Portuguese explorer Prince Henry, known as the Navigator, was the first European to methodically explore Africa and the oceanic route to the Indies. He directed successive expeditions to circumnavigate Africa and reach India from his residence in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The Zambezi, in south-central Africa, was not known until the mid-19th century when Scottish missionary-explorer David Livingstone crossed the Kalahari. With the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1808, European interest in the interior of Africa grew quickly. Geographical Societies were formed and sponsored expeditions.
Johannes Rebmann, a German missionary and explorer, was the first European to publicize the work of the African Association in Germany in the 1790s. He introduced two young men, Frederick Hornemann and J. L. Banks, to Banks. Jesuit missionaries from Portugal began to travel through the interior to convert Africans to Christianity, becoming the first Europeans to reach many areas of inland Africa. The Portuguese kept much of the work of their explorers secret.
European exploration of sub-Saharan Africa began with the Age of Discovery in the 15th century, pioneered by the Kingdom of Portugal under Henry the Navigator. Early European Explorers of Africa included Ibn Battuta, James Bruce Mungo Park, René-Auguste Caillié, Heinrich Barth, Samuel Baker, and Richard Burton. Modern humans are believed to have appeared about 100,000 years ago in eastern Africa, and European explorers and missionaries began mapping the interior of Africa in the nineteenth century. Adventurers like Henry Stanley revealed that Africa was vast and varied. Germans Barth and Nachtigal, known as “Livingstones”, disappeared for years in the heart of Saharan Africa.
📹 Why the Europeans went to Africa
The Scramble for Africa also called the partition of Africa or the conquest of Africa was the invasion occupation Division and …
Who discovered the interior of Africa?
The geography of North Africa has been well-known since classical antiquity in Greco-Roman geography. European exploration began in the 15th century with the Age of Discovery, led by Portuguese explorers like Prince Henry. From the 15th-19th century, little exploration of the interior of Africa was done, with focus on the transatlantic slave trade. In the early 19th century, European land holdings in Africa began to shift and increase. Protestant missions, most famously by David Livingstone, carried out active missionary work in the mid-19th century.
Livingstone became the first European to see Victoria Falls in 1855. Henry Morton Stanley, who succeeded in finding and supporting Livingstone in 1871, led one of the most memorable expeditions in Africa, circumnavigating Victoria Nyanza and Lake Tanganyika.
Henry Morton Stanley is known for his exploration of central Africa and his search for David Livingstone, as well as his work in the Congo Basin region with King Leopold II of the Belgians. David Livingstone, a Scottish congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society, was a popular national hero of the late-19th-century in Victorian Britain. He had a mythical status that operated on multiple levels, including being a Protestant missionary martyr, working-class “rags-to-riches” inspirational story, scientific investigator and explorer, imperial reformer, anti-slavery crusader, and advocate of commercial and colonial expansion.
Who were the first Europeans to reach the interior of Africa?
Portuguese explorer Prince Henry, also known as the Navigator, was the first European to explore Africa and the oceanic route to the Indies. He directed successive expeditions to circumnavigate Africa and reach India. In 1420, Henry sent an expedition to secure the strategic island of Madeira, while in 1425, he tried to secure the Canary Islands, which were already under Castilian control. In 1431, another Portuguese expedition reached and annexed the Azores.
Naval charts of 1339 show that the Canary Islands were already known to Europeans. In 1341, Portuguese and Italian explorers prepared a joint expedition, and in 1342, the Catalans organized an expedition to the Canary Islands. In 1344, Pope Clement VI named French admiral Luis de la Cerda Prince of Fortune and sent him to conquer the Canaries.
In 1455 and 1456, Italian explorers Alvise Cadamosto and Antoniotto Usodimare, working for Prince Henry of Portugal, followed the Gambia River, visiting Senegal. Antonio de Noli, also on behalf of Prince Henry, explored the Bijagós islands and the Cape Verde archipelago. Antonio de Noli became the first governor of Cape Verde and the first European colonial governor in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Who were the first settlers in Africa?
