Changes And Continuities In Sub Saharan Africa From 1500 To 1750

From 1500 to 1750, there were changes and continuities on the ways Sub-Saharan Africa participated in interregional trade. The major turning point of Sub-Saharan Africa’s participation is the start the slave trade in West Africa. This event impacted the New World, Europe and SE Asia because Europe profited from the exploitation of Africans to the New World, Southeast Asia experienced a decline in population because of the start of the slave trade between Southern Africa and Indonesia, and the New World became more profitable as plantations where slaves worked grew. The overall continuity of Sub-Saharan Africa’s participation in trade is the European dominance in the region because of the Age of Exploration led by the Portuguese and Spanish.

This voyage led to the involvement of the Portuguese to the Indian Ocean Trade Route with the Swahili city states in East Africa. As the Columbian Exchange started, West Africa became involved in the Triangle Trade with Europe and the New World. Europe sent rum and rifles to African kings like King Afonso of Kongo. West African empires like Kongo, Songhay and Benin sent slaves as well as African foods like rice and okra through the Middle Passage in the Atlantic. While the slave trade is happening, more European nations like the Netherlands, Spain, England and France became involved with trade in the Indian Ocean. Africa experienced a decline in the population, and the Netherlands started another slave trade between South Africa and Indonesian slaves, known as “Cape Coloreds” since the kings of Sub-Saharan Africa needed slaves as well. The Swahili city states also traded porcelain and silk with the Qing Dynasty after the fall of the isolated Ming