% those which $evelogad in ',the . . Slaves in

these. areas* i-. often ,;retained many, components'. of their %Africancultures,

including,social,"..mu and. _religious' practices, ',,clemcnts - of +fricana;

languagesp and : ~~eech'.)~atterns, +nd "a'.. rich,, . -and creatiy*e heritag= :of: ~rusic,,.,dance' ,.and --oral , literature. : - The l..special features ; pf A the ~mericanexperience, .in kind or degree,' are mcke clearly delineated when they are -.exan$ned. .- against,this broad spectrum .of ecculturation in4

&. the New World. %.:. . -

developed. countries African vsociet ies*were unable to ,contend with the overwhelming military,.force possessed. by -.Europeans.in the , la6tv,quarter of: th= niheteenth centuj md. rapidlyrsuccumbed~ to invasion,-*,Ethiopia being a significant- exception. +It .is,,no less important to-appreciate, that Africans were successf,ul to varying ,degrees ;in .other forms of

resistance . than Av opposing, a *,!Europeans+ in .. , : foredoomed -, military, engagements. states located. some - distance ,:from,the coast- of ten'. had* the opportunity .to frameLsuccessful strategies to bend to -inevitable conquest ;in..such ways . as.to keep their polities intact .: :.In,contrast' to' -,that yere*,shattered fighting last ditch ,battles, these' State6 .could .,negotiate, *many benefits: during the colonial- period,,

especially s*ince,European, .administrators were ; very thin on the ground. and genera 1lye .found jt to their. advantage to rule, through existing, , . political structures and.,in many *:cases to .strengthen them. : 1 : % . .: Colonial ,boundaries, as: +is,well ~known, werees-settled- in ~urode.to suit ~~urdpc~~~ur~oses,w,ith-+little-:or no .concernvfor thetaAfricans

involved (Map #4). Some ethnic groups were partitioned by a boundary: lines, :, some . separated -into three different , Somali - were fragmented aacross five* boundaries , and :Mande. and Fula speaking . groups: were, ,distributed.., . across :many%:different colonies .,,Most ethnic groups ended, up in ..the same , but along :with a .random sanipling %,of'

former friends, : enemies ,A and unknouPa. :In:retrospect, *one of the mo~t signif i~ant:~:consequences,of the5 partition: of .:Africa [in the last

quarteq of *: the, ;nineteent he, :century, *is,thats': it :reduced hundreds %.of autonomous -, or: 6emi~autonomous:. states, ethnic groups, - . vil~lages, pastoral groups, .etc.-, to8.some forty territories administered by three

European: languages. : In .retrospect, ,A even this:: number of states , seems, too many,, but the ,'drastic.reduction ,of ,political ,unitsa:conferred+many>: longn"range benefits in fostering political, economic, and social development. 8 I , , . , . / ,-,, .*" 1 " 8, ', i I I* , , o,, $ I,. -. , 8

i * 8 >, , , , , L " I ,, ,. 8 I ,*, '8. ,,,I . '" , ' 4, +I , , , -

"8 !I/ , , I,, j* * . , ,, 8 r, 4' ,*", * , - f, * *, ,, # MAP U 4, *. ' ,I I , I,6 9 ', -3 '* * ,a , 2-4, , ,> % r

, A , I, L, I * 8' , . % *% 7\ 8 4 . * 1 , - x +, , *. ' ,s', t /' . 1, > Colonial rule, economic development, social changes, the rise of nat iohalism, and the surge of independence movements following World War I1 are themes that may be treated on a broad comparative basis witll developn~entein Nurt11 Afric~ n~ld . Many pol i tical, economic, and social patterns imposed during the time of colonial rule continue to the present and will persist for the forseeable future; they are

the subject of a large and contentious literature concerning "neo-colonialism1! --that,is + treated .in--the-esaay folloving'.. ,c ..' The moat salient-'feature of poet-independence Africa is the close economic ties that most ex-.colonies maintain with'their former milers, both on a one-to-one basis and through the European Economic community (EEC). Tliese continuing economic. (and political, eocial, 'and cultural) : links vith European countries, derive principally ; from competition between less developed countries to aell primary products that are generally in oversupply in vorld krkets,. Except ,for a(few scarce minera 1s , the Africa continent produces' - no minerals ! or vegetable products unobtainable elsewhere in the world, generally in unrestricted quantities sand at competitive prices, a circumstance' that goes a long ,way towards explaining the a disinclination of - bua'idess' interests to1 invest in African countries vhere the political 'situation is unstable, or feared to become so. Crops suchsas,coffee, cocoa, !and oil seeds, j and minerals such as iron: ore,, bauxite, and ' copier compete with exports from. Latin! dmerica: and Asia, which' competitidn is exacerbated. by oversupply^ and lov' prices) in'world :markets since :the 1960s. Low ,demand ' for priinary *"products,.' declining ':terms,:of trade vis-a-vis manufactured goods, - and the f if teen-f old- increase; in 'oil prices since* 1973 blighted. programs for economic development 'and :all but bankrupted many African states. 8"- African, ! Asian, - ,and -'Lati'n Ferican states largely.*dependent ' on primary products have ' so f as been , unabl'e to :achieve ef f ect'ive marketing arrangementsa. to stabilize and improve prices for minerals and vegetable products' .such as OPEC, commands for oil production. Consequently , : African ' countries have maintained their econo'mic affiliations i vith forme; colonial powers both on,,?n : individual basis and through affiliation vith the,EEC as ' associate members. In return for allowing European manufacturers privileged 'access to their countries, 'Africans are guaranteed markets for their primary products, reciprocities that have 6een widely. denounced as a "neorolonialist " strategem tb 'keep African 'coulitries producing primary products instead of becoming industrial overs-' 'capable of competing' with European countries and other nations ' in the' vorld. However defined ' or justified, 'the EEC relationship is subject to renegotiation every 1 five years, and ~'fricancountries acting in concert with members of the EEC's former , and Pacific colonies (termed the ACP countries) have effectively exercised their collective bargaining pover to i~prove market ing , - arrangements , negotiate loaiis and development projects, and ensure - that the poorest -.coinitries receive 'aid funds when they are overwhelmed by disasters. While some African states (e.g. Nigeria) and some regions (e.g. Southern 'Africa) deserve special study in terms of their intrinsic importance and special American interests, a world history approach that focuses on the attributes that African States share with less " .- * . developed countries in other parts of the vorld contributes to understanding the larger trends and processes that are shaping the contemporary and future world. * ' '"( ", + ,. "Current events, " i .e. ware, army coups, ' famines, 'refugee

pr{blems, and other disasters that are sporadically reported in American media, provide little understanding + of vhat is going on in .Africa or any other part of the world. 'It is not what makes headlines that is most significant in learning; rather it is the processes of change, less dramatic but no

important is hov % Africans (and . people in other less developed

countries) modify and . adapt a traditional institutions, social . practices, and cultural noms and those implanted by colonial powers; how ' Africans deal with. pethnic and religious particularisms and the divisive nationalisms derived from the colonial partition; : how - Africans increase productivity and cope with the challenges of high birth ,rates, rapid. , population increase, and lagging food- production--for some' countries already issues of critical importance ; and how 'African states . and pan-African institutions expedite inter-state . and , inter-regional commerce, movement .of labor, and

sharing of water, 'electricity and other resources. . - * iI q~I The foregoing preoccupy leaders of lees developed countries ' world-wide, and what one learns about developments in Africa informs* about other parts of 'the world, and vice-versa. .- Just as leaders of less developed countries have in recent decades found it in their

interests to act in concert ,in.the United Nations and to convene ' meetings with representatives of developed countries to address issues of global significance .in what has come to be termed the "North-South dialogue," so too can Americans learn to study, Africans and other peoples from a world perspective. America's future, no less than that of other nations, depends on increased world trade, ongoing scientific advances applted to industrial and agricultural productivity, the eradication of hunger, poverty, and disease, and the resolution of international conf licts--all of which are issues that must be addressed in a global context.

B IBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Perhaps the best general introduction .to Africa is Paul Bohannan and Philip D. Curtin, Africa and .Africans (American Museum Science paperback, 1971). Three widely used college texts are Roland Oliver and J. D. Fage, A_ Short , Historv Africa (Penguin paperback, rev. edition, 197 8) ; Philip Curt in, Steven Feierman, Leonard Thompson, and Jan Vansina, African ~iatorv(Little, Brown, and Co. paperback, 197 8) ; and Phyllis M. Martin and Patrick O'Meara, eds,, Africa (Indiana University paperback, 1977). Ongoing archaeological research on the origins and development of humankind are reported in the National Geographic Manazine. The Journal ~ African Historv publishes periodic surveys of archaeological research and lists of radiocarbon dates; the JAH and the International Journal of African Historical Studies are the principal journals for "keeping current" on historical scholarship. Basil Davidson, . African ~inedoms' (Time-Life books, 1966) is inexpensive and provides well selected photographs and illustrations covering many of the topics treated in this essay. Harold Ko Schneider , The Africans : An Ethnolonical Account (Prentice Hall paperback, 1981)is a useful reference work on many aspects of African life and livelihoods, with numerous maps and illustrations. To gain . . *' ,. .* . 3 an appreciation ' of the interdisciplinary' , apptdach of Africa?, 4. specialists, teachers - of ' World ist tory ,courdea . vill realize-' many , . advantages from attending worksho'ps :or-+takingcourues at universities ' ' , . " a /a , , %. 1. ' , ' , \ , . with ~f rican Studies. Programs. -:. d"R

Students ;.unfamiliar vith World ist tor^ ' approaches anii' , dubiohs-:' codcerning ''heavy" topics, listed on a syllabus can, "be "easedi",into a : course ,with a prelirdinary aasignaent 'incorbratibg "8uch '.short., and 1 L ' .' stimulating,readings as Ralph "OneEundredr per Cent American, 'I " in ton) , '" The. *:,American Mercurv' -(1937). h427-429; ' R. '8~uclrhinster" 'Fulldr, ',,' 8'Remapping ~Our~Wor~d,''~Todav'~~~Educatidd(~ov.-Dec~; 1974),"""60-44;;~ 107-110; : Horace ',Mine=, "Body ~Rithalemoa ' the ~aci*-, " American . +, Anthfo~dloaist:(1956), '5032507 ; anii' ~illiamhrens, , 'The' Great herici,~. , Football Rit'kal,;" Natural ~Historv(Oct . 1975), 72-80 (for a ,copi. -of *+i current :syllabus send a ,self-addressed ,,stamped enveiope). : A 'pseful ae-signment forathe%.secon'd class keting isto'ask students to yke,up4,

' short lists .of 'current trends that *will continue;"to influence ' thi ' world of the future. These 'range from the: promise' of biotechnology,

computers, - rising- '! energj costs, :- vomenr s 'klibeiation,, . . the ' ",' , internationaljzat ion of sports and .music; ' etc. , : students ' discu,ssion . of :* their lists :one-by-one - going around: the 'cliss provides ' the , opportunity for :each student to :int-rodbce himlherself :t< "the':iroup,. 1" -. and*,allows :teachers an :~opporttiui'ty, to ' interject*comments rconcerning-*, the - +historical: background '-of such : developments: ad' to : emphasise thk " - point:-that the course concerns the present and future world as well 'as :

past .times. Renewed .- discussion of ' present and future "trends makes a,*,,*

1). PI W + . . suitable f inalp session ending a course. ' 'P' ' 1" > , * ,I, L ', " > '3' - ?- , * q ,- * i* "I*,. ,"** . a . - '? - , < .,.. - , *,*: ' , < ,A * * c ,* I / "..I "','*. ; u, - : * '.,, -, *.)% 5 d. , 5 "". - I ,, 1 , .,.- . -i . r;d ,.*. * ,, ,+. I I .' .., * ,#,,\- [4 >/$ 1 -/ . ., t-. " -. . ,

. - A A. '"' 'f "(I L , t L:+, "& -. ': a .. * .r . - ' 1' ."a: ' 'f, b , k <.. I ; *- 6 I,,* , * . 'I ','.* ,> 5 , 'i ' , . ', % v,. . ...

, ", I , 11" * .a1 I, 6 * :-. ~. . . - I! r' ,- * .:; ,. '- I", I "6 &* i * *I .. .->, , #I *I/ " , , ., , -.. :,>fi, .t ",*; <: *' * ,

I 9. * " ,. ,. , ,"+ 1 I- ' -.II, *"I 'I ' .* ".i'* " ' . . .. . "' 1 . * ,: -, " 'r ". '" ; '" * .- " , s , , ;, 7;-. y *.b> "' :. , *a*, 8 <,r <

P , ,+. ,,., ': ! 7" .. .:; *I < t * *I / +, Tropical Af kica : The Colonialh~eritbge I,

I * .* , %, ,&* ** ; , % * r / *I ,< I '1 . . 'I ,,

' :: In the':attempt, to 'impart some perspec,tivti on codt&tpbigry :A'£ricaad '' ,( Lb it dmay be ,i useful}*to introduce an historical - analogy 'f,ro~x'~lon~~~~~<. Perhapsit is'anwadalogyand perhaps it is not;a * in*any case it':Js the sort of grace note that historians areocc~sio'nallytempted to give to., their efforts and which ,,raises the hackles of ' social scienti$ts who :: accord. A it , a ispecial 'kind of disapproval .:reserved 'for", the - ' worst. ,,f

"flights" of ' historical fantasy. -One might begin with*.the occasion of , the Bomanl. soldiers <*leaving'b~ritain' in 407 A.D., after s% centuries of . rule ;!over the savage, : warring 'peop-le of sthe British Isles. ' * One .r , imagines that as: thee:.last of the' &man troops were ferried off one of * them must haveAglanced back over his shoulder at the semi-civilized ' barbarians gathered on the beach and said to a buddy, 'They'll never * make it!" Who : would . blame him far such a judgment?. The Romans had experienced mixed success in enforcing peace and "civilizing" the peoples of the British Isle:;. The' islanders had been brought' into contact with Roman civilization, but after four centuries they were half -"civilized" at best--and, one might say, half -corrupted as well. Those most affected included those Britons who lived around the Roman army camps, who were doubtless the most corrupt of all. (Those are the type of people termed "urban influentialsf' in modern social * science jargon.) One imagines that the Roman soldiers accorded much more respect to the hearty, "unspoiled" savage's in the interior. This is often the case with representatives of a colonizing pover; they develop. a disiike for those who emulate 'their own behavior patterns and extol instead the rude, simple qualities of the unacculturated barbarian, including the chaps in England'who painted themselves blue and indulged in all sorts*of "unspeakable" religious rites. So it should be no wonder that a Roman soldier would have said, "They'll never make it!" And truth to tell they didn't make it. Not for a thousand years ! Many marks of civilized life disappeared from the British Isles never to be regained-such attributes of civilization as straight and rwell-made roads, central heating, and imaginative and tasteful cookery; all these disappeared when the Roman soldiers left.' Who could have gue-ssed, who could have dreamed, that the British Isles would eventually ~roducea Shakespeare, a Churchill, '* .. . the Beatles? , The i Romans had only fo& .centuries to '*&otheir -best, or 'their ' worst, working with a rather limited potential of aome of 6;r (W)ASP ' '' ancestors. The time span for European *imperialism#~ih lAf rica is much, . shorter, less thanwcentury insmost parts~oftropical Africa. ,*' . * , E ' >8 1 "I, 4 " 2I I< , , : , * * 5 r + . . 1. ,* Euro~eanconauest gr& colonial rule When Europeans partitioned Africa in .the last**quarterof the nineteenth century they were motivated by a variety of, purposes. As in most human endeavors their reasons 'were mixed, -ranging from naked greed to disinterested altruism.' There is - no need to describe in detail the special varieties if wickedness of the imperialists who wanted to paint the map red or green or some other color, or' the get-rich-quick economic who desifed to *' exploit Africa 's resources, .or the' businessmen wh6, 'i+nted4,to ' "peg, out - b, claims" ' for the :'future, or' the missionaries who hoped to bring the . ' gospel to millions, ~~,or"allthe ' others who' joined in ' for*'excitement", adventure, profit, or from the attraction of the new and exotic. The point that should be, stressed .,is ,, that, - whatever' , the reasons for Europeans getting into Africa were, one fact was very soon clear to all: -that ,.vith the ,exception of a few areas, the continent vas:?not te&mirig " yith ' easily e'xploitable:*.. %. riches. The ; soils, ,of Africa%are : r=latively.' pooi; . many . areas. lack exploitable - :minerals; and the cont idept '8 "populit ion was much fever than wasqsoriginally believed andq quite uiirkilled f of.~uto~e& purp&es. The colonial povers very soon. 'that . it was going : to cost a great, deal of money just- -to ,; creit'e , .the :infrastructure necessary to exploit :those resources+most; re&di'ly 'available. The ''Old ~dasteys,"men vho, lgad long traded with .

African &ddlemen along the edges ,.of ; ,*the, continent ,. *could , have&., inf armed'‘ thkir of these realities if they, had been asked. ', Butbpart of the . expl&tion. of the ,"Scramble :for Africa'' is. that nationalism and other emotional factors, often,caused the participants. to ignore knovn and demonstrable realities. . s .. . ., . When the situation came to be reassessed after ,the partition vas '7 over, it ' isxnot '$surprising that European countries adopted:\colonial* poli=ies ,desigi~ed, .% v ., to minimize their expenditures. Pay-as-you-go : development' became the policy of. .every colonial ;, power. In other. words, there was to be none .of the' ,"pip priming" economic assistance which became, ,fashionable' after World War:II; each. colony was expected -

to, pay rs its: own way. ' And, as,might be expected, resources-. .for economic * developmknt we=&extremely : limited.- ,. *,The. little,money available can be juaged from just one example. ~kound~:World War I, jrome: twenty years:,., after 'France,,had created its West African,Federation ,(the present-day couatriei d'i<'Mauretania, ;senega#l,,:Mali, . +~ui'nea,Ivory , Coast, , Upper VO~~A,'~~ahosiky 'and .Niger), the total:,value of imports and exports for

this% ,,huge iatea (eight times,khe, >, .,. ,sSizeof .France) was pnly $60,000,000 a .. year. he " revenue which accrued to* the .~rench-colonial government, +' principally,' from customs returns, was.,about, $10,000,000 a: year. Such* suns .are ..worth much more ,in today's .dollars, but they*still represent : . meager amounts to pay the"salaries ,of colonials official^,^ police, and soldiers," -to, build 'ports,.. railroads, bridges,: hospitals, . and schools, . allbof . *wEich-and - more-had to . be .done if development -#wasi to .take place; ':; .If ,,'.tlie goverGent ,'' of a colony! attempted, as :. sometimes happened, to borrow money, toexpedite . .some project ,i it !had - to borrow, . either if ram the home government or from , the international*money market :

in '~urope,and*:had ?,. to ~ pay, the,gbing interestgates. LOW-interest, rate * loans :or from the*.metropoles or .f ram,‘ international agencies ,'did :not exist , I - . . , .. , ,.., jl, + ,., -, . ? - . it .'. .,i. i 'r . ,," . ,.'.

Money, then, or-rat h'er :the lack' of it, , was, the number one .problem *%- .of colonial,rule .' :what' is &zing in retrospect is the #extraordinary r impact those sums that were invested had on the lives of Africans.

