“darkest Africa.” So, in the nineteenth century, they were fascinated by
the brave forays of men like David Livingston. In fact, however, as one of
the world’s major sources of gold, Atlantic Africa had been linked with the
Mediterranean world for centuries through well-established trade routes
radiating out from such great markets as Timbuktu.
Even more profound was ignorance about society, culture, economy,
and politics. Until recently Africa was generally neglected by universities
and research institutions; and few Afro-Americans knew anything about
their own past. In their accommodation to white American culture, they
had lost touch with their African roots. Memories, legends, and folkways
were blurred or even forgotten. What had happened was not only that they
had become Afro-American but that the process of enslavement had
“homogenized” what had been scores of quite distinct African cultures. In
this way, peoples whose ancestors had been Ibos, Mandingos, Tebous,
Bantus, Ayois, Aqueras, Aradas, Nagos, Fons, and scores of others—who
spoke different languages and had different customs—were blended into a
single category, Negro. So to get back to origins, even from the perspective
of eighteenth-century America when less homogenization had taken place,
something akin to a social archaeology would have been required.
Until recently, few scholars even knew what questions to ask about
African society and the experience of slavery. The answers that the pioneer
scholars began bringing forward in the early twentieth century sometimes
turned out to be unproductive or at best simplistic. The reality proved far
more complex than they imagined. Now, thanks to a generation of research,
the discovery of new materials, and the meticulous compilation of informa-
tion, the view is becoming clearer, more exact, and more detailed. Still, what
we know about America’s African roots is meager in comparison with what
we know about European roots. That being admitted, the effort is as neces-
sary for Africa as for Europe in seeking to understand the birth of America.
Getting as close as is now possible to an understanding is the purpose of this
chapter. I begin with an overview of the geography and peoples.
Atlantic Africa is an enormous area beginning in the northeast at the
Senegal River (which forms the frontier of the modern state of Senegal) and
extending south down to roughly the middle of Angola. No precise eastern
80 THE BIRTH OF AMERICA