Evidence That Ancient Africans Used The Sea Voyages

Sea Voyages
Sea Voyages

When looking at the relationship between ancient Africa and sea voyages, we focus on the pieces of evidence that showed African people sailed the sea and why they sailed. Africa has an extensive history of sea voyages such as boats and ships. These water vessels served as transport for traders, explorers, warfares, and special events.

Trade

In ancient Africa, specifically, the East African coastal region, trade was among the major economic activities. This was because East Africa was the major source of ivory. As a result, East Africa and the Middle East had a mutual relationship and traded together. Arab traders could sail the deep ocean waters following the coast of Eastern African to the Islands. Africans also traded their ivory for beads, clothes, etc. The other form of trade involved Africans being shipped out by Arabs as slaves. The Arab trade of Bantu slaves is one of the oldest slave trades.

The ancient Egyptians were also great traders. Egypt is a country in the northern part of Africa. From as early as 3000BCE, Egyptians were already building ships. Their skill and artistry were on another level. They traded with Punt for gold, aromatic resins, ebony, ivory, and wild animals.

The presence of coins along the Swahili Coast from different kingdoms and empires also symbolized the trade along the east African coast. For example, the presence of Chinese coins signified the exchange of goods between China and the Africans.

Warfare

In ancient Africa, kings, queens, and people went to war for various reasons. Either they wanted to dominate in a region or to free themselves from authoritative rulers. Warfare sometimes involved people sailing in the waters since then, no modern means of transport existed.

Since ancient times, very many wars have happened in Africa. Most of which led to the capture, death, and even extinction of some cultures. An example of a leader is Sonni Ali, who used water vessels on the Niger River to ferry his troops. A systematic approach that he used to conquer more territories. When Sunni first rose to power, Songhai was a small Kingdom. Mali kingdom had dominated the whole West African region. Sunni had planned to expand and ensure the prosperity of his kingdom. With the help of his army, he captured many cities in Mali and extended his territory. As such, he had a powerful kingdom. He had earned a reputation for being a harsh conqueror.

Under Sunni’s leadership, the Songhai Empire had dominated all the kingdoms in West Africa. Death exiled or punished those who opposed Sunni’s leadership. However, Ali died returning from a campaign against the Fulanis who lived west of Songhai.

Another example is the Ajuran empire. This kingdom ruled Somali before the coming of the Portuguese. Portugal had a determination to test its strength. So they started a conflict with them. The people from this Kingdom fought fiercely. With the help of water vessels, they applied their tactical move of ambushing the Portuguese from the Indian Ocean. Hence, they became victorious. Those are some communities who went to war in ships and boats.

Explorers

Explorers were people who traveled to new places to discover lands, seek treasure, find trade routes, and gathering territories. In this case, we are focusing on African explorers who used sea voyages during their journeys.

Mansa Abubakar II, also known as the Voyager King. He was an African Empire who ruled the Mali Kingdom in the 14th Century. Mansa had abandoned his kingdom to pursue knowledge. He wanted to know whether the Atlantic Ocean had another bank. With the help of engineers of lake Chad, he launched a massive fleet of ships. Therefore, in 1311, he set off for his expedition, accompanied by 2000 boats. Traders, sailors, learned men, and builders had accompanied him on his journey.  At that time, his brother Mansa Musa had succeeded him to become the new emperor.

Mansa set sail across the Atlantic Ocean. However, it was later that one captain returned to the King and told him that most of the ships capsized. The canary current had swallowed them. The captain said:

“After several days on the sea, the ships were sucked up by a sort of river with a powerful flow on the ocean and all the ships disappeared at the horizon.”

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