I found the most interesting part of this reading was when Hochschild was talking about the reaction of the African's to the whites' arrival. I thought it was very interesting how the Africans thought that the Europeans were people coming from the land of the dead. What stood out to me was how they thought the Europeans were cannibals so most of the slaves being transported on the ships refused to eat because they believed they were eating their fellow Africans. I was also drawn into the part where the British were being self-righteous and ignoring their history of slavery and condemning not Portugal, Spain, or Brazil but the Arab slave-traders for their allowance and promotion of slavery. The hypocrisy was what kept my attention. I felt least interested when Hochschild was describing the life of Henry Morton Stanley. Some of it was interesting, but that was where I found myself zoning out.
discussion questions:
1.Why was Henry Stanley so prone to exaggerations in his reports, and why were they accepted?
2. How much effect did Affonso have on decreasing the slave trade in Africa? How would our views of this time change if we didn't have his voice and his view of this period in history?
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