África - History Lab

How the autobiography of a Muslim slave is challenging an American narrative

ad_hlab_min — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 12:41:10 +0000

Omar Ibn Said was 37 years old when he was taken from his West African home and transported to Charleston, South Carolina, as a slave in the 1800s. Now, his one-of-a-kind autobiographical manuscript has been translated from its original Arabic and housed at the Library of Congress, where it “annihilates” the conventional narrative of African slaves as uneducated and uncultured. Amna Nawaz reports.

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Generation Africa

ad_hlab_min — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 12:41:10 +0000

In the 16th century, the slave trade decimated the African population, causing devastation and hardship, the signs of which still remain today. In the 21st, migrations from the Global South are a "voluntary" phenomenon-though a forced choice, for so many-but they bring to mind this sad and dark past. In both cases, there are people who profit from the exodus of these human beings.

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Zheng He

ad_hlab_min — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 12:41:03 +0000

Zheng He is a 15th-century Chinese admiral. Known for having commanded one of the largest fleets in history, his name is linked to a hypothesis, later denied, about the discovery of the Americas by the Chinese. He was born in 1371 in the Mongolian province of Yunnan, from a Muslim family. Ten years later the Chinese empire occupies the province, and young Zheng He is captured. He grows up at court as a royal eunuch. He is playmate and advisor to Prince Zhu Di, the future Yongle Emperor. In 1402 Yongle came to power. A period of political and cultural growth begins for the Ming dynasty. With the aim of extending China’s influence beyond its borders, Yongle has a massive imperial fleet built. Zheng He is named admiral.
At the command of about 300 ships, with 28 thousand men under his orders, he enters history for the 7 great oceanic expeditions that he leads between 1405 and 1433. The first three expeditions are intended to expand the Chinese sphere of influence in the basin of the Indian Ocean. Zheng He lands in Malaysia, India and Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. The admiral is distinguished by the skill with which he manages diplomatic relations, while not giving up more drastic means in case of difficulty. During the second expedition, he forcibly quells a revolt in Ceylon and takes Alagonakkara, king of the island, prisoner. With the fourth and fifth expeditions, Zheng He goes further west. He leads the fleet towards the Persian Gulf and Arabia, until it touches the coasts of East Africa.
After visiting Mecca, the crew arrives in present-day Kenya. In exchange for porcelain and silk, Zheng He brings specimens of zebras and giraffes home, as evidenced by drawings of the time. The sixth expedition is the best known. The imperial fleet leaves again for Arabia and Africa, to accompany the foreign emissaries back to their lands. Then he returns to China. However, there is another version of the story: in 2002, former British naval officer Gavin Menzies claims that Zheng He, circumnavigating Africa, landed in America before Christopher Columbus. The proof would be the discovery of a map of the time.

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Travels of Ibn Battuta

ad_hlab_min — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 12:41:03 +0000

Considered one of the greatest travelers of the fourteenth century, for thirty years, he explored Africa, the Middle East, Asia and China. He was a Moroccan historian and jurist. Leaving Tangier at the age of 21 to make the hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca, he then decided to continue his journey (rihla) covering about 120,000 kilometers and reaching over 40 then unknown countries.

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Anselmo Adorno

ad_hlab_min — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 12:41:03 +0000

Pilgrim, ambassador, politician of Genoese origin who from Bruges, together with his son Giovanni, embarks on a journey to the Holy Land, described in detail in return (1470-1471).

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The transatlantic slave trade

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:34:41 +0000

The European colonisers trafficked millions of slaves captured mainly in Africa in order to use them as labour for numerous activities. In this way, thousands and thousands of people were transported to various regions of the planet, as we know well in the case of the American continent. This resource provides access to a large database called the “Transatlantic Slave Trade Database”, which contains an immense amount of information on the development of slavery from the 16th century to the end of the 19th century. It is a project supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (United States) and is the result of the efforts of scholars from different institutions, including historians, cartographers and slave trade specialists and researchers. The database itself is divided into various fields such as timelines, maps, 3D videos, essays and estimates and a detailed image bank.

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Leiden University Collection “Maps and Atlases”

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:34:23 +0000

Leiden University Maps and Atlases Collection, a repository of over 100,000 maps collected and held by the Leiden University Library since its creation in 1587

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Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:34:17 +0000

Collection of historical maps made by 19th and 20th century research on ancient geographic-historical spaces, from Antiquity, where modern and contemporary chronology maps stand out

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Library of Congress “General Maps” Collection

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:34:17 +0000

Digital repository of historic maps held by the Library of Congress of the United States of America.

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Collection “Cartes” (Maps) of the digital repository “Gallica” of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:34:17 +0000

Collection “Cartes” (Maps) of the digital repository “Gallica” of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF). It has 7 sections: parchments, globes, and five more by territorial sections: Africa, Europe, France, Japan and America

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