In the past historians, looking at the role of Africans in the Atlantic world, often characterized them as a backwards people. Focus was placed on the European role in settling the Atlantic and in doing so Europe came across as all-powerful, coercing the weak, unknowing Africans into the slave trade and other unfavorable deals. Modern historians know this was not the case. African interaction with Europe was voluntary and they had enough military power and resources to not trade with Europe if they so desired. African culture was not backwards as historians and Europeans once thought. Their culture was distinctly different from that of Europe, but this did not inhibit Africans. Their culture was so strong that much of it would transfer over to the New World through the slave trade.
The nations that composed Africa at this time were many and small due to a high ratio of land to people; “one could say with confidence that political fragmentation was the norm” (Thornton, 105). Estimates place over thirty nations in Africa, with at least “thirteen distinct African languages” (Thornton, 185), though each language had multiple dialects. With the beginning of interaction with Europeans, creole languages began to form for use in trade, such as fala de Guine, an Africanized Portuguese. At this same time, creole religion began to take shape across Africa based on the shared beliefs; that there was a spiritual world, after death spirits go there, the living learn of this spiritual world through revelations, and false revelations can be spread by “Satan” like figures. One of the key cultural misunderstandings in Africa’s role in the Atlantic was their participation in the slave trade. Africa did not sell people into this trade because of a severe economic need, they sold people because “slavery was rooted in deep-seated legal and institutional structures of African societies” (Thornton, 74). In African there was much more land than people and as a result, there was no concept of land ownership, they measured wealth in people. “Europeans simply tapped this existing market” (Thornton, 73) when they traded for slaves. The social role of slaves in Africa reflect their value in this culture as “slaves were often treated no differently from peasant cultivators” (Thornton, 87) and could enjoy a great amount of freedom when “employed as administrators, soldiers, and even royal advisers” (Thornton, 88).
African culture was not destroyed during the Great Passage as once thought, though the culture did adapt in its relocation to the New World. When Africans came to the New World, they often were shipped in groupings from the same region, allowing Africans to be near others with similar cultural identities. This unity allowed Africans to “[bring] with them a cultural heritage in language, aesthetics, and philosophy that helped them to form the newly developing culture of the Atlantic world” (Thornton, 129). As they reached the various plantations and other places of work “some owners allowed slaves to build a community and encouraged family formation” (Thornton, 169) in belief that it would help morale and productivity. Slaves sometimes were able to find others who spoke their native language, whom they would then marry and form communities with, passing the culture from Africa down through their children. Others would marry outside of their nation as “one half of marriages involved culturally diverse partners” (Thornton, 212). Even in these circumstances, slaves were able to communicate and share their culture due to the creole language first developed in Africa. The children of slaves would learn the local creole language as their mother tongue and eventually with this blending of languages “Afro-Atlantic culture became more homogeneous than the diverse African cultures that composed it” (Thornton, 206). Creole religion would also unify African slaves throughout the New World. The religions across Africa already shared many concepts, and a creole religion had begun to form before the transfer to the New World in the Congo and other parts, but once they came to the New World “Christianity provid[ed] a sort of lingua franca that joined various national religious traditions” (Thornton, 268). Economics in the New World took place through bartering with Petit Marronnage, or work stoppages and temporarily running away. Slaves, especially those with unique skills, used the threat of Petit Marronnage to negotiate for better conditions and more freedom from their masters. Grand Marronnage, total escape, also took place usually by slaves fresh off the boat or warrior who still desired to be warriors. When they did manage to escape, they would form new communities with strict authoritarian rule and slavery.
There are inevitable similarities between African culture in Africa and in the New World since the culture in Africa was the basis for the culture of the New World. The same cultural core concepts are found at the root of both societies, but at the same time “the African nations of the New World were not simply re-creating Africa; they were developing African concepts in the radically new political and cultural environments of the Americas” (Thornton, 326). The different environment, social standings, and influence from Europeans in the New World demanded change from the Africans. As a result, we see a more unified culture between Africans across the New World. This creole culture pushed their religion towards Christianity, blended their languages, and evolved their music, among other aesthetics.
As we examine both the culture of Africans in Africa and those in the New World, we see two strong players in the Atlantic. Their cultures were influential on the development of this region of the world, yet both parts were under played for years. The culture of Africa allowed the slave trade to occur in the first place. The African culture of this era and its people were strong, holding their own with Europe. From one side of the Atlantic to the other it may have changed some, but the roots are the same and it shows.
