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The Kingdom of Benin prospered from the 1200s to the 1800s C.E. in western Africa, in what is now Nigeria.

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Geography, Human Geography, Social Studies, Ancient Civilizations, World History

Image

Bas-relief of an Oba

Once rulers, oba still hold prestigious positions in Benin as government advisors. Here, a bas-relief of an Oba in ceremonial dress and weapons, which decorated the palace of the obas.

Photograph by Heritage Image Partnership Ltd

The historical kingdom of Benin was established in the forested region of West Africa in the 1200s C.E. According to history, the Edo people of southern Nigeria founded Benin. They no longer wanted to be ruled by their kings, known as the ogisos. They asked a prince from Ife, an important West African kingdom, to take control. The first oba, or king, in Benin was Eweka. He was the son of the prince from Ife.

The kingdom reached its greatest power and size under Oba Ewuare the Great. He expanded the kingdom and improved the capital, present-day Benin City; the city was defined by massive walls. The height of power for Benin's monarchs began during this period. To honor the powerful obas, the people of Benin participated in many rituals that expressed their devotion and loyalty, including human sacrifices.

Artists of the Benin Kingdom were well known for working in many materials, particularly brass, wood, and ivory. They were famous for their bas-relief sculptures, particularly plaques, and life-size head sculptures. The plaques typically portrayed historical events, and the heads were often naturalistic and life size. Artisans also carved many different ivory objects, including masks and, for their European trade partners, salt cellars.

The success of Benin was fueled by its lively trade. Tradesmen and artisans from Benin developed relationships with the Portuguese, who sought after the kingdom's artwork, gold, ivory, and pepper. In the early modern era, Benin was also heavily involved in the West African slave trade. They would capture men, women, and children from rival peoples and sell them into slavery to European and American buyers. This trade provided a significant source of wealth for the kingdom.

Benin began to lose power during the 1800s, as royal family members fought for power and control of the throne. Civil wars broke out, dealing a significant blow to both Benin's administration as well as its economy. In its weakened state, Benin struggled to resist foreign interference in its trading network, particularly by the British. A desire for control over West African trade and territory ultimately led to a British invasion of Benin in 1897. Benin City was burned by the British, who then made the kingdom part of British Nigeria (which became Nigeria after the country gained independence in 1960). After that time, the kingdom no longer played a governing role in West Africa. However, even today, the oba still serves in Benin City as a government advisor.

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October 19, 2023

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The Kingdom of Benin prospered from the 1200s to the 1800s C.E. in western Africa, in what is now Nigeria.

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Kongo Central, Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Kongo Central, Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Kongo Central, Democratic Republic of the Congo

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The Kingdom of Kongo (14-19th century CE) was located on the western coast of central Africa in modern-day DR of Congo and Angola. Prospering on the regional trade of copper, ivory, and slaves along the Congo River, the kingdom's wealth was boosted by the arrival of Portuguese traders in the late 15th century CE who expanded even further the slave trade in the region. Kongo kings were converted to Christianity but relations with the Europeans deteriorated as each side attempted to dominate the other. Civil wars and defeats to rival neighbouring kingdoms finally saw the Kongo state collapse in the early 18th century CE. The Portuguese reinstalled the position of the Kongo monarchs, and the state limped on in name only well into the 19th century CE but the kingdom's days as the strongest power in west-central Africa were now but a distant memory.

Formation & Territory

Located on the western coast of central Africa and south of the Congo River (formerly known as the Zaire River), the kingdom arose in the late 14th century CE following the alliance of several local principalities which had been in existence since the second half of the first millennium CE. Kongo, dominated by Bantu-speaking peoples, had its capital at Mbanza Kongo - known to the Kongolese as Banza, meaning 'residence of the king' - which was located on a fertile and well-watered plateau just below the western end of the Congo River. The kingdom expanded its territory further by a gradual process of military conquest, probably motivated above all by a desire to acquire slaves. At its peak in the 15th and 16th century CE, the kingdom controlled some 240 km (150 miles) of the coast from the Congo River in the north to just short of the Cuanza River in the south, and spread some 400 km (250 miles) into the interior of central Africa up to the Kwango River.

Rotating markets appeared in towns on fixed days of the week selling slaves acquired from the upper reaches of the Congo River.

Trade & Government

The kingdom of Kongo, with a population of well over 2 million people at its peak, prospered thanks to trade in ivory, copper, salt, cattle hides, and slaves. The latter trade was especially lucrative and well-regulated, with rotating markets appearing in towns on fixed days of the week selling slaves acquired from the upper reaches of the Congo River. In addition to acquiring goods from elsewhere, the kingdom produced its own goods via specialised groups of craftworkers such as weavers (who produced the famous raffia fabrics of Kongo), potters, and metalworkers.

The level of trade conducted between the forest and grassland peoples of west-central Africa is indicated by the established use of a shell currency, the spiral nzimbu shells which originally came from Luanda, an offshore island located some 240 km away. Initially used as a means of storing wealth and as a standard measure of the value of other goods, the shells came to be used like coins to pay for goods and labour. Not having the region's trade all to itself, rival equatorial African kingdoms included Loango and Tio, both located to the north of Kongo, and the loose confederation of tribes of Ndongo to the south (modern Angola).

