Black African & Native American Societies

The fact that as of A.D. 1000 European civilization was less advanced and united than civilizations in Asia, Africa, or America has been well documented, as well as the fact that after that time Europe gradually emerged to dominate the world (Elson, 1992). However, the period of transformation that began roughly at the time of the Crusades was not necessarily the same as the bringing of superior civilization to non-European societies. Indeed, the societies that Europeans encountered in the Americas and Africa were reshaped along European lines in significant part because of European territorial and conquest ambitions. According to one account, "the indigenous populations of most colonized lands went under. Indians in America and aborigines in Australia had not sufficiently tamed and filled their continents to prevent newcomers from settling among them" (Oliver, 1966, p. 7). African societies survived the encounter more successfully because they were "too numerous and too much the masters of their environment to be overtaken" (p. 7).

If the pre-encounter societies of Africa

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associated with economic activity. Ghana was one imperial seat, and it had a feudal structure organized around mining and export. Ghana's empire, which lasted from AD 600 to 1600, drew "military strength from feudal levies and its financial power from the proceeds of the export trade in gold and other goods and of the import trade in salt, copper, and the manufactures of Egypt, North Africa and Europe" (Davidson, 1964, p. 15). The Swahili were well established on the southeastern coast and, like the Ethiopians to the north, had extensive Indian Ocean trade with Arabia, India, and China, exporting gold and ivory and importing textiles, porcelain, and other goods. Other African empires of about the same period were Mali, Kanem-Bornu, Songhay, and Hausa in the west and among the Katanga, Bantu, and Uganda in the east and south. Ghana's empire, as well s that of the Songhay, fell to a Moroccan invasion from the north in the 1600s, closely followed by the age of European exploration. Africa as a whole never recovered from these stresses, which made it vulnerable to long-term European exploitation. Native American social structure resembles that of black Africa chiefly in its multi-tribal configuration and in the sense of the sacred tha
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Native American, East Africa, American Indian, Iron Age, Pizarro Peru, Davidson African, Nanih Waya, Tallensi Ghana, Adena Hopewell, America African, silverberg 1986, native american, james 1992, davidson 1964, black africa, debo 1934, american indian, davidson 1966, north america, silverberg 1986 pp, mound builders, native american society, davidson 1966 126, north american peoples, york review books,
Approximate Word count = 2600
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)