Throughout its long and often tumultuous history, “La Hispanola” has taken on various cultural identities to meet the expectations—and especially the demands—of those who governed it. The island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti saw its first great shift with the arrival of Spanish colonists, who eliminated the indigenous population and established a pattern of indifference or hostility to diversity there. This enlightening book explores the Dominican Republic through the lens of its African descendants, beginning with the rise of the black slave trade in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century West Africa, and continuing on to slavery as it existed on the island. An engaging history that vividly details black life in the Dominican Republic, the book investigates the slave rebellions and evaluates the numerous contributions of black slaves to Dominican culture.
Throughout its long and often tumultuous history, “La Hispanola” has taken on various cultural identities to meet the expectations—and especially the demands—of those who governed it. The island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti saw its first great shift with the arrival of Spanish colonists, who eliminated the indigenous population and established a pattern of indifference or hostility to diversity there. This enlightening book explores the Dominican Republic through the lens of its African descendants, beginning with the rise of the black slave trade in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century West Africa, and continuing on to slavery as it existed on the island. An engaging history that vividly details black life in the Dominican Republic, the book investigates the slave rebellions and evaluates the numerous contributions of black slaves to Dominican culture.
eBook
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
Related collections and offers
Overview
Throughout its long and often tumultuous history, “La Hispanola” has taken on various cultural identities to meet the expectations—and especially the demands—of those who governed it. The island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti saw its first great shift with the arrival of Spanish colonists, who eliminated the indigenous population and established a pattern of indifference or hostility to diversity there. This enlightening book explores the Dominican Republic through the lens of its African descendants, beginning with the rise of the black slave trade in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century West Africa, and continuing on to slavery as it existed on the island. An engaging history that vividly details black life in the Dominican Republic, the book investigates the slave rebellions and evaluates the numerous contributions of black slaves to Dominican culture.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781628952254 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Michigan State University Press |
| Publication date: | 06/01/2012 |
| Series: | Ruth Simms Hamilton African Diaspora |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 87 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
About the Author
Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Carlos Andújar is a humanist socially engaged with his country’s future.
Read an Excerpt
The African Presence in Santo Domingo
By Carlos Andújar
Michigan State University Press
ISBN: 978-1-61186-042-9Chapter One
West Africa during the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries
For many people, including social scientists, the degree of development of African peoples at the moment of the encounter between Africa and the Americas is surprising. The similarities in behavior make one consider the first the ancestor of the second, but especially the ancestor of the Caribbean. Two major factors at this point are crucial in history: (1) the "discovery" of the continent by Christopher Columbus and the subsequent process of colonization and slavery, and (2) the initiation and development of the slave trade in the fifteenth century.
The splendor and contributions to society characteristic of sub-Saharan or negroid African cultures are barely known. The illiteracy of most of them, among other elements, was long considered by traditional historians as a constraint for study. There is almost no knowledge, for instance, about the magnificence of black African peoples. Consider the large empires, kingdoms, and states, as well as the rise of science, commerce, arts, urbanization, strong military and economic power, that stand out in the study of the Mali Empire, for instance. In order to overcome these false beliefs, our impressions of Africa need to be rethought, as does the belief that Africa's material backwardness is due to biological "backwardness." Fortunately, sponsored by UNESCO, eight volumes are being written on the general history of Africa, which will help unfold the truth about Africa and its magnificent past.
By the time of the arrival of Europeans to the African continent, major civilizations had already been developed. Blacks who came to the Americas—according to Herskovits—came primarily from the west coast and surrounding areas (an average of 200 kilometers inland), and shared a similar social development, that is, the same cultural patterns. However, black slaves came from different places, and their religious practices varied from black animism to polytheism and Islam.
Similar differentiation occurs when studying the characteristics of the social structures of these peoples. First in line would be those from tribal societies, organized under the rules of descent, like some located on the western coasts, as opposed to those coming from centralized states, many of which became kingdoms or empires, such as the strip of Sudan.