Modern human settlement in South Africa began around 125, 000 years ago in the Middle Stone Age, with the first known inhabitants being the Khoisan, Khwe, and San. The Bantu tribes migrated from Western and Central Africa during the Bantu expansion. European exploration of the African coast began in the 13th century when Portugal sought an alternative route to China. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Portuguese explorers traveled down the west African Coast, detailing and mapping the coastline.
The Dutch East India Company established a trading post in Cape Town under Jan van Riebeeck in 1652, and European workers settled at the Cape became known as the Free Burghers. The Great Trek, a mass migration of European workers, occurred after the British invaded the Cape Colony in 1795 and 1806, leading to the establishment of several Boer Republics in the interior of South Africa.
Discoveries of diamonds and gold in the nineteenth century had a profound effect on the region’s fortunes, propelling it onto the world stage and introducing a shift away from an exclusively agrarian-based economy towards industrialization and urban infrastructure development. This led to new conflicts, culminating in open warfare between the Boer settlers and the British Empire, fought for control over the nascent South African mining industry.
Following the defeat of the Boers in the Anglo-Boer or South African War (1899–1902), the Union of South Africa was created as a self-governing dominion of the British Empire on 31 May 1910. The country became a fully sovereign nation state within the British Empire in 1934 following the enactment of the Status of the Union Act. The monarchy ended on 31 May 1961, replacing the country as the Republic of South Africa through a 1960 referendum.
Who first explored Africa in the late 1400s?
Portuguese colonizers in the 15th century aimed to outflank Islam, find a sea route to India, and discover food sources. They reached the Kongo kingdom in Angola in 1482-83, Bartolomeu Dias in 1488, and Vasco da Gama in 1492. These voyages marked the beginning of European dominance over the indigenous inhabitants of Southern Africa.
Portuguese influence in west-central Africa was more dramatic and destructive than on the east coast. The Portuguese crown and Jesuit missionaries forged peaceful links with the Kongo kingdom, converting its king to Christianity. However, slave traders followed, and west-central Africa became tied to the demands of São Tomé sugar planters and the transatlantic slave trade.
Until 1560, the Kongo kings had an effective monopoly over trade with metropolitan Portugal. By the 1520s, Afro-Portuguese traders and landowners from São Tomé intervened in the affairs of the Ndongo kingdom, supporting the ruler and taking war captives and surplus dependents as slaves. By the mid-16th century, Ndongo, with Portuguese assistance, had become a major kingdom extending over a wide area between the Dande, Lukala, and Kwanza rivers.
Who occupied Africa first?
The Phoenician colonies along the coast of Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria represent the initial instances of colonialism in Africa. Some of these colonies were established over 3, 000 years ago.
Who is the famous African explorer?
David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary, doctor, abolitionist, and explorer who lived in the 1800s. He sought to bring Christianity, commerce, and “civilization” to Africa and undertook three extensive expeditions throughout the continent. Born on March 19, 1813, in Blantyre, Lanarkshire, Scotland, Livingstone grew up in a Scottish family environment of personal piety, poverty, hard work, zeal for education, and a sense of mission. His father was from Ulva, off the west coast of Scotland, and his mother was from a Lowlander family.
Livingstone was raised in a tenement building for workers in a cotton factory on the banks of the Clyde. At age 10, he worked in a cotton mill and bought a Latin grammar with part of his wages. Livingstone, like his father, joined an independent Christian congregation of stricter discipline when he came of age, acquiring the characteristics of mind and body that were to fit him for his African career.
Who is considered Africa’s greatest explorer?
Dr. David Livingstone, a renowned explorer of Africa, embarked on his last and greatest expedition in 1866 to locate the fabled source of the Nile River. The mission, which was supposed to last two years, was delayed by nearly six years, with many Europeans giving him up for dead. Livingstone had last been spotted near Lake Tanganyika, but reaching the area proved to be a monumental task. The New York Herald expedition faced setbacks, including crocodiles and tsetse flies, and dozens of porters abandoning the caravan or dying from illnesses.
Stanley, ravaged by dysentery, smallpox, and a near-fatal case of cerebral malaria, continued to push his party forward at a breakneck pace, crossing over 700 miles of territory by the time they arrived at Ujiji, a remote village in Tanzania.
