According to statistics, in the nearly 400 years of the slave trade, Africa lost tens of millions of people. However, before the 15th century, when the slave trade began, Africa had extensive ties and trade with other continents on an equal footing. Let's take an electronic map of Africa's foreign exchange routes in the National Museum of Natural History as a clue to understand a brief history of Africa's foreign trade.
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Ancient Egypt had a strong trade network
(Before the 1st century AD)
Means of transport: Mediterranean coast - sea boats, Nile - barges, Central Africa - donkey caravans
Trading range: Central Africa, Nubia, Egypt, Europe and Asia
Traded commodities: weapons, production tools, hunting gear, ornaments, glassware, etc.
As early as 5,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians traded with the Levant in the north (referring to the eastern coast of the Mediterranean), Mesopotamia in the east, and Nubia in the south, and controlled the trade in Central Africa, such as ivory, animal fur, incense candles, copper, gold, etc. While exporting its own grain, flax, and papyrus, ancient Egypt also imported goods that it did not produce, such as olive oil from Crete and timber from Syria. With a Nile, transcontinental trade network that reached the Mediterranean and Red Seas, ancient Egypt became an important trading hub for Africa, Asia and Europe at that time.
Before the 1st century AD, ancient Egypt had a strong trading network.
During the Middle Kingdom in 2000 BC, ancient Egyptian officials organized large-scale long-distance trade expeditions — goods were transported by armies or trading groups, and it took several years to travel at a time. In terms of means of transport, trade along the Mediterranean, Red Sea coast and Nile river is by boat; Merchants who crossed the desert carried goods on donkeys or carried them by porters to Places like Nubia in the south, desert oases in the west, and Libya.
For the Egyptians, the Nile was the source of life.
In ancient Egypt, donkeys were commonly used as a means of transportation.
After the ancient Egyptians occupied Nubia, they built castles and sent troops to control the mining and trade of local gold mines, providing an important guarantee for the use of gold by the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. They see this "engagement in the affairs of their neighbours" as the best way to protect their own interests.
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Trade between East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula
(100~800 AD)
Transportation: sailing, camel caravans
Trading range: from the east coast of Africa to the Red Sea region, connecting East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Local camel caravans sold African goods from the Arabian Peninsula to Palestine and the Two Rivers Valley.
Trade commodities: Africans sold ivory, rhino horn, turtle shells, timber, spices and slaves in exchange for textiles, metal tools and weapons.
Sailing ships in Egyptian tomb frescoes
Camels played an important role in trade exchanges during this period. Although camels were domesticated as early as around 3000 BC, it was not until the 7th century AD that they were widely used as a means of transportation in North Africa. Camels are thirst-tolerant, can survive in hot and arid conditions, and can endure up to 10 days without drinking water; They have double-layered lashes that protect the eyes from the scorching sun and wind and sand; Their nostrils can be closed to keep out sand. All this makes the camel a well-deserved "desert boat".
In North Africa, camels were not widely used as a means of transportation until the 7th century AD.
In addition, there is evidence that African slaves were already sold to other continents, albeit on a much smaller scale than the later slave trade, but it was also an exploitation of people. The slave trade among East Africans and Arabs lasted until after World War I.
In the 7th century AD, African goods were sold to the Arabian Peninsula and beyond.
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Extensive trade from Africa to the north and east
(800~1500 AD)
Transportation: Camel caravans by land and merchant ships by sea
Trading range: from West Africa to North Africa via the Sahara Desert, and then through the Mediterranean Sea to Europe and the Middle East; Cross the Indian Ocean from East Africa to the Middle East, India, South Asia and even China.
Traded commodities: West Africa exported gold, kola fruit, spices and slaves, and goods exchanged from the North included textiles, salt, pottery, weapons and armor. Gold coins created by Egypt and Morocco even spread to Russia. In the palaces, mosques and aristocratic mansions of Egypt, East Africa and other places, a large number of Chinese porcelain has also been excavated, except for a small number of Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty porcelain, mostly celadon and blue and white porcelain from the Yuan and Ming dynasties.
