sbright421 's review for:

Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War by Howard W. French

5.0

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A really gripping read that tells the history of Africa prior to European contact, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, revolutions in the Caribbean, and the emergence of chattel slavery in the United States from the perspective of the people of African descent. A lot of this was new information to me: African contact with the Middle East through Mansa Musa and the beginnings of European fascination with Africa's gold, the diplomacy efforts of the Portuguese and the Dutch with the established nations along West Africa's coastline, the ultimate downfall of those African nations once the only accepted currency was human beings to conduct trade, and the affects all of this had on the colonies in the Caribbean and on the North American mainland.

I really love how this history centered Africa: whether it be Mansa Musa, the Kongo and the various kingdoms in Senegambia, and the revolutions aboard ships and in colonies throughout the "New" World (which French argues was originally a term for the African coast, really interesting).

I can't recommend this book enough!