This outstanding development is, for many authors, linked to the expansion of Islam in black Africa, which began in the twelfth century, and whose philosophical-religious platform was open to "Africanization," as some call the process of accommodation and flexibility of Islam to the African culture. The main impact, however, of Islam on sub-Saharan cultures was the development of the market and its opposition to black slavery. Although trade routes through the Sahara had existed long before, the spread of Islam in Africa increased their magnitude, driving major cities to become real centers of commerce, such as Gao, Kano, Timbuktu, and others.
The Kingdoms of the Sudan
The Mali Empire
Among the kingdoms of the southern strip of the Sahara, Mali was by far the most important. After its foundation in 1235 and the reunification of the three main provinces, Do, Kiri, and Bako, under the aegis of King Sunjata Keyta—who immediately became mansa (emperor)—began what is known as the first mandinga or mandé expansion.
Besides archaeology and oral tradition, sources for studying the history of the Mali Empire come from the documents of the scribe Al-Bakri, and later of the geographer Al-Idvrisi.
Known for its abundance of gold, its main resources and economic power came from agriculture and livestock. This boom led not only to a large population, but also to villages that reflected the economic growth of the empire. Some sources estimate the population at 40 to 50 million inhabitants.
Two events highlighted the wealth of the empire, both linked to one of its most eccentric rulers, Mansa Musa I (1307 to 1332), who professed the Islamic religion: (1) his pilgrimage to Mecca; and (2) his claims about possibly having visited the land later known as America, which nobody had ever heard about. Whatever the truth is, his immense power is undeniable. Mansa Musa I is alleged to have said during his trip to Cairo, speaking about the sovereign Sunjaba II, who ruled before him: "He did not understand that it was impossible to reach the end of the surrounding sea; he attempted it and perished in the attempt."
According to Jeffer and Weiner, the malinkes were in America (in the "outer surrounding waters," that is, the Atlantic) about two hundred years before Christopher Columbus. However, no proof of the assertion of Mansa Musa I has ever been found.
As for his trip to Mecca, we read: "Mansa Musa had a large entourage, carrying with him 80 packets of powdered gold, 3,800 kgs each, accompanied by 60,000 porters and preceded by 500 slaves, each carrying a stick weighing 3 kgs."
After 1375, cartographers began depicting Mansa Musa's image on maps of Sudan, holding in his hand a gold nugget, a symbol of wealth acknowledged even outside the Sudanese territory. Other empires did not reach this level of opulence.
The Songhay Empire
Founded towards the end of the fifteenth century with its capital in Gao, Songhay had already begun to take shape as an empire in the eleventh century, according to oral tradition and documents written by Adsa'dí and A. Kati.
Its economy was based on fishing, livestock, agriculture, and trans-Saharan commerce. The economy would be developed in the direction of North Africa and later towards the Mediterranean, mainly by the sale of gold, slaves, spices, ivory, and kola nuts.
Timbuktu, considered the holy city of Sudan, was conquered by the Songhay by 1468, reaching its apogee in the sixteenth century. At the time, the estimated population was about 80,000 inhabitants.
Timbuktu not only flourished because of its location along the trans-Saharan route, but also became a city of science and knowledge. It was the site of one of the largest black African universities. Professors from Cairo and other cities taught Islamic theology, law, grammar, rhetoric, astronomy, history, etc.
The empire's major cities each had their own differentiating features with regard to the others. The estimated population of Gao at the time was 100,000 inhabitants, which reflects its importance as an urban center.
The Kanem Empire
This vast empire was developed in the region of Chad, around the twelfth century. The diwan (writings produced by the chroniclers of the court) and oral tradition may help reconstruct part of its past. Apparently, the power and raison d'être of the empire were linked to the existence of its trans-Saharan market—primarily the slave trade, although its wealth was based on farming, ranching, and mining (mainly salt). In this context, the slave was regarded as the principal instrument of barter. After the sixteenth century, because of war in Europe, the rule of the empire was weakened and its importance decreased.