From 800 to 1500 AD, African trade mainly had two routes, West African goods were sold to Europe and the Middle East through North Africa, and the East African line crossed the Indian Ocean to the Middle East, India, South Asia and even China. This map shows a map of west Africa's trade routes northward.
In West Africa, there were three great empires: the GhanaIan Empire (about 400 to 1200 AD), the Mali Empire (about 1200 to 1500 AD), and the Songhai Empire (1350 to 1600 AD), all of which were based on trade - controlling the import of salt and the trade of gold to develop national power. The Ghanaian Empire was known as the "Land of Gold", and the later Mali Empire was the country that produced the most gold in the world at that time. The Malian Empire was also famous for the pilgrimage to Mecca by an emperor, Mansa Moussa (reigned circa 1312-1337). In 1324, on a pilgrimage to Mecca, Mansa Moses gave gold and gifts everywhere. Passing through Egypt, he was judged by Arab historians to be the most important event in Egypt of the year for sending out numerous golds. There are also records that a large influx of gold into Cairo has led to a continuous depreciation of local gold for 20 years. Mansa Musa was a deep believer in Islam, built mosques and brought back a group of Muslim scholars on his pilgrimage. He worked to expand the Empire's trade with other countries, using the country's abundant production of corra fruit, ivory, and gold to trade with Europe, Africa, and Western Asia.
Ghanaian gold artifacts on display at the Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C., USA.
Mansa Moussa, Emperor of Mali, wearing a gold crown and holding a gold coin in his hand.
The Kola fruit tree is an evergreen tree in the family Mallow family, native to Central and West Africa. Its fruit tastes bitter before and sweet after, rich in caffeine, which can refresh the mind, fight fatigue, enhance immunity and promote metabolism, and is loved by locals. Not only that, but Kola Nut is also given more symbolic meaning. In Ghana, for example, when visiting a newborn, a kola fruit is given as a blessing. When the Igbo people of Nigeria mediate disputes, the respected elderly often cut the kola fruit into small pieces and distribute it to the parties, accept it and eat it on the spot to indicate that the two parties are willing to discuss the settlement of the dispute, and stubborn refusal will be condemned. Later, European pharmacists extracted caffeine from cola fruit as one of the recipes for soft drinks. In fact, the word Cola is derived from Kola.
Native to Central and West Africa, the cola fruit is loved by the locals.
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The dark slave trade
(16th~19th century)
Means of transport: boat
Scope of the deal: European companies developed a triangular trade network around the Atlantic, that is, from European ports to West or Central Africa, "loaded" slaves like goods into the cabins of ships with bad conditions, and then sold across the Atlantic Ocean along the infamous "central route" to the Americas.
Trade in commodities: Europeans exchanged salt, cloth, weapons, tobacco, iron, etc. for slaves, and when they arrived in the Americas, they either sold them all at once or circled them for "retail." The Europeans thus exchanged them for American gold, sugar, coffee, tobacco, rice, etc., which in turn were mined or produced by slaves in the Americas.
From the 16th to the 19th century, Europe engaged in the slave trade and developed a network of trade around the Atlantic Triangle.
In 1510, the Portuguese shipped the first African slaves to the American continent. At that time, the Americas had just been "discovered" by Columbus, and due to the brutal massacres and the ravages of multiple infectious diseases brought from the Old World, the Native American population was drastically reduced, resulting in an urgent need for labor on plantations. In addition, the slave market was almost uncontrolled at that time, so more European countries were involved in this lucrative trade, the country that controlled the slave trade in the 16th century was Portugal, most of it was controlled by the Netherlands in the 17th century, and in the 18th century it was Britain, which was closely related to the results of the European countries' struggle for maritime supremacy at that time.
Black Africans have endured cruel treatment from being caught and trafficked to the Americas as coolies. The picture shows the 1840 painting "Slave Trade" by the French painter François-Auguste Bial.
In the nearly 400-year slave trade, some 12.5 million Africans were forcibly transported out of Africa, with Portugal, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France being the most involved, with 31%, 6%, 40% and 18% of the population trafficked, respectively. There were also many trafficked slaves who died on their way to the Americas— from inland to ports, in the midst of heavy rain and heat; From the port to the ship, like cattle, they are completely naked and branded with names; On the ship, they are tied side by side like objects and squeezed into the airless, stinking cabin...
