Chapter 25

Africa and the Atlantic World

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Thomas Peters was

a. a wealthy plantation owner who became the largest slave owner in the Carolinas.
b. the captain of the first ship to bring slaves to North America.
c. an American congressman who played a key role in drafting legislation to end the slave
trade.
d. the author of The Crime of Slavery.
e. central in promoting the establishment of a colony for ex-slaves in Sierra Leone.
Answer: e
Page: 549

2. The Black Pioneers were

a. Africans who served as indentured servants in return for land in the Caribbean.
b. escaped slaves who fought to maintain British rule in the North American colonies.
c. former slaves who fought on the colonial side in the American revolution.
d. the most notorious of the slave raiding organizations.
e. the name for members of the First Continental Congress who fought for the abolition of
slavery.
Answer: b
Page: 549

3. The rise in maritime trade in the early modern era in Africa

a. ironically led to a decrease in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
b. led to the consolidation in the largest imperial states in African history.
c. led to political chaos and the destruction of the traditional African balance of power.
d. resulted in regional kingdoms replacing the imperial states of west Africa.
e. resulted in a new pattern in which the village became the principal political entity.
Answer: d
Page: 550

4. The most important early city in the Songhay empire was

a. Gao.
b. Timbuktu.
c. Jenne.
d. Mali.
e. Kilwa.
Answer: a
Page: 551
5. The most influential ruler in the rise of the Songhay empire was
a. Sundiata.
b. Nzinga.
c. Mansa Musa.
d. Sunni Ali.
e. Afonso I.
Answer: d
Page: 551

6. Sunni Ali built a powerful imperial navy to patrol the

a. Niger River.
b. Atlantic Ocean.
c. Mediterranean Sea.
d. Congo River.
e. Indian Ocean.
Answer: a
Page: 551

7. All Songhay emperors were

a. Zoroastrian.
b. Christian.
c. Islamic.
d. Antonian.
e. traditional animistic.
Answer: c
Page: 551

8. The Songhay empire fell in 1591 to

a. a Moroccan army.
b. a Portuguese army.
c. a Dutch army.
d. an English army.
e. a French army.
Answer: a
Page: 551

9. In 1505 all the Swahili city-states were subdued by the

a. Portuguese.
b. Spanish.
c. Ottoman Turks.
d. Dutch.
e. English.
Answer: a
Page: 552
10. The ruler of the kingdom of Kongo, Afonso I, converted to what religion and encouraged his
subjects to convert as well?
a. Islam
b. Antonianism
c. Christianity
d. Judaism
e. Buddhism
Answer: c
Page: 553

11. King Nzinga Mbemba of Kongo is best known for his

a. rebellion against Portuguese rule.
b. alliance with the British.
c. fascination with Islam.
d. development of a powerful navy.
e. conversion to Catholicism.
Answer: e
Page: 553

12. An alliance with Portugal brought wealth and foreign recognition to Kongo, as well as
a. the right to limit the slave trade.
b. an inroad into European politics.
c. a later alliance with the English.
d. a diplomatic connection to the Spanish.
e. the eventual destruction of the kingdom.
Answer: e
Page: 553

13. The Portuguese referred to Ndongo as Angola because of the word ngola, which meant
a. “gold.”
b. “slave.”
c. “impure.”
d. “king.”
e. “indigo.”
Answer: d
Page: 555

14. The chief obstacle to Portuguese control of Angola came from

a. Queen Nzinga.
b. King Afonso I.
c. King Sundiata.
d. Queen Dona Beatriz.
e. King Sunni Ali.
Answer: a
Page: 555
15. The first European colony in sub-Saharan Africa was
a. Mozambique.
b. Angola.
c. Zimbabwe.
d. Kanem-Bornu.
e. Kongo.
Answer: b
Page: 555

16. In an effort to drive the Portuguese out of Ndongo, Queen Nzinga formed an alliance with
the
a. Kongolese.
b. kingdom of Axum.
c. kingdom of Zimbabwe.
d. Dutch.
e. kingdom of Mali.
Answer: d
Page: 555

17. What was the massive fortified city in southern Africa that dominated the gold trade in its
region of the continent until the late fifteenth century?
a. Mbanza
b. Cape Town
c. Ndongo
d. Great Zimbabwe
e. Jenne
Answer: d
Page: 555-556

18. A trading post was built at Cape Town in 1652 by the

a. Portuguese.
b. Dutch.
c. Russians.
d. English.
e. French.
Answer: b
Page: 556

19. When the Dutch founded Cape Town they encountered which of these indigenous groups?
a. Kongolese
b. Khoikhoi
c. Ndongo
d. Zimbabwe
e. Fulani
Answer: b
Page: 556
20. The center of Islamic learning in west Africa was
a. Kilwa.
b. Jenne.
c. Gao.
d. Timbuktu.
e. Mbanza.
Answer: d
Page: 556