One , means of 'obtaining revenue was ?by$. customs:: duties, an -* indirect -- manner, of taxat ion and also. . . admeans #of practicing. neo-mercant ilism. ; customs :buties were,.enicted )which, favored the trade .of .the~+metropol&:

and ,'discouraged.products. frob other :'countries. , French traders and : . exporters': had the ' advantage in ;the French - colonies, . English in the .

c.

English'cdlonies,'~andso forth. . > - , ... .- , . ,- t: . - . -+-jj .#.. , ",(I - ,r i( ~noth'er'; way of . raising ..reveni~e,~although - in, relatively + I* insignificant-* amounts1,-was, by . impos ink .di;ect . taxes :on :. Africans . :.

~hese,were termed "head,", take8,knd'-''hut" *taxes, depending upon whether * %:

they: 'we& ,on the,, . , indiyidual or on hisab'ode. ~dllectin~~direct taxes . , A. * < , , . , . a*.'; * i I. C u I %r 4' hi a L # )I I is not an easy way to raise moneysbbut it was justified as necessary for colonial development. * In order for Africans toipay monetary taxes a they had to become involved in the money 'economy; and the only ways Africans could earn so many shillings, francs,*or whatever, was either to collect sylvan products such as rubber or raise crops for sale to Europeans, generally at prices pegged unfairly low, or to 'go to work 'for. Europeans at extremely low vages . The imposition of taxes forced Africans in growing numbers to leave their homes' and migrate to those areas vhere Europeans required labor for mines and , and to construct roads, railways, and colonial settlements. This sort of population movement is termed "target labor" because the individuals involved had a primary goal in mind, in this case to earn sufficient' money to 'pay their taxes, and . those owed by other people. Africans who did not pay vere seized and put to work at forced labor." They were made to serve .as bearers, or as laborers building roads, public k ^ * (I structurea, or similar projects. %A . * One way or another the colonial administrations put their subjects to 'work. These measures -were rationalized as being for Africans' own good, for howr else could cblonies-Af ricans ' homelands--be developed and started on" the toad, to "progress" and "civilization"? Furthermore, Europeans anticipated that Africans would -respond 'like other* peoples the world over: they might start out 'as reluctant target labor, but they would soon develop an augmenting number of consumer wants and remain in employment longer than they needed simply to pay their taxes .. Inevitably, Africans earned additional income in order to purchase cloth, blankets, foodstuffs,'~cookware, and other consumer goods, which of course *served European purposes. One 'cannot Y fail to note ' that in "deveLoping" . colonies there was always' a nice congruence. between what was ."good" for. Africans and what was good for Europeans as well. A There is much discussion in scholarly literature concerning syatems of colonial rule. The tdistinction is frequently argued as to whether Africans were ruled "directly" or "indirectly ." Details .' aside, the principal fact to grasp is that resident Europeans were so few " from reason of lack of noney that ,colonial governments generally found it expedient to rule through existing African political

structures. where + there were stratified societies with rulers or "chiefs" all that was needed, in theory at least, was for a European ad~inistiatorto "advise". them along desired lines of policy. Where "chiefs" did not exist among acephalous, or "stateless, " societies, Europeans in some .instances appointed them, and the imposed system actually vorked quite vell in some cases. - The key person in the system of delegated authority was the European administrator 'to whom an African ruler or , "chief" -was responsible: the British' District Officer, the French Commandant &g Cercle, and so on. These functionaries of ten ' presided over wide areas -- administrative units in some cases as large or larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware-exercising police, judicial, +and other povers to such an . extent that they 'were sometimes termed the "last untrammeled kings on earth. " African rulers and "chiefs," termed "executive .agents, " were placed in the awkward position of mediating between the colonial authorities and their oyn peoples. If they served their ' European masters ,well, they were rewarded with part of the taxes they collected, use of forced labor for their" own purposes, and other perquisites. :,. Uncooperative' or ' incompeteht :rulers or ' "cgief 6;". in contrast, - might -be.removed from .off ice and replaced by &re pliable tools, : but *, rmtual accommodation on 'both rides -,was usually the h6st satisfactory-arrangement .::..By .such !mean8 +,a handful of ~urbpians,tould administer , hundreds . of . thousands of : ,aquare*'miles. ' "'In ~o'rthern

~igeria,, the a sort famous example of indirect rule, 86Se two :hundred

Biitirh colonial officials + directed' :the ',lives of ' 'seventeen "million people., similarly, three thousand Frenchmen ruled the f if t'een'.millioh people rcattered across the '.huge expanses of French Webt Af &a. ~ut po&er-police : and soldiers-yas available to .$&k -up, th&e ''indirect'' arrangements ." - Thus; ' African subjects,' -of "the.' colonial poweraswould 'probably express derision for ~'8cholarly. . cpibbles ,. over the I - ." % ,* differences. between~~direct"and "indirect" rule. . - r I ' ,I b. * 5. '< s, : ,' ' , &. 1. >, ' ,P -1 ri" , / " 'I 1 '" 9 2+. ,. . *, .. , I', Economic Develo~ment.- wd . De~endencv pelat ionehr~s HOW' rapidly changes occurred in a given colony dependid .upon it8 resdurces arid the qploitation fostered, by: European entrepreneurs .' ~ritish'development pli* in West pAfrica "can be :charact'erized,,'by'thei'm&orable phrase of A1 ,Capp s "General 'Bul lmoose": what was ' good ' for ' business was good for' ,the . country. .:. PortWs,- railroads ,: and roads : vere concentrated in the .,most#,productive areas and : the' rest 'of a colony was ',neglected.' ~her~-,,.vere:exceptions,- such'as .British 'and ~rench'colonies in"tShe interior of the ,font inent , where' expensive rai,lways ;'and roads had to' be: cokstructqd to :link colonies with the coast. * Belgibm concentrated,

its ' efforts + in"Zaire, in mineral-rich Shaba (Ketanga) 'and' around rive'r ports &ch as Kisangani : (~tanleyvil-le),' Kinahasa e :(Leopo, ldville) , and* Matadi ,' ~ortugalwas - itself so poor that it left the ' exploitat ion' of ?and Hozambique largely : toforeign - capital, uuiinly ' British and . ". ( *I \ , south.I *I African, . untilthe 1930s when the Salazar. dictatorship promoted

$ * I r I Portuguese interests- vis-a-vis those of foreigners. * ' A - :All :: manner of monopolistic practices were carried on ' by -'the ~&pean shipping, commercial j and' bankiqg ,interests "hi=$ domihat ed,. the ; colonial . economies~.' ~ma1'~amations among trading companies gave, rise to large ?.scale conrmerci'al combinations, steamer - lines,,-organized shipping pools to allocate profits', and* one" or' two ~ banks * exercised .., m control ; .over - the financial transactions of 'a *colony or , sever,al colonies. . - While the: ,lion's share of a colony's wealthF-wascreamed :off - at the top* by,>-European bus iness interesta ,$ other foreigners :competed with' 'Africans, at, the ' retail .level. '~hese'includeh ~yrians and :,

~ebanese. in vest Africa ,* and "Asians" (Indians, Goaria, and ~akistani); in East Africa; : .African middlemen and would-be entrepreneur"$', vere hard' pressed -to survive, caught between these resourceful competitors.I' ' and*, athe European; wholesale firms which ~dominated"'exter~l trade ;'. '. '

.>. In such :,fashion.Africans were increasingly,t id' to: %or-ld &k+t i sr as' the twentieth century pr~gressed.~Theaverage cdlonyuwasf orltunite.:, to have -more-cthan one or two primary 6roducts , .vegetable or mineral ,!,,- to pell.,in world markets. Since soilslare &l~ti

countries one or two crops or minerals may account for forty or -fifty,: :: or: even ,eighty to ninety percent of the - value of ,the : total exports, ' fi whichij .,makes_ +:.African states ext'remely. tiulnerable to chahgis,,"id. world :~ - ~ *. ,, 6 '? , . . Ir 6,. .,;: .! ' ' /j ,. " prices...... L -.. . ", *- - , .* . . F; 23.

,I i ba L & 1 Viewed ' in: descriptive and graphic ten&, EU~O~&~imperialism created "dependency" relationships between metropo les and colonies, * between the European "core" and colonies on $he "periphery" (Figure A. Economic, social, and cultural relationships were so strongly forged that it would prove virtually impossible* for Africans (and other colonial peoplee) to break them upon attaining political, independence, to the eitent that they were

i I 0-i, "olony I

I Th$ "core-periphery" model may ' be carried one step furtherb, depicting a "core periphery" within each colony to represent the chief area of European exploitation (Figure B). This second "cor-e" represents vhere plantat ions, mines ,' administrative centers, principal ports, railheads, and '"'other 'infrastructure were concentrated. Africans living' in other parts of a colony, its "periphery," were relegated to becoming migrant laborers travelling ' dozens or hundreds of miles to work in the "core" area, compelled by ,the .need to pay taxes and attracted =by employment as a' means to purchase necessities and luxuries. (The arrows on Figure B) Some colonies developed several "cores," and such exceptions *to. the "model" identify colonies -with exceptional ; resources. In such cases the "cores" became potential areas of contention between competitive African elites in -the period following the achievement of independence, e.g., Zaire's. Katanga mining region vs. Kinshasa, the administrative center, railhead, and chief river 'port ; and Nigeria with its three regional "core" areas, west, East, and North reinforcing ethnic particularism. Conversely, some colonies had poorly developed "cores,",possessing few European enterprises, minimal1 administrative centers, and minimal infrastructures . The populations of such colonies were constrained to migrate to other colonies to find employment, contributing to what may be termed "regional cores" (Figure C) . v "Regional cores" include the plantat ions of , which attracted migrant laborers from interior' colonies, especially Upper Volta; the "copper Belt ," including and the Shaba' region of Zaire, vhich derived ?ts *labor force from colonies in central and easterntAfrica; and the most dynamic, , yhich employed large' numbers of migrant and contract laborers from southern and central ,Africa. 3 . Such ' pat terns continue today. ' ' "Core" areas and "regional cores" have changed little since ~f ricad colonies attained ' independence, ana hundreds of thouaande of Africans continue to be labor migrants. Many countries remain r economically dependent on the proceeds of one, two, or several primary products, and price fluctuations in world markete

9 1 can-make or break a*nationalbudget, bring hope or despair to economic piddners, '-and - help suatain , lehders' ,,%inpover 4r .contribute to their 8, a , . ., , ? -3. ,t L, . . ... 5 : * *" . downfall;, , - -. +- <-" . ,, ),

- .Ecdnomic', , .,sociHil,,. a?d , I ,, cultural *'chan&ee,~e=e, &st 'perva'si~ein the II~~~~,~- Areas of ea~h'~colony-in~ the adqinistrative centers, ocean,and iiveTdarts, rai!wada*, mines, 'and plantat ions, , and' such .;emins the

case * .' today. , *. such ' areas are ' .<, I i-etknic, ) vith het erogenous populatidns, ~f k'ickn " isid*.&-if rican, that f oat er a 'univtksal out look encompassing .indigenous and foreign - influences of many ) sorts, in contrast to :+*the. particularistic outlook of a single .society. Opportuoiticis foi individual achievement' are far greater, in "core1' areas tha* in migrants ' home areas vhere $ability and ,iniatiative ar'e

of ten inhibitedj ., -,or discouraged :by elders, hierarchical social organizations', . occupational specialisat ions, and :.other ascriptive impediments to individual initiative. The first individuals to migrate:"to towns, mines, and plankat ions were men vho came1without their families or who were too young to have families. hose who returned a second time invariably remained longer; . not "onlyy: to: make money .for taxes 'and other

necessities', %' but "also to ?.acquire.:more stEuropean-, +uf actures - and cdnsujner godds'. h he fact vas quickly appreciated that the.>longer.one stay*. the more skills one acquired, job skills, , language: skills ,. and social - 'skills, ' :which ' alloved for . higher . and gr(eater. opportunities. As the 'twentieth century progressed, not only did more. and more 'men come villingly ,%ut they stayed longer and, increasingly, # b. % d.*

they, - brought their families*. , .b ' I

-*'ther,

lives more ' or t, less copt inuously -'.in drbai*, "areas,.,& ,,.but. -they_ too: aluay s

kept" their 'ties 'with>I their , home :areas.*- li They .,vere careful-to? keep up the ~dcial,'~religioris ,: and .,r'itual ties which, ensured the .retentionLsof their:: traditional st'atus, rights' to land use,. and other privileges. - Of ten their wives re&ined ,.in%the countryside part, of the :year in* order

migration. . For $migrants, :such. >.. - ,* 8 tiess .. remain,,indisputably:- $he most

important aspect of their. lives.. ,.. L , .-- , 3 ,I%>, , _. _,I, . + ,.a_. , While nhk experiences ,.' ~ha*~&'inort look, and different ;patterns of life were concentrated in..the. ''core" areas,: they were not +confined1. I

I there.:^.: Rural, ' areas were.6 .- , affected., :in varying, ways and : to varyingb . degiees ' byd',the'activities.of colonial. , administrators and missionaries, : by the cultivation' of 'cash crops, expansion ' of road networks, , etc ., and by the influences conveyed . from "core," areas ,a by labor, migrants . 1n'.retrospect itis : striking how, pervasive .such changes and.influences; were in-preparingo'the.way 'for the .devtildpment of ,dpolitical:parties~:and - ,. the rise'of ,independence movemeis aftel ~&ldWar I?. : : , . -, . **, :a -' a 2: -, I"-< , t. . . " x - + , 1 I * a * Social andmBculkuralchanges One of the most important agencies for change was Christian missionaries. The . evangelization of Africa has been described as the interaction of two sets of deviants: the missionaries on one hand and those in the African societies who most6 readily responded to-them on the other. The point of this apothegm is that by the end of .the .nineteenth century, and .certainly by the first decades .of the twentieth century, those who went out to bfrica as missionaries were not, for the most part, really representative of the modern, urban, industrial, twentieth-century vorld. Missionaries were often drawn from fundamentali+ sects in rural areas *of the American South and Midwest, h cot land, and other place8 on the periphery of European industrial regions. of ten they were self -consciously -out of step . with modern times,' decrying the changes whgch were revolutionizing their own countries. In like manner, the -earliest African converts were. generally individuals who were not members of elites and were often not doing. well in their own societies. . Men and women with high status in a society or who are in process of achieving other social goals are ,not the sort of individuals who are most quickly won by a new religion. Those who first responded..to the missionaries ' endeavors were of ten slaves, criminals, and .other social deviants --just as was true in the early days of Christianity in the

Middle East. *. The principal motivationb of missionaries was, of course, the evangelization of Africans. The better to achieve this lgoal they undertook a number . of activities which were attractive both to. Africans and to the colonial governments. Foremost among these was education. Colonial governments welcomed . missionaries, for they founded'schools, built workshops, established clinics and hospitals, and promoted agricultural . innovations. a Missionaries naturally demanded in return that Africans espouse their particular faith, and it shoulda,be noted ::that '- the ~uro~eansand a Americans vho evangelized .,

Africans demanded.much. higher,. standards of piety than was required of A their own ancestors in by missionaries from the . Instead of. a group acceptance of the new faith, followed by a gradual adaptation to new beliefs and practices such as took place in the forests of Europe, -missionaries in Africa in the nineteenth and* twentieth centuries frequently demanded individual * conversion experiences on the part of their converts. Protestants in particular - demanded that bfrican converts not only accept*,thearticles -of.faith but exhibit manifestations that the erperience of religious conversion had shaken them to the core of their being. Moreover, missionaries expected as matter of course that converts adopt European standards of dress, housing, food,' and general patterns of" living. - . Jn polygamous societies, a man had to give up all but one wife, regardless of the social, economic, and political consequences. (The - twentieth century American practice of "sequential monogamy", was not an option offered by missionaries). Put in crude terms, missionaries regarded ~fricansas bottles, to be turned upsidedown and emptied of savagery, then righted and filled with aEpropersort of Christianity, which included a very heavy -mixture of contemporary, West European and

American mores. *I 1 Africans compliedBwith missionary demands to a remazkable extent. . African beliefs concerning a "high god" and moral and ethical behavior of ten closely paralleled thoee of Christian *(and Muslim) teachings, and African societies were open to new ideas, having previously adopted religious concepts and practices from each other (which they continued to do). Syncretistic practices were of course unacceptable / to missionaries, and wherever they could employ sancti~ns,~they.

=oeiced ' their converts*to conform exclusively -' to acceptab;le European practices -9 . which .( (highlights a key , issue : - much' ' debated +'; by" missionaries: ,' how ;"European" had Christianity become; and how' "Europeinized'! iust Africans (or other ' no&vestern) groups becomewin order ,. ti.be cads idered "true Christ iansl'?+' African8:'also , acquiesced in' , 47

, , , I missionary demands for a number of practical'-reamins, among 'wh'ich were', the educational advantages : provided by ' missionaries and ' the opportunities for self-improvemebt vhich liteiary and iechnical skills ../ ..I* a. -. t , . providgd;:-' ,' ' -,' . ., . I d se ,: ., e . b

I I is clear, 'too, that one ,,of the: 'mattractions "for educated ~f ri~hns$=cornin&' ~h~istian:preachers, priestb', and teachers. was that ." it * gavi! them bpporfu$ities :for leadeiship roles which rlwere'other$ise denied thb"under colouial' fble until' political parties'"vere' permitted after 'Vorld War '811. Where too little 'initiative was 'accorded leaders"

of ;-Af rieaa' ~on~t=~at.ionb,:they rand ''their: followers might break with missionaries '(and + their * financial support ) to f onh indebendent or

"Ethiopian" churches. ';Some prophetic % and -.charismht ic men and '" voibn *

conceived : hew 'churches, incorporating reinterpretat ions of 'j Christian *

doitrinek - along. with A< rican beliefs and. practices. - Prophet ' William wid; ,- lairis- in Ivory :Coast and ' (1910s)', ' ~imdnJimbangu in Zaire (1920s), lice ~enshik'Mulenga in ~ambia(1950s an'd 1960s); aha numerous others had wide influence. These "Zionist" 'hovemeats attracted: 'followers ' from ' mission churches and f rG "~thiopian"-

congregations, as '-well *as'Africans not' , previou'sly evangelized% by,', any#-. . ~hristian :group.* "~thio~ian"and- ' "Zionist" churches ' became increasingly numerous 'during the second' half of the 'kentieth century

and "today-const'itute the most' *rapidly:I grovie Christian congregations. ,I*' '., *I 1 'I ' . > - in contexiporary Africa ' : - 2 I . P . .Muslim clerics rlik&ise profited' f&m+ the'"oppoit'hitiesra'£forded, bjr econbmii and-'social changes disrupting ' "former patterns in, ~f rican' societies and were even more :successful . than ~hridtian,:missionaries . in influencing and convertingb+f ricans . ' Muss lim' clerics'-possessed several'* advantages vis-a-vis European missionaries ; \*. They were' fellow : Africans, had similar lifestyles, and were'generally -'re amenable -to6 couvertd retaining*&African'' aocial patt,erne and' cultural'. practices.: But 1%if Islamic tolerance of provides, a. significant vadvantagb ' ' for 1 Xuslim clberica- "competing" with 'Christian missionaries (to:.:'the. of thxpressed ' disniay of the latter)', :Iolimic~ strictures' ; are '"ha;dly, less" demanding than ' those of Christianity9, ~includings. ,, required daily *: ablution*:'and ~rayers,and 'forsaking sbiiits and tor&cco .+:':dnd 'du=ing . colonial a times, - +fuslid clerics labored under the ,haddicap' in "bost, ' areas'of not providing "westernWedbc'lrtibn'thit 'W~Shighly pr.i*ied by' ~frican8,:'-a' disadvantage that . is ' reflected '' today " in the disproportionate representation of - in 'top' positions. , in' government ,:and-:the{private sector. Since independence, 'the , spread *of governnient''r8chools in predoinidantly~~ucilimareas 'bas gre'atlp' $mproved educati6nal ',' opportunities for" Muslim ' -children,' bui signif ic&tA

