Chapter 2: The rise of thw Atlantic World

What really stood out to me this time around in the reading was the kinships as a part of African culture before they came to America. The people of West Africa had tight knit family groups; these family groups included everyone: aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, grandparents. Keeping these kinships tight ensured some stability. Because there was a high mortality rate at the time in order to keep these kinships of a decent size they would marry. Women would typically marry just after puberty and men, many times, had more than one wife for child baring reasons. Children were very important as part of a kinship, to keep it going, but also as part of the labor force. These children contributed to family wealth by upping the food production and the amount of land in which was able to be cultivated.

Because of the sparse population in Africa the farmers were able to maintain a high soil quality as well as a high productivity right when it came to their yield. This was due to the fact that the farmers could move around a lot and rotate the land they had in use for crops. Both men and women farmed and pulled their weight as part of this large family unit.

Also something the Africans had was a sense of spirituality. Most Africans believed there was a world beyond our own where one would go in death. The Africans also practiced ancestor worship. They would share stories orally and have dramatic public presentations of these religious stories utilizing masks, dance, and music with complex rhythm structures (which later led to jazz music).

Around this same time the Europeans were reaching the hight of the Renaissance movement in 1492 when Columbus came over to America. The European people were eager to come to America because in Europe 70% - 80% of the population were a part of the peasant class. There were taxes going around Europe so high no one could afford to pay them. Another trouble they faced was the lack in the food supply. As the population was expanding the food production was not due to the process of enclosure. Enclosure also made it harder for the peasants to make a living or provide themselves with food. But unfortunately there was nothing the peasants could do about enclosure because most had no written title to their land.