The Atlantic Age
The series Africa’s Great Civilizationsemphasizes how the roots of human civilization are traced back to the African continent. The series is written, produced and hosted by Henry Louis Gates, an Alphonse Fletcher University professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American research at Harvard University. Professor Gates takes a journey filled with deep breadth of knowledge and wisdom through Africa and chronicles its history from an African perspective. Throughout the series, Gates journey of discovery allowed him to explore and highlight 200,000 years of history, emphasizing many unrevealed details about Africa’s history ranging from its complexity to its diversity.
The Kingdom of Kongo was listed by European observers in the beginning of the 17thcentury as one of the most powerful and largest kingdoms in the southern half Africa. In the 5thepisode, The Atlantic Age, Gates starts the story in northern Angola, at the heart of the capital in M’banza -Kongo where the remains of the Cathedral of São Salvador that was built in the middle of the 16thcentury stands. These ruins are considered as one of the most important architectural remains in the history of Sub-Saharan African Christianity.
In 1483, Kongo’s King Nzinga Nkuwu formed a strong trade relationship with a Portuguese explorer named Diogo Cao. After their first encounter, King Nzinga Nkuwu decided to change the official religion of the kingdom to Roman Catholicism. However, these weren’t the only changes that bound Kongo to Europe. King’s Nzinga Nkuwu son, King Afonso established a trade that he couldn’t control once opened to the Portuguese, the trade allowed King Afonso sell the slaves that Kongo has held captive from war to the Portuguese for in exchange of them to expand their sugar production on the island of São Tomé and Príncipe. The trade wan not successful due to the expansion of European powers reach to the new world.
In 1579 A.D., war between the Kingdom of Ndonga and the Portuguese broke out because of the slave port at Luanda that was built by the Portuguese. The war lasted for nearly a century and caused a big number of slaves to be sent to fire up the Brazilian sugar industry. The war between the Kingdom of Ndonga and the Portuguese contributed to the emergence of thr warrior queen Njinga. The warrior Njinga went on a journey brimful of challenges and accomplishments. Throughout the time Njinga kept fighting the Portuguese, she managed to rule over the Kingdome of Ndongo and Matamba, to convert to Christianity, and contribute to an alliance with Kongo and the Dutch to the sole purpose of trying to eliminate the Portuguese from her territories. Professor Gates emphasizes that the reason that Angola is the largest source of slaves in the history of the transatlantic trade is the combination of aggression and warfare of many powers. He alson highlights the impact of the Atlantic trading world. How it managed to create many new powerful kingdoms and flourish the transatlantic slave trade.
Professor Gates next talk about the port of Ouidah; an important slave market in West Africa and the principle commercial center of the kingdom of Dohomey. The kingdom of Dahomy used slave trade as the main source of wealth and income to the state. However, the kingdom of Dahomy was rich in culture, valued art and architecture. Furthermore, Gates highlights that the slave trade stripped the continent from its people who are considered as the states most valuable and important resources. Moreover, Gates states that in the 17thand 18thcentury, West Africa witnessed a revolutionary movement aimed to reform the society and its government. These movements contributed to the advent of the Sokoto Caliphate; one of the most powerful empires in Africa.
Noof Almansoori
Water Final Project 