"Between the 15th and the early 19th century," "Africa's kingdoms would witness remarkable changes in the religious, economic, and cultural trajectory of the continent." "By the early 16th century, at least 3 African kingdoms were directly connected to the royal courts of Europe, and even to the halls of the Vatican." "Europe's exploration of the Americas would become one of the most defining experiences in the continent's long history." "This new world would become synonymous with trade, and a crucial component of trade would be he shipping across the Atlantic of some 12.5 million Africans" "Powerful empires would rise and fall, all across the continent, during this time of seismic global change." "In the far north corner of Angola, on a flat-topped mountain, lies the city of Mbanza Kongo, the capital of Zaire province." "Today, it's home to 100,000 people." "6 centuries ago, this city was the capital of one of Africa's greatest kingdoms." "At the end of the 15th century, the kingdom of Kongo was one of." "The largest and most powerful states." "In the Southern half of Africa." "From the capital, Mbanza Kongo, a densely settled and well-administered city." "Lying south of the Congo river, a king presided over a highly stratified society." "That covered some 50,000 square miles." "At the heart of the city stand the ruins of a building." "Constructed in the middle of the 16th century." "It's one of the most important architectural remains." "In the history of sub-Saharan African Christianity..." "A striking symbol of the transformation." "Of the religious beliefs of this great African kingdom." "It's the cathedral of Sao Salvador." "What did you think when you first heard." "There was an African cathedral." "Before the 1600s?" "I couldn't believe it." "Tell me about it." "The cathedral was built in 1549." "And it's an incredible thing." "Think about having a cathedral to fulfill." "The destiny of Christianity in Africa." "Do the people here know about this history?" "Many of the reference say the place was a temple." "That connect to the old religions." "So that would make sense." "That makes sense." "The second tale is always the king." "Knew he wanted to be a Christian." "And he decided to build this monument, to honor this incredible transformation." "The adoption of Roman Catholicism." "By the king of Kongo in 1491." "Not only changed the official religion of the kingdom, but it inserted Kongo into the very heart of European power." "At the beginning of the 17th century, a summary of world rulers prepared in Florence for the education of prince Cosimo de Medici." "Listed the leaders of the world's great kingdoms." "Alongside the monarchs of such great powers as England, France, Japan, and China, was king Alvaro II, the king of Kongo." "The ruler of a powerful African kingdom converts to Roman Catholicism in 1491, sends his own ambassadors to the royal court of Portugal." "And to the Vatican, and one of his successors, in Shakespeare's time, is listed as one of the world's great rulers?" "How could every school child not be taught this." "About the history of the great African continent?" "The Atlantic coast of Africa." "Long a barrier to contact and trade, these waters were about to be transformed into a gateway." "Early in the 15th century," "Portuguese navigators discovered how to use." "The winds and currents of the Atlantic." "Not only to sail south, but, for the first time, to return home, north, to Europe." "This remarkable navigational breakthrough." "Opened heretofore unknown lands to the south, heralding the European age of discovery, vastly expanding Europe's understanding." "Of the known world." "In 1483, a ship dropped anchor at the mouth of the Congo river." "In what is today the country of Angola." "Its captain was the explorer Diogo Cao, dispatched on a mission by king Joao of Portugal." "To seek out new lands, luxury goods, and powerful allies." "When Cao reached the shore, he marked one of the most." "Important encounters in world history." "By erecting a limestone pillar." "How do you feel when you see this?" "It's a major event in global history." "Cao was very fortunate that he met." "A very friendly welcome." "Upon his arrival." "And the king of Kongo and his court." "Were filled with optimism." "About the relationship." "Where both parties would benefit." "From exchanges that would be made." "So let's make a deal." "Yes." "The Portuguese arrived with gifts of." "Silk, satin, and velvet." "They were seeking trading relationships with African kingdoms that they assumed were rich in silver and gold." "What did the king and his nobles make of these visitors, and what would this new friendship mean for the kingdom of Kongo?" "Over 100 miles inland, at his capital of Mbanza Kongo," "Nzinga Nkuwu, the Mwene Kongo, or ruler, graciously received the Portuguese visitors, keen to create cultural and religious links." "With his kingdom." "Essentially when the Portuguese." "Came to west central Africa, it was almost like two continents." "That didn't know about each other's existence." "Suddenly reaching and meeting each other." "It in fact allowed the king of Kongo." "To connect with an outside power." "It wasn't a local power, it was an outside power which, in fact, meant that Kongo became part of what was emerging, which was the Atlantic world." "In addition to engaging in cultural interchanges, the kingdom of Kongo could now trade directly." "With Europe for the first time, exchanging copper and ivory." "As well as luxurious raffia cloth, which soon became highly prized throughout the courts of Europe." "But for Kongo, the relationship wasn't exclusively commercial." "It allowed them to play in the European political game." "In a way that, um, other countries." "Really didn't have access to." "It's not that they could force anybody in Europe." "To do anything they wanted but they could..." "They, first of all, knew the political geography of Europe." "Much better than other African rulers did." "At the end of the 15th century, we know that the Portuguese and Kongo." "Had a significant relationship." "By 1488, Kongo and Portuguese." "Had exchanged ambassadors." "The Portuguese were interested in having the Kongolese." "Give up their idols and other fetishes, as they said, and, you know, become Christian." "So in 1491, the king of Kongo, Nzinga Nkuwu, converted to the catholic faith." "Through this conversion, the kingdom of Kongo." "Entered an even bigger world in its alliance." "With a growing European power." "The Portuguese wanted to expand, to have prestige." "It had been close to the Vatican." "And had been given the world of the Atlantic to expand." "God, gold, and glory, the 3 gs." "That propelled the Portuguese." "To go into the Atlantic." "But the religious dimension was also important, because one of the main aims was, in fact, to spread the catholic faith." "Kongo's commitment to their new religion." "Would deepen further when Nzinga Nkuwu." "Was succeeded by his son Afonso." "Afonso wrote that he fought and won a battle of succession." "Over anti-Christian forces to take the throne." "At the beginning of the 16th century." "He was very devout, and he really was." "Very much, um, transformed and intrigued." "He studied a lot." "A Portuguese missionary noted." "Afonso's extraordinary faith and piety:" ""It seems to me from the way he speaks he is not a man," ""but an angel, sent by the lord in this kingdom to convert it." "For I assure you, it is he who instructs us."" "It was Afonso who developed the school system, for example, put masters, school masters, in every province." "And arranged for an educational system, sent many, many people to Europe to study." "He addressed the king in Portugal as his brother." "He really wanted to have an equal type of relationship." "Where he would be seen in Africa as a powerful Christian country." "Christianity was at the heart of Afonso's kingship, and so was its control." "He made certain that the faith was taught." "Primarily by his own teachers, rather than by European missionaries." "He self-consciously ensured that Christianity." "Practiced in his kingdom." "Had a distinctly indigenous character." "A mix of Roman catholic beliefs." "Constructed on a foundation of African spirituality." "Kongo's craftsmen transformed." "The iconography of Roman Catholicism, making it their own." "This was created by a local brass caster," "Kongo artist who is interpreting Christ." "In a Kongolese idiom." "Yeah, a black Christ, an African Christ." "Initially, European prototypes are used at the court, and eventually, local brass casters are." "Reimagining the forms in their own local aesthetic." "That's one of the most powerful crucified Jesuses." "That I've ever seen." "It's so deeply moving." "And the way that the textile is emphasized, it reminds us of the textiles." "That were so important." "As part of the artistic production." "Of this great civilization." "So even the loincloth that protects Jesus." "Is Kongolese." "Not only is Catholicism Kongolese, but Jesus is Kongolese as well." "Afonso was devout, and wanted his kingdom." "To be formally recognized within the catholic church's hierarchy." "With its own bishop." "Afonso's son Henrique, educated in Portugal, was appointed bishop by Giovanni de Medici, pope Leo X, in the year 1518." "The kingdom of Kongo joined Nubia." "As the home of an African bishop." "It's not that he wanted primarily his son." "To go to heaven as a bishop." "He wanted... it was a power move." "Yeah." "It's a power and political move, to allow someone to have power within the system." "To mark the appointment of his son as bishop," "Afonso sent the pope an extraordinary work of art." "Not only is it beautiful, it's meaningful." "This is one of the treasures of world art." "It's one of the earliest works." "By an African artist to wind up." "In a great European art collection." "And it is appreciated as something of." "Exquisite elegance, beauty, and preciousness." "While this vibrant religious and political alliance." "Between Kongo, Portugal, and the Vatican was deepening, a prosperous economic alliance was also flourishing, and one commodity in particular." "Would become a key economic driver." "In an emerging Atlantic global economy:" "Sugar." "In the early years of the European renaissance, cane sugar sold, pound for pound, for as much as the most exotic spices imported from Asia." "Cultivation first on Madeira, then on Sao Tome and Principe, would make Portugal one of the world's largest sugar producers." "By the middle of the 16th century." "They already knew that any tropical islands." "Was likely to be a place where you could grow sugar cane." "And so they immediately worked on making sugar cane." "A production of that