. disparities, st ill*exist in many countries. ,' :esp&islly wit6 'resdeit ,td + .. \ ! ..1 . . .. ", . 'r ' the 'edu-catifon':of 'girls and women.: n -,

'--' To *sunnnariieL,tfie colodiil part it idxi 'of ~frici.khatterea . J 'existing-

political, social, and economic circumstances by "consolldatirig thousands of' "hiff erent ' polit'ieg :into ;a : 'f ev .dozen + cdlonies. The , . ! development 'of inf- - rastru~ture-- rziilwkys, roads,: 'and telegrLph : and .& telephone-lines :-- '*" revolutionized co&unircat'ions,. .as in , , J' -4 '" C ,' 'Clu ' I,",' . > 'a ,- - , * , ., '*,"I , " ,b * - *,Jai . * - " . ?. I"'- , . . r . , ri . T.8 . 4% ^l% "4"I ", < " I , * r, 2 II t.,. ' . - *- , Ir i ' . \ J ..',. . " r.- 8 i z. + , c% s *,, . d!,. , ? ,' (0 , -I1 ; .- "8" , . I -

i. i I

. .>I ( ' +,*' ,j9 different ways did . the siti ion^ :of European languages,, administrative :and bus'iness practices, educational, institutions, , and religions. ~f ricans in growing nmbers;::veie oompelled to enter the money ecoxiomy and were , linked to vorld ,$markets, either by, producing

cash crops* or by ' working for' Europeans, dsiana, Levantines, or other Af ricans . If ,most Africans vete :*kmployed only inthe .lovest,:echelons

of government or business enterprises, :: obtained only . , rudimentari. - command of European languages, and received only' primary educations +" in- missionary or government ' :~c~oo~s,such, nonethelessm, p *. , had tevolutionar~~

consequences and 'fostered far-reaching changes*. . ,I, I+ /I. 1 ,, The, foregoing c,hanges are . frequently lhped . together 'byYd'th'e catch-all' inclusive term 'Lmoderdization,'I, which : has : ' replaced "civiliziid" in drdinary.usage, if not inimpll&dd:intent. But the& is an "und;erside1 to podernizatio'n, for ,along with the intioduction7of*

European ' institutions , skills, and rocial and cultural : pat terns, came

many of the intransigent probl&~of the "&dernl' vorld:, ,+ ytban slums, ",. broken' f+iliesr, prostitution, alcoholism, etc., .. all4,.of ,.which:* accompanied "develop&entl' ..in Europe and' the.*United Staes and remainw matters 'of concern. colonized',peoples , in ~f rica and elsewhere in theml world were ' unable to prevent such,perverse .consequences #of,, the changes..! forced upon them by ,,their exploiters; nor, of course, could *.they shares the opportunities"0 and advantages' of such changes to :the ,,same extent as, the free citizenry of .~uropeancountries and: the United :States. . : * I *I ,. * . mi political movements and the achievement 'pb indeoendencg ~o;ld War 11 marks a watershed in African history. The war years introduced new influences, 'especially in the French and British colonies, and the ramifications of *the war and its aftermath prepared the way for Africans to organize movements to further their economic and+political interests. ' . Africans# living ' in French colonies received an unexpected political education from the confrontation of *the Vichy" and Free-French partisans. English-speaking Africans took to heart the inspiration of the Atlantic Charter . Hundreds of thousands of " Africans served as,soldiers in the armies of the Allies in Europe,~the Middle East, and Asia, and profited from the experience. A return to the pre-war status quo in Africa would .have been impossible, even .had the colonial 'powers not been left as substantially weakenedwby,the

conflict as they were. 4tFt Not only were France, Britain, and Belgium far less powerful in .a material way, but they were wounded in a very deep psychological sense+ as well. One of the prerequisites for is self-confidence, and the cultural arrogance and characteristic of nineteenth century Europe&gofar to explain why Europeans believed that they were} divinely ordained , to conquer ,and rule over other peoples. . When colonial rule was established over Africans at the close of the nineteenth century, most Europeans complacently assumed (if - they , thought about the matter at all) that their rule vould last for many generations, if not tcenturies. By the close of World War +II,- Europeans ' sense of superiority ,was as * badly shaken as was their economic and military power. Britain, France, and ~elgiuh faced immense'# problims - of reconstruction following the was,. especiallyAFrance and Belgium. There was the ,developing Cold War, which dramtized their greatqly reduced %- power8 'and &tatus in; a::world : dominated' by, the ~rneri~a*and Russianrup=rpovers." They'wi?rerchallenged by' independence movedents everywhCre : ' int: -India, sInQ;China, Indonesia, nPlaya', palest ide,, v &roc~o, ~lgerie',''etc ., &uppierrion' of vhich ' 'demanded "financial, military; and'othei reuo'urces that >European countries now posbeesed in vbiy lkitcd &aunts .' ',Bycontrast, the' colonies in rub-~aharan"~fri'ca iecmed to "present no immediate* problems,. but a*revolt' in hadagascar in' 1947 tht ' was:. - aavagely euppreaeed by the French and in~~ipient political ' activities in .many-)A L colonies.,' . *shoved that ~f ricans, q 6st -soon . , ,. * ,* be *,reckonedvith as well'. - ; ' * , s ,' '-'' , The. ~uro~ekn'~governments that confronted these chal l=nges' '(with the: except ion of Portugal) differed considerably from#-those which; had: presided ,,over the' coloniai' empire8 ' prior to Woild War 11. In ~ritain, the Labor party' caine to. pover id ' 1945, 'while ~r*ance''was governe'd in th= 1940s and*'19506. by, a series of. un8table coalitionb which included Socialists and ~ommuhiets.* ~hese'post-var goverbnentss' granted

Africans, bny : liberties ; thath they had' not known *before, ':notably . fr;edom to f aria- lahr unions ' and'''political parties. They also ' allocated . significant 'amounts" of ibestment capital to their'Xrican , +* colonies, including funds: -receives from" the' Marshallb b plan.' To be" sure, th=se ::funds . vere intended primarily to . benefit the.'mother cbuntries, .either':by*''stimulating+ a *greater' flow of resources' to: the metropole lor .by 'earning foreign exchange -I- iioilars '.in 'particuldr - through the sale of primary products, but this iyestment was no less 4. \ .% , its . ' &portant'-lfor. 'i~act:on the.colonies themselves. A : All of these,'deielopments atiklated a growing':political+'abirekks, ontihe'.part, of' *educated ~fricane.' Especially inthe:,:most: advancedc French ,:and British 'territories ;- newly, formed political , parties began' tci,:art*iculate grievances and ' demand2 reforms .' At first,-. African" demands were generally limited to specific grievances such as ''the- abolitionV'of 'forced m labor, ~equaliiationof pay and opportunities , in the ' civil iservi'ce, increased political representat ion, ' and :similar shortgrange 'goals. Only. gradually. did,'Africans? .. begin to ','focus , on',the ' a * , > 3 -*. " issue- of: independence. ' " ';":Political 1eadershipnaturallyycame from theb't'new".elite 'educLted in missionary andpgover'iment echoola rather, than from the traditional ; ruling; classes l' 'Membe'rs ,of the 'new elite had to"'1ead for,they:'spoke ~ the languages ?of :-the colonialp'powers"and understood ,)tfie ;issues-' .' involved. They had tolead,, too, because many of the old "elite -,+the ritlers -:and ,,"ch'ief s" :were' discredited -by long years of' collab;or+tion with*:theacolonial administrat ions. It is not surprising':that the,most rapid ' Gl,itical mobilizat'ion took place in ,the economically more advanced colonies or that 'most' nationalist leaders .&me fromL'thelirbhh = centers.' where Africans had :mos't h'fullyphticip&ed .in "the ,pode+iiiiga exper"ience., ' :+'There numeiou8 'ethnic ' "and : mult isthnic "'organitat ibnsL existed, ,including: self-help *associations, sports -clubs, ' churches, ' schdols, 'andt (after 1945), labor. unions, all of which ~ould~be'utilired. for ,-pol+tical' -purposes. 'Ifembers of the - new* elite founded,<. :their-' parties: upon, 'such 'organizations, uniting ' groups across . ethnic divis'ions ' against the cokdnon- ad\iecb;ry ;-ih& ~uro~ean+cqlbnial rulers .,' The rapidity with which this happened &zed observers, ' &specially since :the +.African leaders - in the urban aieas ' huickly gained: ' the allegiance of rural~folk'.whom,Europeans thought A to,:be indifferent to. "radical" 'ideas 'an3 - subser+i'<' to rulers co'-$tedS bi 'the '60"loniaf'

\ governments. The nascent political movements effectively used family and ethnic 'links - between town "and (countryside to mobilize support ere even "in the' most remote areas,, where traditional leaders! often etrongly resisted the challenge to their authority. ' t such was the pervasiveness of change that everywhere people wanted "modernization," at least to the extent that , they understood it. People wanted more change, not less. They wanted more schools, more roads, more tkade, more jobs , more of everything Europeans had. introduced. The emerging political elite promised , to achieve these goale and' gradually united their achievement' to the winning of independence: economic development would proceed even more rapidly once Africans 'were in command of their own destiny1 Thus the political mobil'ization of the African masses .'represented an affirmation of modernization, not an atavistic appeal for a return to pre- colonial^ conditions - just as was true for independence 5movements in other part8 of the vorld. I As African nationaliak gained momentum dbr'ing the pdstrar ykari, the colonial governments at first . used repredsive measures. Where violence flared it was suppressed by force. There' were strikes, riots, and %unrestin many area8 - , Ivory coast,' Cameroon, to name *a few - and open rebellion in several colonies. ,, .Thousands .of people -- more than fifty thousand, according to some estimates -- died in the revolt in Maaagascar in 1947, and the Mau. Mau uprising in Kenya in the early 1950 's received world-vide publicity. ' Soon, , however, European ef-forts at repression gave way to accommodation. ~nvolvedin fighting colonial in other 'parts of "the globe - Vietnam, 'Algeria, Ualaya, ~uez -- and forced to recognize the consequences of their depletedLwealth and power, both. ~ritainand

France were understandably 'fearful of being drawn into + guerilla wars of indeterminate length with disaffected African populations. For these and other considerations, they began to plan for at peaceful transfer of political sovereignty which would ,damage as lit,tle as possible the other ties 'binding their colonies. r Beginning ili 1957 with Ghana, led by Kwame Nkrumah, British. and French colonies h Africa were accorded internal self 4overnment and then independence in rapid succession, in some, instances more rapidly than African leaders themselves might have wished. It is significant, however, that when the Union Jack and the ~ricolorecame do& .over government buildings, other flags remained flying. These were the ensigns of shipping companies, trading firms, and banks, which remained under European control and, with few exceptions, rekin so to the present day -- a theme that will be discussed f~l~lowing. There were important exceptions toBthe, expeditious transfer of eokereignty on +acconmtodating terms. Belgium' and Portugal failed to appreciate the realismr of British and ~renchstrategists. B,elgians long maintained a- false sense of . security, . con£ ident in the farsightedness of their strategy of not creating elite .cadresk (which must 'be accounted a success, for only' aeveral dozen Congolese had graduated from' college at the time of independence and there were no African' physicians, ' engineers, agronomists. ' or ady officers) . In 1960, in the wake of disorders ,'"Belgium .reversed 'course and granted

the 'Congo independence with almost no a preparation. ' The, country collapsed into and anarchy and Congo, now Zaire. has never recovered from the debacle, disaster coypounded by the dictatorial and : corrupt misrule oftpresident Mobutu Sese Seko. Pr , ? ", , 6 .> * 1 . s. 3 ,' 5 4.. . " % , 3 *C. T, . ,

': '.,' T& ~~lazkt~~ekakodictatorshipI ,,. in‘ ,:~d.=k~s&l$&adfast ly. refused,

tb' cbnceiie , the' right #'of ~kricans*.,to 'self -determiiiition,'+ claiiing tkat . their c6lodiis were %nt egkl province^ of Portuga'l . There' vere large numbers of ~ortu~ue6e"'dettlers in ~<~ola(@35,'000 by the'19708) ' and &+mbiqiier (t220,OOO ' by ' the ' 1970s)' to,' sustain: , the , government$',s. detkrminitidtb resist ~fricanliberation,mov'~ent6, but':vi'rtually no in' vhe~e'~ortugal was likevise forced $0 fight , le~t gi.inting Guinea 's' 'independence8:atand a:a,'a precedent for the :'two much l@i&erahd ' bore'*valuhble'c0fonie8;~ . 'The three colonial wars la8teii until '1974, ' when ~ortugue'searmy officers vho '~,despdiredof continuedi, f igbtidg toppled ,.the';caetano ' regime and expedited the independence. of.

,. , the'~fiican,. ., colonies. *st+ of the Portuguese hettlers in ~ngolaz ,-%and Mozambique fled to Portugal, leaving behind ~uine'd.economiesthat the, victdriobs ~frican?'liberation, movements ' &v.e yet .. to rehabilitate., ~niola.and '~ozknbique lack educated and skil'led people .and. the

f inancia1 resources,,I A ". needed to repair and rebuild, '.and . are .'plagued by ongoing warfare with $oppositi6n groups which are. supported :by,South Af rCca to keep the countries destabilized and counteract the inf luenc,e':. I" , , hi . -

of Russians and cuban's. ' -' " , . ,, , : .+. A - Portrig&l,@s'intrans(i=i,c,e . with respect to ~ngdlaAd ~ozambi~ue,

loig :s&tved -'to prdtect the, 'ri*tirk~tii of ' the ~225,000 whites in (S@'"thetn) ~~odesiavho took pre-emptive 'action' in1965,, unilaterally z' add ; illegally1''declaring . their ., independence ](UDI) "from' ~ritain.:-

Saictions igposed by '~ritain'and' other, hations 'bad' little*is ef'fect , *a ou'. I the white - -s&tlet ?'regimebled by ,Jan ; '80. logg . asl Portugal :and

So~thA£ rica ' supplied> , Rhodesia.6j #. ' .The indepenae'dce ', of. .ndzambique, . together - with 'improving military ."xeffectivenees'+.on. the :part of .the , . Afiican liberation forces', " turned . the ' ', prompting ~ritigh: > -- diplomatic a': initiatives ' in -1979,. )e.and .' Zimbab;wels accession : to , ".*. a- , *, ",r,Z II

independence' in -1980 .' ' ' , am I+ - ;I; , :.f f~ , a- -- ~d':&turn to the : "co;=e periphe=y" mbdel jiievibbhy described, what .: th'e i&derk of ihdependencqe moiement ti', 'captured, & were bequeathed,. - were the,*". "core". , areas detieloped' by the co10nial~~powers, .which they " haire since maintained much the s&e ,as before. . If at: first' the elites.. thatr led the independence movebents acted in v'bt: they perceived .as2- their .nnations' best interest?, 'control of the "core" ,areas soon .became'. 1 ,, . for ' 'dny: leaders and ' ,their . entourages the , means to ., personal aggrandizement, while::: tthe .'int-erests . of. peop'le. .giving in the "pe~iphery"~-areas were .neglected much 8s they . had been inzcolohial tLmes.'. whether or '!not the leaders of the newly' "independent countries, cduld " have ' followed other political, and '. economicm atrategiea: is .a. " '4 *.a , . s,

matter of continuing co$troversy.* ' , r , .I~..*,>~ , dm...

-."What "d is; , c,ertain ; is : . that '~uro~ean. go\ier$ments a , formulated+ contingency plans-' 'that , were. designed to~protect. and . perpetuate - the

t''lvtcore" ',areas and their , lings to the " metropoles .:. France 's. po-licy of ,j "balkanization1' ,is : the- .'im~t'blatant . tixample. Prior %to granting

indepehdence' to ' , its 'colonies, ,, i~rance:' dismantb. ,. .. l=dd its ,,West Af tica

federation 8 territories) , add. Equatorial .: Africa;;, federation + (4 . territories) ' to ensure that it would &fterwardd deal vith +each.country on' a one-to-one basis (an ,,'.elephant andi s" mouse) , not with a : West; I I .I ~f rican :fedetation 'withi &~fFiance's pbpuletion .+thatmight "have,-=de : cobon ' cause with' the asmaller, federation' .and .in dealing, -.. with France, Eu~ope,' and'-the re& of, the .world. ' ore. characteript ic " 5" of !'-the ' period' of ' dec6lohiiat ion Geie' the' piof Gsional and' .:personal ,. ,, 3, '1 , '- . " '7 initiatives 'taken by French and British a&inistrators, missionaries,I educators, businessmen, and others' to smooth the transition to independence and foster continuing ties af tervard. During the period leading up to 'independence for the African colonies, France joined with West Germany, ' , Belgium, the , and Luxembourg to create the European Economic Community. (EEC) , or "Common Market ." The Treaty of Rome establilihing the EEC in 1957 incorporated the European states' respective colonies as associate members. What to do concerning this affiliation became one of the most' important issues confronting the African states on * 8 attaining independence. "A c I With the except ion' of .Sekou of' ~uinea-~onakr~,the leadere of the former French, Italian, and ~elgiancolonies decided> that it was in their nations' beet*interests to maintain affiliation with the EEC, along with close political, economic, 8ocia1, and cultural links with their former metropoles. They thereby perpetuated both the long4 existing' "core-periphery" relationships* between metropoles and colonies aid the recently established 'supra-nat ional EEC association. Eighteen former African colonies formally ratified a convention of association with the EEC on December 20,. 1961; which'became effective on June 1, 1964. Interdependence and reciprocities 'are ' the key ,elements . df .the aasociat ion, which is subject to ' renegotiation every five years. European countries retain privileged acces8 'to African market e for their manufactures and other commodities, while African states are guaranteed 'sales of specified quantities of primary products at higher than world market prices. In addition,> the EEC provides African nations with development funds, technical assistance, and other benefits over and above what France or other countries.may~provide to former colonies' on an individual basie: + I h Whet her ' the foregoing arrangements represent , self -serving expediency and the perpetuation of : colonial . dependency ("neo-colonialism") or a sensible bargain, negotiated by, far-sighted African leaders remains in the balance. For the new African States, the 'daunting a1ternat ive of cutting economic links with European metropoles band the EEC would have meant entering world markets in competition with 'Asian and Latin American countries . at a time of4 declining prices 'for primary products. As discussed ; following, the provision*that the association with the EEC is renegotiable -on a five year basis has be'en of considerable significance. ,

3 '1 Independence and af tewards .' The new ~f rican :el%& took power with an overwhelming popular mandate and endeavored to achieve theiripromises to 'speed modernization. Whatev-er nationalist leaders '- private assessment6 of economic prospects may have. been, they had sold- - .and oversold - citizens of their countries' on the prospects of rapid economic development and had no alternati~e~butto try to make good on their promises. During -the4 first years of independence African leaders benefitted from considerable outside assistance in pursuit of

their goals, as the former colonial powers, United Nations agencies, ; thef united iiStates', : 'the Soviet ~nibn,and 'other industrial nations. proffered financial and technical aid'. But 'within +a few years, economic conditions began to deteriorate in most countries ..*-, * a-