The Kingdom of Hawsa
With Kano as its main city, the kingdom of Hawsa is of uncertain provenance. According to some authors, the population of the region occurred as a result of immigration from the declining Mali and Songhay empires.
Agriculture was the most important activity, fostered by fertile and productive land. The basic produce was wheat, rice, sorghum, and cotton for export. In its socioeconomic structure, artisans and merchants used cotton, salt, and slaves as their currency in regional exchanges.
Coastal Region (Guinea, Benin, and Yoruba)
In the coastal states, we can see a greater fragmentation of political and social organization, structured according to lineage. Although they traded other products, their economies were originally associated with the trade of kola nuts with the peoples of the Sudanese savannah and forests.
Agriculture was their main activity—especially rice cultivation in the lowlands and coastal wetlands—although to a lesser extent, some of these states were engaged in the extraction of salt, ivory, and slave trafficking. Only when the Europeans made contact with the region did the capture and sale of slaves become the main activity of most coastal towns, generating slave states such as Ashanti. Thus, the west coasts would soon become the point of attraction for business, replacing the northern region in this role.
In some parts, especially in Upper Volta-Cameroon, ironwork was known at an early stage, especially among the Yorubas, one of the major ethnic groups. In others, such as the towns of Oyo, Benin, and Ife, some more or less centralized states started to develop.
In towns such as Ife, sculptural art became popular, and statuettes were produced in clay, bronze, and wood. Of unique artistic value, bronze works from the Nupe kingdom came to influence the visual arts in Europe, placing Africa in a privileged place in the history of mankind despite its absence in "world history."
THE KINGDOMS OF CENTRAL AFRICA
The Kongo Empire
Known for its contact with the Portuguese in 1482, and discovered by Diego Cão, the kingdom of Bakongo is considered the largest in the south Sahara, covering several states. Its founders came from the ancient civilization of Luba. It is believed to have been founded between the late fourteenth century and the beginning of the fifteenth. Its capital was Mbanzakongo, and its king was known as Manikongo (Lord of the Kongo).
These people were considered excellent ironworkers, as well as skilled hunters and warriors. They developed pottery, weaving, and salt extraction, and used these as currency, like the little copper crosses and other coins called nzimbu. They developed the production of sea salt and the growing of crops such as bananas, yams, sugar cane, and peanuts.
Because of the extent of the territory, political control was exercised through local chiefs appointed by the king (Manikongo), accompanied by a council of elders. With time, however, these areas would slowly become small states with some autonomy. The most significant of these were the kingdoms of Ngoy, Kikongo, and Loango. There were others, less important, such as the region of Kwango Ndongo. In the area of Ndongo there was a hereditary title that later gave the name to the Portuguese colony of Angola, the Ngola.
By the seventeenth century, the region had more than two million people. In the early years, the Portuguese had excellent relations with the society that hosted them—to such an extent that most of the rulers of the kingdom of Kongo converted to Christianity. The Manikongo Nzinga Nkouvou converted to Christianity in 1491 (it is important, however, to clarify that many of these conversions were purely formal). In many cases, they changed their names for baptism, as was the case of Manikongo Alfonso I, who undertook a work of spreading Christianity so great that the capital of his kingdom was called the "city of church bells" (ekongo dia ngungo), and one of his sons was consecrated as a bishop in Rome in 1521.
Soon these relations were broken off because the Portuguese decided to begin the business of the slave trade. In 1575, Paulo Dias de Novias was sent to the countries of central Africa, this time as conqueror, changing the previous relationships with the region completely, especially the Kongo, which ended up declaring war with Portugal in 1650, and succumbing to the might of the European power.
The Slave Trade
By the year 1415, the Portuguese started exploring the African coast with the aim of finding a route to the East, pursuing spices, perfume, fabric, and gold from Sudan, the Far East, and Africa in general. Europe was highly appreciative of these goods. As Françoise Latour Da Veiga Pinto says: "The slave trade has gone hand in hand with the great Portuguese discoveries of the fifteenth century.... The economic motivations of the first sailors who came to Africa were of two kinds: to reach the sources of gold production of Sudan ... and to discover a sea route to spices."