The kingdom of Kongo was highly centralised and ruled by a single monarch or nkani who appointed regional governors throughout his territory. These governors, in turn, appointed local officials and collected tribute such as ivory, millet, palm wine, and leopard and lion skins from local chiefs, which were passed on to the king at Mbanza Kongo. Tributes were paid at lavish annual ceremonies which involved much feasting and beer-drinking. In return for their offerings, chiefs and officials received the king's favour, military protection, and some material rewards such as food delicacies and clothing. There was, too, a certain religious aspect to tribute payment as it was considered a way to maintain divine favour as well as a royal one.

One of the king's titles was nzambi mpungu meaning 'superior spirit' or 'supreme creator.'

Kongo kings were distinguished by their symbols of office which included a headdress, royal stool, a drum, and regalia jewellery made from copper and ivory. To enforce their rule, the king controlled a standing army composed of slaves; the force in late 16th century CE numbered 16,000-20,000 men. The king was regarded as a direct link to the spiritual world, a guardian on earth who would protect the people from such calamities as disease and famine. One of the king's titles was nzambi mpungu meaning 'superior spirit' or 'supreme creator', although he himself was not regarded as sacred, only his office. To reinforce this belief, kings married descendants of a celebrated shrine guardian, the mani kabunga, who had maintained the shrine of that name since long before the Kingdom of Kongo had been established.

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At a more temporal level, the king was advised by a council of a dozen or so elders composed of high-ranking members of the aristocracy (the mwisikongo) which dominated Kongo society. The aristocrats belonged to various family groups of ancient lineage and their wealth was largely derived from trade as the presence of the tsetse fly in the region precluded the breeding of cattle on a large scale and the area was so sparsely populated that land ownership had no meaning. Key positions in the centralised government included the tax officer and his staff, the chief of justice, head of the police, and official in charge of the messenger service. The rest of society was made up of the free or babuta (craftworkers and farmers) and the unfree or babika (slaves who were war captives or those unable to pay their debts).

European Contact & Christianity

From 1470 and the Portuguese colonization of Sao Tome and Principe, islands off the coast, there was a boom in Kongo's slave markets. In return, the Kongolese received cotton clothing, silk, glazed china, glass mirrors, knives and glass beads. The consumption of these luxuries was highly controlled by the king so that only the elite he favoured had access to them.

Some Kongo kings converted to Christianity, the first being King Affonso I (r. 1506-1543 CE), following the efforts of Christian missionaries who first arrived in the region in 1491 CE. The new religion with its strange but glittering ceremonies and the implied association with the wealthy European traders enhanced the prestige of the king in the eyes of his people. Catholicism was established as the official religion of the royal household, the capital was renamed Sao Salvador, churches were built, and Affonso even successfully invited the Pope to permit the appointment of a Kongo bishop. During the second half of the 17th century CE, Christianity received a further boost in the region when Italian Capuchin missionaries set their sights on Kongo. The religion would have a lasting effect on art in the kingdom, which incorporated such elements as the cross and European conventions of proportion, mixing these with the indigenous passion for stylization and geometric decoration to produce distinctive statues, pottery, masks and relief carvings in all materials from copper to ivory, as well as woven fabrics.

Besides religion, the Portuguese brought technical knowledge (masonry, carpentry, and stock-breeding) and crops from the Americas such as maize, cassava, and tobacco as part of a grand plan to westernise Kongo and make it both a valuable trading partner and a secure base from which to conquer large swathes of central Africa. In the event, though, and just like other areas of the continent where the Portuguese were involved, the greed and inept political and religious interference of the Europeans only brought both their own and the local regime's downfall.

Relations soured when the Portuguese, based on the island of Sao Tome, began to cut out the Kongo king and launch their own raids to grab slaves from Africa's interior or they simply kidnapped the Kongolese themselves. Slaves were now needed in huge numbers to work the sugarcane plantations on Sao Tome and in Brazil. The Portuguese also sought to control the kingdom's copper mines, impose their own system of laws, and convert the people to Christianity, not just the elite. The Kongo kings, similarly, saw the value of eliminating the Portuguese in their trade affairs and knew that by building their own fleet they could ship goods themselves to the waiting market in Europe. So began a tussle between the two sides who became increasingly distrustful of each other's intentions. The Kongo kings began to realise that the unregulated abduction of slaves and spread of Christianity - even if the local brand of that religion incorporated and co-existed with ancient indigenous beliefs - was undermining their traditional authority as the political, religious, and economic leader of the kingdom.

Decline

The kingdom went into decline from the mid-16th century CE when the Portuguese, put off by the interference of Kongo's regulations on trade, moved their interests further south to the region of Ndongo. The latter kingdom had already defeated a Kongo army in 1556 CE. The Kongo kings had internal problems, too, with popular unrest bubbling as the people resented the ever-increasing taxes imposed on them by an aristocracy eager to buy foreign luxury goods. Regional governors were another problem as it became increasingly difficult for the king to maintain their loyalty, tempted as they were to deal directly with the increasing number of European traders in the region, the Dutch having arrived in the early 17th century CE.

