Portuguese to Africa in the 1400s

It began with Prince Henry of Portuguese (1394-1460) when he learned that the gold and slaves of West Africa carried by camels and marched across the Sahara by Muslims Berbers and Arabs could be diverted to Portuguese traders and merchants reaching the West African coast by Sea. The Portuguese wanted to enrich their monarchy by exploring Africa and promoting Christianity. Another reason, was due to the labor need to make sugar that was in high demand by Europeans, Africans would supply the labor through slaves to make sugar.

Other reasons motivated the Portuguese to explore Africa in the 1400s. A large factor was the gold that the Portuguese hoped to use to defend itself from its neighbor Spain. The gold would also finance other expeditions. Portuguese was able to support the African trade because it retained 20% of the profits that merchants would make when the involved themselves in commercial exploration.  Their merchants and traders would provide cloth, silver, hardware, corn, horse and in return Africa would supply in return hides, beeswax, fish, ostrich eggs, and most importantly gold and slaves.

 Religion also motivated the Portuguese. They hoped to convert the non-Muslims of West Africa to Christianity. Once they had converted traditional Africans over to Christianity they had hoped that they would help battle against the Muslims.  Then, there was the monarch of Prester John, who with his followers had defended their religion from Islam while living mythically in Ethiopia. The Portuguese felt a religious responsibility to come to the aid of Prester John and their fellow Christians.

Food that came to Africa from the era of Portuguese that became important to Africa is seed and root crops that do not grow naturally in Africa. The two main crops that impacted the most in Africa that I thought was Maize or Corn that took the place of sorghum as the preferred grain. The other being Cassava, a tuber food took the place of yams. Corn was introduced by the Portuguese in Africa in the 1600s. Corn was the preferred grain due to its ability to grow well in humid, sunny climates and yields where produces higher than previously used grains. In Africa, it was easier to protect it from birds, store it in cribs, and not only was it higher in calories but superior in taste. Cassava was originally from Peru and was cultivated in Mexico before it reached Portuguese, who then transported it to Africa. Tuber food was preferred due to its ability to grow in dense population and survive drought to become insurances against famine.

The crops brought from the New World contributed to the increase in population in Africa. Beans were also a food brought over, but not just one type several. Beans came over with the Atlantic Slave trade, like Lima, Navy, and Kidney beans that all grow well in water. Potatoes came from Florida, Peanuts from Brazil, Tomato from South America; and Peas, Sesame, and sugarcane came from Asia and Europeans that followed the Portuguese in the globalization of international trade supported by the discovery from voyages like that of what Prince Henry set out to do in the 1400’s but all of these where introduce to Africa by the 1600’s. These foods that came to Africa have allowed the population of Africa to grow and the land to be filled with people and food more so than ever before.