$ , *-.* I d. *b I #r* 7*i'~ i i. ' Many of , the development. , progr~s,initiated ; in African countries after independence failed ' or .were r, ,only.partly uuccesaful, .in many instances %or 'the '-same-'reasons ,that %any projects", bad, . failed :or been disappointing during ,:the colonial' few :exportable resources, shortages of ,skilledpand ' educatea people, .infertile - soils, droughts ,# pests, :end plant. adlivestock' diseases ..: These*obstacles to, economic

developmekt - had '! n~t"~di&'nibhed,vith independence.... .' and .could not: be

- overcche with zeal~and-determinkionalone..,. ,> , ?. ,.h. *

The 'planning ,and ' impl,+e~itation. of ' 'deve'lbpmeit programs : vere complicated by the, predeliction' .of many' leaders,for .experiments in "Af xican Socialism"; having 'experienced some of the worst excesses: of "robber baron capitalism, " they vere determined to ,, try' nev . economic and social :'initiatives. ' '~m~lementationof .:"planned1'- iconomies * and governmeat'-mhhge+',~enterpri~es. '(p~kastata'ls 1, had , the .consequence of imdosing ins'uperable burdens .on 'inexperienced , admipistr.ators, And there were ,too kew economists, agronomists, , technicians, and +,:other skilled :personnel required ' for. effjcient 'mbilization',of resources, even when their numbers vere ' bolstered ', by outside- ''experts', - - which ,: latterbvere 'sometimes'~equal1y inexperienced and;.mistaken -ina their.

judgments'. % In some instances ' donor .c'ountriea funded,, unfeasible -

projects or 'su'pplied inappropriate technology and equipment. G . "., eL:I "- Failures and disappointment 6 led, to disillusionment hnd- loss of confidence' i@goverken$ leaders. AS,time: passed 'there was increasing profiteering and 7-,'burekkcratic corruption 'in .many c'buatries. , And, ** uafdrtunately for ,Africa, the f lov of. , '- fore'ign aid":and3 investment.

provedh far less than anticipated, ' as 'donor countries. b*ecamev- preo=cupied with .other part's- of 'the, vokld (e.g .,. ',the,~~dle,,East and

' , Viet ..'Nan) :and investors became increasingly ,wary . of w involvement, in

politirally 'unstable less developed countries.. -... j - , '*, ... , - -'~tagicilly, ' too, 'during the"l960s '~£=ica~Ccono,iies 'were adversely: affected by erratic and generally declining, world market pricest: in &mary pioducts .1- 'price declines vith concomitant 10s-6a of revenues forced :--gbvernmi?hts , to cktail, ' development " , and ' reduce i expenditures: on' schools ,.. medical 'facilities,, and'other, government

services, :to +the cons ternation' of t~eir--'.citizens .:,, , The :.quandries confronting African decision maker's may',be:'appreciated from statistica -, concerning the decline 'of primary product prices from ,the . peak #years : in the' 1950s ,+ the mid-19608'; '~e.~.,teii prices fellm.16%,.*coffee 19%,; !, 543%, sisal ' 59X, ' and between - 1'955 and $965 the price,'*of.cocoa-., :

fell: :from ~'f500 per ton to less than- f 90. . ~rkreased',production to h', off set falling prices had'*the 'consequence of glutting world markets, contributing to further price declines. With suchdisappointments -and

vorsenidg' 'economic conditi'odsv ,. : 'few ""fathers of their',.:countries, ''..:

vhether ' or **the ' Nkrumah, could ,ha\res.realized - the i,s a I. "X., - , . '

inflated :expectat'ions df their people.' : %..,<.. ,. . st<,+. . .'$,r s .>. . .,:. mu !?Few*did Kwame Nkiumah was rewved fkom the,president):, by members :+: of - Ghana's ahGed' 'forces*'at the, beginning. of -1966, one of ..a wave .of:: i - army cpup d 'etat s in,".the. mid-1960s that swept ' .from power many of the r- men!who had -led ther''independence movements i ..Those ::who:organized *the : . , coups icapitalked "on, growing ,bisillibib+nt. .in .the : over-expec-tant s*d

hopes fostked' by leaders. " .'the frustrationsv engendered: %by .single.'-, parties' 'stif ling dissent; +:',the dissatisfaction i qf f azmers :pith + atke.. marketing :boards, ' which purchased, cash ; croids,,:.and the, ; widespread.:.:: knowledge that inany''~'1eader's!and% inembeis' 'of government had betrayed their trust by personal extravagance and aggrandizement, by fostering nepotism, and by other corrupt practices. 33. (1* i * a n CI The army -officers (and in some instances, non-co~mnissioned officers) who swept politicans from power represented another segment 9 of the nev elite but one no better qualified by training or experience to cope 'with manifold economic and social challenges. Few military leaders )were more successful than the civilians theycdisplaced. The most grossly inept and oppressive dictators included two military men: Idi Amin Dada of (1971-1 979) and Jean-Bedel Bokassa (1966-1979) of the Central ' African "Empire;" they and Nguema Masie ~i"~oto (1968-1979) of squandered the vealth of their states and terrorized the citizenry.

L . Since the mid-1960s t'here have8>beenmilitary take-bve=s .:in countries. , .*Somecountries afterwards returnea to 'civilian 'rule, e .g ., , in 1968 after 'a series of' coupsT;.Nigeria 'in'1979;'"and .

~h&a'in 1977 ,and 'September.>1979 (reverting t~ miplitary% &le inbJune 1

1979. and December 1981) . Only: a handful, ' of Af rican leaders' who : O' . founded independence movements : survived the :'1960~ and 1970s ,'" a

disparate . group , espousing dif.ferent .idea logies and methods of rule , that, defy : categorization: : Felix Houphou'et-Boigny+-of Ivory ' coast ; '

Ahmed Sekou-Toure of Guinea-Conakry, Julius Nyer'ere ;of' Tanzania, ' " I Bastings 'Banda , of .Malawi, Sir:Dawda. Jawara of the'^ Gambia2, and host remarkably,, Leopold S.. . Senghor of Senegal who ' resigned in 1'981," ,the 1' r" b t. t only leader yet voluntarily- to :relinquish +power to ' ensure-'a:' smooth' ' 1.1-r i*, I I, , transition .for ,a successor. , ". ' ., # e There were some :notable "success stories" in "the '1960s :and l"h0s'. I *, President Felix Houphouet-Boigny iof :$Ivory.Coast' sagely orchestrated,' '

French aid and investment 'to expand exports - in :coffee. cocoa,, 'timber, , and other commodities, greatly expandednthe.-'counqtry 's inf rastructure,'~,' , ; and spurred the $development of processing plants and otber industries .* , . presidentd . Jomo Kenyatta..of Kenya, who had been' imprisoned by Britain I1 during the,*, +.& , Hau Mau "Emergency, . similarly encouraged European

investment, assiduously, promoted tourism, and ; Apresided *over ''a . govermknt that rivalled Ivory Coast as the most capitalist-oriented '

in Africa. . Nairobi and Abid janl,.became centers **of-# 4communications, trade, and banking and the African headquarters of many European and. American firms; as such, they furthered the progress of ~enya'and* , Ivory Coast as "regional cores," building' on developments from

a. co lonia 1 times . *I .. ' ~igeria,*'the : mist, ,populous , African 'state. - was .thrkateriedL'*'+6ith,,, disintegration by the Biafran *:War (1967-1970)~. :butlQqemergedwith ..a ,, '

revised 'federal system incorporating nineteen states * thats'-shared '' I '6 powers f omerly allocated to three polarized regions. h he nat ionride ''

disbursement. of revenues from oil production ha8 spurred economic."and* ' socialaa well, as political integration. .,Nigeria% itself repre'sets ''

the' most , important "regional core" :in tropi'caalAfrica, and: Nigeria 'and '' ' ' Ivory Coast acting in concert providedthe principal impetus *for,the creation 'of the Economic ' community of West A£ rican "Stat'es(ECOWAS)' 'in s* , , .It t ; . . < ;;'%, 1975..',* ,a

:Other ~'fricanstates: ,,were generally . less well -endowedG:with ' '-- I resources, less fortunate, in the elites leading their governments, or I '- a coinbination bf these and other- factors. .Elites .in some of ttie ' I poorest countries concentrated on retaining. lor capturing,'jthe "core" areas for the advantages to be derived in jobs, housing,' schools,~ medical kervices, and other amenities, abandoning even the .preten'se of -

fostering ixnprovement*~ in , the lives . of people living in the - +

5. "peripheral" regions of the countries. 1i ' ;- * -. m Economic conditions voteened in virtually ell African states " C during : the .1970a and., early 19800. ,' Primdry product prices ' were depressed in rorld patkets, 'while .a~seiveincreases in *:oil v rrired , energy :cortr nenotmou8 ly ,:and' conttibuted' to spiralling drts of manufactuted ptoducts .' Conditions innumerous countries' were . ewCerbated 'by :natural , and humaarau~eddisasters., During the late 1960s and .l970s,drought ravaged rahelian countrier3f tom ~suretaniasand Se&gal to Ethiopia - and Somalia : Other countries were 'likewise' cif f littea &by sporadic droughts, by locurta, and by: epidemics of hhn. and +liuertock -di8ease. , countries were etnbt6iled in' warfare i Wari of "'liberation in Angola, Moz&inbique, ~~inea-Bisia~,'::&ad'

Rhodesia/Zkbabve; var + over . the disposition of the - territory -and - people of :' Spanirh ~ahara; vats*+,between 1 Ethiopia aad Somalia, uyand :, Tanzania :and. ~~anda;; and. interfiecine .conflicts in countries such ''as'. ughhd,a,; Angola, . &d Lj :,.were.. - : not 6nly destructive for the 'Eountiies' : I concerned,:. biit epawned thourandr of .refugeeas , di6hpted tail and road cohunicat rons, ' inte~fered with.ptograms to eradicate humah had animal: . ,* diseases, . etc., all !of vhicLhhad..eerious, consequence8 for'neighboring' - countries. In 1982, the .Phelps..8t6kes Fund eeti~tedthat thete' were ,,,

2" ""8 '6 i 6.3 million refugees i.n Africa. .. *,.. . - ' : j .., ,I, ~ndividuallyand,, collectively A£ rican governments .could do lit; le to ;' preVent ,iAor.'. ,resolve: ,therec--conflict8 -or ; ameliorate their .. consequences. *, ,.The Organitat in of Af tican: Unity",(oAU) was: f ounaed i'nL

1963 vith'a ' =hake;' to "promote' uxiity and solidarity "modg:Afiicin ! states''; however, :governments *are: unwilling to ''permit ~ibterf erence in .L their 'domestic matters, and..Greluctant;.to..'intervkne in winter-state *; coif licts. , he' OAU secretariat:, in Addis Ababs lacks : ~ubstantiv'e: • powers'. vhich ., ere ' :effectively,: reserved to - :heads-of -st ate8 meetings a. where :it hasL of ten :been impossible:. 'to*..reach1 coneensus on ' critical - -1 I_ a iss$es, ,,.. or,,: if , decisi-ons a&' reached, to 'obtain ,thes! support : br : . 4 coniplia'nce of member.,states aftervkrds.-: Ifthet'0~~'a- roled is at ' . largely 8ymbolic, it serves 8s a ' valuable :for@ and ' as-'an . -d , L ;,. ,,k. .. ,I . 8 - emblem: of ,. the gaal. of cont inent-wider unity. , .* ., . b ' ' ~xCe~t:;for countries producing oil, steeply riliihg prices' fer pet~oleumproductsi .all: but bsnkiupted many, ~f ricin -staettis'during :the , - 1970s ' and., 1980s. . The. Organization of :~etrole&;~xporting' countries , '

(OPEC) . obtain& a A fourbfold increase ' in oil prices in 1973-1974, ana C by '1980 a barrel of oil cost fifteen times what it had cost' in ,1973: ' Many .African states were .forced tohexpend :moteothan, fifty *,per cent' bf : . - their-.foreign exchange earnings ?on petroleum prodUctb ' and" borrowed heavily 'from ..banks" %that+ were ''recycling" OPEC deposits 6 ' oil price" ;- ri~es:conttibuted~,greatly $,to world: inflation, increaniag the -prices of , .s; manuf actwed goods, :while ;the deepening world rkcesbiod contributed to Ir a decline*. , - in -;purchases; :of .primary :products and ' fu'rtheri' depressed , , prices. - In ,1982 it , was,$.estimated ,that terms of trade, for ,'; ptodu~tA'% ;6is-+->i*., manuf acturesT.had decreased by ' 30% in the bte$iobs '- : u , ' decade Many: African . countries ,time *and again were 'unable -to 'meet , , goveihmedt payrolls, reduced social services, and c,urtailid .' L 1 I- , ,- development pro jectr , especially : in. "peripheral" areas. The tmoney',+'f .L many countries is, no. {;longer<, freely ', 'convertible into. leadingbwo.=,ld , 5 ,I curr'encies, .e notable;;.exception~*~beifig:,the CFA franc ,,uied-. by ";'.

~renc*~eaking; countries -,and . backed by !* t h= a Bank' "of ~rahce.' ,, "Asbank .+

Y .:come- due, many govertlments -;are forced- to' 'tes;hedule, paY4ientq* incurring ,: heavy, burdens of: indebtednes * that pobrer countties will, ' never .- be,::; able to repay, with consequences that remain to' b< ':> , '~ &@ _ " L"^1 determined. . " )- 2 :*', 8 '. ,+ - ..', ,,, '"-? : - The devastating consequencesY oi &rld inflation and concomitant depressed prices for primary products combined .with bureaucratic mismanagkent may be appreciated from the predicaments of onescountry.

In 1981, Tanzania spent 60% of ,its a export earnings on petroleum products. Whereas in -1972 five ton6 of tea vould purchase a tractor, by 1979 thirteen tons vere required; and three times as many cashew nuts and ten times as much tobacco were needed to import a seven-ton truck. Less easily desckzbed .,in. .suc_h_,graphic terms 4j.s what the

consequences may be for. individir'alsw*and f &3lies a growing tea, cashew nuts, and tobacco; During the same period. state-controlled companies and xgricultural' projects proved .grossly imef f icient with many costly failures, besides which Tanzania -fought an expensive war to overthrow Idi Amin Dada, ,ail.of which contributed to the virtual bankruptcy of the country's economy. If huge increases in petroleum' prices and the videnipg disparity betveen the 'prices of primary products and manufactures were beyond the control of African governments,; a general decline in the rate of.: increase of food production vas not. In the 1960s and 1970s development plans generally neglected the agricultural sector of the economy (except for' state run farms. that have generally -been mismanaged, inefficient, and wasteful of resources) in contrast to investment in infrastructure, manufacturing ent erprbes, hotels and other expensive facilities to stimulate tourism, plus housing and other 'amenities for government off iciaLs ' and employees. These and - other expenditures, mostly in +"coret' areas, ,'stimulated continuing *

labor ' migration from "peripheral" 'areas, depleting a the number of cultivators inhibiting increased productivity. A6 economi~conditions worsened, governments b=came increasingly concerned that the large numberb of unemployed or marginally employed people in urban areas would foment civil unfest and. revolution. To forestall, or respond to, mounting dissatisfaction in "core" areas, governments resorted to maintaining low food . prices by. means ;of food . imports (low priced rice from .Asia, notably) and use of American f ood-f or-peace aid. As economic conditions worsened, leaders ' subsidized prices of staples, adding to the burden of government . The consequence of such policies was to discourage food production by cultivators in "peripheral" areas. Unable to compete. with the subsidized prices sof food sold in '"core" areas and confronted vith spirallidg +coats for farm equipment and spare parts, gasoline, and fertilizers (many of 'which are petroleum-derived) , farmers had little incentive to increase production either of foodstuffs . or cash crops,

I and in some areas reverted to subsistence cultivation. . i '+What hkes lagging food production an 'issue of -critical significance is rapid growth in. most part,s of Africa. Statistics are unavailable or are of dubious reliability for .many areas, but the consensus is that the in almost all African " , countries is increasing at an 'annual rate of over 2% and that many countries have- rates of increase over 3% annually. The dilemma for African governments is *how .to stimulate food production in "peripheral" areas without raising food prices for people living in

11 core" areas thereby risking civil 'disorder. + Where food subsidies

have been reduced or announced, public unrest has followed. An * increase in the price of rice .was .a major factor in -the overthrow of

the' government@ of .~iberia in April 1980, A and , rice.?:shortages 'i '2' " IX - ,' 4 * , , ."A I", e .,. "Ir ' " * c .e contributed to a coup * in ' ~uinea-~isoau*~~ine.:Hovedbber ' bf ,. the 8aqe; year. Leaders in othei cothitried have " ,been careful notyto .court the sane . fate. *:United-Natioha+~agencies,':the World 'Bank,"~USAID,"and other t international and inat iohl*organikat ions, are current lyaccording. high priority :to ibcteaiing: food production in African. countries ,.l but c. pro jocted -population increares 8eem likely to , surpasr .agricultural productivity for: the ' foreseeable ' futuke, af foidiag':., - , grimkbrobpectun' ,. , ': ., a (, A,&- f o= many1of *'the poorest nat ion8 j ~ , ;, *a . 0

. . I) ;+ : None : of $*the--'foregoing *id unique to Africa. Such are ;&&a pat'tetna 'in'r"thirii"' 'end "fourth" %worldcountries on other cunt inento addsdnetitut'e thcjprincipal irmues lassocihted with the %orth-South" - A' 'd&*lo&&X$&~~deeloped and, *les~'developednht ions. Unique to 'the, - if thann' c&it inent ,* ' hovever ,:' ark' the congerie'a of .,intractable problems ' associated vith vhite-ruled South Africa, e&n&ically. the most

powerfulL'rtateon the hfrican continent, *where -4.7 million .whites* m control :the destinies of 20 nillion' ~f ricans , '3 .'aillion. Coloureda * (people*of :mixed ancestry) , and 1 million people of Asian descent. . South Africa aomiliates southern and with its mining and industrial economy, its productidn 'of aurplos - food ':grkl with low ..

paid. African .:labor,: and by , the economic * influence: -it: wields. from

employment - of :'migrant laborersI i- I, from' other ,'8countrico. Socitb ~frica

aads t6 'these ' advantages by /I policies' which destabilize, :&d disunite a

neighboring:: African states bp means: .'(of eco~~c' and : l,iticalL pressures. ~outh,>frican"aup~~t, for opporition' xiovkntr such as: UNITA;, in dngola led .'by '3okd Savimbi andlethe &z'smbiq& : Resistance: .L - Movement (HBn) ' impede national, '*unificationand econmic 'deGelopment,,. , and sabotage of commudir8tions netvorks "by : ic~~bers*.of opposition groups fosters ~coritinuingdependence'on* , .South",Africa . .,, 's*..railwaye. and" , , > 1, ,b , ." * i '- * ports a '* -. . . -A - . . . ti ,.-. South -:,:*~ftica" s .internal' poli=ies, modt nbtab"ly ~oariheid,, (separation of races), :' thexex'fiusion of ~fricansfrom South African 1)

citiien'ship, an3 the '-c'reatiod'of' '"independent" . African. " ratellite : 'I states, ;-,area.condkne'd by' ' African' . countries and most of .' the , other :

nations [of+ the vorld.' yet .'neither Africans "living ,' in South'. A£ rica, I .' the'''governinents:': of ' independent ~fricanstates, nor thdse of . other

nations'~have'found+'eff ective *means to cause ~outh,~frica to change ,:its , racist : policies,. ' ~'~~peals'to. the united t~ations,to 'western European

countries,'; 'andi tothe United, State* are .eftectively 'neutroliz,ed by;, countervailing: lobbying 'by 'South Africa,' by the op~~itioq;~ofpowerfui;, - 1I int'ernkional :business interest6pr0fitin~~~fro~'ptescdtcopditioncl.*-in : ~ the :.southern Africa "regionel'~'co~el'.dokiiattid by South '~frice,. and by ~ western military 'analysts vb >regard South Africa .as an invaluable I bulvark &gainst - conmiuni?t influence and , subversion in ~f rica. . ."Cold - I ~ar"~~"strategists:skill5 ulli secbddedi'by the .activitieo of the south ;, ~