21. Islam was most popular in sub-Saharan Africa in

a. the thinly populated rural areas.
b. the commercial centers of west Africa and the Swahili city-states.
c. areas that had previously had contact with Christian missionaries.
d. poor areas, where payment for conversion had the greatest appeal.
e. areas that had forsaken the traditional religions because of famine or plague.
Answer: b
Page: 556

22. Islam and Christianity usually spread into sub-Saharan Africa

a. because of the failure of Judaism to capture a larger audience.
b. solely because of military conquest.
c. as syncretic versions of the originals.
d. as an uneasy and cumbersome mixture of Islamic and Christian concepts.
e. as religions picked up by runaway slaves.
Answer: c
Page: 556

23. The Fulani

a. were the most feared of the slave raiders who haunted coastal Africa.
b. established the central African kingdom of Ndongo.
c. attempted, through military conquest, to instill a strict form of Islam in Africa.
d. fell victim to Swahili expansion.
e. eventually failed in their mission of spreading Christianity.
Answer: c
Page: 556

24. Which of the following was NOT an accomplishment of the Fulani?

a. They promoted the spread of Islam from the cities to the countryside.
b. They founded powerful states in Senegal, Mali, and northern Nigeria.
c. They established schools to study the Quran.
d. They strengthened Islam in sub-Saharan Africa.
e. They eliminated the traditional elements of syncretic Islam.
Answer: e
Page: 556
25. The founder of the religion that stressed that Jesus Christ had been a black man and that
Kongo was the true holy land was
a. Dona Beatriz.
b. King Pedro IV.
c. Nzinga Mbemba.
d. Queen Nzinga.
e. Olaudah Equiano.
Answer: a
Page: 557

26. During the early modern period in Africa, the basis of social organization continued to be
a. religious organizations of a syncretic nature.
b. kinship groups.
c. paramilitary organizations.
d. guilds.
e. a modern European-style nuclear family.
Answer: b
Page: 557

27. The most important American crop introduced into Africa in the sixteenth century was
a. manioc.
b. tomatoes.
c. maize.
d. peanuts.
e. tobacco.
Answer: a
Page: 558

28. By 1800, the population of sub-Saharan Africa stood at

a. twenty-one million.
b. thirty-four million.
c. forty-five million.
d. sixty million.
e. eighty-four million.
Answer: d
Page: 558

29. Throughout most of history, the majority of slaves came from

a. religious obligations to traditional, usually animistic, gods.
b. traditional outcast portions of society.
c. the poor who were forced to sell themselves into servitude to repay huge debts.
d. renegade members of the royal family.
e. war captives.
Answer: e
Page: 558
30. One of the factors that made African slavery different from the varieties practiced elsewhere
was that
a. African slavery was much more brutal than any other form of slavery.
b. African slavery began much later than slavery in the rest of the world.
c. African slavery was practiced almost entirely for religious rather than financial reasons.
d. African law did not recognize private property, and thus slaves served as a measure of
personal wealth.
e. African slavery didn’t last very long.
Answer: d
Page: 558

31. The arrival of the Europeans

a. halted the slave market because of Christian rules against slavery.
b. created a slave market where none had existed before.
c. dramatically increased previously existing slave networks.
d. had almost no influence on the slave networks.
e. dramatically decreased the number of Africans sold into slavery.
Answer: c
Page: 559

32. The first European slave traders were the

a. English.
b. Spanish.
c. French.
d. Dutch.
e. Portuguese.
Answer: e
Page: 559

33. As part of the triangular slave trade, the Europeans usually picked up slaves in Africa in
return for
a. firearms.
b. sugar or molasses.
c. silver from the Americas.
d. European technological innovations.
e. indentured servants.
Answer: a
Page: 559
34. Over the course of the entire period of trans-Atlantic slavery, the mortality rate for the middle
passage was
a. 60 percent.
b. 50 percent.
c. 25 percent.
d. 10 percent.
e. 3 percent.
Answer: c
Page: 561

35. The heaviest slave trading took place in the

a. fifteenth century.
b. sixteenth century.
c. seventeenth century.
d. eighteenth century.
e. nineteenth century.
Answer: d
Page: 561

36. How many Africans were forcefully brought to the Americas as part of the trans-Atlantic
slave trade?
a. less than one million
b. one million
c. two million
d. four million
e. twelve million
Answer: e
Page: 561

37. The vast majority of slaves

a. died during the middle passage.
b. were employed in the mines of Central and South America.
c. became domestic servants.
d. were trained for simple, bureaucratic work.
e. provided agricultural labor on plantations.
Answer: e
Page: 563

38. The only place where a slave revolt actually brought about an end to slavery was
a. Peru.
b. Brazil.
c. Saint-Domingue.
d. Cuba.
e. Virginia.
Answer: c
Page: 566
39. Which of the following is NOT associated with the syncretic religions of the Africans in the
Americas?
a. Saramaka
b. Vodou
c. belief in spirits and supernatural powers
d. Candomblé
e. African rituals like drumming and dancing
Answer: a
Page: 566

