SAMPLE CLASS 3:

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION AND THE

ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE: CENTRALIZED
AND DECENTRALIZED STATES
 Today’s Session

• The concepts of centralized and decentralized

societies and the role which these played in
precolonial African political structures.
• The ways in which the slave trade affected
centralized and decentralized societies through
the case studies of Kongo/Angola and Upper
Guinea.
• The arguments that the slave trade precipitated
political fragmentation within West Africa.
 Starting Points
• How much do we know about the political
structures of precolonial West Africa, and
what they were like?
 Qualities of Centralized States?

• Political hierarchy;

• Administrative structure charged with collecting taxes,

commercial regulation, etc.;

• Military organization (army);

• Official relations with foreign powers (attempts at

diplomacy)
 Qualities of Decentralized States

• Small-scale political units;

• Egalitarian political structure and authority;

• Economic structure tending towards self-sufficiency.

Case Study 1: Upper Guinea
Map of Bight of Biafra
 Centralized and Decentralized Societies

• Activity: Drawing on Hawthorne and Klein – what was the

relationship between centralized and decentralized
societies and the slave trade?
what was the relationship between centralized and
decentralized societies and the slave trade?

• Not simply the story of aggressors and victims

• Centralized States = Warfare as a means of

procuring captives

• Decentralized States = Kidnap raids as a rite

of passage, and to obtain captives as a
ransom
 Case Study 2, Kingdom of Kongo

• Kongo History video

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=5eYMh37BEMk
Kingdom of Kongo (16th-17th Centuries)
 Kongo (1)

• The capital is a long distance inland at Mbanza Kongo.

• The capital was formed by the strongest clan, the

Mwissikongo, at a crossroads of trade routes.

• In the 1480s, there are 8 provinces, and probably only

Mbanza Kongo is the size of a town, with a population of
around 20,000.
 Kongo (2): Royal Authority

• The king (manikongo) comes from one of two clans, who

traditionally take it in turns to govern.

• The king’s authority is limited by the fact that they have

no ritual control over religious practice in Mbanza Kongo
– the Portuguese offer this to them, which is why
Christianity is attractive.

• Over the course of the 16th century, power centralizes as

the slave trade increases to 5000/year by mid-century
and 10000/year by 1600.
 Kongo (3): Taxation, Labour and Slavery

• Tributes – these were charged annually of crops to the

elites, the Mwissikongo.

• There was compulsory agricultural labour in the

hinterlands of Mbanza Kongo and the provincial capitals.

• Slavery increased during the 16th and 17th centuries, and

so did the power and authority of the king.
 Activity
Activity, in small groups:
Thinking about Kongo, how far did
commercial organization facilitate a
strong state, and how far did it
undermine it?
Upper Guinea Coast Map
 Goree and Cape Verde Videos

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=TGO9ZHPiIqo&feature=related Goree
Ribeira Grande, Cabo Verde
Pelourinho, Cidade Velha
Fortress, Cidade Velha
A Decentralized Region: Upper Guinea
 The Cape Verde-Upper Guinea Nexus

• C.2500 slaves/year exported from Upper Guinea 1525-50

• C. 5000 slaves/year exported from Upper Guinea 1550-1600

• Key is the settlement of Caboverdeans in places like Cacheu and

traditions of hospitality of outsider diaspora merchants from the
trans-Saharan trade

• They are able to play off the various groups against one another –
each needs trade to procure goods to protect themselves from their
neighbours and the empire of Mali
Cacheu
Cacheu today
 Upper Guinea and Mandinka Expansion: 16th century

• And, the decentralized societies (Biafada, Balanta, Diola)

need trading contacts to protect themselves from
Mandinka expansion from the empire of Mali

• Small-scale societies could be sold into slavery by larger

groups – Kassanke, Brame, Kaabu

• IE., a pattern which fits the predatory state hypothesis in

the 16th century
 Upper Guinea in the 17th Century

• This pattern changes…

• By 1560/70s, members of smaller groups appear to be
selling slaves through middlemen to Europeans – both
Balanta and Diola.

• Smaller groups become much better protected – 1,

winding paths, and 2, fortified villages where people lived
– it is harder for larger groups to attack

• Elders also sanction participation to procure iron, which

helps to develop agricultural production – feeding people
(rice), and provisioning slave ships
 Activity
• In small groups, think of 3 ways in which West
African political organization related to the export
trade in slaves
 Political Fragmentation in this period

• The Lovejoy thesis: Paul Lovejoy (1982:

67): There is a “general pattern of political
disintegration and small-scale states
prevailed along the whole Atlantic basin, in
precisely those areas where the influence
of European demand for slaves, gold and
other commodities was most profound”.
 Examples of Political Fragmentation

• Kongo – we have looked at this today. Centralized state to begin

with, but ultimately civil war and collapse.

• In Angola, by the 18th century there are up to 20 warring mini-

states.

• The Loango kingdom is powerful and independent from the 15th

century. In 1600 controls a vast swathe of coastline. (see Martin
1972)
• …Moves decisively to slave trading in the 1670s.
• 1770s: Portuguese report puts Loango coast trade at 20000
slaves/year.
• But, by 1800, the Maloango (king of Loango) rules over a
territory vastly shrunken in size – subject kings no longer went to
visit him in person as they had done previously.
 Political Fragmentation in Upper Guinea (1)

• Great Jolof
• Portuguese arrival in 1445 – an emperor rules over 5
subordinate provinces on the coast

• By 1550 all the coastal provinces are independent of the

central power of Jolof…
 Political Fragmentation in Upper Guinea (2)

• Mandinka hegemony in the pre-Atlantic era

• But, by late 16th century, Kassanké power over Brames,

Diolas, Bainunk is waning.

• The seat of Mandinka power moves further inland, to

Kansala (Gabú).

• The Balanta, Diola and Brame become more

autonomous; i.e., smaller, decentralized societies do
better, and the large political space in which previously
many other groups had coexisted collapses.
 Activity

• Why might slave trading prompt

political fragmentation?

• What might the impact of this be for

more recent history in West Africa?
 Some ideas as to why slave trading might
prompt fragmentation
1, Competition for access to European trade goods
and localized power accruing from this. Rival kings
able to gain power through access to weapons etc.
2, Increasing tensions and disputes among neighbours
because of violence and instability of slave trade
wars.
3, Disruption of agricultural productive cycles, harder
to feed large population.