An even greater crisis again came from outside the kingdom when, around 1568 CE, a mysterious group of warriors known as the Jaga invaded Kongo from the south (or east) and the disgruntled and overtaxed people of Kongo rose in their support. Although the Kongo royal household managed to escape to an offshore island and then wage something of a fightback after they gained support from the Portuguese, civil wars between rival claimants to the throne continued to ruin the kingdom. In 1665 CE the Kongo suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of their southern neighbours at the Battle of Mbwila. It was a loss that the Kongo kings never recovered from. Civil wars raged on and even Sao Salvador was sacked and abandoned in 1678 CE. By 1710 CE, the Kingdom of Kongo had all but disintegrated as an independent state, even if the title King of Kongo continued to be used. The entire region came under the rule of the different groups of traders who established not states but trading communities and networks of alliances. The Kongo region was eventually absorbed into the Portuguese colony of Angola in the early 20th century CE.

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The Kingdom of Kongo (14-19th century CE) was located on the western coast of central Africa in modern-day DR of Congo and Angola. Prospering on the regional trade of copper, ivory, and slaves along...

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Kongo Central, Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Kongo Central, Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Timbuktu, French Tombouctou, city in the western African country of Mali, historically important as a trading post on the trans-Saharan caravan route and as a centre of Islamic culture ( c. 1400-1600). It is located on the southern edge of the Sahara, about 8 miles (13 km) north of the Niger River. The city was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988. In 2012, in response to armed conflict in the region, Timbuktu was added to the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger.

Timbuktu was founded about 1100 ce as a seasonal camp by Tuareg nomads. There are several stories concerning the derivation of the city's name. According to one tradition, Timbuktu was named for an old woman left to oversee the camp while the Tuareg roamed the Sahara. Her name (variously given as Tomboutou, Timbuktu, or Buctoo) meant "mother with a large navel," possibly describing an umbilical hernia or other such physical malady. Timbuktu's location at the meeting point of desert and water made it an ideal trading centre. In the late 13th or early 14th century it was incorporated into the Mali empire.

By the 14th century it was a flourishing centre for the trans-Saharan gold and salt trade, and it grew as a centre of Islamic culture. Three of western Africa's oldest mosques-Djinguereber (Djingareyber), Sankore, and Sidi Yahia-were built there during the 14th and early 15th centuries. After an extravagant pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, the Mali emperor Mansa Mūsā built the Great Mosque (Djinguereber) and a royal residence, the Madugu (the former has since been rebuilt many times, and of the latter no trace remains). The Granada architect Abū Isḥāq al-Sāḥili was then commissioned to design the Sankore mosque, around which Sankore University was established. The mosque still stands today, probably because of al-Sāḥili's directive to incorporate a wooden framework into the mud walls of the building, thus facilitating annual repairs after the rainy season. The Tuareg regained control of the city in 1433, but they ruled from the desert. Although the Tuareg exacted sizable tributes and plundered periodically, trade and learning continued to flourish in Timbuktu. By 1450 its population increased to about 100,000. The city's scholars, many of whom had studied in Mecca or in Egypt, numbered some 25,000.

In 1468 the city was conquered by the Songhai ruler Sonni ʿAlī. He was generally ill disposed toward the city's Muslim scholars, but his successor-the first ruler of the new Askia dynasty, Muḥammad I Askia of Songhai (reigned 1493-1528)-used the scholarly elite as legal and moral counselors. During the Askia period (1493-1591) Timbuktu was at the height of its commercial and intellectual development. Merchants from Ghudāmis ( Ghadamis; now in Libya), Augila (now Awjidah, Libya), and numerous other cities of North Africa gathered there to buy gold and slaves in exchange for the Saharan salt of Taghaza and for North African cloth and horses.

After it was captured by Morocco in 1591, the city declined. Its scholars were ordered arrested in 1593 on suspicion of disaffection; some were killed during a resulting struggle, while others were exiled to Morocco. Perhaps worse still, the small Moroccan garrisons placed in command of the city offered inadequate protection, and Timbuktu was repeatedly attacked and conquered by the Bambara, Fulani, and Tuareg.

European explorers reached Timbuktu in the early 19th century. The ill-fated Scottish explorer Gordon Laing was the first to arrive (1826), followed by the French explorer René-Auguste Caillié in 1828. Caillié, who had studied Islam and learned Arabic, reached Timbuktu disguised as an Arab. After two weeks he departed, becoming the first explorer to return to Europe with firsthand knowledge of the city (rumours of Timbuktu's wealth had reached Europe centuries before, owing to tales of Mūsā's 11th-century caravan to Mecca). In 1853 the German geographer Heinrich Barth reached the city during a five-year trek across Africa. He, too, survived the journey, later publishing a chronicle of his travels.

Timbuktu was captured by the French in 1894. They partly restored the city from the desolate condition in which they found it, but no connecting railway or hard-surfaced road was built. In 1960 it became part of the newly independent Republic of Mali.

