Central Africa

Central Africa

Ancient Kingdom of Kongo

Kingdom of Kongo

16th Century Crucifix, Kongo

17th Century, Crucifix, Kongo

18th Century Crucifix, Kongo

Saint Anthony, 18th Century

19th Century Religious Art

1526 Letter“Sir, Your Highness should know how our kingdom is being lost in so many ways that it is convenient to provide for the necessary remedy, since this is caused by the excessive freedom given by your factors and officials to the men and merchants who are

1526 Letterallowed to come to this kingdom to set up shops with goods and many things which have been prohibited by us…And we cannot reckon how great the damage is, since the mentioned merchants are taking every day our natives, sons of the land and the sons of our noblemen and vassals and our relatives,

1526 Letterbecause the thieves and men of bad conscience grab them…and cause them to be sold, and so great, Sir, is the corruption and licentiousness that our country is being completely depopulated, and Your Highness should not agree with this nor accept it as in your service. And to avoid it, we need from those [your] kingdoms, no more than some priests

1526 Letterand a few people to teach in schools, and no other goods except wine and flour for the holy sacrament. That is why we beg Your Highness to help and assist us in this matter, commanding your factors that they should not send here either merchants or wares because it is our will that in these kingdoms there should not be any trade of slaves nor outlet for them.”

Triangular Trade

Triangular Trade

Asante Golden Stool

Asante 18th -19th Pectoral Badge

19th Century Asante Gold

Fon Chair, Abomey, Dahomey

Early 20th Century Fon Art

19th Maternity Figure, Yoruba

Bronze Statute of Ooni of Ife

17th Century Oba’s Horn Blower

19th Century Yoruba Bowl

19th Kongo Female Figure & Child

19th Kongo Female Figure & Child

Impact of Slave Trade on Africa• Rise and Influence of Middlemen

• Economic Benefit

• Disease

• Rise of New Towns and States

Whydah

Old Architecture, Ouidah

Asante Golden Stool

Asante 18th -19th Pectoral Badge

19th Century Asante Gold

Fon Chair, Abomey, Dahomey

Early 20th Century Fon Art

19th Maternity Figure, Yoruba

Bronze Statute of Ooni of Ife

17th Century Oba’s Horn Blower

19th Century Yoruba Bowl

19th Kongo Female Figure & Child

19th Kongo Female Figure & Child

Whydah

Old Architecture, Ouidah

Religious Art, Ouidah

Door of No Return, Ouidah

Weaving Looms, Ouidah

Map of Bonny Island, Nigeria

Kalabari Masquerade

Kalabari Screen

19th Woven Kalabari Plate

19th Brass Tray, Kalabari

Brass and Nembe, Nigeria

Colonial Bank, Port Harcourt

Cape Coast Castle

Cape Coast, Gold Coast

Cape Coast, Ghana

Enslaved African’s Words"We had nothing to eat but yams, which were thrown amongst us at random--and of those we had scarcely enough to support life. More than a third of us died on the passage, and when we arrived at Charleston, I was not able to stand."

Pawpaw/Papaya

Cut Pawpaw/Papaya

Okro/Okra

Yam in Open West African Market

Yams

Tania

Cassava

Cassava

Sokoto Caliphate

Horsemen, Sokoto Caliphate

Gwolu, Ghana

Paramount Chief Koro Liman IV“I am standing in front of the inner wall of the Gwolu protective wall, which protected the great Gwolu from slave raiders and encroachments into Gwolu city in ancient times. We have two walls and this is the inner wall.

Paramount Chief Koro Liman IV

In ancient times when slavery was rampant, our great great ancestor King Tanja Musa built the wall to ward away slave raiders and slave traders from coming into Gwolu to enslave our people.

Paramount Chief Koro Liman IV

The reason we have the inner and outer wall is that between the two walls we had ponds and farms, so that the inhabitants would be protected from being kidnapped by slave raiders.

Paramount Chief Koro Liman IV

First, there was only the inner wall. Then they realized that people who went to farm, find firewood and fetch water were kidnapped by slave raiders.

Paramount Chief Koro Liman IV

The king found it necessary to construct a second wall and that is why it is a two-walled city. And I know that in the whole of Ghana there are only two such walls.”

Ganive Stilt Houses

Ganvie Stilt Houses

Ganvie Stilt Houses

Lakeside Home on Stilts, Ganvie

Lake Chad

Drying Fish, Lake Chad

Man Fixing Net, Lake Chad

Nzinga Mbemba, Dom Afonso

The Oba of Benin

King Tezifon of Allada, Dahomey “You will make a house in which you will put at first two little pieces of cannon, the next year you will mount four, and in a little time your factory will metamorphose into a fort that will make you master of my dominions and enable you to give laws to me.”

Cugoano Thoughts & Sentiments

Ottobah Cugoano“Kings are the ministers of

God, to do justice, and not to bear the sword in vain, but revenge wrath upon them that do evil. But if they do not in such a case as this, the cruel oppressions of thousands, the blood of the murdered Africans who are slain by the sword of cruel avarice, must rest upon their own guilty heads…”

Oladauh Equiano

The Interesting Narrative

Oladuah Equiano“As I was the youngest of the sons, I became, of course, the greatest favorite with my mother, and was always with her; and she used to take particular pains to form my mind. I was trained up from my earliest years in the art of war; my daily exercise was shooting and throwing javelins; and my mother adorned me with emblems, after the manner of our greatest warriors. In this way I grew up till I was turned the age of eleven, when an end was put to my happiness…”

Frederick Douglas

“The whisper that my master was my father, may or may not be true; and, true or false, it is of but little consequence to my purpose whilst the fact remains, in all its glaring odiousness, that slaveholders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their mothers…”

Toussaint L’Ouverture

Toussaint L’Ouverture

Nat Turner

Harriet Tubman