Mali, an Islamic state whose capital Timbuktu was a major economic and cultural center, controlled the gold trade. Until the Muslim invasions of the eleventh century, the Ghana empire had extensive commercial ties with North Africa, Egypt, and the Middle East. The sub‐Saharan kingdoms-Ghana, Mali, Benin, Songhai, and Kongo-were well‐organized societies with a long history, but they were almost unknown to Europeans. One consequence of the Portuguese expeditions was contact with West Africa. The Muslim monopoly on the spice trade in Asia was broken. Over the next twenty years, Portugal made Goa its major trading center in India, established outposts in Malaysia, and set up direct contact with China. A decade later, Vasco da Gama sailed around Africa and reached the Malabar Coast of India, establishing an all‐water route to Asia. Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa in 1488. The most significant voyages, however, came forty years later. With these innovations, the Portuguese reached the westernmost point of the continent at Cape Verde in 1448, setting up a lucrative network of trading posts along the way. At the center, information about tides and currents was collected, more accurate charts and maps were drawn, techniques for determining longitude were improved, and new ship designs (such as the caravel) were developed. The expeditions were sponsored by Prince Henry of Portugal, who founded a center for seamanship around 1420 and earned himself the title of the Navigator. Motivated by the desire for new markets and an ongoing opposition to the Muslims, Portuguese sailors had begun to explore the West African coast in the first half of the fifteenth century.
Seventeenth Century Colonial Settlements.Portuguese Explorations and West Africa.
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