40. The first European nation to abolish the slave trade was
a. England.
b. Denmark.
c. France.
d. Portugal.
e. Spain.
Answer: b
Page: 568

TRUE/FALSE

41. In 1505 a massive Portuguese naval expedition subdued all the Swahili cities from Sofala to
Mombasa.
Answer: True
Page: 552

42. The kings of Kongo converted to Christianity as a way to establish closer commercial
relations with Portuguese merchants and diplomatic relations with the Portuguese monarchy.
Answer: True
Page: 553

43. Queen Nzinga dressed as a male warrior when leading troops in battle and insisted that her
subjects refer to her as king rather than queen.
Answer: True
Page: 555

44. Like Islam, Christianity would not make compromises with the traditional beliefs and
customs of sub-Saharan people.
Answer: False
Page: 556

45. The most important American food crop brought to sub-Saharan Africa was maize.
Answer: False
Page: 558
46. The part of the slave trade that was the trans-Atlantic journey was called the “middle
passage.”
Answer: True
Page: 560

47. The slave trade created a sexual imbalance in some parts of Africa. In Angola, this imbalance
encouraged the practice of polygyny and forced women to take on duties that had been the
responsibility of men.
Answer: True
Page: 563

48. Slaves resisted in numerous ways: slow work, sabotage of equipment, running away, and
slave revolts.
Answer: True
Page: 565

49. As the profitability of slavery declined, Europeans began to shift their investments from
sugarcane and slaves to newly emerging manufacturing industries.
Answer: True
Page: 567

50. The last country in the Americas to emancipate slaves was the United States, in 1865.
Answer: False
Page: 568

ESSAY

51. When talking about the conditions on a slave ship, Olaudah Equiano wrote, “I now wished
for the last friend, death, to relieve me.” Why was the middle passage so devastating?
Discuss the middle passage in detail.

52. Relate the American concept of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” to slavery. How
did these two concepts coexist?

53. Consider the creation of an African-American culture and society. Compare this to other
examples of cultural melding.

54. Consider the events leading to the end of the slave trade. What economic factors led to the
rise and eventual abolition of the slave trade? Would it have been possible for the slave trade
to end earlier than it did? What did the end of the slave trade mean to the slave traders and
the slaves?
55. Examine the changing nature of African political development in Songhay, the Swahili city-
states, and the kingdom of Kongo. Who were the main leaders? What were the most
important turning points?

56. Examine the increasing role of Islam and Christianity in sub-Saharan Africa. In what ways
did these religions transform sub-Saharan Africa? What happened to the indigenous
religions?

57. Examine the slave trade. Discuss its African and trans-Saharan roots. What were the
economic foundations of the slave trade? Examine the middle passage of the slave trade.
Discuss the nature of the journey. What percentage survived the journey?

58. Examine the nature and conditions of slavery in the western hemisphere. In what ways did it
vary? What were the social and gender implications of slavery?

59. Examine the creation of an African-American cultural tradition. How is this culture reflected
in religion and other factors?

60. How was Africa influenced by European contact during this period? What were the social
implications of this interaction?

61. Examine the social and political influence of the slave trade on African societies. Were there
African societies that benefited from the slave trade?

62. Examine the picture of Queen Nzinga on page 552. How does her struggle with the
Portuguese represent the African response to the Europeans? Was she a typical woman of the
age? What role did Dona Beatriz play in the religious world of Africa?

63. In the selection from King Afonso I, what is his argument against the slave trade? What role
did the slave trade play in sub-Saharan Africa? (See Textbook: Sources from the Past: King
Afonso I Protests Slave Trading in the Kingdom of Kongo.)

64. Look at the letter from King Afonso I (see Textbook: Sources from the Past: King Afonso I
Protests Slave Trading in the Kingdom of Kongo). Why is it ironic that Afonso would have
to appeal to the Europeans to stop raiding his kingdom for slaves?

65. Compare the decline of Songhay with the decline of the Swahili city-states of east Africa.

66. How was the kingdom of Kongo transformed by its contacts with the Portuguese?

67. What were the objectives of Dutch colonists in south Africa? What kind of colony did they
establish? Compare these objectives to the Portuguese objectives in colonizing Angola.

68. In what ways did Islam adapt to the customs and traditions of sub-Saharan Africa? Consider
Songhay as an example. Where had strict Islam taken root by the end of the seventeenth
century?
69. Besides religion, what other changes came to sub-Saharan Africa as a result of increased
contact with the outside world?

70. Compare the institution of slavery within traditional African society with slavery as practiced
in Europe and the New World.

71. What was the impact of the trans-Atlantic slave trade on the societies of west Africa?
Consider social, political, and demographic effects.

72. Compare the experience of slaves in the Caribbean, in Brazil, and in North America.

73. What factors ultimately led to the abolition of the slave trade and ultimately to the abolition
of slavery itself?