| Popis: |
The Portuguese were (from 1471) the European “pioneers” everywhere in West Africa. They were interested in gold, hence the region called ‘the Gold Coast’ (Ghana today). The slave trade, and especially the Slave Coast, came much later, the Slave Coast because of the forbidding local conditions that long dissuaded the Europeans (they had in fact to be invited in). Rivalry between the Europeans meant that (from the 1590s) the Dutch, the English, the French and others challenged the Portuguese monopoly with success. The needs of the “sugar revolution” in America did the rest. But was it the offer of slaves from Africa which made that revolution possible? The inter-European rivalries on the coast may have influenced relations between the European powers to a greater extent than is usually admitted. |