island." "Already by 1500, they are growing sugar cane on Sao Tome, and they're sending it back to Europe." "Sugar had been cultivated by Europeans." "For hundreds of years, in the Levant, on Cyprus and Sicily, in Spain, and now in the mid-15th century, off the west coast of Africa." "There was just one problem:" "Harvesting and processing cane sugar was backbreaking work." "To solve this, planters turned initially." "To European indentured servants, but ultimately the dominant labor force in sugar cultivation." "Would be black African slaves, and a long succession of African kingdoms..." "Including king Afonso's Kongo..." "Would be willing partners in this lucrative trade." "Kongo wanted to import goods from Europe." "And in order to do that, they had to have goods to export." "Kongo exported ivory, copper, um, rare animals." "During the course of its commercial relations with." "Everybody that visited their shores, but by value, by far the largest contribution." "That Kongo gave was in slaves." "Slavery is as old as civilization itself." "It played a key role in African kingdoms." "And was certainly an important component." "Of the domestic economy of the kingdom of Kongo." "The enslavement of other people..." "Enemies, captives in war..." "Was a crucial factor in the expansion." "Of the wealth of the Kongo kingdom, and the Portuguese could readily purchase these slaves." "In Kongo's already-existing markets." "Kongo was still an expanding country, it was conquering neighboring areas, and part of that expansion involved." "The enslavement of people." "And their transport back to Kongo." "Afonso was happy to sell slaves to Portugal." "It made great business sense." "But he had very strict rules." "About who exactly could be enslaved and sold." "There was this very strong idea." "That the kings of Kongo." "Could decide who was a slave and who wasn't." "There were procedures for who could be enslaved." "And generally speaking, it was." "Outsiders or foreigners that could be enslaved." "Kongolese really couldn't be." "So this was a very protective relationship." "They had with their own people." "But Portugal was ignoring the rules." "Of who could and could not be enslaved." "Afonso was in danger of being undermined." "In a letter that he wrote to the king of Portugal, he complained bitterly." "Each day the traders are kidnapping our people, children of this country, sons of our nobles and vassals, even people of our own family." "This corruption and depravity are so widespread." "That our land, he wrote, is entirely depopulated." "If you were going to involve yourself." "In international trade, you had to pay with slaves." "So the choice that the Kongolese had." "Was to either withdraw from the trade." "Or continue the relations and try to control it." "But fundamental shifts in global history." "Would gradually change the nature of the relationship." "Between Africa and the rest of the world." "The trading relationship that developed." "Between Kongo and Portugal was fundamentally shaped." "By a discovery thousands of miles away." "On the other side of the world." "A year after the king of Kongo." "Converted to Roman Catholicism in 1491," "Christopher Columbus set foot on an island he named Hispaniola." "The discovery of these new lands across the ocean." "Had a seismic impact on world affairs." "And ignited a race for riches." "That would turn the world upside down." "The mastery of the winds and currents." "That had brought the Portuguese south, to the west African coast, also took" "Spanish and Portuguese ships west, to a new world." "On the other side of the Atlantic." "In 1500, the Portuguese landed in what's today Brazil." "Portugal was expanding and its empire was growing." "The world was experiencing epochal change." "A triangular Atlantic economy would link" "Europe and its African trading partners." "With the new lands in the Americas, which offered enormous opportunities." "For mining silver and gold, for growing sugar and tobacco, and manufacturing rum." "Demand for these products would be seemingly insatiable, fueling the desire to maximize profits." "Through a large, cheap labor force." "The demand for labor, large numbers of people to work." "In the plantations and the mines of the new world." "Producing sugar, producing tobacco, producing, cotton." "The large demand for labor was not fulfilled." "Through the use of the indigenous people." "Kongo's admiration for Portuguese culture." "Was expressed in their embrace of Christianity." "And desire to be part of the community of Christian nations." "Ironically, the principal commodity." "That Kongo possessed to pay for its social engineering." "Was slaves." "In 1575, the Portuguese did something." "That no other European colonial power had thought to do." "They made a deal with the king of Kongo." "To create their own city, which became the city of Luanda." "Why was this important?" "Because they could use this as a base." "To capture Africans whom they used." "As slaves themselves in Luanda, but also to capture Africans whom they sold across the ocean." "In the transatlantic slave trade." "It was a brilliant commercial move." "More and more slaves were channeled." "Through the port of Luanda, eventually leading to an astonishing total number." "Of 1.4 million." "They were hooked on a commodity." "And if it meant having a few more wars." "To get a few more captives to sell to the Portuguese, which turned out to be a lot more rewards." "And a lot more captives, then that was fine." "It was a trade that, for the African kingdoms, had tremendous importance because of." "The ambition of the African kings." "To participate in the commercial and diplomatic." "And political network of the Atlantic world." "And the main currency." "That they had at their disposal." "Was the enslaved labor." "The Portuguese came to Luanda." "With the blessing of the king of Kongo, entering into an alliance with the kingdom of Ndongo." "That alliance didn't last, and in 1579, the king of Ndongo." "Attacked the Portuguese, setting off a conflict." "That would last nearly a century." "Those wars eventually produced a vast quantity of slaves." "And it was this huge wave of slaves." "That became available through Portuguese, um, basically Portuguese conquests," "Portuguese direct military efforts in this area." "That fired up the Brazilian sugar industry." "Ndongo had fought Portugal to a standstill by 1600, but the Portuguese brought up." "Bands of fighters from the south, the Imbangala, the ferocious warriors and mercenaries." "Purported by the Portuguese to be cannibals." "They helped the Portuguese to win many battles against Ndongo." "Out of this chaos would emerge." "One of the most charismatic and enduring characters." "In all of African history." "A fearless warrior queen and formidable politician." "Who remains an icon in Angola today." "In her lifetime she ruled over two powerful kingdoms..." "Ndongo and Matamba." "Her name was Njinga." "In 1622, after several years of." "Fierce fighting with the Portuguese," "Njinga was dispatched by her brother, the king Golumbunde, to negotiate a peace settlement with the Portuguese governor, but not to surrender." "When Njinga arrived at the meeting, she wasn't accorded the treatment she expected." "As a representative of an independent kingdom." "What Njinga did next has become the stuff of legend." "A symbol of African pride and resistance." "In the face of attempts at European domination." "She arrives for her audience with the governor." "And he's sitting in." "The Portuguese style of velvet chair, and she enters the room and sees that." "They had prepared cushions and carpet for her." "To sit on the ground." "And at that point she looks over." "At one of her attendants, who goes and crouches on the floor." "And Njinga sits on her, the same height as the governor." "So she confronted the governor eye to eye." "Exactly, eye to eye." "By the end of her trip to Luanda," "Njinga had won significant concessions from the Portuguese." "In return, she agreed to convert to Christianity." "She had proven to be a supremely able negotiator." "She said," ""how can you demand tribute of someone who is free?" "You know, my state is free."" "And she was very persuasive." "And she was able to get the governor and the Portuguese." "To agree to the terms that they will remove." "The troops from Ndongo." "Two years later, in 1624," "Njinga's brother, the king..." "Unable to defeat the Portuguese..." "By some accounts was poisoned." "By other accounts, he committed suicide." "When the throne suddenly became vacant," "Njinga became one of the contested successors." "And with the support of the army and a few other key allies, not surprisingly, she emerged victorious." "Although the Portuguese were impressed with Njinga." "As an ambassador, they didn't want her to be the monarch." "The Portuguese did not want Njinga to be queen." "Because they knew that she was going to insist." "On Ndongo being independent." "Their argument was that Njinga being a female." "Was not eligible to rule." "The Portuguese backed some of Njinga's subordinates, and she was ousted in a war waged against her in 1626." "But Njinga refused to fade away." "From 1626 to 1657, she kept fighting the Portuguese." "Now deposed, Njinga conquered." "The independent kingdom of Matamba." "As ruler of Matamba, she began to assemble an army." "And, pragmatically, joined forces with her former enemy, the martial and reputedly cannibalistic Imbangala." "She had to be strategically very astute." "Even though she became an Imbangala, she insisted that she never actually consumed human flesh." "Or had joined in many of the rituals." "When the king of Kongo, Garcia II, invited the Dutch to invade Angola," "Njinga immediately contacted the Dutch to join them." "Both Garcia and Njinga wanted the Portuguese out of Angola, and saw the benefits of an alliance with the Dutch." "So it's a time when the Dutch are in Brazil." "And are trying to establish a colony of their own there, and again, there is no Brazil without Angola, so they need to seize Luanda." "As the source of enslaved labor, and Njinga as well as the king of Kongo." "Really took the opportunity to plot and ally themselves." "With the Dutch against the Portuguese." "In the, you know, the enemies." "Of my enemies are my friend." "The Portuguese were pushed out of Luanda." "By the Dutch in Kongo." "The Dutch captured the city, but the Portuguese retreated to inland forts." "And kept the war going." "The struggle was now mostly between." "Njinga and the Portuguese." "One of the misconceptions about Njinga." "Is that she was anti-colonial, meaning she didn't want Europeans." "To be on the African continent, but isn't it true that she just