Who was the greatest explorer in Africa?
In 1841, Scottish missionary David Livingstone embarked on his first exploratory trek into the African veldt, covering over 29, 000 miles and uncovering vast areas beyond rivers and mountain ranges. Livingstone was the first European to make a trans-African passage from Angola to Mozambique, discovering numerous lakes, rivers, and mountains. His expeditions were considered one of the toughest ever undertaken, involving life-threatening situations such as being mauled by a lion, suffering from thirst and starvation, and constantly suffering from dysentery, hemorrhoids, malaria, and pneumonia.
Who were the first explorers to Africa?
Portuguese exploration of Africa began in the 1400s, with Prince Henry sending ships to explore the west coast to establish trade with western Africa. European exploration of Africa shifted to the 1700s, with scientific curiosity leading to new interest in the interior. European explorers focused on understanding Africa’s great river systems, hoping that better transportation would advance trade and development. The source of the Nile River was a significant question in African geography, with Roman expeditions stopping in South Sudan.
The “golden age” of African exploration began when James Bruce sought the source in 1768-1771, followed by numerous explorers, including John Speke in 1858. Europeans explored the Niger River, Zambezi and Congo rivers, and East African lakes, with local Africans serving as guides, envoys, servants, laborers, and porters. African interpreters were essential for communication with local peoples along the way.
Who was the first white man to arrive in Africa?
In approximately 1487, Bartolomeu Dias, a Portuguese explorer, reached the southernmost point of the African continent. Despite maintaining a presence in the region through continued visits, the Portuguese were unable to establish settlements due to the hostile nature of the native African population.
Why didn’t Europeans explore the interior of Africa?
Prior to the mid-19th century, Europeans largely eschewed extensive exploration of the African interior due to the challenging geography of the continent. The lack of suitable harbors and the presence of unnavigable rivers posed significant obstacles to exploration and trade.
📹 First Contact Between Europe and Africa
Support me on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/FromNothing Merch Store: https://www.fromnothing.info/market Join our Discord …
Great work brother.Senegalese were the first Africans to meet Portuguese. It was these bumpy experiences that made the Portuguese more careful and better prepared when they arrived in Ghana in 1471.They had plenty of gifts and peace offerings and were able to charm the chiefs. That would sadly set up stage for them to build those Elmina Castles which later became Slave dungeons.
We, Somalis, have been fighting the Portuguese since 1500s. We were successful. We already had ties with Sultan of Oman & The Ottomans. The Ottomans helped us with weapons. And we kept our coast (longest in Africa) free until Oman and Ottomans declined and Europeans combined to divide us (France, Italy & Britain).
This was great as always and exactly the kind of content I want to see on YouTube! The timing of the European-African encounters coincides with the decline and eventual fall of the Byzantine Empire, forcing Europeans to find alternative routes to East Asia. Also very important to highlight that relations were on equal footing in the beginning, with the looks of the West Africans being a curiosity, but not a sign of “inferiority” as it became later for some reason. I would love to have heard how West Africans described Europeans, but any writings on that are probably burnt to ashes or locked away in one of those desert libraries currently under threat.
Another great article bro! 6:16 is the reason it’s important to always get a balanced perspective of everything! I’m sure people are shocked to hear that this African tribe had the same thoughts about Europeans as Europeans had about them. I often hear white racists making the argument about how Europeans are advanced compared to Africans and Native Americans and I always ask…..from who’s perspective? The movie Rashomon delves into the importance and complexities of varying perspectives. Once again, thanks!
European originally came trying to strong arm but quickly changed the strategy to peaceful trade encounters… You have to think, the Europeans were desperate to get out of Europe because of shortages of land, food and rampant diseases! They HAD to make expeditions seeking new lands by any means. It was about survival at that point..
