The arrival of the Portuguese -and the building of the first European fort at Arguin (Mauritania) in 1448, followed by the second in 1482 at Elmina on the Gold Coast, had at first little impact on Africa. in 1904, It became part of French West Africa (Afrique occidentale française)and the spelling was changed to Ouidah.
The immediate objective of the Europeans was to take a share in the gold trade, dominated at the time by Arab middlemen, the slave trade being of secondary interest. But with the development of sugar plantations in Brazil and the West Indies, the slave trade became a major source of profit, especially after the Dutch and British had ousted the Portuguese from along the Gold and Slave Coasts (today's coastal Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana). Fortified trading stations were set up as bases for this trade, the Portuguese continuing from their bases in Angola and Cacheu (now Guinea-Bissau). In 1727 the Kingdom of Whydah was captured by the forces of King Agaja of Dahomey. (Dahomey is the former name for Benin).
At this time, Europeans remained largely ignorant of the African Interior, and their influence was limited generally to the coast. In the far south the Dutch were established in the Cape, and in the northeast Islam was spreading.
By 1800, with the exception of the Ottomans in the north (their power was more nominal than real), Africa remained independant of foreign control. It was a world unto itself, but in no position to compete with the technology of Europe that was about to explore -and eventually dominate this vibrant continent. |