The Portuguese began the slave trade business on August 8, 1414, when "for the first time there was a public sale of slaves in Lagos and in the presence of the Infante Don Enrique.... the best slaves were offered to the Church." For his part, Fernando Ortiz states that, to facilitate this trade, in 1483 the Portuguese built a factory in San Jorge de Mina, selling blacks mainly from Benin, Gorée, Arguim, and Badagrí.
For four centuries, Africa would supply slaves to the Americas for the establishment of plantation economies, and to Europe, as a benefit of the wealth produced overseas. The slave trade represented one of the bases of accumulation of capital, while African peoples were plunged into psychosocial depression by their ill fortune.
The basis of the trade was the exchange of goods between European (Mongos) and African slave traders. The first offered weapons, rum, and cloth, and the second, slaves. Three kingdoms stood out in this business: the Susus in the former French Guinea, the Vais of Sierra Leone, and the Ashantis in Ghana and Dahomey.
Although there were about two hundred slaves already in Hispaniola by 1501, the real trade was formally started in 1517, with the landing in the West Indies of hundreds of black slaves from Spain and the western coasts of Africa.
This influx of new labor would be the result of pressure from priests (Jerónimos) and some neighbors of the colony, interested in developing large-scale sugar production.
The trade is believed to have affected some 20 million blacks, 5 million of whom died due to the adverse conditions during the voyage. Other authors give lower figures.
It is important to note, however, that at the time not only black Africans were slaves, but white prisoners and moros were also subjected to the same conditions, sold for varying periods—including for life—along with their families, and destined for domestic labor. The treatment of these slaves did not differ substantially from that offered to blacks, and in some cases could be even worse. It is true that the first blacks who arrived in America were slaves, but this situation changed rapidly towards the second decade of the sixteenth century. As Frank Moya Pons stated: "Already in 1522 the business was booming; ships were coming from Seville to Santo Domingo and returned to the mainland with more than two thousand arrobas of sugar. Prices continued to rise, and with it the number of blacks consistently brought in to work in the mills. From now on, Indians and gold would be a lesser economic concern, while black destiny would be linked to the sugar industry until the end of that economy." The view held by colonials in the West Indies was that "it is more profitable to buy them than to raise them"; this type of thinking led to an increased demand on the American coasts.
Fernando Ortiz mentions some of the goods received by the slavers in exchange for what was called "a piece of the Indies." For example, blacks should not have amputations, should be of good size and well built; in exchange the seller would receive large yellow amber, silver coins, red coral, knives, scarves, alcohol, iron bars, and guns.
This business was mainly observed off the coast of West Africa, because Europeans and especially the Portuguese could not penetrate inland without the risk of being killed by warrior groups, or by the effects of malaria, dengue, or yellow fever. Of those who did, very few returned to their ships, permanently moored off the beaches of Senegambia, Sierra Leone, and the Caleta of Benin—known as "white man's grave." This data made American anthropologist Melville Herskovits affirm that most of the slaves brought to America came from coastal tribes, of not more than 200 kilometers inland.
The depletion of human resources made captors venture as far as the Upper Niger, which would serve as a springboard in the traffic—like the cities of Kano and Gao, which fulfilled the role of host cities for the sale of slaves to Europeans.
It appears, thus, that a great number of blacks were from villages in which the Twi, Yoruba, and Ewe languages were spoken. Those villages belonged to what is Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria today. In the case of those captured by the Portuguese, the origins were Bantu groups settled in the area now occupied by Angola, Mozambique, and the Congo, and they were loaded at the port of San Jorge de Mina, in the Niger Delta.
The control of the slave trade was taken from the Portuguese and Spanish by the English and the Dutch, who in 1672 formed the Royal African Company, which would regulate the trade until 1750, the year of its dissolution.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The African Presence in Santo Domingo by Carlos Andújar Excerpted by permission of Michigan State University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.