- African ': inf oniat ion '!service ' (including filler : material provided + I I ! American" newspapers' en& teaching material8: sent "to ~chools). stress the., . u

importance ' for the western' "alliance $of $he flbw . bf: %trat&icll... .. a !I minerals from southern-'and' central ~fricaand the '

the' policies they :fobnulate ' for i their ova - countries, and .in: the relation^.^ they foster ,with ueighboring states and countries .in other I

parts . of the world; . :. , . f ,

~kspectis'for lesd developed couot;ies with oil* reserves are

cdnsidcrrbly- .better, ' given '~orld: Bank project ions for - ongoing' increases in energy 'prices. In recent years, dignif icant quant iti'es, of oil' have been discovered along the coasts-,ofz vest: 'and west central Africa which ensure additional income "for a number of states.'. heir I strengthened eco~mies*,can rigoif icantly : affect those of -neighboring

8tates ,-'from :the remittances of labor. migrants and f rout .purehasek of a foodstuffs and*other ckditier. Nigeria ,and Ivory Coast are already at regional 'cores" "for West Africa;, 'Cameroon, : , hand 'Angola : chn increasingly serve the same ,role for Ueat Central .Af riea .-:: . .' 5,,;:. %ny African :countr'ies .poreens ,great,mineral wealth; and ongoing : prospecting ,has.located, important: new deposits in recant years. Their - exploitation avaits increased world demand. Even modest improvements : in world. ., trade and more stable !prices - for minerals and .,other"primary products .' would be of" significant consequence. for. :,many hfrican cou$ries, -as would improved 1 international cowdity 'agreement sa.:and

I&-term contracts negot iate,d as part of the ''North-South dialogue ."tr

e:,'predictable, b 'market : .conditions would * make * vastly "easiei 'the. p*nirig ' , of - government budgets and "expedite -, development3 projects*!. Much ;can 'be accomplished in .such circumstances by -,progressive leaders

capable pf *' 'harw'ssihg A£ ricans ' strong commitment . to : improved

,,".., - lI .k7r ?" staniiarqs of living. :, '"' :, . , ,. ', , - I, ' Moie' efficiently 'adminiatered technical aid,. eqiecial-ly a@'al"iedto: ' agriculture, can relieve present and: .projected foodn~'.shortagesand ' provide the respite needed to , implement measures - to reduce population . ' .increases.. During the .past. tvo decades .countries in!east ahd,southx Asia have .'debonstrated . .that ,.fertility rates. can be oignif icant ly lowered and ' population :increase . slowed vhil'e st the see.+time'; -' improving agricultural productivity in conditions n~t\~.dissimilar~ltd' tropical Africa. African countries can f ollov such :exampleb, adapting - and 1: modifying dsian and other programs, ! starting from much iloircr A*. . - " a population bases - and , populat ion-land ratios. * subetalit ial increases in agricultural productivity cazi be -8chieved ,'.' C in many African countries by the application of techniques developed %.

elsewhere in the vorld during: the ongoing "Green : Revolution." '"~ost, * Africans fah :their ovn land, . and there are few disincentives 'to ': ( .L . - enterprise such ' .as :"absentee landlordsjz chronic . indebtedness A to u mode$-lenders,'" et; ., ;&ha .as exist, in South Asia and - -els&h&e: ' - Lacking financial resources and trained personnel,* on1ys.a few Xf rLcan

countries have . yet *made ef f ectivc use of th=: Kigh' :yield 2' hybrid; ,.' . . : u f ertiliref,~,,'improved irrigation techniques, : :.pest .control measiates ,- etc'., pioneered,'in other parts of the ,vorld. Host; if.-not 'all ~fiican-',

countries +can :feed : their , , populations sand :more, . and*- sohi: countries* have: the' potential', to- meet regional food #needs,:for the:^^' LI 0 I p * foreseeable,. . future.. , Huge, . lightly populated Sudan with its:!vast:: soilA' , andfwater- resources "may4become ' the granary of the Middle East; -; besiiies:::. & producing 'much greater quantities of cotton, sugar, and other cash . .II. crops than at present. I1 ~f rica ' s sahelian and savanna regions have enormous poient ia1' ';or livestock production that can be achieved with expanded programs, of eradication and control of trypanoeomiasis, rinderpest , and other diseases, hand by herd improvements through selective breeding. Africa can contribute significantly to increased world protein consumption by I greatly augmenting present exports to 'Europe and the Middle East and by developing markets in , Russia, and south and East Asia. " An ' improving world economy will benefit the idirist industry, blighted by recession and higher airfares due to increased petroleum prices and *inflation. Notwithstanding that tourism is acknowledged a ' mixedpblessing to the countries involved, it can be. a valuable means of' acquiring = foreign &exchange for countries with : beaches and game parks protected flfrom poachers, which attract sun-sta'ked northern Europeans on winter holidays and camera-toting Americans and Japanese. The extent to which individual African states will be able to take advantage of opportunities in the years of slow world economic growth projected for the 1980s and '1990s is problematical. The pooiest states, especially those wracked by wars and civil strife, may repain impoverished and "undeveloping" for years to come,h I plagued by misgovernance, bloated and inefficient bureaucracies, bankrupt treasuries, undisciplined armies, corrupt* police forces, decrepit infrastructure, grossly inadequate health and educational programs, crime-ridden cities in the ,"core" areas, banditry along the roads, and neo-subsist ence for people living in "peripheral" areas. For the ' people living in , such countries, the principal economic out lets will continue to be labor migration to areas of economic development, wherever they may be found, however distant -- a rever sion to conditions not 'dissimilar to pre-colonial times and the +early decades of colonial rule: On the multi-national level, if the likelihood of effective continent-wide leadership byr*the Organization of African states is problematicalt, prospects Yor regional "groupings are quite promising. One ' consequence of the devastating 1968-1 973 sahelian ,drought was the 'formation- of a-~ermanentinter-state committee of eight West '~frican states to combat drought conditions in the Sahel (CILSS) together with European donor countries (Club du Sahel), focusing on food production and other aspects of economic *development. noth her example is the states along the senegal ~iver

Pnd ~imbabrfe'.-"add , has as its :objectives' regional . dev$loPent .> and '- "~cbnoinic 1iberat"ibnJ1 from ,South if rica, the latter obje=tive certsin ' t6 be opposed by""south ~fricaby, ,various means. .. Huch depends on. a xnodus-:'iiiv&di *ith ' South Africa, . whether a shdrt term I1o&ist Ge" or

' the-ptogreidive reconciliation ,of iss(es on a''loag-tew basic. ' , -- :' : &iikides' -the"."'~nited:' 'Ilations, the most kpo&?t interdagio'hal association for wst African. states, will.,continie to :be ;their :affiliation vith the European ~couoinitCd*ity ... , w',here have . +em ~nbtibleddc~~lop~~dts*inrece~k.,~ears. Britain's +entryinto , . .A'EEC:,~~ 1973 made -its :former colonies 'eligible for asebciatioa, - most notably

~i~tkia,the*"mbst' pbpiilousl skate in ;sub-~aharan,~frica; and, 'L in. 19-80, - Zimbabire,,,anotber, gportant *,&riret for. Buropean. ioun~ries. . She former '~frican colonies' associated-Ivith %heiptpsnded ,. .EEC . (i0 , countries in ,' 1982) ' toget her '*+with'.former "European coSonies .,.,,.in th& West . Eodies and

'pacific ,ocean nbb 'number . mdk' thah *sixty, ootions and are ko*llectively ' termed ' the' CACP'rcbuatries. Acting ' ' in concert, the' ' ACP countries >, f f,

- exercise ' .,far : greater a, lout" ""'vis-a-vis he EEC . countries :, - in

; lqui@wnnial negbt iat ions"' than was, %he , cas= in the 1960s. . Besides ".mandat3ing increaked ' development . funds . the + 1975 and . f 9-BOY , EEC-ACP conventions inclirded a for -, thea 4. first . t& .,&rgency: relief fo; the -pdbrest countries . f rcnn disastrous 'fluctbations' in .work ma&t' priSes gin certain cokdities '(Stabex' fdr ' chpnodities .and . 'H&X for minerals !'. 'Another bw clause permits. ACP bamf octute'si f .entry ''to *:EEC scolntries *.- If ' .theiehtter SEC , ,c,onckssion is df :only.. token . , tj -' ,. " - . - . consequence at.. present,." h it +y have"'.&aslderab~e 'future .,importan~e> <- ,as

-ACP c6untri.e; pursue $duftrial $welopmcdt. ' at s I, .-, ld:, :Tfie"foregoing -testifies.thkt th~,'coioa+al:'heritageq.indisputably

'kont inues to ' be "of salient ikportance for ' '~fri~ancountries in -economic and poli,?ical ;matters. The ,.same .is :true . ip;other spheres : - in -e"ndurin< links inechcation, , ' language, .and , cultural ties. ,,the

'llm~bhbe&~lv.-~fq. "shari'd .. histbri~alexperi&ces. -,. . . -- , ; , $-< -~ :< , * - .VieLed in lasgPr perspective, Af ricahi: pr&pects hr'.the .,future "8 % a

are. % I =iMrtricably2-linked with . those of hmericahs ' and people, qfj other '* 81 na t idns 'bf the: world,3 % ', whether "developk$"I or :, les,s developed .!' :* For ;all- bhare ' the' same inextricable and . . growing . links - vith - .the *world-economy *and the sine 'hpes f&. .kk~essedvor'id. trade. ,

scientific advances, and suppression,, of world'conflict., 1n ,a rapidly changing , world, ' witG, sckntif ic. breakthro&s ip, ngsi,culcure,

treatment: of diseaie,,' and * the ongoingI J.,:d&elopment ,of w,technologies to ' &it ' hlm&*. - ne&; 'current , perspettivos . kwming,., . Af sican develop-t 'in..the":ehprt-ryn may prove overly8pessimist-k; md as for

:the lo'ng-term, &hat historian can ; fail : to,hear the echoes of the remark made by that 'Roman+ legionnaire' departidg + f ram Britain) so :long '.s " ' 4 < + ago': 'l.~hey'llLne~ermake it!" . ,, , b +.., , b‘ a .#,I ,,-< '-' ' . " a a. m.,

". BIBLIOGRAPHICAL,, .NOTES . ..*,-a!e , , . !.,! ' A . - - - ' 4: ,\ ,+ > i ' k.' ' , ' + *' r* -8 " , .* ,l . , c ,A Ct 4 .. x -' > < **$", - 4 2. I * .', , :-* ~k~oi'i'tion-' and, ." 'athaly S-is df the pt~bl&$.,. df . legs , beveloped 'coitntiies - co&rises. a large+and' tendentious , literature. The framework

of :. the '' foregoing essay9-owes dch*'to two I' scholars : bin: 5eidman's

inkightf ul.' 'seinirkr 'presentat ion 'it *lndiank IJnivetsity , in . sept&bei I j I, : I:, s-, , , - 2, * . , b < 1 ,-. -, . _,, I' , . 1 -* ' < ,-- ,. , --e -yr < 7 ,I ' 'T '- .4 A 3 - f' .., . ,' * , a \ 'sJ . - , , - I, '? "%" "1 ", ' ;..; .i" ' .3, < * " .* .,I& , r :i. .,. r II r r - . . - . ."" T4 41.

P b 1970; and Immanuel Wallerstein's stimulating .analyses, most concisely expressed in "The' Three . Stages of African Involv'ement in' the • world-Economy," .in. P.C.W. Gutkind and .I. .Wallerstein,iaeds., The

Political Economv of Contemporarv Africa (Sage Publitat ions 1976) . + For "background reading on the period covered by this essay *see3 relevant chapters in Martin and OIMeara, Africa and sections of -othert books cited in the Bibliographical Notes~following*thefirst essay.' ' For an admirable , discussion of much relevant #literature, consult Frederick Cooper, "Africa and the World Economy, I!. African '*Studies Review, : XXIV, 2/3 (1981). A wealth of statistics and analysis ' is presented in the World Bank's Accelerated Deve1o~ment.hSub-Saharan Africa: An A~endafor Action (paperback 1981 ; reprinted 1982) . World* Bank forecasts for the 1980s and 1990s are conveniently summarized in a twelve-page pamphlet, "World Development;Report, 1981." The worsening :circumstances in 'most less developed countries *:in recent decadesd:aree delineated in Assefa Bequele a'nd 'Rolf Vans Der :Hoeven, "Poverty;, and Inequalityvin sub-Saharan Africa, '' International ,.Labour: ~eview,.rVol. , 119, No. 3 .(MayoJune (19801, 3819392;- *and ~Ke1ith~.Gri'ffin, "~conomic~eve1o~m;nt":in; a changing World, " World Deve'lo~ment, Vo 1. ;19, Y '

rb . < .,

IS, , 1 1') 1 /(I No .a3 (1 981 I,, 221 -226. .. ,: I* a , 1 + , v...Two books that may appeal to4advanced students. are John Ellis,"ThB- Social History gf- the' .#Machine Gun (Pantheon, 11975) and Naomi :,Caiden and Aaron Wildavsky, Plannin~and : bud net in^ Poor Countries (Wiley," 1974) . Ellis ' book includes numerous,~illustrations~~~*and will bemuse. readers with the tragically unlearned lesson that after cutting down

non-whites for decades, 'Europeans ' fighting World war' ;I : .'seemed astonished to learn that machine guns were no less lethal against each other. The" droll-but-serious "P~ologue"~of the : Caiden and Wildavsky book may stimulate .students to peruse other sections of an informative introductory work on economic development. lColin:Turnbull, The'Lonelv African, a sensitive and percept'ive, study, by a British,anthropologist, '. is highly recommended for background reading on the period of 8

#. riii transition from colonial rule . to sindependence. ' ~ ::: :: : .%. ' ' L , "Keeping current" on African affairs requires reading a superior newspaper,. that focuses on contemporary world inter-relationships, such as the Christian Science Monitor or the highly recommended English weekly news journal, The Economist, which is available via airmail at a reduced teacher and student subscription rate. Two free U.S. government publi~ations~thatare especially useful are AF Press Clips, conpiled weekly from a number of newspapers and journals by the Department of State (Washington, D.C. 205201, and Agenda, a monthly publication of .the Agency for International Development (Office of Public Affairs, Washington, D.C. 20523), which features short photo-essays concerning problems of ;less developed countries and development projects world-wide. The publications of the University Field.- Staff International (prior to 1982, American University Field staff) are written by scholars with many years' experience in the parts of t5e world they cover. Reports on Africa, by Richard Critchf ield and J . Gus Liebenow are especially recommended; their perspectives -- historical, current, and future -- ensure that their writings have continuing value. Ongoing deve lopment s in ,_ Southern and Central Africa areJdeline'ated by experts in two volumes edited by Gwendolen M. Carter and Patrick O'Henra, Southern Africa: Tile- Continuinq Crisis* (Indiana University Press, 2nd Edition, , 1982) and International Politics' in Southern Africa (*Indiana 'University Press, 1982). Both volumes" are available in paperback.

f** C f , , r." +6,,a.y-a., , < + 42. 4;;; ? tvJ -i c.; . -, ;t .., - ;% b: !! i , , .' i - ':I Novels.; written-.:by Afri,can authors :,are one: 'of the' best ineans .of gaining :insights: into' :*the.manif old changes ,Africans have erper:ienced in "the,: past ..tvo l.pra three. generat ions .., Especially recommended .,.'are Camare !.Laye, 'The Af rican Chi'ld;. Chinua Achebe, Thinzs >Fall:A~art. and -No .Lonner .&l gage ;i- .Ferdinand Oyono , - Housebov; . -,James Ngugi ,' :, WeepP.xot Child; and Jogeph .Pfuangi,.Kariuki; mu fiu Detaingg (all ~but~,the6firstt are .-availablec.in ,paperback: irthe Heineniann ~Africah.~.Writers.,Series). Thre'e .,:of many '.:fine~:tnovelethat deicribe life

a. !,!

as .they can, \ising ,standardsre'ference'works. ' ; .-I:.' ' ' .-' ,,~\+ * ,. ? . )I . . .) / ,' :: , M% , - i' ' , " , .' ' . .. .(+ I ,' ' 1 ,"a ..*~- . * .; .; .When did, the country ;,become ' independent? : :q4-. : C s ..-- .. .+ nf ,,,., * f t' . : ,. * ,- ii *,1 8,' r t;$- ,:, -,, - ' 1 i', " t. -4.l , , ,I" *',". . -5 , , 11* ., ' *- I I( * .. a* , ..

a '* a What 'form of gover&nt ,did:it .haveiat ,independence? : Now? . -

. . . , , ? b < . .* ** t a"..(* ,,- . A, -. ., . . , ,> :, .* : ,:- . . . * .. . ,. * , ,, .. < , .p :?; , . I dl L I_ < % f( What' social c1assesior:;ethnic group& cdntrol,:the government~*san~ed~ - < , ,'" ' i%es ,l and religioks: and. cducat ional institutions? -t *

, "2" ,$ 1 " A - , .,- , ." 8 ,.. is' (0 + A f.18 a 4.6' 4 ''2 i r L - *%,J. fq What are the country's principal" exports?. Total"amounts and %?s. -

.*~< . , . r: .; , ,~ b"# 6 -,*( , .,,,. . z * ) ** , , ,*< :< , r, .. .. 83 + " &. %. .

~"~:.~Who;otmsthe principal resources*: mines; plantations: etc.? t.'b',, , > I' -. ,I , 8; ' -i'.., i t +>a .*.#' . , ' r:, ,, . . - ' I< , - I I , 8. ,, ,"*&' ; * . . - ,>L

he econbmic .ties aze yith which 'countiies? '- :) a ,' ,-- t > m "" i ,, ".. - * fi *". ,l ? /_" 9 Yd ' I ,,, % + , c . v - 1"" . ., I.. :*:.<:\ : : ,:,,. - ;.- ,.'--.

.I a -Does the. c*ountry be'long to: a:-marketing arrangement. for its primaryr

*, , # > , 66 ,~ : ** ' ' *,,-' " i , LL 8, /% : - , '. ,.a product (s) ? .: :. 3, J,* - i.,i , , /I I t.' ' ., . ., , ? '0 +, " * .. ', , ,- , .<, , " ' i. IsC rr e, *' 1 bi ,i '1 I I* , , a 8,. .. * 4~'~~~, > ' .. . -. . . . What 'are the consequences -of the r"Green evolution?" :. '. : ; , -, , c *. . I. - , C' Y * . ? .. . . A.II.1 ; s r5 1 - 8, '8 8. 0 I I ' 1 ',: ' ' - What*-are the .consequences .of the OPEC''~~~price 'increasei?,,', $3I I', j.*,* "< >,. "-+-,.-,j*,.. 1 r c: . . I.".. ,.. * .r l *

;, :';:;; ,: 111I .: #.,y8 .: i :Role - in .the Nort-h-Soutli Dialogue? - : . * " * 1,i; *_\ -.#' ,i <',$ li '"'"': ." [ -I? :. I, ,=.; , . ; ," 6 2, <' a - k, . , .". " 9 M, .:'Role. in the Laws: of the :Sea 'conferences? ' . .:f . .... ::.'I: .i ' .iL '-.

