The popular belief of warfare in Pre-Colonial Africa is that of mere tribal wars, a sort of random, “bow and arrow” battle. The accepted view of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade is based on the concept that Europeans bribed, initiated wars, and captured African civilians, all for the sake of the slave trade. In his book, “Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500-1800”, John K. Thornton challenges both of these interpretations.
In fact, the author systematically describes in depth the complexity and diversity of different African states. The 300 years that the book covers, all tactics, weapons, and strategies evolved due to what seemed to be trial and error, availability of resources, influence of the Europeans, and motivations.
The way war was waged in the different African nations was primarily based on the location of that particular region. For instance, in the Senegambia and Sierra Leone region, navies had a large part of warfare due to the navigational rivers in the region. Each......
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Approximate Word Count: 1258
Approximate Pages: 5 (260 words per double-spaced page) |