Africa

North Africa: ° Algeria ° Egypt ° Libya ° Morocco ° Sudan
West Africa: ° Benin ° Cameroon ° Congo ° Cote d'Ivoire ° Gabon ° (Republic of the) Gambia ° Ghana ° Guinea ° Liberia ° Mauritania ° Mozambique ° Nigeria ° Sao Tome and Principe ° Senegal (Dakar) ° Sierra Leone
East Africa (The Horn of Africa): ° Djibouti ° Kenya ° Eritrea ° Madagascar ° Somalia ° Sudan ° Tanzania ° Zanzibar

East Africa

Several hundred distinct African groups were living in East Africa in the 19th century. Most of their histories are through oral traditions collected later by European or African scholars. The exceptions were Ethiopia, which produced its own literature for centuries, and Swahili coastal cities which were inhabited by Muslims who produced records in Arabic.

In the early 19th century, the East African coast was theoretically under the control of the Ottoman Empire through the Sultan of Oman, whose capital was in the city of Muscat on the southern coast of the Arabian peninsula. The East African interior was divided into a number of local states which included the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia, the animist kingdom of Buganda and many smaller states.

The Zulu created a number of new states towards the south in the area that is now Tanzania and Malawi, while Mehemet Ali's modernization led to the expansion of Egyptian administration into the Upper Nile River (modern Sudan).

The Assegai, invented by the Zulu King Shaka (1787-1828) in the early 1800s, revolutionized tribal warfare in Southern Africa. At age 23, he was conscripted into the Izi-cwe regiment of the army of Dingiswayo, the Mtetwa king. It was during this period that Shaka developed the fighting techniques, which made his warriors terrorize southeastern Africa. 

Shaka revolutionized the ancient techniques of warfare. First, he observed that hurling the light throwing assegai at a distant enemy was mostly ineffective and was equivalent to throwing the weapon away. Shaka developed the short, stout assegai, especially designed for close combat. He converted the shield into an offensive weapon. He lengthened the shield and used it to hook that of his opponent, thus providing an opening to use his stabbing assegai. He prohibited the use of sandals, thus acquiring more mobility.

Dingiswayo recognized Shaka's ability as a leader, and envisioned him as a chieftain rather than a soldier. Shaka succeeded Dingiswayo, who was killed in 1818. Shaka expanded the kingdom and the army, with 50,000 well-trained warriors, was the core of the state. Where Dingiswayo resorted to war after palaver failed, Shaka was preoccupied with total annihilation of the enemy. In addition, Dingiswayo allowed the conquered chiefs to rule their people. Shaka preferred to incorporate those chiefs who submitted into the Zulu kingdom, frequently replacing them with members of his family, and killed those who did not.

In 1828, Shaka was assassinated by his half-brothers, including his successor, Dingane, and unceremoniously buried in a pit.

As have many warlords and empire builders, including Genghis Khan, Shaka has been described as a despot and tyrant by the Western world because of the many atrocities he committed against his enemies and his people. Nevertheless, through his military genius and leadership abilities, he expanded his sphere of influence from a petty chiefdom of 100 square miles to the Zulu empire, which extended over 200,000 square miles.

September 8, 1891, San Francisco Call, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

London, Sept 7. Dispatches from Mombassa, in British East- Africa, announces that the British East Africa Company's steamship Kenia has navigited the River Tana for 300 miles from ihe coast, aud has thus opened to trade a fertile and populous district which heretofore has been supposed to be practically closed to commerce.

April 23, 1893, Los Angeles Herald, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Explorations In Africa

Zanzibar, April 22. Letters bearing dates up to March 5th have been received from William Astor Chandler, who is leading an exploring expedition in East Africa. He says all the members of his party are well, and he gives details of their recent explorations in the region around Mount Kenia.

May 1, 1895, San Francisco Call, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

Governor of German East Africa.

BERLIN, Germany, April 30. The Reichsanzeiger officially announced to-day that Major Weissman, the well-known explorer, has been appointed Governor of German East Africa.

