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African slave trade

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: General history

   Slave transport in Africa, from a 19th century engraving
   Slave transport in Africa, from a 19th century engraving

   Trade in slaves, like most of the world, has carried on for thousands
   of years in Africa. The first main route passed through the Sahara.
   After the Age of Exploration, African slaves became part of the
   Atlantic slave trade, from which comes the modern, Western conception
   of slavery as an institution of African-derived slaves and non-African
   slave owners. Despite its illegality, slavery continues in all parts of
   the world, including Africa.

Slavery within Africa

   13th century Africa - simplified map of the main states, kingdoms and
   empires
   13th century Africa - simplified map of the main states, kingdoms and
   empires

   In most African societies, there was very little difference between the
   free peasants and the feudal vassal peasants. Vassals of the Songhay
   Muslim Empire were used primarily in agriculture; they paid tribute to
   their masters in crop and service but they were slightly restricted in
   custom and convenience. These non-free people were more an occupational
   caste, as their bondage was relative..

   There is adequate evidence citing case after case of African control of
   segments of the trade. Several African nations such as the Ashanti of
   Ghana and the Yoruba of Nigeria had economies largely depending on the
   trade. African peoples such as the Imbangala of Angola and the Nyamwezi
   of Tanzania would serve as intermediaries or roving bands warring with
   other African nations to capture Africans for Europeans. Extenuating
   circumstances demanding exploration are the tremendous efforts European
   officials in Africa used to install rulers agreeable to their
   interests. They would actively favour one African group against another
   to deliberately ignite chaos and continue their slaving activities..

   Slavery in the rigid form which existed in Europe and throughout the
   New World was not practiced in Africa nor in the Islamic Orient.
   "Slavery", as it is often referred to, in African cultures was
   generally more like indentured servitude: "slaves" were not made to be
   chattel of other men, nor enslaved for life. African "slaves" were paid
   wages and were able to accumulate property. They often bought their own
   freedom and could then achieve social promotion -just as freedman in
   ancient Rome- some even rose to the status of kings (e.g. Jaja of Opobo
   and Sunni Ali Ber). Similar arguments were used by western slave owners
   during the time of abolition, for example by John Wedderburn in
   Wedderburn v. Knight, the case that ended legal recognition of slavery
   in Scotland in 1776. Regardless of the legal options open to slave
   owners, rational cost-earning calculation and/or voluntary adoption of
   moral restraints often tended to mitigate (except with traders, who
   preferred to weed out the worthless weak individuals) the actual fate
   of slaves throughout history.

Slavery in Songhai

   In most African societies, there was very little difference between the
   free peasants and the feudal vassal peasants. Vassals of the Songhay
   Muslim Empire were used primarily in agriculture; they paid tribute to
   their masters in crop and service but they were slightly restricted in
   custom and convenience. These people were more an occupational caste,
   as their bondage was relative. In the Kanem Bornu Empire, vassals were
   three classes beneath the nobles. Marriage between captor and captive
   was far from rare, blurring the anticipated roles..

Slavery in Ethiopia

   Ethiopian slavery was essentially domestic. Slaves thus served in the
   houses of their masters or mistresses, and were not employed to any
   significant extent for productive purposes, Slaves were thus regarded
   as members of their owners' family, and were fed, clothed and
   protected. They generally roamed around freely and conducted business
   as free people. They had complete freedom of religion and culture. It
   had been banished by its Emperors numerous times starting with Emperor
   Tewodros II (r. 1855-1868), although not eradicated completely until
   1923 with Ethiopia's ascension to the League of Nations.

Slaves taken from Africa

Trans Saharan trade

   The very earliest external slave trade was the trans-Saharan slave
   trade. Although there had long been some trading up the Nile River and
   very limited trading across the western desert, the transportation of
   large numbers of slaves did not become viable until camels were
   introduced from Arabia in the 10th century. By this point, a
   trans-Saharan trading network came into being to transport slaves
   north. It has been estimated that from the 10th to the 19th century
   some 6,000 to 7,000 slaves were transported north each year. Over time
   this added up to several million people moving north. Frequent
   intermarriages meant that the slaves were assimilated in North Africa.
   Unlike in the Americas, slaves in North Africa were mainly servants
   rather than labourers, and a greater number of females than males were
   taken, who were often employed as women of harems. It was also not
   uncommon to turn male slaves into eunuchs to serve as guardians to the
   harems.

Indian Ocean trade

   13th century slave market in the Yemen
   13th century slave market in the Yemen

   The trade in slaves across the Indian Ocean also has a long history
   beginning with the control of sea routes by Arab traders in the ninth
   century. It is estimated that only a few thousand slaves were taken
   each year from the Red Sea and Indian Ocean coast. They were sold
   throughout the Middle East and India. This trade accelerated as
   superior ships led to more trade and greater demand for labour on
   plantations in the region. Eventually, tens of thousands per year were
   being taken.

