Culture 2

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Culture 2

• Africa
• The Americas
• Oceania

1500-1780
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Culture and Contact

• Last time we looked at cultures that had some
  history of contact with the rest of the world
• Today we turn to cultures that had little (or no)
  contact with the rest of the world
• The cultures of Africa, the Americas and Oceania
  were profoundly transformed by contact with
  Europeans as they borrowed freely and had
  cultural forms imposed upon them

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West Africa

• The most intense zone of contact in Africa was in
  the West
• Like the rest of the world, elites in these
  societies commissioned artists to produce works
  that reflected the elite view of the world
• Cultural production centred around making
  statues, masks, jewellery and the like

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The Oyo Empire produced some of the worlds most
intricate bronze work
The Asante (or Ashanti) had access to gold for
their art production
Benin had a long tradition of producing pottery
and bronze art
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The Slave Trade

• The revenue from the slave trade was concentrated
  among small groups of elite traders who had
  translated their wealth into political power
• The increase in wealth also meant that more money
  was being put into cultural production, leading
  to a flourishing of West African arts and crafts

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The Asante had access to large gold deposits
which was associated with royalty. The trophy
head was made of gld the carved box and
fertility doll were made out of wood.
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Culture in the Americas

• Many cultural traditions of the Americas were
  eradicated as Christian missionaries and
  colonists converted natives to Christianity
• However, many of these traditions survived
  (despite Christian opposition) and formed part of
  a hybrid culture made up in large part by people
  of mixed ethnic or backgrounds, called mestizos

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Many Spanish and Portuguese colonists married
indigenous wives to secure their place in the new
world. Many native Americans converted to
Christianity and incorporated those beliefs and
practices into a unique hybrid
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Culture in Oceania

• The many different cultures of the Pacific Ocean
  had lived in relative isolation from the rest of
  the world until the eighteenth century when
  European explorers arrived and brought them into
  the global trade system
• While some island cultures were able to maintain
  their autonomy, others were brutally taken over
  and had European culture imposed upon them

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Scientific imperialism

• One of the driving forces of exploring the
  Oceania and the South Pacific was the quest for a
  scientific understanding of the world that
  developed during the enlightenment
• The search for scientific knowledge went
  hand-in-hand with the search for commercial
  opportunities and territories to populate with
  European colonists

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Captain James Cook (1728-1779) was the
quintessential enlightened scientist mixing
scientific curiosity with a spirit of
adventure. His voyages were widely publicised and
he and his scientific crew made detailed records
of plants and animals and precise maps. Popular
literature about the voyages captured the
European imagination. Cooks voyages served as
vehicles for conquest in Australia, pressing much
of the large continent into service of British
control.
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Captain Cook in Hawaii

• When Cook and his ships reached Hawaii in 1778
  Cook was believed by the natives to be a
  representative of Lono, the god of feasts and
  harvests
• When Cooks ship returned damaged from a storm
  the natives no longer believed that he was a
  divine figure
• A misunderstanding led the natives to kill Cook
  and his crew

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Conclusion

• Cultural production in West Africa experienced a
  boom funded in large part by the profits from
  the slave trade
• A hybrid culture developed in the Americas that
  would eventually be at odd with the mostly white
  settlements of the British
• In the Pacific, European exploration was fuelled
  by scientific inquiry and the desire to find new
  territory to conquer