That attitudes and images of Europeans towards the African ebbed and flowed throughout the years as different viewpoints were socially addressed.
Early European views of Africans were without the taint of the racism that developed in later centuries. Wealth, the appearance of nobility, and good manners appeared to be the main criteria in determining social ranking of these African visitors, along with religion. Hostility was aimed toward not the color of their skin but the God they prayed to – Muslims were still not welcome in Europe, no matter how many years separated from the Crusades.
At this starting point of 1400, Africans were not unknown to Europeans. Prior to this time period, neither continent was wholly isolated from the other. The Crusades aside, the relatively close proximity of southern Europe and North Africa meant that throughout the Middle Ages a small number of Africans made the journey to Europe. Most of southern Europe, including the Italian city states, in particular, had contact with the Middle East and North Africa. The presence of Africans in Europe actually dates back to the era of Rome, wherein the relationship between Europe and African truly began. It was this Mediterranean sphere that would have a larger number of African inhabitants due to its proximity to Northern Africa.
The life of the African slave was also different in the two areas. Mediterranean slaves were seen as beasts of burden – they worked the fields and performed all manners of manual labor under the watchful eye of their master. The life of an African ‘slave’ in Atlantic Europe was a bit more civil. They were domestic servants to the wealthy, playthings for the rich, and generally treated much better. In the end though, they were unpaid labor and therefore slaves.
England was very critical of slavery (i) but at the same time found themselves deeply entrenched in the slave trade. Spain on the other hand simply bought and sold Africans with little or no empathy for the ones they were buying and selling. Africans were considered property or mechandise with no
It appears that the end was cut off of this essay, but I think it does a great job in laying out the arguments in a very readable manner that demonstrates a solid understanding of the readings. The essay also begins to cover the difference between the two European regions nicely, though it appears this was cut short, leaving the paper wanting on details. As a reader, I would like to see where the rest of this paper was going.
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