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Timbuktu is now an administrative centre of Mali. In the late 1990s, restoration efforts were undertaken to preserve the city's three great mosques, which were threatened by sand encroachment and by general decay. An even greater threat came in 2012 when Tuareg rebels, backed by Islamic militants, took control of the northern part of the country. The Tuaregs claimed the territory, which included Timbuktu, as the independent state of Azawad. However, the Tuareg rebels were soon supplanted by the Islamic militants, who then imposed their strict version of Sharīʾah (Islamic law) on the inhabitants. The Islamic militants-in particular, one group known as Ansar Dine-deemed many of Timbuktu's historic religious monuments and artifacts to be idolatrous, and, to that end, they damaged or destroyed many of them, including tombs of Islamic saints housed at the Djinguereber and Sidi Yahia mosques. Work to repair the damage began after the militants were routed from the town in early 2013. Pop. (2009) 54,453.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Amy McKenna.

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Timbuktu | History, Map, Population, & Facts

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Timbuktu, French Tombouctou, city in the western African country of Mali, historically important as a trading post on the trans-Saharan caravan route and as a centre of Islamic culture (c. 1400-1600). It is located on the southern edge of the Sahara, about 8 miles (13 km) north of the Niger River.

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Christopher Columbus (video) | Khan Academy

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caravel, a light sailing ship of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries in Europe, much-used by the Spanish and Portuguese for long voyages. Apparently developed by the Portuguese for exploring the coast of Africa, the caravel's chief excellence lay in its capacity for sailing to windward. It was also capable of remarkable speed. Two of the three ships in which Christopher Columbus made his historic voyage in 1492 were caravels, the and the Pinta.

The design of caravels underwent changes over the years, but a typical caravel of the late 15th century may be described as a broad-beamed vessel of 50 or 60 tons burden; some were as large as 160 tons. About 75 feet (23 m) long, the typical caravel had two or three pole masts, lateen-rigged ( i.e., with triangular sails). Later versions added a fourth mast with square sail for running before the wind. Caravels were usually built with a double tower at the stern (the aftercastle, or sterncastle) and a single tower in the bow (the forecastle). As a type, caravels were smaller and lighter than the Spanish galleons of the 16th century.

In later years the term caravel was applied to small fishing boats along the coast of France and to a Turkish man-of-war.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Adam Augustyn.

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Caravel | Definition, Significance, & Facts

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Caravel, a light sailing ship of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries in Europe, much-used by the Spanish and Portuguese for long voyages. Apparently developed by the Portuguese for exploring the coast of Africa, the caravel's chief excellence lay in its capacity for sailing to windward.

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Compass, in navigation or surveying, the primary device for direction-finding on the surface of the Earth. Compasses may operate on magnetic or gyroscopic principles or by determining the direction of the Sun or a star. The oldest and most familiar type of compass is the magnetic compass, which is

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astrolabe, any of a type of early scientific instrument used for reckoning time and for observational purposes. One widely employed variety, the planispheric astrolabe, enabled astronomers to calculate the position of the Sun and prominent stars with respect to both the horizon and the meridian. It provided them with a plane image of the celestial sphere and the principal circles-namely, those representing the ecliptic, celestial equator, and tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Because of such features, the planispheric astrolabe can be regarded as a kind of rudimentary analog computer.

Astrolabes have been traced to the 6th century, and they appear to have come into wide use from the early Middle Ages in Europe and the Islamic world. By about the mid-15th century, astrolabes were adopted by mariners and used in celestial navigation. The so-called mariner's astrolabe was later supplanted by sextants.

The typical planispheric astrolabe employed by medieval astronomers measured from 8 to 46 cm (3 to 18 inches) and was made of metal-usually brass or iron. It had several principal parts: a base plate (the mater) with a network of lines representing celestial coordinates; an open-pattern disk (the rete) with a "map" of the stars, including the aforementioned circles, that rotated on the mater around a centre pin corresponding to the north celestial pole; and a straight rule (the alidade), used for sighting objects in the sky. The alidade made it possible to use the astrolabe for surveying applications-e.g., determining the height of a mountain. Most astrolabes also had one or more plates (called climates) that were engraved with coordinate lines for different latitudes and were placed between the mater and the rete.

Alicja Zelazko.

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Astrolabe | Definition, History, & Facts

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Astrolabe, a type of early scientific instrument used for reckoning time and for observational purposes.

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The Protestant Reformation

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The Protestant Reformation that began with Martin Luther in 1517 played a key role in the development of the North American colonies and the eventual United States.

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Brief History of the Renaissance | 5 MINUTES

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The crusades of the 11th to 15th century CE have become one of the defining events of the Middle Ages in both Europe and the Middle East. The campaigns brought significant consequences wherever they occurred but also pushed changes within the states that organised and fought them. Even when the crusades had ended, their influence continued through literature and other cultural means and, resurrected as an idea in more modern times, they continue today to colour international relations.

