African history hypothesis: When better ships made it easier for European states like Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands to navigate their way to the Moluccas in the 1400s-1500s, it was the end of an era when caravan trade routes allowed for kingdoms in both the Sahel and Eurasia to attain prominence in trade while being in the desert or mountains.
Africa, by way of geographically being “in the way” between Europe and Asia, went from being a thoroughfare of trade to being a stumbling block to skip over. The Trans-Saharan and Silk Road routes were both made redundant.
If southern Africa were broken up into archipelagos of islands (a la Indonesia or the West Indies), would those African islands have thrived more from trade in the longer run?