didn't want them." "Trying to capture her kingdom?" "She was not pushing away European colonialism, she was just trying to control her territory." "And control the means by which she could remain queen." "In 1657, Njinga and the Portuguese." "Negotiated a truce." "After 30 years of war, she had won back part of her original kingdom." "Now she was queen of Ndongo and queen of Matamba." "6 years later, at the age of 81," "Njinga... still a devout Christian... died." "I think she died having really changed the region." "And her claims to the throne really created." "A new creation myth for the kingdom Ndongo and Matamba, and one testament of it is after her." "For about the 100th year after her death, the kingdom of Matamba was ruled by women." "The combination of avarice, aggression, and warfare." "Would make Angola the single largest." "Source of slaves, by far, in the history of the transatlantic slave trade." "Far more slaves were shipped to the new world." "From west central Africa than from." "Any other part of the continent." "That's 5.7 million people over roughly 350 years." "Most of those went to south America." "But about 24% of the ancestors of the African American people." "Came from this region, too." "Incredibly, 2.8 million Africans were shipped from Luanda alone." "If we add another 800,000 from the nearby city of Benguela, that means a quarter of all slaves." "Who crossed the Atlantic ocean." "Started their journey from what is today." "The country of Angola." "All along Africa's west and central Atlantic coast," "Europeans marked their presence with coastal forts." "These forts now became commercial hubs." "Where much of this enormous and growing business." "Between Europeans and Africans was conducted." "With the Portuguese and the Spanish, the Dutch, the British, and the French." "Now boasting colonies of their own in the Americas, the demand for slaves grew greater than ever." "In the 18th century, the transatlantic slave trade." "Reached fever pitch." "Just over 50% of all transactions." "Occurred over the course of this century alone." "On average, an enormous 65,000 Africans a year." "Were being exported from these shores, reaching a staggering peak of 108,000 in the year 1791." "The port of Ouidah, in what is today the country of Benin, was the busiest slave market in west Africa." "An estimated half-million slaves were traded." "From here across the Atlantic during the 18th century." "That port belonged to a small but strong kingdom." "That had emerged as one of the most powerful states." "Along the region nicknamed "the slave coast."" "It was called Dahomey." "Dahomey emerges in the early 17th century." "According to historians who have worked on Dahomey, it functioned in its early years as a mercenary group." "And it hired itself out." "To neighboring polities who had disputes." "The accepted interpretation was that, these inhabitants of the Abomey plateau." "Saw the flourishing of Atlantic trade." "And wanted to be part of it." "And in order to be part of this booming trade, this inland kingdom had to expand." "In the 1720s, led by its fifth king, Agaja," "Dahomey fought to gain control." "Of the vital ports of the kingdoms of." "Ouidah and Allada." "He needed to have a coastal position." "The occupation of Ouidah and Allada would give him that." "Um, and so in that first period you can imagine." "That the sort of the flood of slaves." "Is as a result of these expansionist wars." "It's difficult to imagine a kingdom." "More militaristic than Dahomey." "Each king was given a mandate to expand the reach of the kingdom." "And that meant going to war." "And Agaja writes a letter." "To the king of England, and in this letter, he's boastful." "Among the things he says is, he talks about, he's a great conqueror." "And he's taken over 209 kingdoms, and his father did fewer than him." "And his grandfather did even fewer than that." "He also says, you know, I've completely left off." "The use of local, weapons, and I'm now a great lover of firearms." "Throughout the 18th century," "Dahomey's expansion put it into conflict." "With rival kingdoms." "After the conquest of Ouidah and Allada, her enemies were Porto Novo to the east, great Popo to the west, and Oyo to the north." "Dahomey waged wars." "When they won the wars, there was a slave trade, when they lost the wars, there was a slave trade." "Because somebody bought those slaves that were," "Dahomeans that failed to win, because, their... the opponents' armies." "That they were waging war against." "Were prepared to sell slaves as well." "Many European accounts after the 1850s." "Focused on Dahomey as militaristic and violent, most notably for its practice of human sacrifice." "At a festival called "the annual customs."" "But even as Dahomey engaged in wars with its neighbors, it also had a vibrant artistic culture." "The culture encompassed a dynamic religion called vodun, which was transported across the Atlantic." "By enslaved Africans." "And transformed into vodou, long maligned in the west." "The kingdom also had a unique and distinctive." "Canon of art and architecture." "At the heart of this city was a vast complex of royal palaces." "Every palace is a special, construction." "You have, it's a big palace for one king, and then you have all those palaces," "12 palaces, next to one another." "Very good for the architects." "In the kingdom, and the builders?" "Yes, of course." "But the architects, the artists are a very important." "Part of Dahomey of 18th century." "Those artists were responsible." "For the elaborate bas-reliefs." "That adorn almost every wall of these palaces." "They're a record of Dahomey's history, culture, and religious beliefs." "Traditionally, artists fashioned these reliefs from earth." "Taken from termite mounds, which had been waterproofed." "By the insects' saliva." "Each relief expresses its own." "Individual narrative and symbolism:" "Monarchs are depicted allegorically." "As powerful animals." "The king's throne was built on a foundation." "Of severed heads of vanquished foes." "This royal art was intended to underpin and reinforce." "The power of the state and that of its rulers." "The king used women as soldiers to expand royal power, and struggles waged with non-royal nobles, who controlled sections of the army and administration." "The use of women was extraordinary." "Kings of Dahomey would deliberately choose wives." "From areas that had recently been incorporated." "So that by courtesy of choosing a wife from that area, that area felt vested in the state." "Or in the kingdom of Dahomey." "Dahomey also practiced this thing." "Where every political position outside of the palace." "Was mirrored by a woman inside the palace." "She mediated your access to the king." "And it's called doubling, so." "Every position was doubled by a woman." "And it was a way in which the king." "Kept political officers at bay." "And their ambitions in check." "The back and forth struggle between 4 kingdoms." "Over control of the coast created." "Tremendous regional instability, and many people were taken as slaves." "Amassing the means to fight these wars." "Was heavily dependent upon the sale of slaves;" "and the sale of slaves could make African rulers." "Extremely wealthy." "There was a lot of ways." "In which the African elites are." "In many ways responsible for, in fact, exploiting their own people and transforming." "Systems of dependency in Africa." "To tie in with the demands of the slave trade." "Millions of human beings were traded for a fraction." "Of what they might have produced in their lifetime at home." "Some of the fittest and ablest of the African people." "Were working thousands of miles away." "Creating the wealth of plantation owners." "In the new world." "The slave trade robbed the continent." "Of its most valuable resource..." "Its people." "The skills of these Africans." "Were highly valued in the new world." "I mean, in the Carolinas, for example, it was a skill of rice cultivation." "Um, in other parts of the new world." "It was the skill of making implements, of making weapons, um, the skill of being able." "To use herbs, for example, to heal people." "Those Africans brought with them, you know, religious values, they brought with them." "Notions of community, notions of kinship." "So enslaved Africans maintained their humanity." "Even despite the fact that they became." "Units of commodity in the trade." "And that's what you have to look at, that human beings survive." "The slave trade's impact affected both." "The size and structure of the African population, because many buyers initially sought adult males." "For the arduous labor in the new world." "Whether it's male or female, it has an economic impact." "If you're left with your youngest and your eldest." "Members of society, you're left with a huge gap." "The capture and deportation of so many more." "Adult males than females left an imbalance." "That sometimes reached two to one, a phenomenon acutely and painfully captured." "In this 19th-century work from the Yombo people." "Located in today's Republic of Congo." "What does this sculpture tell us about the position of women." "In Kongolese society at this point in its evolution?" "By the 19th century, women are having to shoulder." "Increased responsibilities in Kongo society." "The young male labor force." "Has been radically diminished." "Because of slavery." "The slave trade." "The Atlantic slave trade." "It's about the heightened importance." "That women are taking on as caretakers of society." "Resistance to the slave trade." "Ran from the state to the individual." "Some states, such as Benin, only participated sporadically." "Most people were enslaved during warfare, others by bandits or by judicial order." "People often fled to safe places." "Either fortified or protected by difficult terrain." "In northern Ghana, for example, among the Kasana people, people adopted very serious and very effective." "Forms of resistance." "People took to the hills." "They carved out spaces in the hills." "Where they could go and hide." "From the depredations of the slave raiders." "This is Ganvie on lake Nokoue." "In modern-day Benin." "The Tofinu people who lived here, fishermen for the king of Porto Novo, used the swampy land around the shores of their lagoons." "As a natural fortress, an ideal protection against attacks." "The coast in that particular part of Africa." "Is characterized by having a lagoon system." "That runs parallel to the coast, so you have, swampy lands and islands and so on." "Ganvie's diverse population." "Included Tofinu slaves but also refugees." "Fleeing the wars waged between Dahomey and Porto Novo." "For control of the lagoon region." "After the fall of Allada