Black Cargos research

Black cargos

PG. 6 Kruman primarily fisherman, refused to be subjugated, sometimes procured as “captains” over the other slaves. Would paddle canoes that could hold 40 people transporting slaves through the high surf to the waiting slave ships.

PG 11 The first white man to reach Benin was a Portuguese, Ruy de Sequeria in 1472.
Continual warfare between among the smaller states was encouraged by the slavers who provided both sides with muskets and powder in return for slaves at a low price.

Pg.12 several towns near the west coast were more populous then any but the largest European cities. There were kingdoms and commonwealths comparitable with many European nations, and between the smaller tribes had definite and complex cultures. The West Africans invented their own forms of architecture and their own method of weaving. Some were skilled workers in wood, brass, and iron which they had learned to smelt long before the white man came. Many communities had highly involved religions, well organized economic systems, efficient agricultural practices, codes of law.
In the words of President Nkrumah of Ghana has called “the Balkananization of Africa” the slavers greatest advantage was that one tribe could not understand the. There were 264 Sudanic languages, 182 Bantu languages, and 47 Hamitic languages.