This week in History we learned about "green gold" (tobacco) and how it lead to slavery being introduced in the New World. We also discussed the Triangular Trade, where Portugal traded goods (rum, pots and pans, and cloth) with West African War Chiefs for prisoners of war. These slaves were then traded for other goods (sugar, molasses, and cotton) in the West Indies. After they ran out of POW's, they began to kidnap these African people and forced them into slavery. One princess warrior, Nzinga, spent a lifetime trying to save and protect her people.
We are trying to make connections that everything we have talked about this year so far has just been about 80 years time. While Japan has wanted to go to war with China, the race for the Northwest passage is on, and the triangular trade route and the East India Trade Co. route has been going on for years. While Elizabeth I, Queen of England beheads her cousin Mary queen of Scots because she is afraid she is going to try and take her throne, Mbandi King of the Ndomba people in West Africa exiles his sister Nzinga because he too is afraid she will take his throne.
Next week we will take a trip to the Middle East and hopefully answer several children's question about why Europeans didn't just "cut through the Middle East to get the spices and silk?"