in 1724." "Even when people from rival kingdoms settled here, they found ways to work together." "To defend themselves from capture." "Using the topography, they were." "Able to resist enslavement." "In west Africa..." "Secret societies." "In some places, children, women's organizations, these were all turned into what we can call today." "Early warning systems." "They had a system of notifying people, of sounding the alarm whenever they were under attack." "A fight against injustice and exploitation." "Would trigger enormous social change." "Throughout west Africa." "A holy war would give rise to what would become." "One of the largest and most culturally vibrant empires." "The Sokoto caliphate." "As the 18th century drew to a close, far inland a revolution was stirring." "The driving force behind it would be powerful new ideas." "It was sparked by the dream of a young Muslim cleric." "Called Usman Dan Fodio." "Dan Fodio was a teacher in one of the royal households." "In what is today modern Nigeria." "This royal household was one of 7 kingdoms." "That together formed hausaland." "In the last decade of the 18th century, one of these kingdoms, Gobir, found itself vulnerable to attack from within, in response to the religious practices of the royal family." "Usman Dan Fodio was close to the centers of royal power, but there were things about the exercise of power." "That he found really problematic." "And I think that there was a certain amount of, of, alcohol consumption and womanizing that, that, that any kings, you know, frankly, tend, tend towards." "But one of the major issues in his time." "Is that increasingly, Muslims are being traded as slaves." "And Islamic law forbids, specifically," "Muslims enslaving other Muslims." "Um, and this had become a major problem." "Since the time of the rise of the Atlantic slave trade." "Fired by religious zeal, Dan Fodio began." "Denouncing the rulers of Gobir." "What happens is he begins preaching, and he begins preaching against." "All kinds of injustice in the society, especially this problem of Muslims enslaving other Muslims." "And all of the people who have been victimized." "By this increasingly predatory regime of the Hausa states." "Start to gather around usman Dan Fodio." "Which then makes the rulers worry about him that much more." "Dan Fodio's preaching eventually." "Brought him into conflict with one of his former pupils, the king of Gobir, who objected to Dan Fodio." "Encouraging his followers to arm themselves." "In 1801, Dan Fodio was exiled to the rural village of Degel." "Where his preaching would soon turn into armed conflict." "The last straw is that." "There's a skirmish between the rulers of Gobir." "And, Dan Fodio's men." "And 300 of his soldiers were taken captive." "Now, these weren't just ordinary soldiers, these were literate scholars, thought of as the exemplars of piety." "And instead of being ransomed, they were sold as slaves." "And that's when usman Dan Fodio says, that's it, we ain't got nothing to talk about no more, we got to fight." "One night, a great Sufi mystic." "Appeared in Dan Fodio's dreams, and this is how he described the encounter." ""He addressed me as imam of the saints." ""And commanded me to do what is approved." ""And forbade me to do what is disapproved." ""And he girded me with the sword of truth." "To unshackle it against the enemies of god."" "He was given explicit permission to fight." "And he... wasn't going to take that action." "Until he felt he had some kind of divine permission to do so." "Between 1801 and 1808, Dan Fodio and his soldiers." "Would conquer all the Hausa city-states, and from this they would create a new state." "Dan Fodio, now titled Amir Al-mu'minin, the commander of the faithful, executed the king of Gobir." "And established a new center of power at Sokoto." "The Sokoto caliphate had been born." "The Hausa country had never been united." "Under a single political ruler." "And all of a sudden, not just the whole of the Hausa country." "But a good chunk of neighboring areas." "Were also brought into the Sokoto caliphate, which was one of the largest in terms of." "Population and surface area, um, political unit, ever created in Africa." "Complete and total revolution." "Up becomes down, down becomes up." "And one of the main reasons." "Why the revolution is effective so quickly." "Is that usman Dan Fodio offers freedom." "To the slaves of his enemies." "Dan Fodio had drawn on a longer west African." "Tradition of revolution, questioning state oppression, the slave trade, and injustice, such as the jihadi revolution in Futa Toro, led by his contemporary, Abd Al-qadir, which started in 1776, the same year as." "The American declaration of independence." "At its height, the Sokoto caliphate." "Was one of the most powerful empires in Africa." "Its government, based on strict Islamic principles." "Of morality and justice, would shape the politics." "Of the entire region right to this day." "Sokoto was a new kind of state:" "In the past, scholars had served as." "Counselors to kings." "But now the scholars themselves were running things." "One of the major outcomes." "Is that African languages now become." "Languages for scholarly production." "That opens the world of Islamic thought and Islamic scholarship." "To new constituents." "Here in sokoto today, these handwritten manuscripts." "Are still cherished as a direct link." "To the spiritual message of the caliphate." "And the teachings of usman Dan Fodio himself." "So ordinary people benefited from that kind of scholarship, because the scholarship was not confined." "In the use of Arabic language only." "In fact, they translated most of their works." "Into the local languages." "Fulfulde, Hausa, which are the two pro..." "Predominant languages in this part of Africa." "So everybody benefited." "In fact, even today, you hear some of their works." "Being sung in mosques and the public gatherings." "So as a result, many people got their education." "Through that kind of system." "Dan Fodio's revolution was social as well as political..." "Not just a jihad of the sword, but also of the heart." "When sheik usman Dan Fodio started his jihad, he met women in abject poverty, with illiteracy." "He believed that women should be well taught." "And should be emancipated." "So he started teaching his children, his family members, and people in the community." "One of the most revered people." "To emerge from Dan Fodio's revolution." "Was not a warrior but a poet." "She was usman Dan Fodio's daughter." "Her name was Nana Asma'u." "Her life and works are still celebrated today." "Asma'u was a very brilliant person, so she, her father taught her." "And other members of her family were very erudite scholars, they taught her." "She learnt the Koran, she learnt Islamic jurisprudence, she learnt the prophetic tradition." "She also learnt areas of mathematics, languages, politics, and what have you." "And by the time she was married at the age of 14, she was also married to a learned scholar," "Gidado Dan Laima, who continued to teach her, and by the time she was." "Less than 20 years, she had started teaching." "Children and women." "The scale of the sokoto empire." "Gave it a huge trading advantage." "The size of its internal market alone boosted textile production." "And contributed to a dramatic increase in the kola nut trade, one of the stimulants allowed by Islam." "Every aspect of trade was booming, including the trade in people." "Only non-Muslims could be enslaved, and slaves could convert to Islam and then be freed." "But still, some two million human beings." "Were kept by the sokoto caliphate as slaves, mostly working in the fields." "In fact, sokoto had the most slaves." "Of any state in the whole of Africa." "This is one of the great ironies of history, is that a war that begins, in part, to prevent the enslavement of Muslims." "Ends up leading to probably more enslavement." "Than what had come prior to it." "And even usman Dan Fodio himself." "Warned against the way that he saw." "His revolution turning, when he was too old to be able to do anything about it." "He said that when we enter a town." "And we enslave free people, know that." "The fire will enslave us." "Dan Fodio's holy war of the late 18th century." "Established a caliphate that still exists to this day." "It would also inspire holy wars elsewhere in west Africa." "In the wake of sokoto, there would be the rise." "Of Islamic empires of Massina and Toccoleur." "This was a time of revolution globally." "The American revolution, the French revolution, and the Haitian revolution..." "All reactions against tyranny and inequality, leading to new definitions of justice, and Africa would be no different." "The Republic of Haiti and the sokoto caliphate." "Were established in the same year... 1804." "From the 15th century onwards, the Atlantic ocean, once a formidable barrier to trade and travel, became a great highway, directly connecting." "The west coast of Africa with Europe and with the Americas." "Of all the changes that followed, perhaps the most profound was the transatlantic slave trade." "Unprecedented in scale, lasting almost 350 years, the slave trade tore 12.5 million human beings, ranging from young children to aging adults, away from their families and from their homelands." "Some kingdoms were devastated by the trade." "Others profited from it." "And still others rose in direct opposition to it." "The human cost of the slave trade was horrific." "And its effects can still be felt to this day." "Even king Garcia II of Kongo." "Had foreshadowed these concerns as early as 1643:" ""Nothing is more injurious to men than ambition and pride." ""In place of gold, silver, and other things." ""Which serve as money in other places," ""the trade and money are pieces, which are not gold or cloth, but creatures."" "In spite of the slave trade, but also because of it," "African kingdoms would continue to rise and fall." "Over the course of a dynamic 19th century," "Africans would witness the rise of." "One of the most famous warriors." "In all of the history of the continent." "A global scramble for unprecedented riches." "Would engulf the continent, and one battle would become both." "Something of a last stand against" "European colonial powers, and yet a beacon of hope for all Africans." "That a change inevitably would come." "On "Africa's great civilizations"..." "During the industrial revolution, the natural wealth of the continent." "Brings great prosperity and power to many African kingdoms," "European powers set out on a bloodthirsty quest." "To control the continent's riches, and many of Africa's great warrior kingdoms fight fiercely." "Against the greed and brutality of conquest and