I am a White European (mixed with Turkish) and I am saddened that the history of our ancestors was as hostile as it was in the last few hundread years. My European ancestors didn’t always behave as humane and civilised as they made themselves out to be. However, I hope that we can get over our difficult past and live together peacefully in the present. I am not saying that you should forget the past, just remember that the people living today are not the same people as the people from a few hundread years ago. I am facinated by the peoples of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, the Americas (and all the rest of the world) and all their respective cultures, religions and myths. The fact that WE ALL made it to this point today means that our ancestors did some things right, otherwise we would be extinct. I just wish we would get along better! We are all relatives. We are all brothers and sisters! As this very big human family, we live together on this planet earth and there are problems awaiting us (global warming/trashification of the environment) that we can only face as a global community, working with each other and not against each other. Hopefully we will realize in time that there is only ONE PLANET and ONE HUMANITY!
But why couldn’t Europeans simply leave Africa alone? To this day they still can’t or won’t. What justified such strenuous efforts? The European population was relatively small in the 15th century, so there were plenty of vacant lands in Europe. And Africans weren’t sending any expeditions to Europe for sure. They only wanted to be left alone.
A great book to read for accurate accounts is the portuguese in west africa 1415-1670 Stop calling them black it’s historically incorrect As black is a middle english word not portuguese mouros is portuguese As the word diddnt exist let’s educate. People to what the African tribes were called Apart from that good article for beginners on the subject
I don’t think that it was the portuguese technology that discouraged the Niominka, west african poison archers were capable of firing many volleys in the time it would have taken to reload an arquebus, and the densely forested region also reduced the effective range of firearms. It sounds more likely to me that the Niominka learned through regional trade that the Portuguese were interested in trading. Great article.
I read in a book years ago. It said before Europeans touched Africans lands they were afraid to go there because of stories of Giant men and women with 3 eyes, one in the foreheads. Skin black as night. The people were living gods and goddesses walking the earth!!!! Beasts of the land were as tall as the clouds, gigantic in sizes!! Vast land all over with many exotic creatures, animals, giant ferocious great cats roamed!!! Giant insects that will kill you, river water that would kill you, DEADLY hot sunlight during the days!!! They were afraid to approach Africa.. They heard of Asia and began sailing to trade, they by passed African shores for years and years! If they sailed too close, spears and arrows would fly from the shoreline!!!! They didn’t DARE!!! The invaders captured weak unsuspecting tribesmen who were small and nonviolent and used them to their advantage. Realized that the people weren’t gods but humans that could be killed…. Then the invasion began…😕
What about those Israelites that lived just north of Nigeria 🇳🇬 kingdom of Judah 1736 and by the 1800s they were no longer there because they got caught up in the slave trade. Oh and by the way, “BLACK” or NEGRO is not a nationality. So then, who are we. And why is it such a secret. We’re not African because if that was the case, it would have been on our ancestors birth records. It only says NEGRO. Which means black. ? What is our nationality. And don’t sat African. Keep going northward
I am black, a biblical Christian*, and from the land of the Bronx. My job is to teach black people that Jesus is not an invention of the white man. According to this article, European explorers started creeping over to African lands around 1444. So what we call “The slavery era” started around 1444 right? (How could it start before the white man came to Africa? Don’t make sense.) Here’s the thing, Jesus walked the earth 1444 years before a white man ever enslaved a black man. (Stay with me). So that kills part of the white Jesus invention theory. Rome came into power in 31 BC. That’s around 31 years BEFORE Jesus walked the earth. So Rome was up and running BEFORE Jesus! The Romans claimed Caesar was god or the equivalent of a god (small g). To the Romans Jesus was a clown. Nobody was gonna put down their swords because of the words of some guy with sandals preaching love. (At first!). Rome was about power! So here’s a question… did Rome conquer Africa? About 100 years after Rome came to power they took over a couple of provinces in North Africa but trust me, NARY A ROMAN BOOT EVER WALKED THROUGH DEEP BLACK AFRICA! They did not want it with them dudes. Would you? So were there Africans slaves in the Roman era? Heeeek no! (Myth buster number 2) Here comes the trickery….. Rome was the world superpower when Christ came right? So how did Christ gain such preeminence in a Roman power culture? I’m mean we all know the term “Roman” Catholic right? How? Because Christ alone is so powerful that He subdues nations.