, *+ I/' -,> (I . - , , < ,. .. .', "8:'. ,' .. * , 2 . < * ' , .. -7r*. .a. . +. . ..,At . ( I I. -" ". , , ForeignpAid : f ram whichLcountries?+How. buch? . . I-":... :" '- ;"fi:,I ?'.. ..

, ,.\ "" ' *', i t i'L "- ) I" I , is. <' I A" :,7. i8 ,I, ,'. -, ! ., ' .'! ' , .*

., ., Population andi~rateof : population increase?; * - - ::, ' : . , , I r

, *_ " ,,* < ",.r;! , ! ;, 8" *, *,# , , -35 ".I-" I . i'" I-v '. 4 ', C' -.i ' 9 r., sic , ., I 8 .... : . invariably. students . compare. :thkir:f indings , irith others, and shares-~

the&.. M . .~.. dismayc - in class at hot- being:.,able to' !'find? basic infobation,': or, express ,: puz~lekent.; at widely: divergent - statistics :conternink 1 *. - , .' . . 4 , * 43. C;i / 1 ,. 4* w h. demographic matters and estimates ofbther sorts. Such remarks -0 provide an opportunity for teachers to, query as to why such might be the case for specific countries, or to observe that planners must . somehow make decisions in such circumstances (analogous to playing'the game of croquet in Alice in Wonderland). Alternatively, students may prepare papers on major groupings of less develop'ed countries, describingAheir inter-relationships with world markets and developed countries, e.g., the ACP '(African, Caribbean, and Pacific) countries and "heir association with the EEC (European Economic Community); ASEAN (~ssociationof the Southeast Asian Nations); and-he Andean Pact countries in . Such papers' provide invaluable "specifics" so that students better appreciate the generalizations conveyed in assignments and lectures. A fruitful subject of discussion for*advanced students is to introduce themWtothe philosophical and moral quicksands of whether II economic development" and modernization^ for ' less developed countries necessarily means that "they should liecome more like uss'(?). This provocative theme can 'be introduced at different points of a World History or African History course, for example while dealing with Europe ' s transformations during the ' Renaissance and Ref omation, or when discussing missionary objectives in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Extended discussion is best saved for the end of the course, when students have completed assignments and are better prepared to grapple with the issues involved. One means to encourage students to pull-together and reflect on what they have learned in reading assignments, lectures, discussions, novels, and research on specific countries is take-home final examination questions such as the following:

Required Essay. Answer all parts (a,b,c). No more than eight pages total. Parts a and b count 15%; part c counts 10%.

a) Describe the chief economic characteristics of "less developed countries ." b) What are some of the chief social and demographic problems confronting most ldc's?

C) Why is the "internalization" of "Western" social practices and cultural values an issue of debate?

You may use examples concerning the country you studied.

Write an essay on the following. The limit is seven bluebook pages.

Imagine an African man or woman eighty years of age living in a village one hundred miles or so in the interior of either West or East Africa. What changes in hislher "traditibnal" way of .life has he/she observed or participated in during his/her lifetime?

, Cite examples from the novels or autobiographical literature you have read for the course which aid non-Africans in understanding the manifold changes Africa has undergone in the past eighty years. Be as 2 specific as you can. <' 'I' 44. -Jj

!1. , ?. r. ." - 'I i w ,. 7' C' *A -* , :< " .. % " i -' .tt1;- ... 7 * c b ,- , *.. ..% I , +-- , t $> . '- , , . ' -' *,',",, " I__ - ". $1 '", * ,, .+ I / , i ., " * -4. - . , C I. i , I,"+< . . 6' " , , '.' a; 2 a ' ' , ,, 8 " -- , I. ." '> i a . L 4 - " / 11- . . List the . nbiels' and . &tobiogtaphical: 1itekituL &us have read f&''the

course ,L . underlining one word . for brief reference in , your essay

(example':':~'~cheb~,I I ~hin~e' Fall art). :, Discws tvo bf thc:fol,ltiiring topic,s, , citing :exebples from'-the .book$. You are encouraged to inclkde, 'ti". & " 1 >

mdr&ialt'from urn bull j s Lonely African'. ?I +.I, . .,. , ,, ,, A , , - '/ , -, ' f I ... .

- . 3,: + + ".,- .., : '"~~*i~~~~&ibn" *.(I '

I ~abormigration , , . j . , I, ,,, + - i' . :: L r e

~uro~esn'ru?e& e; , . * f- 93 "'* Themes selected f&+treatment ..by.- . - . ,, A , ' 11issionar~:ictivit ies , #.., : -1. , <, ., Af. ricad authbis; ~elu~&'.~.: independencei movedent s , -:; ' * projected in nov'els* - ., _,, _ .

ducat ion in ~urb~ean-t~peechoolo , *' ',IA -2 "- ,,- , .I- . I , , . . Y " , ?'/ ^I 6 I. ? n:# , I 81 , *" . ': ,(? * I a, '1 , +The ~krica?qeritag= :+id the ~iive"Trade :.. . . ~, * 8 , AL. ,% t '-' What is Af iica 'to me': J - Copper dun or scarlet sea, Jungle star or jungle track, : 'strong bronzed men, or regal black I. Women from whose loins I sprang When the birds*.of Eden sang? . " 1

*i Until comparatively &recently, '~fro&eri,cans have known almost nothing about the African continent and its peoples, and,' with few exceptions, taken little! interest in their African origins. Such information' concerning Africa which BJack Americans did acquire over the years was generally untrue, .or%grossly misrepresented, and derogatory to themselves as well as to their African forebearers. This rejection of "their African heritage was a reflection of the experience of in America: the trauma of the African slave trade, the nature of the, slave system in America, the ign~rance~ofall Americans, white as well as black, about Africa, and, " most important perhaps, the long-persisting efforts of Afro-Americans to assimilate into the dominant white culture and eradicate all associations. with the African past. ' The long, unhappy era tof self-rejection, for'tunately, has ended, and Afro-Americans in the present era are re-examining ' their A£ rican heritage, and reformulating their relat ionqhip with white Americans. - e TO" appreciate the American stereotype of, Africa in all its perniciousness, one n;?eg only cite a passage from a sensational best-seller of generations past, the Reverend' Thomas Dixon, Junior's -The Clansman, published in 1905. (Ten years later the novel was made into a highly acclaimed motion picture, The "Birth & a Nation, which received the approbation of no less a personage than ithe historian-president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, a friend of Dixon from university days.) The subject of Dixon's* book was the< genesis of the Ku Klux Klan, the white supremacist organization whi'ch appeared in the 'American South after the Civil War, in the so-called

Reconstruction +,era, and set about to , intimidate . former fi slaves who ' seemed to. entertain ideas about racial equality. -Viewing its members as men consumed with a spirit of patriotism and the ideals of ~hristianity , the author portrayed the Klan as an organization dedicated to defense of "the southern ,way of life" the wayof white - -- supremacy -- against upstart freedmen and. conniving white . "carpet baggers" from the North. In a particularly melodramatic . passage one of Dixon's 'dramatis Personae delivers one of the most categorical1,and ' damning. statements on Africa's past which exists in,. print, an uncompromising *and Jove-like judgement which stigmatizes Africans asd less than human. In so doing, of course, the .speaker

justifies the perpetual dominance of Black people by the white race. +

i Since the' dawn of history 'the has owned the 9- : - Continent of Africa - rich beyond the dreams of poet's , crunching acres of diamonds beneath I his bare black feet- Yet he never picked one up from the dust until a white man showed to him its glittering*'light,.' - His~"1andatik&ed "ith powerful and docile animals, yet he never dreamed a harness, cart, or sled. - :A hunter : by 'necessity, he never made an axe,' spear or 'arrowhead 'worth preserving beyond the moment -of :-its use. -8e"lived as an ox, content tb graze fo9an hour.,' 'In la, land of stone and timber; he never sawed a"foot of lumber, ca~ed a block, or -builtra houee save of broken sticks and mud. With league on league of ocean strand and miles of 'inland :reas, for four thousand years he

watched their surf ace ripple-under the ,wind, heard ~ . :- - ,. I I r ,l 4 * . - the thunder of' :the . surf on his, beach, the howl of. , , i. ,< '/I,

: :' .'the1 storm 'over his head,'ga"zed on the, -., dim . blue . . "a .

t *.

.-. .* - s. s. *' p, b re

. " .horizon calling',hid to worlds that'. lie beyond, and , , I

+ .-. . :%. yet he never , dreamed a sail'! ' He' livedLas his+ -' - ' * s '. ,- :: fathers lived - stolev'his-food,"worked his wife, *" 3, * -.I (I.., - sold his' children, ate his*:brother, . 6onteht to x. h .x

I). , a

+ Ti , . : , ' + . . drink, sing, dance and t'sport :the ape 1 L" , c + , . *" -" 2 ,,*'., . * ., _L . ;, <, " ,, &', , " ,?* *".' . ,+ '* , ,,.* * ,. *-*I a, I

a ,, L *What is -sotrextraordina+ 'about sucp arran't nonsense]'/'s not 'thatdm'so many::white Americans , believed. it but- :that so' many lack ~meric&s:

accePtsed sit as well, and continued tbdo so.! untilrecent times. ' . ; :'.. Acceptance-5 bys,Blhcks of +' the notion that they*^ derived 'from"':; .. grossly: inferior culture '.was, .in truth, ; a backhandede.tribute,,' first,' to ,.the:.efficiency, of the slave''+syst~&'in~orth America and, second, to ' b the*,5 enormous -assirnilative capacity of the -'dominant ',white cblture. . Slave owners in the Old South so effect iv,elye4:miked. et hni~*-'~k$$~s: :and ' destroyed African social ~institut'ions, languages ,-"names, and 'reiigi'ons that, : to :an extent- -unparalleled - elsewhere .id .*thc','~ew"World,' 'the '' ;;. .. Af ricah. heritage becanie almost, completel~forgotten; :and', in t xme,

despised. - .i $Longp before their lemancipat ion from ' bonded':' 'slavery,. a moreover,,jAf ro*-Americans .'responded like: most' other, inmigrant group,s, in , 2

North America 5- r~ermans,:Irish, Poles,, -Italians'- and began rapidly, sn

% ' to acculturate to the ' accepted no,&sb' of the- doninant :+white,. :A Anglo-Saxon' culture'. '' 'And,' like - o'ther ~mmi'grants,:~lac,ks~ a 180: 'iag&ly.

assisted in idismant ling an8 effacing their own .heritage. ' ' : '. A. i. ' Ihdeed, ~f ro-hericand7:oeened to trys"&en hatdelbthin -idid other .

immigrant groups. :And ' in-'what seems: in retrospect: an. 'almost' pathetic',

effort to assimilate '-'into :white :culture,. they s.traighteneh theirdhair, : ;

whitened their:-: skin, an?ii'' selectively married the lightest, ,, among.

themselves r They modeled their behavior #patterns.on prevailing' white * mores. .!'White ..was " right!'" :+: Ineof ar asthey were 'f inanci$l'ly , able, . Afro~Americahs.~lenthusiastically'~sub~cribedto the: materialistic'

aspects &of: ~American' " culture: they purchased the most 1 populai or *. ,. fashionable 'make or model : of !everys conceiiable ,"coqdity,:"whether .. .'

l, %, automobil'es, .television sets; + corn "flakes, afte2-shave: Jotions, ' or.. ;. Scotch::whiskeys.' , 'Looters id' the Detroit riots of 'the','b~&hierof. 1967-, . were -observed toqsteal the top % brand names' 'first ! ' '~fro-Amer'icans, ,in .

short, ,did:everything they could to become as .~mericanas ' an);d.n$ else. . ' And undoubtedly they, like other hyphenated Americans,,would have been successful if >only they*could 'havepchanged -t'he' coior'of theirskin. Y I* ,, . ' . "i 1, - , ;.I % . #_ \,L -. ' ' I < - . . ,.' . i': ' " I r A 7\, , , . L : I*. , - -'a, L*--: 8 r. 47. c'

% At the same time that they were assimilating into the dominant a@ white culture, most Black Americans, as mentioned, were accepting uncritically the prevailing white stereotypes of Africa. ;Accordingly, * they almost *universally were rejecting their African heritage as something shameful and humiliating, and' seeking to divest themselves of any association with the so-called '"Dark Continent ." The handful of Afro-Americans who behaved differently did so less from being informed about Africa than from the shrewd assumption that because "Whiteyu had demonstrably lied about so many'other things he probably had distorted the truth about Africa as well. " Often as not, 'black children received their .firstr lessons in the inferiority of things African in their own homes, and reinforcing their prejudice at an early age were school .textbooks which .depicted Africans as the most primitive people on the4globe: Exposure to various media fixed such impressions almost irrevocably on the minds of black youths. There were "adventure" 'novels dealing with African subjects, religious pamphlets which appealed for funds to.evangelize the benighted heathen in.Africa, comic strips like'The Phantom and Sheena, Queen of the Junnle, ands perhaps most inf1uential~'of all, newsreels shot in Africa and movies, particularly those of the never-ending Tarzan series-which played to "insatiable audiences, black no less than white. Such .presentations almost invariably hapoctrayed Africa as "jungle" inhabited by assorted 'Inat ives ,'' that is, ' groups composed of primitive, chila-like innocents with improbable iratios of barebreast ed, nubile young +females, or, alternatively, half -crazed savages who practiced : unspeakably barbaric ,: rites and - were kept ' check .only by the unflinching courage . of Great White*Hunters, &the .: civilizing influences ;of self osacrif icing *missionaries, and .dedicated ' ' a - colonial' administrators who had taken up !'the white manl.s burden." ' i A ,,few.;Afro-Americans triumphed overbsuch 'brainkashing . and . learned

somethingqabout :what Africa was ,really like. -:Still, for ' the: great* mijority of Blacks,, subjected as they were: to an. unending barrageof :

prejudic? and, ,misinformation, .anymention of Af ricaI:ana:Af ricans -0 -, t' , . just as, with ,. white : Americans - #.: brought instantaneously . w**and.d*5 unt hinki.ngly to their minds such shameful images as "savage,"

"jungle, " "cannibal, " &. "primitive, " "heathen ,=" "naked, " " - "uncivil ized, !' ar,d other debasing .stereotypes. . Harold Isaacs , who

investigated. .this phenomenon -at the -close- of the., l950s,# "nade: 'the .*: f ollowrng analysis,in %TheNew World .of Negro Americans : , + :.- ' :* !: ,i: , 88,/r , , - ,/ 1./ 1 * "8 il ,il,am ,", i , . 0 ', *1: 5)) /I .I s ,$ , ,**u<. ' 1' 8 ,b a 8 a ' ? : ,;, ,: bi+ - . In, the; 'American Negro universe the ; word ."black1' ,,, , :~ became the key,.,word.'oftrejection,f an insult, ::a ' .$*.:.. ,I. . .

. . . , :: , ,* fighting word., Prefixed ,to any,name or. obscenity,: ., $ . a it ' multiplied the assault many. times. :I ,"suggest : ;,; . . .;

a' / , . . that every time, black was, ,used,or perceived. this . , . . way, the word African came after it, whether it was actually spoken or not, whether it was there or

I remained* *an echo in the mind. ,* For the Africans were the blacks, .the source of all the blackness, % the depths from which all had come, and from which all wanted to.rise. Africa was the "darkness" they wanted to .leave behind. in order to rise to the !'light1' of the white man's world,

, . / ,+!" , : "" ", I ,*I . 'I '1.. , "Y . 8 ,.I* '. i -: )I.*( . ; *, ,,"". , *. ."!. " " )I,. I .*Black: ].'~m&i~?nsacc,ept,ed ,,.-etch vievs :about '- Africa,, : : lacking, . inf oniat ion,. ,. otherwise, . ,.and-engu1,fed, by ;theA dominant white. culture. In"

Nobody Knovs & Name, published + in *I961,- ;James Baldvin evocat'ively . described A£ ro-Americans ' : "social :panic ,'I f earing8to -lose ..status .ion ..

'I 1 P -<, , ,-- this&&iLci'canl..% "laddergB,leading ;to ,success. ; v > , 6 #a t ' ., - ha'b, B ,: * * " , ".,*. ,e < ,$ 3 #.* 8 , ,: 9 , . . . . "1 , : . ; ',."" .l'i'* , .*' ,- , ,,

$: particular ladder,':. for;.:the psevailing*anot-ion- of *, , 8 P :,,;~::;~herican.life; seeme **to invo1ve:'a kind of y ''-

,< .. . . ' ,.. . , rung-by-rung ascension: to .some :hideously desirable: ,, I"' ' * ' , b

,- If :this i's one's :concept of life, obviously -;state. - -, . one cannot*afford to slip back one rung.:u When'-one - *slips, .one slips -:,back.+ not a rung ,.buts back into- , .+ , * 9 I n*. chaos.*and,no longer imows.who~he is. ;Andtrthis. #, I . rea

- XI S-I. ..reason, ,I this tf ear, suggest8 to. me ,one.of the. real , ,. . a< . 3- - .,, . reasons, for the2,-status of: - the :.Negro *-in this- ." I . .* k.

* + : ! ,. *:"'*I , t. . : country. -. :In ;aAvay, the '~egrotells' :us %where thes+ . s-

; bb.. - ' * bottom is: because,:& & there,- 'and yhere he -is, :.. :* ',- ~ : , ...beneath us ~ve:know* where: ,thet.limits,rre and :now '. , '' iqf: e" <.*a, ,.

