B1715thand16th

17. **Congo****, European Trade 1492-** In Africa, the economic goals of rulers held supremacy over racial hostility and cultural traditions. in 1492 the king of the Congo needed support in a war. In order to gain help from European, he was baptized as a Christian and gave them slaves. The main European power that helped the Congo ruler was the Portuguese. The Portuguese used the Congo and accelerated the slave trade. From 1500 to 1525, about 1700 a year were traded through the Portuguese. This increasing slave trade caused the whites to see them as inferior and many wealthy people sought after black slaves in order to express their wealth. McKay, John P. __History of Western society__. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003.