Slavery, Colonialism, Neo-Imperialism and their Impact on Africa

Scientific Study from the year 2011 in the subject African Studies, grade: -, -, language: English, abstract: Slavery, Colonialism and neo-colonialism have been described as the tripartitecrime against Africa. A crime attributable to the Euro-Americans. Two nations laidthe foundation of what later became the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. These werePortugal and Spain.The voyage of discovery reached Black Africa in 1445, whenDinis Dias and Lanzarote de Freitas anchored their fleets at the mouth of theSenegal River, and reconnoitered some of the Cape Verde islands. The remainingparts of the Archipelago was discovered jointly by the Venetian Alvise deCadamosto (1430-1480), Antonio Uso Mare from Genoa. There were no furtherdiscoveries until the death of Henry the Navigator in 1460. As at this period thelocal chiefs were already into the lucrative slave trade. Pedro de Cintas in 1462discovered the coasts of Guinea, the Bissagos Islands, Sierra Leone and Liberia.Fernando Po and Lopez Gonzalves navigated Fernando Po and Sao Tome Islands.Vasco Da Gama came on stage between 1460-1524, got through Cape Verde androunded the Cape of Good Hope (20th march 1499). Thus, the routes to the Indieswere opened. Diego Dias took another flank, reaching Madagascar (1500),Ascension Island (1501) and Islands of St. Helena (1502). With these breath-takingvoyages of discovery it became possible to cross the Atlantic directly withoutpassing through the harsh West African Coast.The Mediterranean had always been the centre of attraction. It united North Africaand Europe. When it fell into the hands of Islam, Europe, particularly Portugal andSpain sought for alternative routes. Islam could not match the Christian nations inthe mastery of the sea in quest of economic prosperity. It therefore took thePortuguese nearly 100 years (1415-1498) to reconnoiter the precise circumferenceof Africa. In this way trans-Atlantic trade replaced Trans Saharan trade. Reason being that on the other side of the Atlantic, Christopher Columbus had in 1492 setfoot on the new world. Lands that prove very suitable for sugar, cotton, tobacco,and indigo plantations.