Atlantic Ocean trade

   The Atlantic slave trade developed much later, but it would eventually
   be by far the largest and have the greatest impact. The first Europeans
   to arrive on the coast of Guinea were the Portuguese; the first
   European to actually buy slaves in the region was Antão Gonçalves, a
   Portuguese explorer. Originally interested in trading mainly for gold
   and spices, they set up colonies on the uninhabited islands of Sao
   Tome. In the 16th century the Portuguese settlers found that these
   volcanic islands were ideal for growing sugar. Sugar growing is a
   labour-intensive undertaking and Portuguese settlers were difficult to
   attract due to the heat, lack of infrastructure, and hard life. To
   cultivate the sugar the Portuguese turned to large numbers of African
   slaves. Elmina Castle on the Gold Coast, originally built by African
   labor for the Portuguese in 1482 to control the gold trade, became an
   important depot for slaves that were to be transported to the New
   World.

   Increasing penetration into the Americas by the Portuguese created more
   demand for labour in Brazil--primarily for farming and mining. To meet
   this demand, a trans-Atlantic slave trade soon developed. Slave-based
   economies quickly spread to the Caribbean and the southern portion of
   what is today the United States. These areas all developed an
   insatiable demand for slaves.

   As European nations grew more powerful, especially Portugal, Spain,
   France and England, they began vying for control of the African slave
   trade, with little effect on the local African and Arab trading. Great
   Britain's existing colonies in the Lesser Antilles and their effective
   naval control of the Mid Atlantic forced other countries to abandon
   their enterprises due to inefficiency in cost. The English crown
   provided a charter giving the Royal African Company monopoly over the
   African slave routes until 1712.

Why African Slaves?

   In the late 15th century, Europeans (Spanish and Portuguese first)
   began to explore, colonize and conquer the territory in the Americas.
   The European colonists attempted to enslave some of the Native
   Americans to perform hard physical labor, but found them unaccustomed
   to hard agrarian labor and so familiar with the local environment that
   it was difficult to prevent their escape. Their lack of resistance to
   common European diseases was another factor against their suitability
   for slavery. The Europeans had also noted the West African practice of
   enslaving prisoners of war (a common phenomenon among many peoples on
   all of the continents). European colonial powers traded guns, brandy
   and other goods for these slaves, but this had little effect on the
   Arabian and African trade. The African slaves proved more resistant to
   European diseases than indigenous Americans, familiar with a tropical
   climate and accustomed to agricultural work. As a result, regular trade
   was soon established.

Effects

Effect on the economy of Africa

   Cowrie shells were used as money in the slave trade
   Cowrie shells were used as money in the slave trade
   Two slightly differing Okpoho Manillas as used to purchase slaves

      Two slightly differing Okpoho Manillas as used to purchase slaves

   No scholars dispute the harm done to the slaves themselves, but the
   effect of the trade on African societies is much debated due to the
   apparent influx of capital to Africans. Proponents of the slave trade,
   such as Archibald Dalzel, argued that African societies were robust and
   not much affected by the ongoing trade. In the 19th century, European
   abolitionists, most prominently Dr. David Livingston, took the opposite
   view arguing that the fragile local economy and societies were being
   severely harmed by the ongoing trade. This view continued with scholars
   until the 1960s and 70s such as Basil Davidson, who conceded it might
   have had some benefits while still acknowledging its largely negative
   impact on Africa. Historian Walter Rodney estimates that by c.1770, the
   King of Dahomey was earning an estimated £250,000 per year by selling
   captive African soldiers and even his own people to the European
   slave-traders. Most of this money was spent on British-made firearms
   (of very poor quality) and industrial-grade alcohol.

   Today, however, some scholars assert that slavery did not have a wholly
   disastrous effect on those left behind in Africa. Slaves were an
   expensive commodity, and traders received a great deal in exchange for
   each slave. At the peak of the slave trade, it is said that hundreds of
   thousands of muskets, vast quantities of cloth, gunpowder and metals
   were being shipped to Guinea. Guinea's trade with Europe at the peak of
   the slave trade—which also included significant exports of gold and
   ivory—was some 3.5 million pounds Sterling per year. By contrast, the
   trade of the United Kingdom, the economic superpower of the time, was
   about 14 million pounds per year over this same period of the late 18th
   century. As Patrick Manning has pointed out, the vast majority of items
   traded for slaves were common rather than luxury goods. Textiles, iron
   ore, currency, and salt were some of the most important commodities
   imported as a result of the slave trade, and these goods were spread
   within the entire society raising the general standard of living.