FUN FACT: ALL original people looked basically like “negroes” because we were created from the soil of the earth, the original Asians were dark skinned, the original Arabs were dark skinned, the original Egyptians were dark skinned and so forth EARS TO HEAR is this verse I dropped look for this comment by ONEKBABY that thread has some UNDENIABLE information on it
There are more than i”nstances” of Africans in Europe. Visit European museums. libraries and private collections of records of Black people in ancient Europe. Cave paintings and stoned carvings were exclusively Black until 5,500 years ago. The White man totally conquered Europe about 5,000 years ago.
You mean first contacte with renaissance european, because many african statue and coins with african morphology are found in Greek and Roman artefacts, because Greek go To africa for trading even in Tanzania, Carthage trading with West africa. Sudan (kushite) are know To sell war elephant To macedonian ptolemaic, also horse To Assyrian. So Africa was already know by early civilisations.
Nice vid, but I would add that African’s first contact with Eurasians was a couple thousand years before the 15th century tho. Also considering the “land of the Blacks” pretty much being what the Ancient Egyptians (KEMET) called egypt (land of the black people) and called themselves kemetnu (black people).
Unity? Separatism? What do we see! So I agree for Millions of years Highly Melanated People inhabited this Earth!! They where not all exactly the same! They where male/female!!(( Definitely)) They built and continue building (Creating) Great Thing’s!! They are most likely the First!!! So can I agree you are the Father??/Mother?? Of Humanity??? Now are you a son/daughter of Two Parents? Did they look exactly the same?? Are you the mirror Image? Did your Dad Love Your Mom?? Was that Love Based on Skin Shade, Height, Weight, Eyes, Breasts, Butt?? So now if you are not a mirror image physically or mentally the exact same as both parents!!! Are you a Mutant???? So Now as a Good Father/Mother do you accept your Children even Love their Differences?? You wouldn’t want harm to come to them because they are short or tall, thick or thin!!! So what is this about Skin Father??? LET US MOVE ON!!! I see you as I am a believer in The Ultimate Creator!! The Creator of All!! Can this God Do Anything? Be Anything?? Create Anything??? Why Did God (The Ultimate Creator) Not Create Everything The Same???? Back to the original thought!! Millions of Years, millions of people, millions of perceived expressions of God The Greatest Creator!! Sorry off track!! Okay so for millions of years this Earth was populated !!! Everything, Everyone, was at Peace!! Not One Highly Melanated Man/Woman Was or Could Be ((BAD))!! Not one ever Oppressed Another!! They Treated Mother Earth and All of Creation with Utmost Respect!
Major error in this take on history. There were Africans in Europe, specifically, Seville (Spain) long before the Portuguese exploration to West Africa. These Africans were taken to Europe by Arabs through the Sahara and formed part of the earliest form of slavery or servitude run by Portugal, which also included slaves from as far as Japan and China. Indeed, the first African slaves in the Americas were taken from Seville, not Africa. They ought to have been born there and thus Christian. Later converts were allowed. It was not until demand for their labour outstripped supply that the Pope gave permission for slavers to go directly to the source, Africa.
This whole article is b.s . Africans knew white people long before this distorted history by european, the romans, the greeks, africa has a history with many nations but the problem with europeans is they were people who did not have a civilizations. The romans and greeks were the only civilization of europe . Nothing else. White europeans were mostly called barbarians by the romans. So its not that you guys discovered afrika, amerika or any place. Its just that you guys had a civilization much much later then afrika and the rest of the world. You did not discover anything, you are new to the world fresh out of the woods of eurooe, to you its maybe a discovery but the world is not crazy. Europe should really rewrite its history books lol. Your history and civilizations began much later than the rest of the worle, it begon around the 8 century, Before that you was just tribes living in the woods of europe. You you never talk about that part ?
I like how even in the article you don’t even know what happened between the first contact between Europeans, & Africans. You can’t even tell us who instigated violence first!!! Isn’t that what your article title is all about??? Instead, you’ve made this into a glorified history of Africa, riddled with murky opinions, without any credible sources of information. Can you at least explain where you’re getting your information? I actually wanted to learn why Black people have always hated Europeans.