Impacts/Effects of Interaction

Social Impacts of Interactions among the People of Africa

1. Loss of originality: In the process of migrations and trade interactions, people moved from their places of origin to various destinations. Through these interactions, there were probably interactions of new values, customs, and beliefs.
2. Emergence of new language: As people of different languages like Bantu, Nilotic, and Khoisan met with other groups, they developed new languages. Among these, the Swahili language developed in East Africa, having most of the Bantu vocabularies.
3. Intermarriage: When people moved from their original areas and established settlements in new areas, they got married with the natives and established new social relations. These involved social conflicts since people were united together.
4. Population increased: The places that were attractive for people's settlements became highly populated. In those regions, immigration was more common than emigration.

The Economic Impacts of Interactions

1. Growth of towns and cities: Trading activities stimulated the emergence of urban centers along the trade routes and centers. Areas that produced trade commodities in West, North, and East Africa became remarkable urban centers.
2. Exposure of Africa to the external world: The African coast and interior areas were exposed to the outside world. People were engaged in trading activities and slowly they created trading contacts with the Europeans. Africa was producing goods that were observed by the outside world.
3. Intensification of agricultural production: Due to good manufacturing and use of better tools and high demands of foodstuffs, cash crops and animal products became very important among Africans.
4. Development of technical skills and new areas: Trading activities stimulated the emergence and growth of technical skills. Africans were able to process gold, iron smelting, and cloth making.
5. Over exploitation of African resources: Trade items such as ivory, gold, copper, and animal skins were supplied within Africa and later to the outside world. Later on, those resources were highly demanded by the outside world like Asia and Europe. Therefore, traders took them to the outside world in large quantities.
6. The decrease of labor: Many people in the Western Sudan and East Africa interior were captured as slaves to meet the high demands of slaves by long-distance and Trans-Saharan trade.
7. Emergence of classes: The interactions of people in Africa resulted in classes of rich and poor; those who engaged in trade and agricultural activities became economically powerful than those who did not engage in these activities.