Effects on Europe’s economy

   Eric Williams had attempted to show the contribution of Africans on the
   basis of profits from the slave trade and slavery, and the employment
   of those profits to finance England’s industrialization process. He
   argues that the enslavement of Africans was an essential element to the
   Industrial Revolution, and that European wealth is a result of slavery.
   However, he argued that by the time of its abolition it had lost its
   profitability and it was in Britain's economic interest to ban it.
   Seymour Dreshcer and Robert Antsey have both presented evidence that
   the slave trade remained profitable until the end, and that reasons
   other than economics led to its cessation. Joseph Inikori have shown
   elsewhere that the British slave trade was more profitable than the
   critics of Williams would want us to believe.

Demographics

   The demographic effects of the slave trade are some of the most
   controversial and debated issues. Tens of millions of people were
   removed from Africa via the slave trade, and what effect this had on
   Africa is an important question. Walter Rodney argued that the export
   of so many people had been a demographic disaster and had left Africa
   permanently disadvantaged when compared to other parts of the world,
   and largely explains that continent's continued poverty. He presents
   numbers that show that Africa's population stagnated during this
   period, while that of Europe and Asia grew dramatically. According to
   Rodney all other areas of the economy were disrupted by the slave trade
   as the top merchants abandoned traditional industries to pursue slaving
   and the lower levels of the population were disrupted by the slaving
   itself.

   Others have challenged this view. J.D. Fage compared the number effect
   on the continent as a whole. David Eltis has compared the numbers to
   the rate of emigration from Europe during this period. In the
   nineteenth century alone over 50 million people left Europe for the
   Americas, a far higher rate than were ever taken from Africa..

   Others have challenged this view. Joseph E. Inikori argues the history
   of the region shows that the effects were still quite deleterious. He
   argues that the African economic model of the period was very different
   from the European, and could not sustain such population losses.
   Population reductions in certain areas also led to widespread problems.
   Inikori also notes that after the suppression of the slave trade
   Africa's population almost immediately began to rapidly increase, even
   prior to the introduction of modern medicines. Shahadah also states
   that the trade was not only of demographic significance, in aggregate
   population losses but also in the profound changes to settlement
   patterns, epidemiological exposure and reproductive and social
   development potential.

   In addition, the majority of the slaves being taken to the Americas
   were male. So while the slave trade created an immediate drop in the
   population, its long term effects were less drastic..

Legacy of racism

   Maulana Karenga states that the effects of slavery where "the morally
   monstrous destruction of human possibility involved redefining African
   humanity to the world, poisoning past, present and future relations
   with others who only know us through this stereotyping and thus
   damaging the truly human relations among peoples." . He cites that it
   constituted the destruction of culture, language, religion and human
   possibility.

Abolition

   Beginning in the late 18th century, France was Europe's first country
   to abolish slavery, in 1794, but it was revived by Napoleon in 1802,
   and banned for good in 1848. In 1807 the British Parliament passed the
   Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, under which captains of slave ships
   could be fined for each slave transported. This was later superseded by
   the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act, which freed all slaves in the British
   Empire. Abolition was then extended to the rest of Europe. The power of
   the Royal Navy was subsequently used to suppress the slave trade, and
   while some illegal trade, mostly with Brazil, continued, the Atlantic
   slave trade would be eradicated by the middle of the 19th century. The
   Saharan and Indian Ocean trades continued, however, and even increased
   as new sources of slaves became available. According to Mordechai Abir,
   with the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. The slave trade within
   Africa also increased. The British Navy could suppress much of the
   trade in the Indian Ocean, but the European powers could do little to
   affect the intra-continental trade.

   The continuing anti-slavery movement in Europe became an excuse and a
   casus belli for the European conquest and colonisation of much of the
   African continent. In the late 19th century, the Scramble for Africa
   saw the continent rapidly divided between Imperialistic Europeans, and
   an early but secondary focus of all colonial regimes was the
   suppression of slavery and the slave trade. In response to this public
   pressure, Ethiopia officially abolished slavery in 1932. By the end of
   the colonial period they were mostly successful in this aim, though
   slavery is still very active in Africa even though it has gradually
   moved to a wage economy. Independent nations attempting to westernise
   or impress Europe sometimes cultivated an image of slavery suppression,
   even as they, in the case of Egypt, hired European soldiers like Samuel
   White Baker's expedition up the Nile. Slavery has never been eradicated
   in Africa, and it commonly appears in states, such as Sudan, in places
   where law and order have collapsed.. See also Slavery in Sudan.

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