Category Archives: Religion

Colony in Africa and in America

Europeans started their colonization in late 16th century due to the fast development in European countries, especially in England and France. Both America and Africa was colonies of Europe in the past. However, the colonial experience of Africa was not quite similar to that of America even though they share some similarities.

The colonization of America started in late 16th century when several major European countries launched their colonization in north America. After many years of settlement, the colonization ended since American people fought for their independence. In 18th century, the United States of America established. The establishment of United States gradually ended the colonization of Europeans. Another place far away from America, Africa, also suffered from the European colonization. The colonization of Africa started roughly in the late 18th century and early 19th century because of European growing fascination with Africa. In the name of exploration and religious mission, the Europeans started their colonization in Africa.

There are several similarities in these two colonization. The settlers in both America and Africa were from Europe and most of them were from England and France. Besides this basic fact, the biggest similarity of these two colonization is that the colonization effected that region in a lot of ways and some of the effects have remained until nowadays. The colonization shaped the society in a huge way. The way people lived, the way government ruled and the way a country developed. Some of those effects were bad but some effects actually promoted the development in general. For example, colonization brought both America and Africa into world economy and promoted the trade. But meanwhile, the Europeans used all local workers but took nearly all the profits of the trades.

However, there are also differences between the colonization of Africa and that of America.   One of the differences is the slavery system. In America, the very first slave was brought to Virginia in the 17th century from Africa. After that, numerous slaves were brought to America for many years. The slaves in America were the major work forces at that time. They worked mostly at plantations in the South and did heavy jobs. Those slaves helped to develop the plantation economy in the South and gradually made the plantation become the biggest industry in the South. On the contrary, the slavery situation was different in Africa. Numerous African free people were transformed to slaves and then were brought to Europe, America and other places. The slave trade was prosperous at that time. Men, women and children were all involved in the big slave trade.

The trade of slaves from Africa to America was called Atlantic slave trade. Slaves once became the only “crop” to export from Africa. The Atlantic slave trade gradually became a “triangle trade”. First, Europeans traded cheap industrial products and munitions to some Kings or leaders in African countries for slaves or sometime they just “hunt” for slaves illegally. Then they sold slaves to the owners of plantations in North America in order to get minerals and crops. Last, they sold American minerals and crops in Europe to get profits. Almost every step in the triangle trade brought merchants numerous profits. As a result, the trade developed and expanded. For instance, in 1709, there was only one ship used for slave trade in Liverpool. Then in 1730, the number of ship became 15. Growing so quickly , in 1792, there were 132 ships used for slave trade just in Liverpool.

The slave trade brought African people pains and sufferings. African people never stopped fighting for themselves even though European countries promote so-called “peace trade”. Nobody wanted to become slave so that almost every slave in Africa tried to fight. There were several groups of people in Congo and Angola formed armed group to attack those tribes or villages which were involved in slave trade in order to free the slaves. Fortunately, in late 18th century and early 19th century, European countries started to abolish the slavery system. Britain abolished the system in 1807, then United States in1808, France in 1818 and Brazil in 1825. Although the abolishment was published, the slave trade hadn’t stopped until the Berlin Conference in 1885 and the Brussels Conference in 1890. The 4-century-long slave trade gave Africa people irreversible and huge lost.

Although the colonial histories are different in Africa and in America, there’s one truth always existing that colony brings sufferings and pains to people. We are so lucky that we live in a humane society right now and we hope that the colonization will never happen again.

Precolonial history of Ivory Coast

     There is almost nothing known about the very ancient Ivory Coast. There’s no clue of the original inhabitants in Ivory Coast. Historians believe that the original inhabitants were either displaced or absorbed by the ancestors of the present inhabitants. As far as the historical record shows, the trade of basic supplements expanded from the Saharan area. As a result, several places in the West Africa became prosperous. The boom in trade made the route of trade southern. More and more people moved south, which is now the territory of the Ivory Coast.

     Empires and rulers near this area kept emerging and declining. Noticeably, in the 11th century, Islam was brought to western Africa by the traders from North Africa. Later, the Islam was rapidly spread  and was accepted and embraced by many empires in the West Africa. By the time rulers of Sudanic empires started to embrace the Islam, Islam spread southern to the north part of contemporary Ivory Coast. In 14th century, the northern Ivory Coast was ruled by the Mali Empire. But later on, the reign was ended by internal discord and by the revolt of vassal states. Another empire Songhai emerged and the empire flourished during 14the century and 16the century. However, the empire collapsed also because of internal discord. Then, fractional warfares in this region made people move south to the rain forest. The dense forest created barriers between the south part and the north part of the country so that people who moved to the south part could live away from the political and military conflicts. After that, people settled down in the south and started village life. They earned their livings mainly by agriculture and hunting.

     As time went on, more and more empires and states emerged in Ivory Coast. The Muslim Kong Empire was established by the Juula in the early eighteenth century in the north part of the country. Kong became the center of agriculture and crafts during that time. However, ethnic diversity and religious discord gradually made the kingdom collapse. Meanwhile, in the south, the Abron kingdom of Jaman, which was established early in the 17th century, existed. This kingdom finally expended its hegemony over the Juula in Bondoukou. Bondoukou  then became a major center of commerce and Islam. The kingdom’s Quranic scholars attracted students from all parts of West Africa. In the mid-eighteenth century in east-central Ivory Coast, other Akan groups fleeing the Asante established a Baoulé kingdom at Sakasso and two Agni kingdoms, Indénié and Sanwi. The Baoulé, like the Asante, elaborated a highly centralized political and administrative structure under three successive rulers, but it finally split into smaller chiefdoms.

     There isn’t many information about  the ancient history of Ivory Coast. But there are still some sort of websites which focus on African history, where I can find some clues. Also, learning the history of nearby countries is a good way to learn more about the history of Ivory Coast, since there has been interactions between these countries and these countries shared the same cultural and historical in a way. The reason why there’s little known about ancient Ivory Coast is that the history of this country is merged with the history of other significant empires in the African history. What’s more, Ivory Coast was not one of the origin of African civilization. The country was built because of the migration of people from north to south in the past.