Many exaggerated claims have been made concerning the effects and consequences of the crusades on life in the Middle Ages and later. There were, undoubtedly, momentous changes in life, politics and religion from the 11th to 14th centuries CE, but it is perhaps prudent to heed the words of historian and acclaimed Crusades expert T. Asbridge:

The precise role of the Crusades remains debatable. Any attempt to pinpoint the effect of this movement is fraught with difficulty, because it demands the tracing and isolation of one single thread within the weave of history - and the hypothetical reconstruction of the world, were that strand to be removed. Some impacts are relatively clear, but many observations must, perforce, be confined to broad generalisations. (664-5)

The impact of the Crusades may thus be summarised in general terms as:

an increased presence of Christians in the Levant during the Middle Ages.

the development of military orders.

a polarisation of the East and West based on religious differences.

the specific application of religious goals to warfare in the Levant, Iberian peninsula, and Baltic region, in particular.

the increased role and prestige of the popes and the Catholic Church in secular affairs.

the souring of relations between the West and the Byzantine Empire leading, ultimately, to the latter's destruction.

an increase in the power of the royal houses of Europe.

a stronger collective cultural identity in Europe.

an increase in xenophobia and intolerance between Christians and Muslims, and between Christians and Jews, heretics and pagans.

an increase in international trade and exchange of ideas and technology.

an increase in the power of such Italian states as Venice, Genoa, and Pisa.

the appropriation of many Christian relics to Europe.

the use of a religious historical precedent to justify colonialism, warfare and terrorism.

Middle East & Muslim World

The immediate geopolitical results of the crusades was the recapture of Jerusalem on 15 July 1099 CE, but to ensure the Holy City stayed in Christian hands it was necessary that various western settlements were established in the Levant (collectively known as the Latin East, the Crusader States or Outremer). For their defence, a steady supply of new crusaders would be needed in the coming decades and military orders of professional knights were created there such as the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller. These, in turn, inspired the formation of chivalric orders like the Order of the Garter in England (founded 1348 CE) which advocated the benefits of crusading on their members.

Despite the militarised presence in the Holy Land, the continued recruitment drive in Europe, and increased involvement of kings and emperors, it proved impossible to hold on to the gains of the First Crusade and more campaigns were required to recapture such cities as Edessa and Jerusalem itself after its fall again in 1187 CE. There would be eight official crusades and several other unofficial ones throughout the 12th and 13th centuries CE, which all met with more failure than success, and in 1291 CE the Crusader States were absorbed into the Mamluk Sultanate.

Travel became more common, initially in the form of pilgrimage to the Holy Land & there developed a thirst to read about such journeys which were widely published.

The Muslim world had, prior to the crusades, already embarked on jihad - often translated as 'holy war' but meaning, more accurately, a 'striving' to both defend and expand Islam and Islamic territories. Despite the religious significance of Jerusalem to Muslims, the coastal Levant area was only of minor economic and political importance to the caliphates of Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia. The Muslim world was itself divided into various Muslim sects and beset by political rivalries and competition between cities and regions. The crusades did provide an opportunity for greater unity in order to face this new threat from the West, but it was not always an opportunity taken. Some rulers, most famously Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria (r. 1174-1193 CE), did employ the propaganda of religious warfare to present themselves as the chosen leader of the Muslim world to help them gain supremacy within it.

The Spread of The Crusades

The crusader movement spread to Spain where, in the 11th-13th century CE, attacks were made against the Muslim Moors there, the so-called Reconquista (Reconquest). Prussia and the Baltic (the Northern Crusades), North Africa, and Poland, amongst many other places, would also witness crusading armies from the 12th up to the 15th century CE as the crusading ideal, despite the dubious military successes, continued to appeal to leaders, soldiers, and ordinary people in the West. Finally, the crusades as an idea would have reached just about everyone in Europe by the 14th century CE, and the majority of people would have sat through at least one sermon preaching their merits and heard the need for recruitment and material support. Indeed, very few people's pockets would have remained untouched by the state and church taxes which were regularly imposed to pay for the crusades.

The Catholic Church

The success of the First Crusade and the image that popes directed the affairs of the whole Christian world helped the Papacy gain supremacy over the Hohenstaufen emperors. The Catholic Church had also created a new fast-track entry into heaven with the promise that crusaders would enjoy an immediate remission of their sins - military service and penance were intermixed so that crusading became an act of devotion. However, with each new failed campaign, papal prestige declined, although in Spain and north-east Europe the territorial successes did promote the Papacy. Another negative consequence for many was the Church's official sanction of the possibility to purchase indulgences. That is if one could not or did not want to go on a crusade in person, giving material aid to others who did so reaped the same spiritual benefits. This idea was extended by the Catholic Church to create a whole system of paid indulgences, a situation which contributed to the emergence of the Reformation of the 16th century CE.

The crusades caused a rupture in western-Byzantine relations. First, there was the Byzantine's horror at unruly groups of warriors causing havoc in their territory. Outbreaks of fighting between crusaders and Byzantine forces were common, and the mistrust and suspicion of their intentions grew. It was a troublesome relationship that only got worse, with accusations of neither party trying very hard to defend the interests of the other. The situation culminated in the shocking sacking of Constantinople on 1204 CE during the Fourth Crusade, which also saw the appropriation of art and religious relics by European powers. The Empire became so debilitated it could offer little resistance to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 CE.

Europe

The power of the royal houses of Europe and the centralisation of government increased thanks to an increase in taxes, the acquisition of wealth in the Middle East, and the imposition of tariffs on trade. The death of many nobles during crusades and the fact that many mortgaged their land to the crown in order to pay for their campaigns and those of their followers also increased royal power. There was a decline in the system of feudalism, too, as many nobles sold their lands to fund their travels, freeing their serfs in the process.

