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Reply to "History of rice cultivation - Sorry D2, you were dead wrong."

caribny posted:
D2 posted:
caribny posted:
 

 

Africa in from the 16th century to the era of modern transportation has been problematic. In the study of economics and trade in Africa;  Fernan Broudel noted that

 

 

Timbuktu in today's Mali was an important of the Muslim civilization and its emperor well integrated into the world of North Africa and the Middle East.  In fact in the rainy season it is navigable as far inland as Mali.

So West Africa wasn't hampered by its isolation.  Do you know that the Kingom of the Kongo had an ambassador to the Vatican as early as the 16th century?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...ese_and_Christianity

The reason why the Americas was settled and not West Africa was because indigenous populations were tremendously weakened and so it was easy for Europeans to displace them. The highlands of Bolivia aren't connected to the Pacific Ocean by ocean and yet by the 16th C Potosi was a booming city.

West Africa had strong militaristic populations and Europeans succumbed to tropical diseases.  The Gold Coast and Nigeria ultimately evolved into very valuable British colonies, so its not that they lacked value. Its that the local empires in the 16-early 19th C were able to resist the incursions of the Europeans.

What you describe better fits central and southern regions of Africa which were isolated from the rest of the world.  The Sahel empires of West Africa were fully integrated into the rest of the world. The scholars at Oxford were fully aware of Timbuktu as a center of scholarship.

None of what you said are counter point to what I stated about flourishing trade.  Africa is a big plateau that drops rapidly to the sea. It has no large mountain range to act as a catchment for water. It therefore suffers sporadic dry seasons. 

Indeed there were trade but not in the volume that would initiate large scale investment. It remained that way until the nineteen century. Note the reliance on slave trade terribly weakened the society which at one time suffered tremendously from negative growth rate. That also produced developmental hurdles...lack of man power.

Native Americans held off the white folks for some 200 years. The only reason for the proliferation of whites in new england was because the Narragansett confederation was wiped out in one generation by small pox.

Pontiac also drove Braddock to the sea. He united many of the tribes from Florida to the great lakes to  new england. He signed a treaty to keep then east of the Alleghenies. Of course the white folks broke that the first chance they got. The Indian wars did not end until 19th century with the capture of Geronimo. 

Cities grow at rivers mouth or the rivers edge because of possible inland routes. Cities can grow in outward from the rivers edge but they need waterways to communicate and transport long distances in those times. Otherwise trade remains local.

FM
Last edited by Former Member
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