colonialism." "Africa's great civilizations, coming up next only on PBS." "For millennia, Africans have wrestled with each other." "For control of the continent's immense natural wealth..." "Wealth that could underpin the expansion." "Of complex cultures and the rise of vibrant cities." "Great civilizations, kingdoms, and empires." "Developed trade routes and industries that centered." "Around natural and human resources." "The results were vast trade networks." "Crisscrossing the continent, reaching every corner of Africa," "Arabia and Asia, and eventually Europe and the Americas." "And in the 19th century, Africa's natural wealth." "Became the focus of an intense and merciless scramble." "Bloodthirsty quests to own the continent's riches..." "A scramble that would transform." "Not only the course of Africa's history, but the history of the world, as well." "19th-century Africa witnessed radical transformation." "Roaring currents of global change." "And the forces of industrialization." "Would touch every quarter of the continent." "For much of the century, the drivers." "Of this dynamic metamorphosis would arise." "From within Africa itself, nowhere more so than in Southern Africa, where one small chiefdom was about to revamp." "The history of the entire region and its leader would become." "Perhaps the most famous warrior in all of African history." "His name was Shaka, and the chiefdom he transformed." "Would grow to become an empire, the Zulu empire, but before they commanded an empire, the Zulu had to rise above turbulent times." "Wo The Zulus basically are in between." "What is emerging as Portuguese Africa." "And then the Dutch colony of the cape, and so they basically were made in that pressure cooker." "The Zulus were a tiny, little clan, sort of, you know, in the middle, not very close to the coast, but not also very close." "To the interior, very small clan, and then Shaka Zulu comes along." "The illegitimate son of the Zulu king," "Shaka was exiled and shunned since childhood." "He grew to become a formidable warrior." "With the intelligence and instinct for command." "In 1816, fuelled by revenge," "Shaka had his own half-brother, the king, assassinated, then claimed the throne." "Shaka was now chief of a kingdom that stretched." "Along the fertile east coast of South Africa." "So the Zulus had thousands of cattle." "The Zulu king would just ask for a parade, so all his cattle would have to be called." "From all over the kingdom, and they would walk around his crawl, his residence, and it would take." "Several days for him to view all his cattle." "So the king parades his cattle." "Like, Russian leaders would parade." "Their tanks and rockets on may day?" "It's exactly that." "It's exactly that, but for the king, the cattle was the wealth." "For his reign to flourish," "Shaka knew that the Zulu nation had to grow." "He invaded surrounding kingdoms, seizing land." "And forcing captives to accept him as king." "How important were the Zulu before Shaka?" "He was working to create something new, which was a huge and expansive kingdom." "It was a moment in which power, in some ways, became more important than cattle." "Having people became more important." "Than cattle, but really, it was almost like a power-hungry era." "Of Southern African history." "As the power of the Zulu kingdom grew," "Shaka built a military machine." "To expand the borders of his empire." "And what Shaka did brilliantly was understand." "How random terror produces power." "Before now, it's really a very limited exchange of violence, usually eventuating in some cattle capture." "What Shaka brought was a kind of military genius." "Shaka took the fighting tactics." "And the ideas, the discipline that had been used before, and he bought it to a new level." "Shaka created fighting units called Amabutho." "Every aspect of the soldiers' lives was tightly regimented." "Segregated by age and by sex, each army regiment." "Boasted its own song and its own battle cry..." "Creating extraordinarily tight bonds." "On the battlefield." "Comaroff, voice-over:" "His warriors didn't marry." "Before they'd accomplished themselves as warriors, so, in effect, controlling youth." "Meant controlling the capacities for violence in youth." "So that is what sort of almost sexualized the Amabutho system." "And... quote, unquote..." ""Explains" why." "They were so vicious, because, obviously, these were men who were not having sex, um, whose entire diet was war." "Shaka revolutionized the nature." "And functioning of his army." "Redesigning the shape and the function of the spear, the Assegai, and developing formidable battle techniques," "Shaka created one of the most unified." "And effective fighting machines in history." "Shaka's shorter, heavier spear transformed warfare." "A short spear is very, very important." "Because it was introduced by the king Shaka." "He says that the long spear's no good." "Because you throw your..." "Your... your weapon." "You're trying to stab your enemy." "And nothing left in your hand, so, in other words, you lose your weapon, but when you got the short spear..." "You got a short spear, it's very short, and you come close in to your enemy." "When you come close, you push with your shield." "And use the spear instead, but still you save the spear." "Nlekho, voice-over:" "First thing I notice from you as you step, you say, "eeh!" And you turn it." "When you pull it out, khhh!" "Backed by his formidable fighting force," "Shaka expanded his empire across a huge swath of Southern Africa." "Shaka's expansion unfolded during a period." "Of enormous instability in this region, a period known as the mfecane." "Tell me about the mfecane." "The mfecane was really a series of conflicts." "That were about these ambitious leaders." "Who were each really trying to carve out." "Their own empire and kingdom." "So many things were moving." "On the checkerboard of Southern Africa." "That it was a very volatile time." "And also a time of really ambitious men." "Prime time for the emergence." "Of great, unique personalities." "Exactly." "If the Zulus had not had Shaka, then they would have been just swallowed up." "Into the other ambitious groups." "That were emerging, um, in the region." "Conquered peoples became Zulu." "Captive males swelled the numbers." "Of Shaka's army tenfold to 20,000 warriors." "Shaka's ambitious empire building." "Left many villages and kingdoms devastated." "Across Southern Africa." "Comaroff, voice-over:" "It was a period of real destabilization." "There was an enormous amount of exile, of refugees, of... of migrations, of impoverishment in the wake of... of the empire." "Ehret, voice-over:" "And in the next 10 years, he conquered the whole area of what's today." "The northern half of Kwazulu-natal, a province of South Africa." "Shaka's campaign of expansion." "Had reshaped the political landscape of Southern Africa." "His empire now covered over 11,000 square miles, and his subjects numbered a quarter of a million people, but after a decade of fighting, the Zulu people grew tired of war." "September 1828, two of Shaka's brothers returned." "With their regiments after months of fierce fighting." "Shaka insisted that they go out on yet more raids." "Rather than take a break for the winter as was customary." "In an end as brutal and as tragic as that of Julius Caesar, his brothers and an accomplice knifed Shaka to death." "His dying words, Shaka cursed." "His attackers, "are you stabbing me, kings of the earth?"" "You will come to an end by killing one another."" "Shaka had done more than ensure the survival." "Of his imperiled people in a time of turmoil." "Comaroff, voice-over:" "Well, there was an extraordinary." "Reconstruction of Southern and central Africa." "Um, populations that he, in fact, set in motion landed up." "In what is contemporary Zambia and Zimbabwe." "Shaka, the uncompromising military leader, lives on as a formidable myth and metaphor, a hero to inspire courage." "And defiance throughout the African diaspora." "For the... for the... the capacity of an African warrior king." "To change a subcontinent and, in fact, to..." "To, induce terror, this is the work of gods." "The divine has the capacity to..." "To wreak, random violence, and Shaka had a... a deep vernacular understanding." "Of that power, and so, ahem, even long after his fall, the... the... the terror and admiration and awe." "And numinousness of the image lives long after." "So that you could imagine, "if only we had Shaka," ""we... we could expel the colonizer." ""If only had we had Shaka, we could reverse the ignominies of our later history."" "While struggles to control." "The region's fertile lands were reshaping Southern Africa, long-prized treasures would arouse the appetite." "Of foreign powers for control of trade." "Along the continent's Indian ocean coast." "And link kingdoms in the central African interior, and at the heart of this frenzy was the island of Zanzibar." "Zanzibar is known the world over as the spice island." "I remember waking up the first time I visited here." "And being shocked to discover that all of the sidewalks." "Were covered with cloves, cloves drying in the sun." "The whole island smelled like cloves." "Whenever I smell cloves, even to this day," "I'm sent back to that first morning on this lovely island." "For almost 1,000 years, powerful city states." "Along the east African coast had traded commodities." "Such as spices, ivory, and gold across the Indian ocean." "With Arabia, Persia, India, and China." "A rich, distinct, and highly literate civilization." "Emerged here, still known today as the Swahili coast." "In the 19th century, the international market." "For its luxury commodities caused the scale of trade." "To rise exponentially." "Since the late 17th century, the kingdom of Oman." "On the Arabian peninsula had dominated." "Much of Zanzibar's trade, but such was the potential." "For profit that in 1840, the Omani ruler, sultan Seyyid said, relocated his court." "Some 2,000 miles from muscat to Zanzibar's stone town, making it his new capital." "Ehret, voice-over:" "Omani period is the beginning." "Of a-a real colonial establishment." "This was a colony that extended to the east African coast, not just to the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba." "Once the Omani presence is there, then it becomes the focus of commerce, that's why you have the building." "Of... of a really significant city of Zanzibar." "By the late 19th century under Omani rule," "Zanzibar became the most prosperous port." "On the east coast of Africa, with an annual trade." "Equivalent today to $100 million." "The sultan's residence and the majestic ceremonial palace, the house of wonders, still stand