The conquest of the Muslim-held territories in southern Italy, Sicily, and the Iberian peninsula gave access to new knowledge, the so-called 'New Logic'. There was also a greater feeling of being 'European', that despite differences between states, the people of Europe did share a common identity and cultural heritage (although crusading would be incorporated into ideals of chivalry which widened the gulf between those who were and those who were not members of the knightly class). The other side of the cultural coin was an increase in xenophobia. Religious intolerance manifested itself in many ways, but most brutally in the pogroms against the Jews (notably in northern France and the Rhineland in 1096-1097 CE) and violent attacks on pagans, schismatics and heretics across Europe.

Trade between East and West greatly increased. More exotic goods entered Europe than ever before, such as spices.

Trade between East and West greatly increased. More exotic goods entered Europe than ever before, such as spices (especially pepper and cinnamon), sugar, dates, pistachio nuts, watermelons, and lemons. Cotton cloth, Persian carpets, and eastern clothing came, too. The Italian states of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa grew rich through their control of the Middle East and Byzantine trade routes, which was in addition to the money they raked in from transporting crusader armies and their supplies. This was happening anyway, but the crusades probably accelerated the process of international trade across the Mediterranean.

Travel became more common, initially in the form of pilgrimage to the Holy Land and there also developed a thirst to read about such journeys which were widely published. The age of exploration had begun and would lead to the discovery of the New World where the concept of a crusade against non-believers was once more applied. Hernán Cortés, the conqueror of the Aztecs, claimed his followers were milites Christi or 'Knights of Christ' waging a guerra santa or 'Holy War'.

Into the Modern Era

The crusades cast a very long shadow indeed, with works of art, literature and even wars endlessly recalling the imagery, ideals, successes and disasters of the holy wars into the 21st century CE. There was a process of hero-worship, even in medieval times, of such figures as Saladin and Richard the Lionhearted who were praised not only for their military skills but, above all, for their chivalry. Following the Reformation, the opposite happened and the crusades were brushed under the historical carpet as a brutal and undesirable aspect of our past that was best forgotten.

The 19th century CE saw a return of interest in the West with such novels as Sir Walter Scott's The Talisman (1825 CE). With the Allied occupation of Palestine in the First World War in the 20th century CE, the ghosts of the Crusaders came back to haunt the present in the form of propaganda, rhetoric, and cartoons. By the Second World War, the very term 'crusade' was, conversely, stripped of its religious meaning and applied to the campaigns against Nazi Germany. General Eisenhower, the U.S. commander of the allied forces, even gave his 1948 CE account of the campaign the title Crusade in Europe.

Most recently, the 21st-century CE fight against terrorism has frequently been couched in terms of a 'crusade', most infamously by U.S. President George W. Bush following the Twin Towers attack in 2001 CE. With the rise of Arab nationalism, the debate over the position and validity of the state of Israel, and the continued interventionist policies of western powers in the Middle East, the secular goals of territorial control and economic power have been mixed and confused with divisions of religion so that terms such as 'crusade', 'Christian', 'Muslim', and ' jihad' continue, in both the East and West, to be used with ignorance and prejudice as labels of convenience by those who strive to make history instead of learning from it.

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The crusades of the 11th to 15th century CE have become one of the defining events of the Middle Ages in both Europe and the Middle East. The campaigns brought significant consequences wherever they...

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The Portuguese colonization of the Cape Verde (Cabo Verde) Islands began from 1462. Initially envisaged as a base to give mariners direct access to West African trade, the Central Atlantic islands soon became a major hub of the Atlantic slave trade. Slaves were used on the sugar plantations of the islands and sold on to ships sailing to the Americas.

Unlike the other Atlantic islands under Portuguese control, the Cape Verde group was subject to arid winds and irregular rainfall, which made life there precarious. Given trading concessions for the African coast, Cape Verdeans did manage to make their agriculture sustainable, and their cotton textiles, in particular, were in great demand on the mainland. Cape Verde was strategically important as a base for resupply for ships sailing to and from Portuguese territories in the East Indies and Brazil. The islands sent African slaves across the Atlantic and used them to such a degree in the Cape Verde archipelago that eventually the population became racially mixed with few cultural ties to Europe by the 17th century. The islands gained independence from Portugal in 1975.

Geography & Climate

Located some 500 kilometres (310 mi) off the coast of West Africa (Mauritania and Senegal), the Cape Verde island group is named after the westernmost cape of the African continent. There are nine inhabited islands today, the capital being Praia on Santiago (São Tiago). The most important port is Mindelo on São Vicente. The other islands are Boa Vista, Brava, Fogo, Maio, Santo Antão, São Nicolau, and Sal. Santa Luzia is an uninhabited island, and there are several islets.

The islands are varied in topography, with some being relatively flat and others mountainous. Pico is an active volcano on Fogo and the highest point in the group at 2,829 metres (9,281 ft). The islands are divided into two groups: the Windward (Barlavento) and Leeward (Sotavento), names which indicate the strong winds which can blow in from across the Atlantic.

Madeira, the Azores, & The Cape Verde islands proved useful stepping stones for mariners intent on expeditions of discovery further south.