Sculptures depicting the slave trade on the island of Gore, Senegal
In the 19th century, the industrial revolution in the West and the rise of the abolition movement led to the abolition of the slave trade in Europe and the United States.
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The partition of Africa
(Late 19th century to first half of the 20th century)
Transportation: Europeans laid rail networks in Africa to facilitate the transport of minerals and agricultural products.
Scope of transactions: from the interior of Africa to the coastal areas, and then transport the goods to the host countries.
Commodities traded: industrial raw materials
After the Industrial Revolution, western countries shifted their focus on non-trade to their abundant resources and industrial raw materials. This diagram shows the route of palm oil from Nigeria from ports in West Africa.
After the Industrial Revolution, the emergence of a large number of machines made the West no longer need slaves, but instead needed industrial raw materials, and Africa happened to have rich resources and industrial raw materials, which became the main motivation for European countries to divide Africa: Westerners found gold and copper in Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe), gold, copper and diamonds were found in the Congo, palm oil and rubber were abundant on the west coast, and because of the fertile land and pleasant climate, a large number of Europeans flocked to Southern Rhodesia and East Africa to obtain land and agricultural products.
The Menilla Bronze Rings, which are both circulating currencies and ornaments, are displayed in the National Museum of African American History and Culture, circulating mainly in West Africa from the beginning of the slave trade to the 1940s.
A late 15th-century Sierra ivory product, a hunting horn carved in the Portuguese style, is now in the National Museum of African Art.
At the end of the 19th century, European powers subjectively merged some 10,000 political entities in Africa into 40 European colonies or protectorates. In drawing the border, they did not consider in the slightest the relations between monarchies and emirates that were different and even somewhat opposed. These small countries were hastily pieced together, which became one of the important reasons for the intensification of internal contradictions in Africa in the future. Africans have also lost their autonomy because of the loss of land, directly or indirectly at the behest of white "bosses".
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Africa, independent of the world
(after 1950)
Means of transport: All forms of modern means of transport
Scope of the deal: Initially European colonists exported Africa's natural resources to the rest of the world. After the African independence movement, African countries sought to control their own industrial development and establish transportation networks. Road, rail and aviation networks are staggered across the African continent and connected to the rest of the world.
Trading commodities: After the Second World War, Africa's foreign trade grew rapidly, on the one hand, because African countries became independent after the war and tried to develop their own foreign trade; On the other hand, more resources have been found in Africa, such as oil, diamonds and uranium mines.
After the African independence movement, African countries sought to control their own industrial development and foreign trade to the whole world.
The Yaji Railway (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Djibouti, the capital of Djibouti) is the first transnational electrified railway and the longest distance electrified railway on the African continent, and is also the first "China Standard" electrified railway in Africa that China has built in Africa that integrates technical standards, equipment, financing, construction, supervision, operation and management.
In most African countries, foreign trade is concentrated on one or two commodities. Libya, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo and Angola, for example, export mainly oil and petroleum products; Export of iron ore from Mauritania and Liberia; Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo export copper; Chad exports cotton; Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Kenya and Côte d'Ivoire export coffee; Mauritius exports sugar.
However, Africa's relatively monolithic economic structure has created long-term trade imbalances. Imported goods mainly include industrial products, machinery, transportation equipment and durable consumer goods. At the same time, its foreign trade model still retains European influence. Initially, African exports had to meet European needs in exchange for European financial assistance and investment. With the gradual breaking of trade barriers, Africa's trade ties with the United States, Japan, China and other countries and regions in the world have become closer, especially in the past decade or so, China has become Africa's largest trading partner. Africa's foreign economic and trade exchanges are striving to return to the track of equality and mutual benefit, but the road is long and the road is long, and Africa's development still has a long way to go.
The African Renaissance Monument, erected in Dakar, senegal's capital, expresses the aspirations and determination of the African people to seek independent development.
World Knowledge Illustrated 2022
This article was published in World Knowledge Illustrated, Issue 1, 2022
Editor-in-Charge: Qiu Tian