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The Fortunes of Africa: A 5000-Year History of Wealth, Greed, and Endeavor
Africa has been coveted for its riches ever since the era of the Pharaohs. In past centuries, it was the lure of gold, ivory, and slaves that drew fortune-seekers, merchant-adventurers, and conquerors from afar. In modern times, the focus of attention is on oil, diamonds, and other valuable minerals. He traces the rise and fall of ancient kingdoms and empires; the spread of Christianity and Islam; the enduring quest for gold and other riches; the exploits of explorers and missionaries; and the impact of European colonization.

The Diary of Antera Duke: An Eighteenth-Century African Slave Trader
Stephen D. Behrendt, A. J. H. Lathma, David Northrup
In his diary, Antera Duke (ca.1735-ca.1809) wrote an eyewitness account of the slave trade by an African merchant. A leader in late eighteenth-century Old Calabar, a cluster of Efik-speaking communities in the Cross River region, he resided in Duke Town, forty-five miles from the Atlantic Ocean in what is now southeast Nigeria. His diary, written in trade English from 1785 to 1788, is a candid account of daily life in an African community at the height of Calabar's overseas commerce. It provides valuable information on economic activity with other African businessmen and with European ship captains who arrived to trade for slaves, produce, and provisions.

Basil Davidson states that by examining three important areas of Africa in the history of slavery against a general background of their time and circumstance he was taking "a fresh look at the overseas slave trade, the steady year-by-year export of African labour to the West Indies and the Americas that marked the era of forced migration." (Africans were joined in forced camps by abused laborers from China, "indentured servants" from Ireland, and Britain's hideous prison hulks.)

The Middle Passage: White Ships/Black Cargo
Tom Feelings
Alex Haley's Roots awakened many Americans to the cruelty of slavery. The Middle Passage focuses attention on the torturous journey which brought slaves from Africa to the Americas, allowing readers to bear witness to the sufferings of an entire people. 64 paintings.

The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America
Gerald Home
The successful 1776 revolt against British rule in North America has been hailed almost universally as a great step forward for humanity. But the Africans then residing in the colonies overwhelmingly sided with London. Gerald Horne complements his earlier celebrated Negro Comrades of the Crown, by showing that in the prelude to 1776, the abolition of slavery seemed all but inevitable in London, delighting Africans as much as it outraged slaveholders, and sparking the colonial revolt.

Middle Passages: African American Journeys to Africa, 1787-2005
James T. Campbell
Many works of history deal with the journeys of blacks in bondage from Africa to the United States along the middle passage, but there is also a rich history of African Americans traveling in the opposite direction. In Middle Passages, award-winning historian James T. Campbell recounts more than two centuries of African American journeys to Africa, including the experiences of such extraordinary figures as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois, Richard Wright, Malcolm X, and Maya Angelou. This series is under presiding editor Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

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1899. World's Fleet. Boston Daily Globe

Lloyds Register of Shipping gives the entire fleet of the world as 28,180 steamers and sailing vessels, with a total tonnage of 27,673,628, of which 39 perent are British.

Great Britain	10,990 vessels, total tonnage of 10,792,714
United States	3,010 vessels, total tonnage of 2,405,887
Norway	2,528 vessels, tonnage of 1,604,230
Germany	1,676 vessels, with a tonnage of 2,453,334, in which are included her particularly large ships.
Sweden	1,408 vessels with a tonnage of 643, 527
Italy	1,150 vessels
France	1,182 vessels

For Historical Comparison
Top 10 Maritime Nations Ranked by Value (2017)

	Country	# of Vessels	Gross Tonnage (m)	Total Value (USDbn)
1	Greece	4,453	206.47	$88.0
2	Japan	4,317	150.26	$79.8
3	China	4,938	159.71	$71.7
4	USA	2,399	55.92	$46.5
5	Singapore	2,662	64.03	$41.7
6	Norway	1,668	39.68	$41.1
7	Germany	2,923	81.17	$30.3
8	UK	883	28.78	$24.3
9	Denmark	1,040	36.17	$23.4
10	South Korea	1,484	49.88	$20.1
Total		26,767	87.21	$466.9