A profitable trade had developed by which West Africans exported
gold, cotton cloth, metal ornaments, and leather goods
north across the trans-Saharan trade routes, in exchange for copper, horses, salt, textiles, and beads. Later, ivory, slaves, and kola nuts were also traded.
What did West Africa trade with Europe?
Traders from Europe went to West Africa and offered
cloth, rum, salt, and other goods in exchange for slaves
. Many Africans became wealthy by trading slaves for goods like these. In addition to these goods, the European traders also offered to trade guns for slaves.
What did Africa trade?
The West Africans exchanged their local products like
gold, ivory, salt and cloth
, for North African goods such as horses, books, swords and chain mail. This trade (called the trans-Saharan trade because it crossed the Sahara desert) also included slaves.
What are the main exports of West Africa?
Cocoa and cocoa food preparations
(5% of exports) , precious stones (3%) and secondarily cotton , edible fruit, rubber , plastics , wood and wood products , fish and shellfish (about 1% each), form together with fuel , the major export products of the West African Economic Community.
What were the 2 most important West African trading items?
The two most important trade items were
gold and salt
.
Why was salt so valuable in Africa?
To the north lay the vast Sahara, the source of much of the salt. … People wanted gold for its beauty, but they needed salt in their diets to survive. Salt, which
could be used to preserve food
, also made bland food tasty. These qualities made salt very valuable.
How were slaves captured in Africa?
Most of the Africans who were enslaved were captured
in battles or were kidnapped
, though some were sold into slavery for debt or as punishment. The captives were marched to the coast, often enduring long journeys of weeks or even months, shackled to one another.
What were the 3 main reasons for European imperialism in Africa?
The European imperialist push into Africa was motivated by three main factors,
economic, political, and social
. It developed in the nineteenth century following the collapse of the profitability of the slave trade, its abolition and suppression, as well as the expansion of the European capitalist Industrial Revolution.
Who discovered Africa first?
Portuguese explorer Prince Henry
, known as the Navigator, was the first European to methodically explore Africa and the oceanic route to the Indies.
Why is West Africa trade important?
The
gold mines of West Africa provided great wealth to
West African Empires such as Ghana and Mali. Other items that were commonly traded included ivory, kola nuts, cloth, slaves, metal goods, and beads. As trade developed across Africa, major cities developed as centers for trade.
What is the main export of Africa?
The main exported commodities of African nations are:
Palm oil
.
Gold and diamonds
.
Oil
.
Does the US import from Africa?
This graph shows the growth in the U.S. import volume of trade goods from Africa from 1997 to 2020. In 2020, U.S. imports from Africa amounted to
approximately 33.4 billion U.S. dollars
.
Which African country exports the most?
| Rank African Country 2020 Value (US$) | 1 South Africa $85,686,133,000 | 2 Nigeria $33,361,475,000 | 3 Morocco $27,704,922,000 | 4 Egypt $26,815,145,000 |
|---|
How did Islam spread within West Africa?
Islam first came to West Africa as a slow and peaceful process,
spread by Muslim traders and scholars
. The early journeys across the Sahara were done in stages. Goods passed through chains of Muslim traders, purchased, finally, by local non-Muslims at the southern most end of the route.
What did West Africa lack?
While North Africa had abundant supplies of salt, West Africa
lacked salt
. Salt is vital for human survival. Merchants, moving in caravans across the desert, picked up large blocks of salt on their journey to exchange for gold. West Africa had abundant supplies of gold.
Where was gold found in West Africa?
The primary goldfields of the Birimian being explored in West Africa involve the Proterozoic rocks situated in the southern portion of the West African Craton. To date, the most productive gold-bearing zone within the Birimian greenstone belts has been
the Ashanti belt in Ghana
.
