Africa is characterized for a dry and hot weather, but it wasn’t always like this. The Sahara for example, was once a well-populated grassland with ample rain and many flowing rivers. As the climate changed, less rain fell and temperature rose making people migrate to other spaces like the Niger River. The empires in Africa were based on the commercialization of food, gold, salt and slaves. The common religion used to make things easier between different nationalities, but some conflicts also happened. With the focus on commerce, Africans didn’t improve their technology field and when the Moroccans came with fire guns, their arrows and bows wasn’t strong enough to fight them.
The commerce on the other hand, was the bridge between Africa, Europe and America. The creation of a Mediterranean route facilitate the trade between the nationalities. With Portugal and America using this trading route, African people were spread around the world and took their culture to many places. Unfortunately, with the slavery, this expansion of culture did not happened in a good way. Many people were mistreated and disrespected, even killed because of human’s ignorance. The rich natural features and religious beliefs together with many other things was brought into Africa also, expanding the sharing of knowledge and resources between civilizations.
The influence of Africa in America can be seen not only in the arts, architecture and religion but also in pottery, music, cuisine, dance, language, medicine, poetry. A very multi-leveled range of things that became part of the now called, African-American culture was possible due to the geography and nature existent.
By: Bianca Vieira.