The islands are not blessed with abundant water sources and rainfall is irregular, although often torrential when it does come. The soil is shallow but rich thanks to the volcanic origins of the islands. The climate is usually moderate, but the arid winds meant wheat, vines, and olives could not be grown as on other Portuguese territories. There were few meat sources on the island, the only indigenous mammal being bats. One source of meat was the sea turtles which nest on some of the islets.

Discovery

It is likely that Cape Verde was known to ancient mariners such as the Phoenicians, and to Islamic sailors and Africans. However, it was not until the 15th century that anyone took a serious interest in populating the islands. Two Genoese mariners, sailing under the flag of Portugal, discovered the archipelago in 1460. Their names were Antonio and Bartolomeo da Noli.

The Portuguese Crown was keen to gain direct access to the gold of West Africa and the Cape Verde islands provided a handy means by which they could sail down the coast and avoid the Islamic states in North Africa who were themselves intent on monopolising African trade. The first major obstacle was a geographical one: how to sail around Cape Bojador and be able to make it back to Europe against the prevailing north winds? The answers were better ship design - caravels using lateen sails - and a bold course setting out away from the African coastline and using winds, currents, and high-pressure areas to sail back home.

Prince Henry the Navigator (aka Infante Dom Henrique, 1394-1460) had sponsored expeditions of discovery that led to the Portuguese colonization of Madeira (1420) and the Azores (1439). These islands proved useful stepping stones for mariners intent on expeditions of discovery further south. In 1462, it was the turn of Cape Verde to be added to Portugal's maritime and agricultural assets.

In 1462 Portuguese settlers arrived on Santiago and founded Ribeira Grande, which would be the capital for the next 250 years. Initially, the islands were granted to Prince Fernando, nephew and heir of Prince Henry, but in 1495, they returned to the full control of the monarch, then King Manuel I of Portugal (r. 1495-1521).

While West Africa was, for the moment, Portugal's to monopolize, there were some squabbles with Spain over the Atlantic islands, particularly over who should have possession of the Canary and Cape Verde Islands. The 1479-80 Treaty of Alcáçovas-Toledo set out that the Canaries were Spain's domain while Portugal controlled the Cape Verdes, Azores, and Madeiras. There were also some additional vague clauses to the treaty that would cause trouble later such as Portugal's right to future discoveries in Africa and Spain's to islands beyond the Canaries, interests which were eventually identified as the Caribbean and even the Americas.

Settlement

As with the Portuguese colonization of the Azores and Madeira, the Crown partitioned the islands and gave out 'captaincies' ( donatarias) as part of the system of feudalism to encourage nobles to fund their development. The first 'captain' of Santiago was Antonio da Noli. Each 'captain' or donatario was given the responsibility of settling and developing their area in return for financial and judicial privileges, Accordingly, 'captains', in turn, distributed parts of their estates to their followers for development, parcels of land known as semarias. Men given such land had the responsibility of clearing it and beginning cultivation within a set period. The captaincies became hereditary offices in many cases. The model of donatarias would be applied to other Portuguese colonial territories in the future, notably in Brazil.

Cape Verde was ideally located to ship slaves from the African continent & then put them aboard the slave ships that crossed the Atlantic.

Settlers were a mix of mostly Portuguese (particularly from the Azores and the Algarve region of Portugal), some Jewish migrants seeking religious freedom, undesirables from Portugal such as deportees, and a number of Italians and French. Later, English and African settlers came, too.

As with the Portuguese colonization of Madeira and the Azores, sugar cane was planted with high hopes. However, the aridity of the islands limited yields. Droughts and famine were not infrequent due to the highly irregular rainfall. Settlers introduced such animals as goats and cattle, and forests were cut down to make way for agriculture, much to the detriment of the soil in the long term. Besides sugar, products of the Cape Verde islands included a red dye from the lichen orchil, salt deposits (on Maio, Sal, and Boa Vista), grains and roots of African origin, maize introduced from the Americas, manioc, and sweet potatoes. Horses were reared on Santiago in the 15th century which were then shipped to the African coast. The cotton textiles produced on the islands were in great demand on the mainland coast and were designed specifically for that market using traditional African patterns. There was, too, a specific Cape Verdean design - six stripes of white, black, and blue - and cloth strips of this design were even used as a form of currency on the islands.

The Portuguese Crown had granted Cape Verdeans the right to trade with the African coastal communities in 1466, and they were given tax exemptions. There were some conditions such as only residents who had been on the islands for four years could trade and they could only do so with goods from the Cape Verde islands. These favours were likely granted because the agriculture on the island was not dependable. The arrangement meant that Portuguese trade settlements were established on the continent, which could take advantage of the well-organised African trade that saw goods travel from the interior along the major rivers (e.g. Gambia and Senegal) to the coast. Goods acquired included gold, slaves, ivory, pepper, beeswax, gum, and dyewoods. At this stage, the Portuguese made no attempt at conquest since they lacked the manpower and it was, in any case, unnecessary since the existing trade networks were so well-established and organised. Sometimes fortifications were built to protect trade centres, but these were always constructed with permission from the local chiefs. The good trade relations between the islands and coast brought other advantages such as the possibility to lease land for cultivation when there were poor harvests on the islands and for the Cape Verdeans to offer refuge to exiles during tribal warfare on the mainland.

