DBQ 3 – African Kingdoms Nicholas Gilman

1. How does rulership differ in each area? Does the Quiteve have more power than the ruler in
West Africa or is that power simply differently administered?

Both cultures operated as a monarchy but vary drastically beyond this fact. The Quiteve Kingdom is a
hereditary monarchy while the West African Kingdom was an elective monarchy. From the limited
amount of information we can glean from the observations of these explorers, it seems the Quiteve King
had a greater power over his people than the elected King of the West African Kingdom. There is a
certain amount of authority derived from fear within the Quiteve Kingdom as demonstrated by the
three Oaths of Judgement. Santos also states that “…he [the King] carries himself as God of his
Countries” and that his subjects must crawl before him and speak with their heads down, not to look
upon the King as if he were a deified ruler. Alternately, the West African Kingdom elects their ruler who
cannot be an heir or relative of the previous king. There is also an expectation that the King, upon his
coronation, must provide gifts to his subjects if he is to be well received. To summarize, the West African
King is presented as serving at the privilege of the people, while the Quiteve rules through fear and
hereditary power. (word count 195)

2. How would you compare the role of women in each of the courts? Are they powerful and if they
are how do we know that from the observers?

The role of women described by Joao dos Santos is interesting in its insight into women’s societal roles,
at least within the ruling bloodline. He describes the King as having more than one hundred women with
him, one or two of which are queens, the rest concubines most of whom seem to be blood relatives.
While the archaic language is slightly hard to follow, he states “…Aunts, Cousins, Sisters and Daughters,
which he no less useth, saying that his sons by them are true heirs of the Kingdom without mixture of
other blood. I understood this as these blood relative concubines and queens serve no other purpose
than to produce heirs of pure blood. My initial reaction was that woman, even nobles, have little value
beyond reproduction. However, further on there are several mentions of the power that the Women of
the King’s House possess. For example, Santos describes “…He succeeds whom the Women admit into
the Kings House: for none may enter by Law without their leave, not can be King without peaceable
entrance…By bribes therefore and other ways, they seek to make the Women on their side.” Beyond the
Women of the King’s House there is no mention of the roles common women play in their society. There
is also very little known about the role of women within the West African courts. The King takes many
wives, the younger more beautiful of whom live in the palace with the King and the older often living
outside of the Court. While the Kings women seem to live a life of nobility beyond the common woman,
they do not hold any power within the Court. (word count 276)

3. In your opinion, are the two European observers simply reporting what they saw or are they also
making comparisons with their own societies?

I found Joao dos Santos’s observations be to objective and descriptive of his observations without
comparison to the social structures of Portuguese or other European societies. The only comparison I
found in his writing came from the opening statement that the King of Kingdom of Kiteve “worships
nothing, nor hath any knowledge of God.” But even this small comparison offers little to no projections
of his own views or values on the functions of their society. Pieter de Marees also does very little in
offering his opinion or comparing his experiences within European society to those of the West African
culture. I only point he made in directly comparing the native culture to his own was in describing the
standard of living of the King stating that, “Things are done for him, free of charge, so that he does not
DBQ 3 – African Kingdoms Nicholas Gilman

stand in need of anything. Thus he has a good life (though a miserable one by our standards).” I also
thought this parenthetical comment was mostly to establish context for his contemporaries and not a
condemnation of their culture. (word count 176)