today." "Behind beautifully crafted doors." "Inspired by Arab and Indian designs." "Sit lavish mansions built for the merchants." "Growing rich from the international exchange." "Of Africa's riches." "Cloves were exported in huge quantities, and they were of the highest quality, but another commodity contributed." "To the economic prosperity of this island, and that was ivory." "The lure of African ivory is millennia old." "The 19th century witnessed a dramatic increase." "In the demand for ivory." "Technological innovations meant ivory could now be worked." "Almost like plastic." "Factories in Europe and America began mass-producing." "Dozens of everyday items, like buttons and combs, piano keys and even billiard balls." "Demand threatened to outpace supply." "This once-palatial stone town mansion belonged." "To the notorious man who monopolized that trade." "He was called Tippu tip, but his name was Hamad bin Muhammad Al Murjebi, and at the height of his power, he controlled an empire." "Totaling 250,000 square miles, an empire that he ruled on behalf of the sultan." "Born in Zanzibar in 1837," "Tippu tip displayed commercial acumen from an early age." "When still a young man, he led 100 men on an expedition." "Into central Africa to acquire ivory." "It was the first foray in what would become." "A campaign to build an enormous trading empire." "And he rose and became, a trader and entrepreneur." "Who went to the mainland to get goods, but he had a network of his core traders on the mainland." "At the height of the 19th century ivory trade, it's estimated that every year, traders slaughtered." "Some 17,000 elephants for their tusks." "Tippu tip bought ivory from suppliers in the interior, then had to transport that ivory in an arduous journey." "To the coastal trade ports, where he sold it for a handsome profit." "Since the early 1600s, various African peoples." "Had created extensive trade networks." "Across the continent's vast expanses, enabling trade from one side of the continent to the other." "Kingdoms in Africa's interior, like the Luba and Lunda empires, were at the heart of this trading world." "By 1750, the Lunda empire had created." "A large and secure trading zone that stretched." "From the present-day borders of Angola." "To Zambia and the border of Tanzania." "The Luba empire were sort of professional merchants." "At transcontinental connections." "There had long been trade, of products." "Over considerable distance." "Goods like copper and raffia cloth." "Were traded south to..." "As far as the Ovimbundu people of Southern Angola." "The Ovimbundu specialized in, and profited from, the long-haul interior trade." "Because of disease, these traders couldn't rely." "On pack animals, so they conducted their trade on foot." "They were the ones who connected markets in Africa." "They bought out ivory." "Some of the caravans were 5,000 or more individuals." "This stimulated an exploitation of the elephants." "Tippu tip drew upon this complex." "And long-established trading network to transport." "His huge stockpiles of ivory to traders along the coast." "He was not just an entrepreneur who traded." "He was also someone who made history." "In the sense that he would go and he would fight." "By the 1880s, tippu tip controlled a territory." "The size of California, and he used his growing wealth." "To form his own well-equipped army of mercenaries, numbering thousands." "While hunting elephants, tippu tip's men also waged war." "With townships and villages, pillaging them for supplies and people." "Tippu tip's ivory empire was powered." "By the energy of enslaved human beings." "They benefited from the wars, unfortunate kind of benefit, by, buying captive people." "And taking those back to the coast, and what tippu tip behaves like is, in a way, like a warlord." "The women and men tippu tip captured." "Carried the enormous tusks to the coast." "And then by dhow to Zanzibar." "Once there, they were themselves sold as slaves." "Tippu tip once mused that slaves cost nothing." "They only require to be gathered." "He was as notoriously brutal and evil as any white slave trader." "I have absolutely no doubt that if there's a hell, tippu tip is in it." "At the peak of the trade in the 19th century, as many as 70,000 slaves a year." "Were bought to Zanzibar, many enslaved by tippu tip." "Today, Zanzibar's Anglican cathedral." "Stands on the site of what was once." "The island's notorious slave market, built as a memorial to those who suffered here." "In the 19th century, 1.6 million slaves." "Were shipped out of the east coast of Africa." "That's 4 times the total number of slaves." "Shipped directly from Africa to the United States, 4 times, and many of those slaves." "Were shipped here to Zanzibar." "In fact, that altar is built." "On the whipping post of the slave market." "An exponential increase in the global demand for ivory." "And slaves reshaped east and central Africa." "In the middle of the 19th century." "At the same time in Southern Africa, a revolution was about to erupt that would radically." "And brutally transform the fortunes." "Of the people of Southern Africa." "According to popular myth, in 1869, a young boy walking along the banks of the orange river." "Picked up a shiny stone." "He'd found a diamond with an uncut weight of over 83 carats." "The gem was christened the star of South Africa, and it would lead prospectors to unearth the richest deposits." "Of diamonds ever discovered anywhere in the world." "The first diamonds were discovered at Kimberley, then Kimberley, which, of course, reproduces this huge explosion." "This changes things overnight." "For a start, Britain becomes immediately interested." "Since the 17th century," "Europeans had settled in Southern Africa, first the Dutch, then the British." "Initially they settled at what would become cape town." "When the British took control of the cape." "At the beginning of the 19th century, many of the Dutch began a trek inland, where they established farms in direct conflict with the Zulu, most notably at the battle of blood river in 1838, but the discovery of diamonds ignited the British desire." "To control this enormous source of wealth." "In the Southern African interior." "Plans were quickly made to build a railway." "From cape town to Kimberley." "Prospectors, miners, geologists, and fortune hunters." "Made their way inland." "Among them was a man who would become." "One of the most divisive figures in African history..." "Cecil John Rhodes." "Rhodes would found one of the most successful mining companies." "In the world." "Within 20 years, all of the diamonds." "Mined at Kimberley were under the banner." "Of one single corporation..." "De beers consolidated mines, which controlled not only production in the mines, but, in effect, every other commercial enterprise." "Connected to the mines." "By 1873, diamonds had turned Kimberley." "Into the second largest city in South Africa, and Cecil Rhodes became fabulously rich and powerful, yet the fortunes he amassed weren't profiting Africans." "In this period before 1900, the beneficiaries." "Are mainly the... the big money houses and the banks, so it's... it's people like Cecil Rhodes." "The beneficiaries are almost all, people who've come." "To South Africa as diamond merchants in the 1860s." "Mining was prosperous Bec..." "Partly because you could." "Persuade people in Paris and Berlin and New York and London." "To buy mining company shares." "How does someone like Cecil Rhodes." "Symbolize the colonial." "And imperial moment of capitalism?" "Of course, one has to start." "With, um, the..." "The mining industry." "The exploitation of the minerals themselves, the exploitation of labor," "African communities, and they were supposed to provide, um, labor." "To the... to the mining industry." "How did the discovery of these valuable minerals." "Change relationships." "Between the European settlers." "And the... the people who lived here?" "It changed, the relationship." "In major ways." "In the first instance, it, um, created." "Conditions for the expansion of British colonies." "The area where diamonds are discovered." "Becomes a British colony." "If we found diamonds here and gold here, there must be more, so we want to exercise." "Control over this and then, of course, the increase in white..." "White settlement." "And more land taken over." "What are the effects of these dramatic changes." "On the African kingdoms that are here?" "They become a stumbling block." "They could not remain as independent entities." "They had to be incorporated." "Into the expanding colonial areas." "The promise of untold riches." "Brought profound change to the African kingdoms." "Now involved in a struggle with powerful economic forces." "To preserve their cultural practices." "And their independence, both inextricably linked." "To the integrity of their borders." "People grazed animals on the land." "People cultivated land." "People settled the land." "The notion that the land was there to be dug up and owned." "And dividends generated from the extraction of minerals." "Under the ground was a very new concept." "It was all about efficient production." "It was very competitive." "It was very materialistic, and it created." "All kinds of new dynamics between groups of people." "The social implications of the mineral revolution." "Cannot be underestimated and exists." "Right up until this moment." "The large-scale mining of diamonds." "Ignited an economic and social revolution, but an even more significant discovery." "Would overshadow diamonds some 20 years later." "What could possibly be better." "Than discovering diamonds on your land?" "Discovering gold." "Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa, built on top of a foundation of gold." "The pursuit of African gold has been a driving force." "Of world history for millennia." "Its discovery here in South Africa in the year 1886." "Would reshape not only the economy, but the political face of this region forever." "The prospectors had found gold deposits." "Stretching for nearly 60 miles." "Half of the world's gold ever extracted has come from here." "This discovery triggered the world's largest gold rush." "And gave rise to one of the world's great cities." "In the 1880s and 1890s, Johannesburg was like New York." "It is the site of a globally renowned, kind of famous boom, um, and it attracts scoundrels from all over the world." "So there's mass migration into this region, people looking for work but also looking for, essentially, to get some of the wealth, the riches that have been produced by this industry." "In the 1880s, everybody comes here." "Mark twain is in Johannesburg for a very short while." "For a decade, it's the center