'Short' Essay #1

Tracing the Image of the African Within the European World

from the 15th Century thru the 16th Century

((Also known as: "Hey Yo Dummy, Its Called a SHORT Essay: A Clever Exemplary Guide to Not Following Directions and Veering Acadangerously Off Course))

　

The image of Africans and African culture throughout the European continent in early 1400s was primarily based on distance and physical proximity between each European nation and the continent of Africa. The northern regions of the African continent were the most easily reached and certainly well-known to travelers and merchants of that time. However very little was known of the cultures and peoples deep within the sub-Saharan areas, and the image of the cultures of this region changed dramatically during the 15th and 16th Centuries. With the increase in sea voyages and economic expansion by many European powers, the desire and the need for knowledge of these places led to a much greater amount of first-hand sources and chronicles; this had an immediate and often contradictory effect on popular impressions previously held within the European community. It was the unconscious struggle to assimilate these fresh and exciting eye-witness accounts with the formerly held images of Africans and their way of life that marked these turbulent and adventurous 200 years in Euro-African interaction. The thrilling aspect of these changes is that this new information streaming out to the European populace was acting on and diverging with many different, and often times varying notions commonly held in each separate nation and individual society. Underlying all of these shifting viewpoints is the further enchanting complexity wherein we must consider the true objectives, goals, and biases actively present in each of these intensely personal accounts.

For many centuries prior to this time period, the communities and peoples of the northern African regions were in close and continuous contact with the neighboring European nations across the Mediterranean. Travelers and merchants from the realms of Spain and Portugal, and most certainly along the Italian Peninsula, had become well-accustomed to dealing with tribal leaders and rulers in various ports and trading centers across the northern coast of Africa. It was from the accounts of these journeymen and sailors that the overwhelming popular image of the African people was developed back in their home countries. Desperate for first-hand accounts and depictions of these ‘exotic’ and unknown races from a distant land, the citizens from each potential author’s homeland created a magnificent desire for unique narratives. These most often took the form of travelogues, journals, and biographical chronicles, which by their very nature are extremely subject to personal slants and shadings that would have certainly affected the way in which these eye-witness reports were received and digested back home.

The danger inherent in this process of developing an image of a distant culture based upon the narratives of fellow countrymen is that the narratives are almost certain to be skewed in a manner that strays from a purely historical and scientific or anthropological viewpoint. It is much too easy to blame this expected phenomenon on a group of rowdy boatmen and unscholarly traders. The real reason for this very simply lies in the traditions and commonly held ideals, whether justifiable or not, of the places from whence each of these travelers had come. Prior to the great influx of slaves in the 16th Century, many places viewed Africans as a very exotic and almost novel as a result of their being so few actual Africans living in major European cities who had actually clung to their African heritage and preserved a sense of a unique culture. As a result of this, it was fashionable to build up great stories of outlandish character as a means to tell an imaginative story or to entertain children and less educated members of society; wherein it may be enthralling to use a black individual to symbolize a great evil villain or spiritual demon. The most egregious examples of this racial embellishment took place the further away a nation was to be found from the actual individuals they were accustomed to depict in such a fanciful manner. It is not plausible to state that a certain culture or group of people is to be found having been more prone to imaginatory speculation or cultural classification. The quite acceptable reasoning behind this whimsical distortion of a specific race of people is that in order for stories and tales of these unknown peoples to reach such distant regions, they must have had to pass from person to person along a startlingly long line of travelers and sources. It is only natural to presume that each teller of tales along the line would embellish the most vibrant and exotic sections of a report based upon their own culture and what they themselves found most shocking or unusual upon hearing it for the first time.

As contact with the groups and various tribes on the western coast of African and deeper within the interior of sub-Saharan increased dramatically with the arrival of the 16th Century, the image of Africans began to change dramatically. A dawning of new economic and political benefits occurred in the eyes of men hungry to claim unfound sources of income and wealth. In turn, this led to a forcible change in the vision of central and western Africans from exotic fodder for elaborate stories, to a definitive supply of usable products, whether it be slaves or goods acquired thru trade. The charge in this direction was led by the Portuguese, who were the first to actively seek to develop partnerships and relationships with African peoples. As these relationships developed, an image of these new African cultures was taken back to Portugal and a much more pragmatic view of these hitherto alien societies emerged. It was this actual involvement with a foreign group of people that first laid the foundations for the acceptance and attitude of open assimilation that was to follow. As each competing national power became aware of the massive resource that western Africa representing, the floodgates began to widen to allow an influx in cultural expansion from Africa into Europe on a much grander scale than had ever been felt before.

The growth of the Mediterranean slave trade further helped to augment this cultural collision between the continents. As slavery and the presence of slaves became a larger part of everyday life in European cities, it was essential for the local populations to develop beliefs and opinions in regard to these new arrivals in order to solidify their position within the adopted culture. The majority of Africans being introduced during this time were seen as much different from the typical Northern Africans that Europeans has been in contact with in previous centuries. The reaction to this massive influx of people from a new culture varied enormously among the different countries of Europe, depending upon prior exposure to an African presence and the depth to which former Africans had become absorbed in a particular society.

Within the Iberian lands of the Spanish Empire dark skinned peoples had been a part of every day life and had established their own brand of Spanish customs and created black organizations to enrich their daily routines for much longer than countries to the north, such as England or the Netherlands. Although black citizens had managed to create a significant society of their own within the overall framework of culture in Spain, this was still an almost entirely Spanish culture lacking in large part many of the unique traditions and practices of their African culture. This exemplifies the level of acceptance prevalent throughout Spain toward dark skinned peoples, and typifies the ideal that if a person of African decent, or any other foreigner for that matter, was willing to assimilate themselves to Spanish culture, then they would be much more accepted. Outsiders who attempted to hold onto and preserve their natural heritage and ways of life after having become a citizen of Spain, whether forcefully brought there or not, were ostracized and viewed as “social pollutants” who threatened the religious sanctity and cultural fraternity of the Realm.

Compare this with the way black slaves were treated in England and the significance of a foundation of inter-cultural relations becomes strikingly apparent. The English views toward black slaves germinated as an intellectual desire to claim Africans as an ally against the Spanish and Portuguese in the ongoing economic and expeditionary battles quickly developing between the European powers. Africans were no longer seen as the exotic sometimes entertaining literary characters of old, but were now viewed as a tool to be used against the Iberian nations. Although this idea may have been utterly misguided at the time, it led to an impulse to embrace Africans in a political and pragmatic way. However, the actual physical presence of black slaves in England would eventually lead to a great deal of upheaval and cries for expulsion by the end of the 16th Century, which shows the lack of a humanitarian or libertarian tint to the image of Africans in the eyes of most English citizens.

Tantamount to any discussion of European views towards Africans in the 15th and 16th Centuries is the idea that slavery colored opinions in every region where Europeans were the dominant class; albeit in far varying degrees. As the slave trade progressed and grew into a dominant force throughout European economics and politics, the image towards Africans and dark skinned peoples became an organic entity constantly changing to fit each new development in what was a radically shifting world. Countries with a strong historical relationship with Africans, namely Spain, Portugal, and Italy, allowed for great and even inspiring opportunities for Africans to assimilate themselves with the local culture, so long as they were willing to forego their native customs. Alternately, in regions further away from the African continent with little past interactions to build upon, chiefly England and the Low Countries, Africans remained a discernable group of outsiders seen as a possible, if not definite threat to the integrity of an inviolably superior European culture. It was certainly a time of drastic changes as regards the image held in the European consciousness towards Africans and their role in an expanding world.

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