%lbl ' -,,3.':, ;: far, we-*must,not fall: : We must not !.fall beneath ' -. - ' - .-. I ( . " * -< -8 .. , % ,, ' !;^ -* li 1 I " r:.,.i.cy,l * ". , . 1 % himo:, ". b* - - A .< ,-, 3 i( *- ,. ,-- ' ; 4 :I ' , '" . - i' , . , (, ' , 5 , I,. : w, r .f '* - .-.I ,..,( L 1" '. " -' 11 . .", . -. ,*

!. Baldvin '.-su a :analysis may, - perhaps,' 3: be taken ' 'ode . step*.further ., . foll~wing:~~~Harold * *:Isaacsl. analysis: if American whites ~s~needea~.-.., Afro-Americans ; to define the*bottom: limits; - so:Af ro-~mericans may have I.. , * I, , ) ., ", ', \'" , needed Africans ,to:occupy the.-rung below them. - .-A % ;#Assr recentlyqrtasthe::early : 1960s!-*-- 'a light-year ago in American

race :=elations -+ .i students at Lincoln,. Howard, . and 'other '. ~eg'ro! un-iv-ersities: and 'colleges -derided newly arrived i~fricanstudents. with + such insults3,;,,andepithets as "jungle-bunny, Ig *and refused .to ~soci'avli&'!',

with + them * as .equals .-; (For their*-part, Africh students, ' corning as' many. -of -them did from independent nations ruled bytiBlacks, sometime8 " proclaimed, euperiority over Afro-Americans as" products of 'a society :

dominated. at : every !level .by whites.) -Lamentably, 'stereotypes 'and misconceptions. concerning Africa . continue , to (be perpetuated .in +- advertising, cartoon .strips,, cf ilms, ,and other"media .;-: ~f=ica'nstudeits-" participating in "outreach" programs may still be asked, "Is is true that Africans live*in trees?!':' One '-adept 'West '~f&canq commenced the re-educat ion process ~tbyicatering' to YAme;icab - chairiinism'; he responded to New state schoolchildren:. by replying,' '"Yes, and' inmy country , ; - the U.S. Embassy is ~in'thetallestl:tree!"" ' ' " . a + .I. ' The re~ent:-~ast,,*"fortunately; has' broGght.' iimuberable changes in the ways Afro-Americans regard"thenselves . -'AS a result of concessions . , won by the equal .rights-movement, ' gains- in the economic 'realm, and, most important : perhaps ,: the (.new. seriousness vith which their white countrymen view. them, black l~hericans'have come ~to"f*eela-'nei sense of pride and self -conf - i"dence, .: -Arid a great percentage" of them, particularly ,+,those who are' young*, now accept" ;and,' more than that, glorify, their blackness or degree thereof .--*Black ~mericans~ also have developed a new-respect fort:Africa and Africans, 'and have'experienced

deep satisfaction in .the -? achievement' of national 'independence by ~fiicanpeoples and the admission of new African nation-states to the United Nations. Still, many Af so-Americans have not yet redefined their relationship with the African motherland #and its disparate peoples, cultures, and languages. . Here in truth remains one of 'the .challenges

r i facing Black intellectuals.' I( Is The re-education of black Americans - of all ~mericans'-- about Af rica has hardly begun .- A broad land concentrated scholarly effort, both interdisciplinary " and international' .in scope, has in recent decades great ly increased .previously existing knowledge about Africa and brought about a restructuring of previously existing patterns of scholarly analysis. One notable result has been the discrediting of many long-standing 1 racist and' colonialist stereotypes. A continent long denigrated as having "no history" has been 'shown to have had a * remarkable past. Paleontologists and archaeologists 'have established that humankind had its origins on the African continent and that most of the major human developments of Pale~lithic~~times(more than three million years ago to about 10,000 B.C.) evolved, there. Far from being isolated, the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa have { for thousands' of years engaged in commerce and participated in a wide spectrum of cultural exchanges with the Mediterranean world via the 'Nile Valley and trans-Saharan caravan routes and with the trading peoples of the Indian Ocean. t

In refutation of a those who have asserted that sub-Saharan Africa had no civilizations, there has appeared in recent years an extensive literature, popularias well as scholarly, on such states as Kush, which dominated the upper Nile Valley from the time of Egypt's Middle Kingdom until after the beginning of theXhristian era; Axum,'in the Ethiopian high1ands;t and, ,in West Africa, Ife and . These - civilizations . had complex and sophisticated social and. political . organizations and rich cultural traditions which gave birth to works of art counted among the world's . This is not to mention, of course, the hundreds of less renowned societies which produced sculptures, masks, and art forms in stone, terra cotta, bronze, wood, cloth, and other materials which today are assiduously sought out by" collectors and have had profound effect on modern art world-wide. Besides d*emonstrating that sub-Saharan Africa has a rich cultural heritage, recent scholarship has provided Afro-Americans with new perspectives on the , an historical nightmare ' which should be made known for what ct was -- and was not.1~ . a The . first slaves of, white men in America, i inevitably, were Indians. But almost as soon as they set foot in the New World, white '* explprers *and settlers from Europe transmitted diseases endemic to Europe and Africa which rapidly attained pandemic proportions in the new environment. Seconded by malnutrition caused by the disruption of Indian societies, such diseases had almost incalculable iiemographic consequences. Those Indians who, survived, or were pressed into European service before, they were stricken, were in many cases unwilling or incapable of working *in accord with European purposes. . Many. had lived as hunters and - gatherers or were o.nly part-time agriculturalists, - were unaccustomed to .the routine of * daily .labor, or " ';, wrrr ,,unsdtisfoctory. in !, other ,, respects .L - :Indian slavery, -as "a a t' ~-ot~rr,t;qi~cncl,f :~i led. to bc?coa~c. n 't'i xture ,411 the: whit c.nian's ,society , 'in :':: . (,~';; : ' * --*, *. d b - t >, ,..,a *,111 t I)(! Nt-w dWol.lci. :' . . s . -.

The Por.tuguese . atxi ..Spanish were *;the.first *:'td introduce lkopt ive: I Africans to . the New $World, but it . isa-worth' not ing for cobparat ive "' *"' purposes that'..the English for a time sought toameet the 'increasing demands for labor, in :their+.-colonies. :in the: Vest. .Indies * an'd" ~orth-'2''

America -by means- of .various,types of avhite ser*itude, as - : ' has emphasized in his celebrated wrk Capitalism tgg& Slaverv; f-~~mon types,. of .unfree- ;labor i shipped to, America ..included -bonded servants , criminals,, and Irish and-Scottish prisoners -of war who were- dispatched * to the .West : Indies .following Oliver :*Cromwell!s military ; trLumphs3 in. : ' the ;middle of the seventeenth : century.. However, the ' supply :of poor. ' ' people, criminals ,, and. prisoners of .var .was grossly insufficient ' to.: ' meet . demands for labor in: English America. .. During the, eighteenth :: century, : moreover,- English economic theory came to recognize,:,the : " advantages , of keeping the. vorthy poor at-' home to provide a supp1y'~of,. : cheap workers for ,domestic * industries. - :#Host-important, planters ''in : English America, as: time *,passed, became convinced. that :black slaves * from Africa were a more prof itable investment - thanyverevwhite *servant:sb from England. - Accordingly, .the English,. to -'satisfy p' their needs for ' ,: labor in the West ..Indies and North Amet'ica, turned ' $increasingly 'to ' ' 2, I. * " I, , ", ' i f*, J- ." * * 5 , c.8 Africa.? :, :,, :,,: . A *.

Why - did; planters-.;in: both ~n~lishAmerica -: and Lati*' America ''i

I **r i -8 .

consider,Africans a ,superior investment? , t.l".i :'I >a .. + . , ., First, there was seemingly an inexhaustible supply of African laborers .7 : There *, wasn ' t ,' :of course ,* for %.many parts' of : sub-~aharan " * Africa .were lightly populated, but that many #Europeans believed ,:such I -i w ,' to be the case testif iee,. to *,.the!trading 'capabilities i' of African a- . *

middlemen who + 'supplied European slavers'. : Second, captive df ri~an..'~. a * workers . seemed 4i a better - investment' :than white indentured; bervants, * because' they . vere bartereii in,.Africa .for European. manufactures at' y. ' relatively -advantagiious rates of -exchange, were not- emanc'ip&ted af tii 'rm" a stipulated 7 period - of : service, .: and -'laws8enacted 'in]the' co1on"ies stipulated : that. their servile status descended to":their *. children. .* . ~., Third,: Africans" vere ' .skilled int. tropical agriculture, with '- which, - *' Europeans were *: totally unfamiliar. ' .Finally, : Africans.." . had ' ,a ' a ! *- cornparat iveiy - 7 high' resistance t, to : tropical ' 'diseases, - especia1,ly ' . .. : . i .Philip .Curtin has :estimated * that . first-generation Afro-Americans;because of'lthe advantage ofbelng transported from one tropical ,:.disease . environment. to another, 'had *a * survival 'rate ,'in ' ' tropical ,;areas in .the New World of more than three to one,,over " 4,s first-generat ion . Euro-Americans .. (That: advantage, A however; .proved ;-:*' only tempor.ary; ' for b* after' several generations both .whites and blacks tend to, have. roughly the same death rate:.in ithe same environment. The:' ' importance of environmental factors in !rates jof survival- is ref lecteds :' in an,interesting statistical.projection: although1;f ewer, than tive per -' : cent of the : slaves *'shipped:from Africa to" the ~mericaslanded iir 'the &' . .< 1 ,* present-day United States,. their descendants now comprise the largest . -* single group of blacksi in the New, World.) 8 I ;, *Ir ',, * Because of they seemingly insatiable "demand for cepitve '~fticans~in 'I - '' - %, English America, Spanisli .America, t~razil,and the Fre6ch:West ;Indies, '*: the .Atlantic slave -trade expanded *rapidly i.n ' the seventeenth and;, * eighteenth~centuiies - Curtin, in his book The Atlantic Slave':Trade:' A_ ' pa . . .- Census, has . estimated - that prior- to the. year 1'770 more .black Africans'~ than- white ?Europeans.i arrived in: the I West erne Hemisphere : . '*Cuitin.: "I estimated that in the 350-odd years between Europe's dis&very:f6f ':*' : America .and .the . suppression of2:~:the slave r (trade. in the f*vn'inieenth century, between nine

in quality' and price by European manufactures ' down * to 'the early nineteenth century* * I i - When the slaver arrived in Africa from Europe ' its cargo was '

bartered mf or captives, either in direct trade with African :middlemen * or through,European or Eur-Africanfintennediaries established in forts or- factories along the coast. The ship's doctor'would make thorough * physical examinations of all slaves-offered for sale, and individuals with defects would be accorded lower prices or rejected altogether. Slaves often were branded after purchase and payment for them withheld until they were safely loaded 'aboard the ship; otherwise African middlemen might surreptitiously exchange sick or 'infirm slaves for healthy ones,,or arrange that canoes transporting the- slaves to the vessel be upset so the slaves would be "lost," recovered, and sold - again. Europeans practiced similar deceptions: they diluted brandy and rum with water and . other adulterants, mixed !charcoal with gunpowder, and used fraudulent weights and measures. Slaves usually could be taken aboard-hip and confined with little difficulty. Since most captives were so prostrated by grief and terror as to be incapable of resolute action in their own behalf, few escaped before debarkation. Most captives+had never seen the ocean or a white man before their purchase and few had the slightest*cqnception of the fate which was in store for them. Some believed that they'were

being taken by the whites*to be killed and eaten, a fear which in no * way diminished whet, they caught giimpses of European sailors drinking ' * * wine : and eating salt. pork. A belief widespread *among &any ,African. societies that -.sustained capt,ives during this :period :of trauma .and af tgrwards in, the Americas, was -the conviction that sf ter .death their spirits .vould, return to Af rJca for reincarnation in a new generation. ,

* Who" was enslaved in Africa? .Just about who: might be expected:

Host.. important ,,of. all, .members of: ,*other* ethnic ::groups .:+: .African so,kieties.. %rarely sold . their own people . into, slavery, .-and :then : only ' criminald .Tiid ,sbcial . &sf its;rather, they sold their ,,neighbors, or. unkco~s,obtained .. eithe; by. warfare or ,. trade. ,Of i those Africans : capt'ured in wars and raids and sold into slavery, the great l.majority v&e. people from ,the,lower ,ranks of so,ciety, for, by paying ransom, societies, , . of ten6 redeemed captives who,, were members -of their elite.

~enerkll~,.more men .,. than -vomen were .sold into the Atlantic :: slave.. trade, 'women being retained in Africa -because :of their,. importance 'as cultivators ,, and because ,their off spring .,would increase the-numbers Isand ?, * " ' A'. ,,' strength' of the societies that held them'. .*. , . ' : In addition to people captured in warfare ,.crimina 1s and deviants, .; as,mentioned,,were enslaved. , Indeed, harsher justice was meted out in ' man) African societies as,the demand for slaves increased, -and in such ci~,cumstances the:.*.penalties. of banishment . and sale became more fre"9uent and arb,itr,ary and covered a greater number, of crimes and'. social' offenses. Some captives were transported hundreds: of miles, to?, the,. coast ahd.,sold,'several times along the vay, but-most came .from -, . > I ', , " ^ . areas, close\'to,the ocean: and navigable rivers. .... , .': , : ,I' t ._ _I " +ny ~fscan.societies . held ."domestict' slaves, but generally sp&king' their% I,j(condit*ions " .- . of - servitude were in no way+*comparableto:. . tho&%,-found t . on plantations in Brazil or, the Uest In'dies or ,. . ., ~iven. ,the limited economic and ,role differentiations - in mo$t ..~fricansocikt'ies, :, inAfrica normally +ruorked,-at*many of:.. th8' same tasks 'which occupied other members of the community. In some a highly stratified .sot-ieties 'slaves,-were assigned occupations such as guardians'. , pf the.. ruler, counselors ,'? and tax : collectors . .Id some ~f rican Isocieties, especially - those: which underwent -:considerable9 : transmutation in**the-course of *carrying on coastal. trade, there-wasp.a~;~~ good deal .of social .;mobility, and - talented slaves :sometimes rose to:,

-1 " , *L <: : . ,. , the highest &,positions,of .leadership. _' . 2 . ,* - .once ''tradeW.,slaves were attached*to an African society, -:they were " ,- Jt;, ? by ,-degrees , a ,inc-orporated : into :: it as members .I ,Considered- "kinless":', persons at - the .. outsetsl of - their servitude, slaves progressed %towardl freedom asthey ' established ties of community and .. : Such .ties er wer,e:established, in, a ,variety of ways :. by marriage to-,a member of ! the: * coenity,, by ; bearing the, child of a free man;: or, cake of 'am:- child,, growing up 'in the counnunity7and going through the ~usual*rites:b+ of passage along with* other village :.children. African .societies had ,: strong sanctions against selling domestic+slaves who had established ties,.with1family ,and community. . Generally,. only .those who assaulted ', or.,"athreatened 'violence against%:their .masters or other free persons $in a . communityh, . or: ,otherwise. displayed incorrigible anti-sdcial tendencies, .would .be liable to sale 'into the Atlantic slave trade. .' ;

In buying .captives in.Africa, European slave :traders distinguish63 '"" bet)teen 'different societies. : Captives. from some ethnic groups fetches -?: ~rekiumprices while others : were held - in lox repute. by -planters(.#in 'thei* -, Americas ' because or real or imagine'd attributes. Ashanti, for - example, were favored as work gang sgpervisors and for service in the Dutch military forces in the East Indies. Wolof women were sought as ladies ' maids in. the French Antilles for ltheir unsurpassed knowledge of feminine lartifices .. Ibos, by contrast, were considered a poor monetary risk and difficult to transport because they were *reputed . prone to fits of depression and suicide. . Captives ultimately sold in the United States came from many West African societies, plus some f ron the .area ,of modern-day Zaire and Angola. a , . 'Since it was impossible for any one European state to control the along the izntire coast of . West and West Central *Africa, every country with any pretension to colonial expansion at one time or another participated in the slave trade, including Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, France, .England, ,' and (Sweden. Forts and factories ofxthe slave traders were established on -land for which the resident Europeans paid .an annual rent. Europeans 'were contstrained . to pay rent for the land they' used for trading establishments, to make . a variety oft other*payments to African landlords, including export taxe's'on slaves, special gifts on the opening of, trade and the closing of trade, as well as additional presents or "shake-hands" to African- notables to smooth negotiations. Coastal societies generally did not allow Europeans to trade inland; they reserved the profits of middleman trade for themselves. Europeans sometimes tried to redress their disadvantages ashore by kidnapping Africans on board their vessels, :bombarding coastal towns, or otherwise capitalizing on their power afloat. The traditional African response to such treachery was to inflict retribution on the next vessel of the same country which happened along tostrade,, or in * some instances the next whites of any nation. As Africans the length of the coast were *wont to declare: "The sea may belong to the white

man, but the land belongs to Africans." Not until the latter part of + the nineteenth century did Europeans gain control of land of Africa. What were the effects of the slave trade on African, societies? The most obyious consequence was,the loss of population. Besides the estimated nine -and a half to ten million captives who. crossed the ~tlanticsafely, perhaps .a million and a half to two million others died during -the passage. In addition, untold*millions perished in - slave raids, during transport -to the coast, and in the *forts and barracoons awaiting shipment. The effects of malnutrition, disease and privation on societies stripped of their most productive members are. as yet incalculable,~and perhaps always will be. An historial

irony 0- if such', exists -- 4s that introduction in Africa of such New . World food crops as maize, manioc, peanuts, $sweet potatoes, and the pineapple, plus the ongoing diffusion of Asian food crops introduced ' in ~fricaearlier, contributed to restoring population losses due to

the slave trade. . N a The voyage across the Atlantic in a slaving vessel -- *the second side of the "triangle" -- is widely referred to in literature as 'the ' ".". Regarding. conditions aboard slavers during the Middle Passage, a few apologists for the slave trade presented a picture of well-f ed and happy slaves, . reconciled to their Qate;: some even singing and dancing in recreational .periods aboard * ship, as they

crossed the Atlantic. a Such accounts hardly squared with reality. Reality consisted of extremely cramped and often squalid holds,'.. seasickness, :chains and shakles, savage punishments for:'+attempted rebellions, the ravishing of women, and other brutal and coarse : treatment on the part of crews. . , There :is"an : exlc~ieive'and : crowing " li ternture: on:t lldnt? :ili,i!iui~d,~' and : readers r -are.a--cautibned 1.. to : discriminate - b6tween eycwl~nerds descriptidns. and,.purported .historical reconstructions-is Ma*' of the . (3," 'j -, ,.

a e rd ' L - ' most lurid accounts of the . Middlem1'.passage were composed .by abolitionists in the aideteenth century !tobfad .public outrage against$'- the - slave : trade. - Very few abolitionists , of course*, had any per~onal~*' knowledge of conditions aboard a ::.slaves-'ship,.'* '~ccoudts'by ' 'angry -I publicists, moreover, are misleading because they "ixivariably ignore or distract - the 'reader ' s attent ionh,f rom the " fundamental-.'consideratioh 'on . '2. - ' *. which :.the slave trade -rested,#:namely, that' every concern for prof it, ,. professional: advancement and the personal ' safetybof !the shipjs 'company dictated that reasonabl'e care-*.and,:dttentiondbe given to the,.healthland '' safety -:of the: slave : cargo. Ships' office&: and, &ctdrs;'for 'that*' reasoh, were :given. bounties determined by how successful t&ey were in '. prosecuting "their' voyages .with dispatch and minimum ' loss of life.'. ' S1aveb::shipsJ ,were,'crowded, but not to a significant19' great'er hextent ' than troop , transports ,' . emigrant :'vessels, : or convict**ships,-2 aha:', available %evidenceindicates thatr prior ' to abolition .of [,-theL:slaave '' trade slavers compiled comparable records for preservationoof ' lifk ir?.