of the universe." "The city of gold." "Given all the wealth that was discovered here, it's not an accident." "That a system would be invented." "To monopolize it." "Monopolizing this wealth required control." "Over the gold deposits, but also control." "Over the people and their land." "Of course, anybody whose land, who... whose... whose inhabited landscape." "Happened to contain minerals." "Was all of a sudden in a different situation." "Than they had been before." "These massive industries were labor-intensive." "And needed a cheap and readily available workforce." "African kingdoms weren't keen." "Black south Africans didn't want to go down the gold mines." "The first instance, um, which meant making them get there." "Social engineering was about establishing a proletariat, and that meant forcing black south Africans off the land, which meant, in effect, taxing them." "And, imposing that tax in cash, so taxation was one of the instruments." "That forced black south Africans." "Into the... the mineral economy." "Some, such as the Pedi and the Hlubi, readily sent their young men to work in the mines." "For cash to buy firearms, better to defend their territories." "The working conditions endured by the migrant laborers." "Inside this mineral economy were a bleak foreboding." "Of the future of this part of Africa." "There are clear institutional foundations." "That exist already in the 1860s, and the most important of these." "Are the closed compound, which comes from Kimberley, and the pass law, which is used basically to control workers." "Who are working in what we call a labor district, anywhere near a mine." "The pass law was used to basically bind those workers." "To the contracts that they'd signed in order to take up work." "By and large, black people didn't enjoy." "The profits of the gold mines of South Africa, but merchant princes in key areas of west Africa grew rich." "Cultivating a much humbler resource, and that resource was palm oil." "Africans had been producing palm oil." "For a very long time." "It was used locally in... in..." "In food preparation, it was used locally in... in... in lighting and houses." "It was used locally in, um..." "In all kinds of things." "The trade in palm oil would undergo." "Enormous change throughout the 19th century." "Because palm oil would grease the wheels." "Of a fast, industrializing world, and the production, cultivation, and exploitation of palm oil." "Would become a predominantly African enterprise." "After the abolition of the slave trade by Britain." "And the United States in the early 19th century." "One of the important transitions in the abolishing." "Of the slave trade was that it recentered agriculture, and it meant that everyone who had access to land." "Could potentially be a producer of wealth." "Farmers and entrepreneurs were eager." "To exploit the commercial opportunities." "That palm oil presented." "Many of the entrepreneurs were indigenous, and... and this is fascinating." "Because it involved credit creation, large amounts of money." "It involved rotating credit." "It involved pricing." "It involved, market exchanges, and Africans were moving these commodities." "From point "a" to point "b," employing people to work, and using people to exchange these commodities, right across ecological boundaries, right across different ecological zones." "Through abundant palm oil plantations." "Clustered around the Niger delta and the river Volta," "African entrepreneurs built vibrant empires." "Trading this extremely valuable resource." "Palm oil would soon be exported." "To every corner of the industrial world." "Abaca, voice-over:" "Palm oil became an important ingredient." "For lubrication of machines." "It became very important in the production of candles, of... of soap, of margarine, and, therefore, because it was needed." "In these industrial processes in Europe and in the period." "After the slave trade, that became one of the major." "Economic exchanges between west Africa and... and England." "Affluent African palm oil traders." "Began to deal directly on an equal footing." "With European businesses." "From the 19th century, so there's a sense." "In which power becomes one of the most important crop exports." "For west Africa." "The traders' success was further boosted." "By a revolution in transport..." "The steamship." "Once steamships become available, everybody could put their freight on the steamship, and it would lead to an expansion of traders." "Within west Africa." "The international palm oil trade." "Was changing the nature of the market in west Africa." "Where once chiefs controlled the trade with foreigners, now a new breed of entrepreneurs dealt directly." "With the Europeans, making huge fortunes in the process." "Abaca, voice-over:" "In Ghana, you know, a group of people." "Would become known as the merchant princes." "Between, say, 1860, '65 all the way through 1900, these people were very, very prominent in... in Ghana." "There were about 25 or 30 of such merchant princes." "One of the most prosperous." "Of those merchant princes was William Ocansey." "His business, Ocansey  sons, was a huge and successful commercial enterprise." "Ocansey had about 12 trading stations." "It's like having 12 malls today." "He was very enterprising." "He was exporting palm oil." "To England and to Europe, and in return, he imported, textiles." "He imported liquor, which he distributed through, his networks." "By the 1880s, plantations in the Niger delta." "Were exporting nearly 20,000 tons of palm oil a year." "Heywood, voice-over:" "This is the period." "Of entrepreneurship for Africa." "Then it's the period of commodity trade or free trade, stimulating social and an economic transformation." "In the late 19th century," "African kingdoms were keen to embrace industrialization." "Egypt was second only to Britain in having its own rail network." "In west Africa, the ruler of the powerful Asante kingdom," "Prempeh I, wanted to kick-start his own industrial revolution." "He wanted to modernize the Asante." "By engaging European expertise, you know, to construct a railway line, to build a mining industry, and so on." "The Asante empire reached its height." "In the 19th century." "At its capital, Kumasi, the Asante rulers." "Lived in palaces, and a system of great roads." "Linked the capital city to every territory under its control." "The empire covered most of modern-day Ghana." "Before the finds in South Africa," "Asante was the greatest gold producer on the continent." "And was extremely well-prepared to defend its sovereignty." "Akyeampong, voice-over:" "Asante based its military power." "On firearms." "The firearms came from the coast, the firearms that are needed to consolidate." "And maintain its military power." "In the first half of the 19th century, asante forces twice defeated the encroachments." "Of the British army." "The British, who had long before established a coastal presence, were wary both of the power of the asante." "And their possible alliance with a rival European power." "How did things fall apart." "Between the British and the asante?" "With the British emerging." "As the most dominant European power, asante claims on the coastal areas." "Was a major source of the conflicts." "That were going on." "And the British wanted to control the coasts." "Yes." "Ha ha ha!" "So I always say that the... both asante." "And the British were very much alike." "Because they all wanted the same thing..." "Control of resources, of trade, of access, power." "They both wanted that." "But the determination of African rulers like Prempeh." "To protect their independence was about to come up." "Against a ruthless and seemingly unstoppable force." "1884, Berlin, Germany, the leaders of 14 European countries." "And the United States met at a conference." "The aim of the conference was for western countries." "To avoid warring amongst themselves over Africa." "The superpowers wanted to ensure maximum control." "Over Africa's resources by establishing rules." "By which to divide the spoils." "At the expense of the African's who rightly owned them." "No European nation state could be great without a colony." "That made many European states compete with each other, vie with each other." "To accumulate colonies in order to make them great." "The Berlin conference would lay down terms." "For an orderly carve-up of Africa." "So they sat around a table amicably..." "Without the presence of any African, it must be pointed out..." "And they consulted amongst themselves." "In order to decide." "On the rules for occupation." "They agreed that no African territory." "Could be formerly claimed." "Until it had been effectively occupied." "The British crown offered asante a deal." "When the kingdom of asante was offered protectorate status." "By the British in 1891, their king, Prempeh I, flatly refused." ""My kingdom of asante will never commit itself." ""To any such policy," he said." ""Asante must remain independent as of old." "But at the same time remain frie with all white men."" "Despite his defiance," "Prempeh's kingdom would be wrenched away from him." "In 1895, the British sent an invasion force inland." "Armed with the latest Maxim machine guns." "And field artillery." "King Prempeh knew he was outgunned." "He fled without a single shot being fired." "Prempeh's dream of modernizing and industrializing his empire." "Abruptly came to an end." "The British took the asante..." "His close relatives, father, mother, brother, chief advisers, and everybody... away." "So they captured the asante." "And sent them into exile." "Yes." "Yes." "Across the continent, African peoples." "Waged fierce wars in defense of their kingdoms." "Against European encroachment." "Diplomats, troops, and opportunists roamed the continent, offering truces and often illegal treaties to rulers of kingdoms whom they could intimidate or persuade to relinquish their control." "Violence should be seen on a spectrum, on a continuum of plunder, pillage, and rape." "That all the European powers engaged in, but they engaged in at varying degrees and at varying levels, and the most horrific exemplar." "Of the... the violence." "Of colonialism is Congo." "The huge basin of the Congo river in central Africa." "Is extraordinarily endowed with vast resources." "This land, 2.5 million square kilometers." "Crisscrossed by navigable waterways, was extraordinarily rich in natural resources, brimming with coveted commodities like ivory, palm oil, timber, and copper." "This region was also blessed with huge quantities." "Of another highly valuable substance... rubber." "Advances in the vulcanization of rubber." "Made it more durable and less brittle, facilitating the invention of the pneumatic