Fri, September 22, 2017 at 1:23 pm GMT
dear Karen.I hope you are fine.the school fund team in Karatu have been learning history this week.I want to share some of the topic.
AFRICA AND THE EXTERNAL WORLD:
Beginning from the 7th c Africa started to have contacts with the external world. The following are the phases of the contacts.1st=7th-15th c, Africa with Asia; 2nd =15th c-18 Africa with Europe and 18th c-19 was colonial intrusion in Africa.
Early contacts with the middle and Far East:
These contacts started from 7th c and ended in the 15th c. The contact covered the East African coast from Mogadishu to Sofala. The societies of Asia were from China, Indonesia, Persia (Iraq), Saudi Arabia, India, Malaysia and sri-lanka. They reach Africa by the help of monsoon winds.
Monsoon Cycle
Monsoon is a word meaning season of winds, from the Arabic word mawsin (MAW-sin). The world's largest monsoon system, powered by a seasonal warming and cooling of large air masses, occurs in the Indian Ocean. The wind patterns along the ocean shift direction in winter and summer, blowing from the southwest during half of the year and from the northeast for the other half. The monsoon also brings a dry season and a wet season.
The monsoon cycle is caused by three factors: the difference in the way land and water absorb the sun's heat; the effect of the earth's rotation on the atmosphere; and the storage and release of energy as water changes from liquid to water vapor and back again. The fact that land is hot and oceans are much cooler plays an important role in the development of monsoons. Land absorbs the sun's heat faster than any body of water.
In the summer, air masses over land heat up, expand, and rise. As warm air rises over the land, cool, heavy air full of water vapor from the ocean rushes in to replace it. The ocean air, blocked from moving further into Central Asia by the giant Himalayan Mountains, then releases the water vapor over land, bringing a season of rain. During the summer monsoon, which lasts from about June to September, parts of India receive 70%-90% of their total annual rainfall.
The opposite happens in the winter, however, because during that season the air over land cools more quickly than the ocean. As the ocean air rises, cooler air from the land rushes in to replace it. These northeast winter winds, which lose their moisture over the huge land mass of Asia, are much drier than the summer monsoon winds.
Motives of the contacts:
Social motives of the contacts:
Spreading the Islamic religion; Islam began in the Middle East in the 7th c AD: From there it spread to many parts of Asia. This resulted into the strong Islamic kingdoms in the Arabs world including Africa. Because of the conflicts of the anti Islams, they decided to go as far as Africa.
Seeking refuge; Some visitors were faced with political persecution in their own land. They therefore came in to Africa continent to get rid of the political persecution or conflicts because in Africa there is peace.
Exploration; Most of the Asians came in Africa to explore the land of Zenj (black people) and to see their culture. They assessed the accessibility of various parts of African Coast and the commodities available. They then report back to their countries. The report forced more visitors to our East African coast.
Establishing settlements; Some parts of Africa attracted many Asians and they establish their permanent settlements. They established different buildings along the in Arabic style. They came in a large number to Africa.
Economic motives of the contacts.
Trade;Many people from Asia came in Africa to make trade with coastal people of Africa. They brought goods from Asia and took others from Africa. The trade covered the East African coast from Mogadishu to Sofala in Mozambique. Their activities were possible due to the help of monsoon wind. Most of the traders were interested in gold from Monomotapa Empire via Sofala and Kilwa and slave from the coastline. They also took other items like Rhinocerous horns, bees wax, tortoise shells, leopards and lion skins as well as copper from Africa. From Asia merchant brought China dish, daggas, ear rings, silk, porcelain, iron port, swords, beads and coloured clothes from India.
Commercial exploration; Some of the visitors came in Africa to assess the resources. They wanted to know the climatic condition, mineral potentiality and economic activities found in Africa. By doing this it was easy to plan for the economic exploitation.
IMPACTS OF THE CONTACTS:
Social impact of the contacts with Far East through Indian Ocean:
1. The introduction of Islamic religion and culture; Many African societies agreed to be converted to Islamic religion. These went in hand with the spread of new dressing styles e.g. long robes, covering head and face with veil (women) and wearing a long robes and tarbin for men. In these areas people lived according to the Islamic laws called sharia.
2. Emergence of Kiswahili language; Arabs word and Bantu word formed Kiswahili language. Arab traders came into contact with Bantu speaking people and some Arab words were copied by the Africans e.g. marahaba, afande etc
3. Intermarriages; Because of the long run contacts between Africa and Asia people started to marry each other. These marriages led to the rise of new race called mulatoes.
4. Depopulation; Most of the people lost their life because of slave trade. Some died due to hunger and some run away from their family due to fear of being captured as a slave.
5. Growth of Towns and cities; Some of the towns emerged in the coastal areas. Many of these towns had natural harbours e.g. Mafia, Lamu, Malindi, Pate, Mombasa and Mogadishu.
6. Life of fear; During the contacts many people were captured from the interior as a slave. This led to the increase fear among the African societies.
Economic impacts.
1. Introduction of new crops; New crops such as rice, wheat, cloves, sugarcane, and oranges were introduced to the African continent from the Middle East. These crops improved the diets of Africa as they took these as their staple food crops.
2. Exposing Africa to the external world; The visitors who come in Africa travelled to many parts of the world and report to their mother countries about the potentiality of Africa and commodities found in it. These potentialities attracted other people to visit Africa. From these ground Africa was involved in the world economy. African products such as ivory, gold, leopard skins and ostrich feather were very popular and were sold over the world.
3. Introduction of money economy; Foreigners introduced the use of currency in trade. This was more convenient and replaced barter trade as the method of exchange. Coins began to be minted in the East Africa city state.
4. Introduction of new technology; People from the Far East and Middle East brought new technology to Africa. For example, they introduction advanced navigation techniques and the art of keeping records by writing. The dhows introduced by Arabs helped Africans along the Indian Ocean shore line to travel further. Fishing communities also used dhows in fishing. These fishing communities were such as Subi and Rongo of Lake Victoria and people around lake Tanganyika.
5. Unequal exchange; The goods taken from Africa by the Arabs were of good quality and valuable. Ivory, gold, slaves and animal skins has more value than beads, daggas, cowries shells and clothes brought from Asia.
Slave trade; Oman Arabs introduced slave trade to East Africa to work for their plantation in Zanzibar and others were taken to the far and Middle East as a domestic worker. They also sell slaves to Europe to work in their sugar plantation of Seychelles, Mauritius and Reunion Island. This trade was inhuman because it reduced the human dignity.
Exploitation of African resources; Due to high demand of African commodities in the outside world, African resources were greatly exploited. For example large number of Elephant and Rhinocerous were killed for their horns and many strong young people were captured and sold as slave.
Decline of local industries; The introduction of local goods led to the decline of African local industries. Due to the availability of many varieties of clothes, utensils and tools from abroad few people bought locally made goods. As a result local production declined