' % ., , *j 'fl ., . .I .) transit -, because*it paidvth& to ;do so'. . ;Av good deal-..of :thought and organizat'ion, 'of, decedsity, - went: into '' transport'ing : hundreds ' of captives across :the "midatlantic in' the''. crowded : confines of ' a sailing vessel. ' :Host ;imp~rtant',:~'th&e' hab 't,o be" enbughi food andvZresh water to"~sustain:captives and crew for five lor.-'** six . weeks: ot longer; 1 ring the' voyage' slaves borniaqy received' two " ''6 hot : meals-:a ..day . and; unless : veather':'coiiditionsadid hot penbit, were brought! up .on. deck 'for' fresh :air-and eiercise. Those who; 'out of '' ' grief-br. terror ,or: rage; refused" to eat or a exercise ~ere~unished,.'* usually - by: .whipping, iunt il .'theytdia' *as t'hey were ordered. Captives' were .. giveh ", saltrater, baths,. and .while they wereq;exer-cising on deck their: : quarters , were .cleaned . and : aired,' not-. to' make 'life: * more ,, comfortable: for. them, but too.reduce 'the likelihobd 'df ai'n.&tbreakl'of . >,. ", disease8,aboard iship.' .:'?Disease :was:#the 'gfeat scourge 'of slavers,, any captive 'who:was found:-'ill was yi~olated.If 'a 'slave c'ame" down with l. a particularly .:lethal or cripplixig disease, notab"ly''. or' eye ;' infections~~causing"blindness,~-whichmight' spread6to'the-'rest df the*., cargo, he or -'shenmight be cast -overboard .- - one of: the 'indisputable . ,*--$, , . i % ,*': ' ,:, : *. 'I1 S' " "horrors" of.the Middle assa age'. * ."I .: According to all ! accounts, the highest ' dead' -aboa=d davg ships was aaongtwhite 'sailorsrather-,than.black captiv&sm. ~,sti,&ik~'" are .,that :one :seaman in, five died during the triangular voyage, birdy because, $. -unlike ::black oapt ives, they- ' posses~ed'.~no' immunities :.to :' tropical diseases encountered on #.both -sides of the.Atlant ic'. hobing 'js the risks - and also rarely promised bonuses, as a -vere 'ships ' -, officers, -<#for- a! successful ! voyage 0- ordinary 's6aiien ',,as:'ia rule. s, detested serving ;aboard slavers. ; As .k result, - seiunen" ofte'n Ge&: , shanghaied aboard:-slave vessels +in; European : or' [iii other ways - , . ". + la; !a "?, 1' *. *. +> coerced ,into~~serviceon slavers. " i, - .-.)I 8,). ., When a-.lves"sel. arrived safely lib " the dmeric+ Bad - &loailed .its ' - human :i cargo, ' it:.-might be laden withx:sugar,* rum,+toba;cba, 'and ~6th~~ " ., plantat ion crops for .the passage: across the c.~tlantic'-tb-' ~u=o~~,'*'-th~; fink -side: bf .the ''triargle." :#:The entire -triangular byage*no&hlly-.b . , required .:about a ,year,. . ;And it:,.garnered substant.ial 'piof its 'thatb.-" is, ::if : the slaver.: managed :*to avoid shipwreck, ' slavep: uptisings, :' ' 4 , I* epidemics, and capture by men-of -war of ho~tile.~~nati~ns,'~~i~~~~&~~,--, or pirates. * *( Stripped to 'its basic elements", the slave trad; provided ~uropean

entrepreneurs -with the hardy and experienced labor force ;equired to * .I exploit the resources of the New World. .The agricultural, commercial, and &industrialdevelopment of the Americas and Europe accelerated as a result, while the African continent received +only marginal benefits. . , In return for the loss of milrions of young men and women, ~frican societies obtained for the most part luxuries and nondurable merchandise which were consumed, used up, or :worn out. Where in the Americas #did' slavers deposit their cargoes of involuntary immigrants . to the New World - immigrants whose descendants would by the twentieth century equal about one third of the 'black population of sub-Saharan Africa? Although in the .present day roughly a third , of the black population in +theWestern Hemisphere lives in the United States, very few slavers, after completin'g the Middle Passage, dropped anchor in ports in . ,The overwhelming majority instead steered to Brazil or -the . Many of the captives destined to work on farms and plantations in Virginia, South Carolina, and other southern states were unloaded first in the,West Indies and "seasoned" before being shipped to North America. North America in fact received only a comparatively small number' of the captives -- fewer than five per cent, according to the best estimates. This was so because the lower mortality rate among- the ' slave population in North America, as compared witfi tropical areas in the Caribbean and , simply meant that North.American slave-owners required importation of fewer replacements than did their counterparts elsewhere in the Americas. . (The comparative trickle of slaves into the present-day United . States, incidentally,. resulted in correspondingly less renewal of African social and cultural attributes in North America than in other ' parts of the New .World.) The overwhelming majority of ~fricansbrought to the present-day United States, moreover, arrived in North America before the War of Independence. Which means that, in terms of time, black Americans of the present era have deeper in North America's soil than do scores of millions of their white countrymen -- white countrymen who have sometimes viewed them almost as aliens in American society. As mentioned, approximately ten million Africans were' carried to the Americas, -a migration of immense proportions that had incalculable economic, political, and social' ramifications in the countries of their ultimate destination. "Indeed,' scholars'have only begun to study the enormous contributions to New World, societies by men and women of African descent -- no't only the building of economic structures, but in the social and cultural spheres as well. For as the eminent historian C. Vann Woodward has commented in "Clio with Soul," "So far as their culture is concerned, all Americans are, part Negro." Still to be determined is the extent to which mutuality of interest among lacks of the diaspora can be 'fostered and maintained. For culture no less than color is significant in human affairs, and it is evident that the latter alone will not be 'sufficient to establish meaningful long-tern relationships between Africans . and the descendants of Africans in other parts of' the world. When Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver returned to the United States from exile, he stated that the "Back to Africa Movement" is dead, and related that there were "cultural chasms" between black Americans and Africans: "I,.I felt as distant from some Africans as from some people in Asia." ' ''Kyszne ' Toure, formerly ' Stokley Cahichael, who married an African knd irb lived in '~fricaa number'of years, would :emphatically: disagree+.- Ever suc'cinct, Dick*Gregory bemusedly' related that visiting ' , * Af rici 'be received the reate ate st ' shock ' of his life when, he' 'found. . j out- '*: ' I . -.. $- . = . - that"he: &as a "chocolate-colored "American white ban .":* ' ~eitly*found interest in 'the land of theii ancestors *has- motivated many -

Peace Corps volunteers, 'I and,as tourists. ' Af ro-hericans" traveling to ,

' '* ' ~f ri'ca'- ISw'itd little or ,no knovledge of the ' coudtriei visitid" have . exp&'ieaced * many o& 'ihe frustrations *'aid mi6;nderstandiags .of tourist i'' everywhere. -, Some have espoused a 'permanenta return 'to 'the motherland. '

Their L~expressions~'of ' enthusiasm have at t'imes disconcerted and puzzled- ,.) Af ricans .;'If Af ro-Aniericans .have been welcomed in 'Africa' :as visito=s, -, only tho& individdals' possesring' investment capital *oi expettiie* needed 'by developing countries ha+e been encouraged to' :remain. ' M' - ' One ' of the; principal determinants 'in future' relations between ' - Afri'cins and 'Af ro-~mericanswill- besithe ef f ecti&edess-'of 'Black Studies":

and 'Af ricad'-studies programs .and ~lack+ontroll&d+ media inbducat ing ;a ' Af ro-Americaps about- A: rican societies . add ~cultuies'.:' or ' most ' Af r&&&cans .knov "little-about .: th& co'nt inent ' .and are 'sometimes "as .

as : are their' ' white countrymen 'to misunderstand' ,the ! values knd aspiraiions' of +Africans* The'.'late Tom Mboya of,Kenya expressed' that + !.

' -' a +. i black militants in Harled

/*PI s 1 " . , ' *- What ' is unrealiit ic- abouts the propiiskl' '- [ td - ,, - s, I 1 : . -, -r - .' ^ =;turn- - - to +~frica]' is the ease' with which 'sob'e ,: ..-. ' , .1( , , ,t - a .?,s - bl&k'd~&eri&nsthink th=y can' throw df f theii " - . ,,.. , -* ", I. ' , - '~ieiican~'+iulture and tbetone' African '**For * . ' , -l ;,* f 4 b "9, L < * .! :

..'a . ?", * =xa&tple;- some'. think that tohidentify .with * , , *A * . . ~fii&; dnh shbuld wear:'a shaggy- "beard or-'a a ' ' ' I' 'C. k +a- 'piece~of'.clot~od'one"~headora cheap garment - * I sew

. I '+ - , - - * "& ) . .w . on .*next6' - body' .., '- t X'S-' find . here. a* complete , ." a. , :" '"- misunderstanding ofwhat 'African 'culture really F. r a I , , 11 I* .. k . * means. . "An Akrican waiks or weirs ;. ??," : .,,< ' +,*' - - t c ;. si+t-.- sandals badegof old tires not because it -,is his d. ',', . , , ,,r v ue

.+., 3s culture,, but becak&:he lives .in"ppirerty.' WeLL 5 h _ . I... l '( ' live 'in mud*and .wattleshuts and 'buya'cheap,~ong .< ,r C " " (P * is l> , *c ' * * , ', . Kong fabrics not' 'because it is 'part of. ,obr , , I* 3 , 3 c. , culture; but" because , these are, conditions 1' I,, ,A, . . I '. .+ * ... " imposed +,,on" us--; today 'by, "poverty.'+,and', .*by :,< ,,be * i.,,

~ ; ' ' - ",limitations in,technical', educational and other, ,g2 8. , ' < > C" .resources.* '.' White , people- - have of ten'confused : ' ' . ' the symb61s: bf our povertystwith oui c&itu;=.-1 * * :' ' ' d~:' " " ", ," .+ ,* : : \ , , - , fib, -wouldd-hbpk that black people 'vou1dvnot' kke the ,' * ':,,L.,4B'., - , *>- P ,,I - 1 A 1,L *,, ;":' : " _.> 'dI .I, ., ,J .,".. ' * . I ,. * same error:" . I., r ve,, 4, "* , , . ,'i' r s ,-, ,. s. ! '"3 * ?" r 3 -+ - . .':* :: qs * "S < **. .;,.: ' *d -. ,. , " ., ., . ' ..*. < our cuitu&:' is. somethi& much: 'd&epe;..: ~i is * - - ' , 7 ' . , r r ' ; ," m Sb

'!* the sum of our personality and ' 'our 'attitude " "', :e

?. ' " *-, 1 i,"Z . + - tpward - :life.-' The " basic:. qualit2es :that , '<'.: ' * *'' * %, , .?+- 8 *, 4 ' . ' ',distinguish it are 'our .extended"'fkily ties, and ' , *,.,. j >,- I .. , ,I 9 6, ., .. I>, . .+ I *" p', I 'I 8 . ,. . -.I. , I *I * - .

* * I (I -* ' , r , ,' - , . .,+ . "1' i ; ': , . % *. m .I~. , . -*.. "... j .I the codes governing relations between old and young, our concept of mutual social - responsibility and communal activities, our . '. sense of humor, our belief in a supreme being

and our ceremonies for ' birth, marriage and p . . death. ~hesethings have ahdeep meaning for

@ I us, and they pervade our culture, regardless of . < tribe or clan. They are qualities that shape : our lives, and they will infldence the new institutions that we are now establishing.

i If . fev Black Americans are presently informed about Africa, ' the number is steadily increasing due to the efforts of 'Black Studies and African Studies programs and the thousands of Africans who attend American colleges and universities and serve as 'interpreters of dfric'an culture to Americans (and on their return home, of American culture to fellow ~f ricans) . So long as their dream of a '~ifeof dignity- and equal opportunity and justice'in the United States remains unfulfilled, moreover, Afro-Americans will strive to' learn more II about their ancestral homeland. ' Foras W.E.B. 'DuBois wrotk4!in1903 in The '~ouls&: " *I , _1 0, , & 28 4;:. .;. .,*.' # Black Folk: : .,< ,I . . ,,. ~'>* -- 'I \ 8 > zbd, il', > %, ,, '. L , ' 3% i ' 8 , t. ' _ ,. 1 46 * '~* + I1 I 2% ,* . ^*' I' 8 * , . , . One ever feels'."his two-nets - an' ~merican,''a '' ', * ' ,: , ;s ' 1 *', Negro ; . *two ' souls, . two "thoughts ,' ' two " " A

, , $. . unreconciled strivings; :j:two":warrhg ideals in " "-' Y r* " \Ir 7 'oneb.$dark -,body,: :whose dogged ' strength alone , ' .L I " . 4 b s , ,# ; , : . . . .keepsmit from being tornuasunder. *1 # d, 0 fN 9 ('. 8. . " a ; u 1 I j j '* I) ,I "*. : , 2 ' (f 8L" * , .I" .. ' , , *,' ?*I '-*

v .- . .

I,, ( b $ j, , - .' hi's world. and Africa. He $would not Elleach ,, I 1 ':Negro soul in a flood ,'ofwhite '~mericanisk, . ;, ' ' , , 4, '

i I . .p. '. ,for he knows ' thht ~egro&blood has a "message * . : . for.the world Be simply wished "to bake it-' . ,I .I ' ,, .* b, I( .. %" +,, 4, -, possible .for, a8man.,tobe'.both 'a"~egr0'and an"" . , :, 1, i, b t " i; ' , ,- ;/ .I 8 I\ A_1 S, 8 i . ,imerican,. .. . *~ . , , .. . '" > * * ' d I 'I ?, I * 1.. I; , L ,8 -. a . -8 , 8 1, , i I' L . .DuBors wrote the:'fqregoing sedt imehts two' yek& before .'theReverend ~hoksDixon published the ignorini ~diatribe'-'pr~vibu~ly'~~quoted. here':

is, of .course, ""no question as :'to ' which man's vision,' '", Du~ofs,'s or

Dixon's, most influenced race relatibns in*, t.hen'united states' :in ..the. twentieth century. Still, rDuBois .'als&assert"ed in .The .w'~ouls lack -Folk : that "the. problem of thet~entieth'cebtur~ is'the 'problem of, 'the colorline, ,-- the~irelationof the darker' to the *lighter races of meqin

Asia acd ~frica,!in *America*and the islands&-of' the sea'.'' 'sincethe end of,the Second World ,War .the.:deopl e df the 'united states,: whites :as well: as Blacks, racists as*well- as- refohhe&, have becdme increasingly aware ' of, the accuracy of DuBois 's: prediction *andhave come to realize ;that the ; way in which that, problem l-0 the probl=m.of prejudice -- is *met will be of monumental importance to, their republic and also to Africa and the world . - ". 1. ' I .. . ,+ , s -2 0 . .n . . - :" r (1, "4 First ment'ion' deservedly, belongss;to the late Melville Herskovits 's pioneer work, k~thof 'the :Ne~ro Past (1,9411, : the .first in£omed -: he' , study of the impact of African .rcultural~;heritage .on American life.- not her vork- of an, ea,rliergenerat ion which has continuing relevance is Eric ~illiams,Capitalism- :Slsverv (1944). Da~id.~~BiionDavis, Problem & Slavery k.Western *'Culture (19661, , is s standard work on

,. I,, r, slave systems in the :Americas. ..,. f -. i . : iu ", ,, s Harold Isaacs, The New wbrld & Ne~ro Americans (19631, was published- .on the -.,eve: of the, ~Black..revolutionin the united'' ~tites.

\ chinging ~iro-~mericanattitudes toverd'. Africa are surireyed -&-three antholpgi& : Adelaide Cromwell Hill and Martin Kilson, eds ., ~*rooos-pf Af r'ica: . sentiments . of.Ne~ro, hetican Leaders pe Africa from the 1800 ' s &,$he 1950's (1969); Raymond P-. Betts, ed.. The'Xdeolonv &-blackness . * (1971)*;., ,axid ,0kon Edet Uya, ed. ,:. Black Brotherhood: Afro-Americans. and . a bftica -(1971). ,. om '~boya'6, views, on .the new ;interest*of Afro-Americans in l their'. motherland are". -found in ''The Merican"*Negro Cannot . Look to Africa for an Escape," -New ~ork.~imesHanazine (July i13,1969), ,3044; , New departure's '*for historians are set forth by C; Vann Woodward, ''Cliol with soul," Journal of American History LVI, 1 (June 1969), 5-20. Charles Cuthrie of,Indiana .State University".has prepared a provocative slide presentation of ,,:;magazine advertisements , cartoons, textbook illustrations ,.' etc.', ,: that : serve .to :perpetuate myths and misconceptions concerning Africa. For teachers, -''The ,Struggle.-Continues!'' Standard a&udts of ,?the litlaptic slave trade :are Basil Davidson, Black Mother: -Africa: The Years of Trial (19611, and Daniel Hannix and Halcolm Covley, Black Carnoes : .,A_;History oft &he ;&tlantic Slave Trade. 1519-1 865 (1962). and James A. .Rawley, The Transatlantic' Slave Trade; A_ History (1981) . ' statistics on :$the slave -trade..quoted .in the present essay are tak'eh :frob .philip D. Curtin, The Atlantic Slave Trade: A_ *-., .* Census (1969)., a. remarkable 'work of synthesis that. stimulated a spate of ..(. %a- specialized stidies.. These ",&ve.: compiled great ,quantities of new information concerding',,all . aspects. of ,the slave: trade; for some areas JI- I - Curt in's estimates, are revised, upwards, for other : areas downwards, but taken together, .they , sustainli$urtin's joverall estimate of nine and a half to ten'million~'~captive~Afric,ans,reaching ,the! Americas. This

literature is discussediby,: Paul: *.E. Lovejoy 4: in '!The. ;Volume of the Atlantic slave. Trade: A Synthesis, " Journal Af riean*tgistor~~ 23, 4 (19821, and in rans sf or mat ions Slaverv: A. History . a #laverv in Africa (1983). Three booka that present the vork of leading scholars are Suzanne Miers andIgor Kopytoff, eds., Slaverv 'hAfrica: Historical -and s~nthro~olon~calPersdectives. : (1977) ; Henry. A. -'Gemery and..Jan -. S.. Hogendorn, eds., ThebUnconrmon Market: Essavs a Economic listorv d. -the ~tla'nticSlave Trade (1979) ; and -,David .Eltisi+andJames Walvin, :eds ., , - " . ,i The Abolition of the ~tlantic~slaveTrade.:(1981). i. : * . . "J J a' ., .- ," ' -1 1 t1

'.'Anyone , intere6ted in slavery-,: and , the . slave : trade :.should. read* accounts - by ' first-hand.. #participants. . African -experiences are -recorddd-+ * * in~aul ~dwards, :,ed., ~guiaho'8 .Travels >(1789; 1967-1; -PhilipsD. curt id, a'

ed ., Africa Remembered: Narratives b~ West Africans -%from:the. Era Zs&::th= .a . Slave Trade" '('1967) ; 'and Terry Alford, :. Prince .Among. Slaves. .(1977). ,, . rl ~1ave;s 'I -~efspectivesf a,rek#recountedin .:Hugh.: Crow,, Memoirs : ef.;$he Ihte -- Capt'ain ' HUE~,' ~row'' of $iveroool' (1830; 1967 I., ..and : Captain -,Theophilus \_ I I /I, :.I , , " * 1 A - * 8, y? Conneau, A_ Slaver's LOR Book (19761, introduction by Mabel Me Smythe, as well as several editions presented by Brantz Mayer. 's Roots (1976) has too many errors of fact and interpretation to warrant its use 7 as collateral reading, unless it is studied in conjunction with such critiques as Donald Re Wright, "Uprooting : On the Perils of Relying on Encyclopedic Informants,'' History Africa, Vol. 8 (19811, 205-217, and Gary B. Hills and Elizabeth Shown Mills, "Roots and the New 'Faction' : A Legitimate Tool for Clio?", Virginia Manetine Historv -and Bioaraphv, Vol . 89, 1 (1981), 3-26. "Keeping current" concerning slavery and the slave trade is virtually a hopeless task, given the plethora of studies during , the past two! decades and the work in progress. However, the place to start is Joseph C. Hiller, Slavery: A_ Cornoarat ive Teachinq Biblionra~hv ( 1977) ; Hiller undertakes the Sisyphean task of publishing annual bibliographical supplements in the journal Slavery and Abolition.