The islands continued to be of strategic value to mariners. Vasco da Gama's historic voyage around the Cape of Good Hope to India in 1497-8 stopped off at the islands. Ferdinand Magellan 's epic expedition also called in for resupply at the Cape Verde Islands during the first circumnavigation of the globe in 1519-22.

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Slavery

The islands really gained wider prominence when the slave trade to the Americas took off. Cape Verde was ideally located to ship slaves from the African continent and then put them aboard the slave ships that crossed the Atlantic to be used as labour in plantations in the Caribbean, North America, and Brazil. On the return journey, these ships brought back trade goods which were then marketed through Cape Verde and on to Africa and Europe.

Slaves also worked on the sugar and cotton plantations on the Cape Verde Islands and in the industry producing indigo die. All three products were exported, along with island-made fabrics, to the African mainland and exchanged for slaves, which were then shipped to the Americas. Slaves were given a number of basic lessons in Portuguese and Christianity, both of which made them more valuable if they ever made it to the Americas. These lessons also eased traders' consciences that they were somehow benefitting the slaves and giving them the opportunity of what they considered eternal salvation. Around 3,000 slaves a year took the terrible and often deadly voyage across the Atlantic. Many free Cape Vedereans went, too, attracted by the possibilities of Portugal's new presence in Brazil.

The Florentine merchant and slaver Francesco Carletti visited the Cape Verde Islands in 1594. He gives the following vivid description of the slave trade on Santiago:

...we bought seventy-five slaves, two-thirds men and one-third women, both young and old, large and small. All were mixed together according to the custom of the country in a flock, just as in our country we would buy sheep, having first taken all the necessary precautions to make sure that they were in good health, had good constitutions and had no bodily defects. Each owner then marks them, or to say it more appropriately, brands them with his own brand mark. This is made of silver and is heated in the flame of a candle made of tallow with which the burn is anointed. The mark is made on the breast, or the arm or the back so that they be recognised.

...The slaves were embarked in the ship we had hired, the men below decks pressed and squeezed together one against the other in such a way that they had great difficulty in turning from one side to the other when they wanted to. The women were lodged after their own fashion on deck wherever they could find room in the ship.

(Newitt, 156-8)

As Cape Verde was much further from Portugal than the other Atlantic colonies (about two weeks sailing), so the islands attracted fewer European settlers, especially women. As a consequence, Europeans and Africans intermarried on the islands, creating an Afro-Portuguese culture which had a strong African religious and artistic influence. It was very often these free mixed-race Cape Verdeans who settled in the trading posts on the coast of Africa.

Another cultural influence was from the Portuguese ships sailing from the East which stopped off at the islands on their way back to Europe. As the major junction between the Portuguese African, American, and Indian empires, the Cape Verdes were certainly a cultural melting pot. In addition, the number of resident slaves steadily increased to eventually greatly outnumber the free settlers. By 1582, the populations of Fogo and Santiago, still the two main islands, were made up of 1,600 whites and mixed-race mulattoes, 400 free blacks, and 13,700 slaves.

The wealth going through the islands and their strategic value inevitably attracted unwanted attention from other European powers, notably England and Spain, but also pirates of various nationalities. Pirates attacked the archipelago in 1541, and the English came in 1585 and 1592. The first English raid was led by Francis Drake (c. 1540-1596 CE) and resulted in the sacking of several settlements on Santiago. These latter raids had developed since Philip II of Spain (r. 1556-1598) had taken over Portugal in 1580 and so the Cape Verde Islands were seen as a legitimate target by Spain's enemies. In 1598, a Dutch fleet attacked the islands as the international competition around West Africa became ever more intense. Trade routes also moved to the direct passage between Europe and West Africa so that the islands went into decline. A series of droughts throughout the 16th century further impoverished the islands. In 1712, the French pirate Jacques Cassard attacked the islands with the consequence that Praia became the capital in a gradual process not fully completed until 1770.

Later History

As the fortunes of the islands declined, many Cape Verdeans migrated to the Portuguese islands of São Tomé and Principe or to North America where the whaling industry offered employment. This was especially so with the end of the slave trade in 1876. The islands have always been strategically important and now they became useful as a refuelling base for steamships heading across the Atlantic and down the coast of Africa, even if the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 meant that east-bound ships no longer had to go around the Cape of Good Hope. An important coaling station was developed for passing ships at Mindelo on São Vicente.

The various national groups on the islands intermarried early on in the island's history and so the majority of today's islanders are of mixed European and African descent, known as mestiço or Crioulo, which is also the name of the language spoken (with Portuguese still dominating in more formal contexts). Roman Catholicism remains the dominant religion, and the Iberian peninsula still dominates imports and exports. Cape Verde gained independence from Portugal in 1975 in a less tumultuous handover than was seen in Portuguese colonies on the African continent. The islands then became the Republic of Cabo Verde. Cidade Velha (formerly Ribeira Grande) on Santiago is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site for its rich colonial architecture.

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The Portuguese Colonization of Cape Verde

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The Portuguese colonization of the Cape Verde (Cabo Verde) Islands began from 1462. Initially envisaged as a base to give mariners direct access to West African trade, the Central Atlantic islands soon...

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The hidden treasures of Timbuktu - Elizabeth Cox