tire." "Soon, rubber would become." "One of the most sought-after resources on the planet." "The ancient rubber vines that grew wild." "Over the Equatorial rainforests of Congo." "Had long been exploited by the custodians of this land, but now outsiders were intent on plundering them." "Following the Berlin conference, the Congo basin was recognized." "As the possession of its sole owner..." "The king of the Belgians, Leopold II." "Renaming it the Congo free state," "Leopold now personally controlled a territory 76 times the size of his home country." "Since childhood, one of the things he had craved." "Was a colony, and so he created one for himself, and he did it by convincing other European, leaders." "That he was going to spread Christianity." "And bring in... quote, unquote..." "Civilization to the people." "King Leopold it's, um, interests." "In the Congo were largely underpinned." "By enormous greed, um, and, as a result of that greed, the Belgian Congo became the personal private property." "Of the king of Belgium, and the discovery of rubber, became a godsend to king Leopold II." "Leopold ordered the rubber." "To be collected as fast as possible." "Soon, vast areas were stripped of every single rubber vine." "The mindless plundering of the land for its resources." "Was repeated all across Congo free state, the profits going into the pockets of one man..." "Leopold II." "The environmental damage was only a tiny part of the story, and it pales into insignificance against the wider picture." "Of corruption, crime, and inhumanity." "In 1890 after touring the Congo free state, the African-American journalist, lawyer, and historian" "George Washington Williams wrote an open letter to king Leopold." "Published in newspapers throughout the world, it highlighted the horrors practiced." "Against the black people there." "A large demand for the raw materials." "Would necessitate changing the... the method of producing it." "Because the Europeans needed these, commodities." "In large quantities." "In the case of, um... of Leopold, he would enforce." "A very brutal way of... of extracting the rubber." "Villagers were given strict targets." "For the amount of rubber they were forced to collect." "Punishment for failure was brutal and drastic." "Quotas would be established for the..." "The Africans to... to provide, and if they couldn't." "Provide the quotas, you know, limbs were amputated." "People's hands and legs were chopped off." "Um, wives were seized, for example, to force men." "To provide more and more of the rubber." "Leopold's private army of mercenaries, comprised of Congolese soldiers commanded by Belgian officers, policed the operation." "Anyone who resisted was shot." "Because ammunition was so expensive, severed hands served as proof." "That a corpse had been harvested for every bullet." "When soldiers had fired more bullets than corpses, they severed the hands of the living..." "Men, women, even children." "Visual evidence of the brutality." "Was captured by the English missionary Alice Seeley Harris." "Her photographs appeared in antislavery pamphlets." "Around the world." "Despite Leopold's claims that the punishments." "Were part of Congolese culture." "Or that limbs had been severed by wild animals, the photographic evidence was undeniable." "Public outrage shamed the Belgian government." "Into forcing Leopold to relinquish personal control." "Of the colony in 1908." "It's estimated that 10 million people, half of Congo's population, perished during Leopold's inhumane rule." "Belgian brutalities disrupted." "Much of the established social order in central Africa." "A direct response was the emergence." "Of important religious figures whose power." "Could help restore balance." "Called Nkisi Mangaaka, only 20 are thought to remain in the world." "Alisa, what was the function of the Mangaaka?" "Mangaaka is a force of law and order." "It's an abstract metaphysical force." "That regional Congo leaders called upon." "To reinforce their authority." "These sculptures contained spaces." "For cylinders in which priests would have inserted medicines." "And consecrated plant and animal matter to invoke." "And house the presence of Mangaaka, the pre-eminent force of jurisprudence." "This is a literalization of the power of the state." "Yes, it is, and the..." "The very dense forest of metalware, of hardware." "That covers the torso of this Mangaaka sculpture." "Is a record of all of the conflicts." "That have been resolved in his presence." "These figures helped buttress." "The ailing authority of the Loango kingdom." "In the face of colonial onslaught, so it's not surprising that they were seen by Europeans." "As vital to extinguish." "The Portuguese targeted and destroyed them." "To eliminate them as a threat to their authority." "They removed the symbols of authority." "So they could substitute their own." "In 1870, only 10% of the African continent." "Was under European colonial control, but as the 19th century drew to a close..." "Despite the Valiant attempts of kingdoms such as asante, king Behanzin of Dahomey, Samori Toure's Mandinka empire, and the Mahdi in Sudan..." "Almost 90% of the continent." "Had fallen under foreign rule, but one kingdom stood firm in the face of foreign onslaught." "For almost 2,000 years in what is today Ethiopia, there had never been foreign rule." "This part of Africa had defended itself." "From the forces of Islam in the early 16th century." "And from the Portuguese in the 17th century." "At the end of the 19th century, it faced." "A seemingly irresistible force of European colonialism." "In 1889, Ethiopia had a new emperor..." "Menelik II." "Menelik II was a member of the Solomonic dynasty." "That had ruled Ethiopia since the 13th century, claiming direct linage from king Solomon." "And the queen of Sheba." "Despite this claim of a direct link." "To the Bible's old testament," "Menelik was a remarkably modern monarch." "In 1884, he had commissioned a railway that would link." "His now-landlocked kingdom to the red sea." "He had also entered into an informal alliance with Russia, but now his ambitions to protect and modernize his empire." "Squared off against his most pressing threat..." "The colonizing desires of the Italians." "Following the Berlin conference, Italy had been allocated, according to areas within certain lines of latitude." "And longitude, the territories of Ethiopia and Eritrea." "On march 1, 1896, Ethiopians faced an Italian army." "Near the town of Adwa on their northern border." "To give himself the best chance of defeating the Italians, a strategic battle of wits, bluff, and counterbluff commenced." "To keep the... the Italians..." "To keep talking to the Italians, he knew that it would be some time." "Before they would be able to mobilize, you know, these resources to, what might." "Eventuate into a confrontation." "He's buying time." "He was mobilizing not only resources, but also politically." "Because he needed support that support." "Against the common enemy." "Indeed." "Menelik appealed to his feudal lords." "To unite against this common enemy." "With their support, the Ethiopian army." "Swelled to 100,000 well-armed troops, but even though the army was 5 times the size of Italy's, the invaders' fortified strongholds." "Gave them the upper hand." "The core elements of Ethiopian strategy." "Was not to attack the Italians." "In their forts because that would be suicidal, yeah." "Right." "And so." "Th... they had to lure the..." "The enemy out into the open, where they would, of course, have the advantage of, superior numbers, and the Italians also knew that that was..." "That was dangerous and, therefore, um, would..." "Would want to..." "To wait out the enemy." "It was a responsible strategy." "On the Italians' part." "Yes." "To break this, it was necessary." "For... for the... the Ethiopians to conduct." "Not only espionage about Italian plans." "And their movements and the like, but also, have." "Double agents planted among the Italians." "Spies set out to trick the Italians." "Into believing that the Ethiopian army." "Had run out of provisions." "Menelik asked his men to pretend to be decamping." "So the Italians think that Menelik is weak, and they say, "well, we could attack."" "Right." ""We can leave the fortress."" "Correct." "The Italians have put themselves into a trap." "With the Italians drawn into the open, the Ethiopian army launched its attack." "This time, it wasn't just the Europeans." "Whose troops possessed the Maxim gun." "The Italians were soundly defeated." "And any hope they had of settling Ethiopia crushed." "Over 4,000 Italian soldiers were dead or missing." "Another 2,000 had been taken prisoner by Menelik." "The tattered remains of the Italian forces." "Fled back north, never to return." "Is this the greatest victory of black Africa." "Against Europe, in..." "In your opinion?" "What makes Adwa significant is the fact that, not... besides its..." "Its... its volume." "And then its... its brilliance, its decisiveness, is the fact that it was probably." "The most successful and unreversed..." "Unreversed." "Unreversed military victories." "Of Africans resisting European colonialism." "Because Ethiopia remained independent." "Yes." "Menelik had fired the shot heard around the continent." "He and the kingdom of Ethiopia became symbols of hope." "For Africans everywhere, proof that valor and resistance." "Could triumph against colonial subjugation, and it wasn't just Africans who would find inspiration." "In the achievement of the Ethiopians." "Throughout the African diaspora, Ethiopia acquired mythic status." "It was a call to arms to begin a new fight, a fight for true independence against the subjugation." "Of European colonialism." "For the vast majority of their history," "African kingdoms and empires have been independent." "And powerful in their own right." "In addition, the African contribution." "To art and architecture, music and dance, philosophy and religion cannot be gainsaid." "From the 1950s onwards, new African nations." "Born from resistance and struggle." "Against European colonialism would bring independence." "To the African continent once more." "Today these nations, new countries on the continent." "Where human beings were born, are striving to overcome the legacy of colonial occupation." "And their own internal divisions and conflicts." "As new democracies take root throughout the continent." "And look to the future, perhaps Africa's true majesty." "And its proud and noble history." "Will once again be valued by the world." "Africa's great civilizations is available on blu-ray and DVD." "To order visit shoppbs." "Org or call 1-800-play-pbs." "This series is also available for download from iTunes."