) carrying Queen
Ranavalona I of Madagascar Like most other regions of the world, slavery and forced labour existed in many kingdoms and societies of Africa for hundreds of years. The best evidence of slave practices in Africa comes from the major kingdoms, particularly along the coast, and there is little evidence of widespread slavery practices in stateless societies. Slavery in northern Africa dates back to
ancient Egypt. The
New Kingdom (1558–1080 BC) brought large numbers of slaves as prisoners of war up the
Nile valley and used them for domestic and supervised labour.
Ptolemaic Egypt (305 BC–30 BC) used both land and sea routes to bring in slaves. in 1661
Chattel slavery was legal and widespread throughout
North Africa, be it under
Ancient Carthage (ca. 814 BC – 146 BC), or later when the region was controlled by the
Roman Empire (145 BC – ca. 430 AD) and the Eastern Romans (533 to 695 AD). A slave trade bringing
Saharans through the desert to North Africa, which existed in Roman times, continued and documentary evidence in the
Nile Valley shows it to have been regulated there by treaty. As the
Roman republic expanded, it enslaved defeated enemies and Roman conquests in Africa were no exception. For example,
Orosius records that Rome enslaved 27,000 people from North Africa in 256 BC.
Piracy became an important source of slaves for the
Roman Empire and in the 5th century AD pirates would raid coastal North African villages and enslave those captured. Chattel slavery persisted after the fall of the Roman Empire in the largely Christian communities of the region. After the Islamic trade expansion across the
Sahara, the practices continued and eventually, the assimilative form of slavery spread to major societies on the southern end of the Sahara (such as
Mali,
Songhai, and Ghana). slavery in
Barbary The
Mamluks were
slave soldiers who converted to
Islam and served the
Muslim caliphs and the
Ayyubid Sultans during the
Middle Ages. The first
Mamluks served the
Abbasid caliphs in 9th century
Baghdad. Over time, they became a powerful military
caste, and on more than one occasion they seized power for themselves, for example, ruling
Egypt from 1250 to 1517. From 1250 on Egypt was ruled by the
Bahri dynasty of
Kipchak Turk origin. According to Robert Davis, between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by
Barbary pirates and sold as slaves to
North Africa and the
Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 19th centuries. However, to extrapolate his numbers, Davis assumes the number of European slaves captured by Barbary pirates were constant for a 250-year period, stating: Davis' numbers have been disputed by other historians, such as David Earle, who cautions that the true picture of European slaves is clouded by the fact the
corsairs also seized non-Christian whites from eastern Europe and black people from West Africa. , 1684 Such observations, across the late 1500s and early 1600s observers, estimate that around 35,000 European Christian slaves held throughout this period on the
Barbary Coast, across
Tripoli,
Tunis, but mostly in
Algiers. The majority were sailors taken with their ships, but others were fishermen and coastal villagers, and overall most of the captives were people from lands close to Africa, particularly Spain and Italy. The coastal villages and towns of
Italy,
Portugal,
Spain, and
Mediterranean islands were frequently attacked by the pirates, and long stretches of the Italian and Spanish coasts were almost completely abandoned by their inhabitants; after 1600 Barbary pirates occasionally entered the
Atlantic and struck as far north as
Iceland. The most famous corsairs were the
Ottoman Barbarossa ("Redbeard"), and his older brother
Oruç,
Turgut Reis (known as
Dragut in the West),
Kurtoğlu (known as
Curtogoli in the West),
Kemal Reis,
Salih Reis, and
Koca Murat Reis. In 1544,
Hayreddin Barbarossa captured
Ischia, taking 4,000 prisoners in the process, and deported to slavery some 9,000 inhabitants of
Lipari, almost the entire population. In 1551, Dragut enslaved the entire population of the
Maltese island
Gozo, between 5,000 and 6,000, sending them to
Libya. When pirates sacked
Vieste in southern Italy in 1554 they took an estimated 7,000 slaves. In 1555, Turgut Reis sailed to
Corsica and ransacked
Bastia, taking 6,000 prisoners. In 1558 Barbary corsairs captured the town of
Ciutadella, destroyed it,
slaughtered the inhabitants, and carried off 3,000 survivors to
Istanbul as slaves. In 1563 Turgut Reis landed at the shores of the province of
Granada, Spain, and captured the coastal settlements in the area like
Almuñécar, along with 4,000 prisoners. Barbary pirates frequently attacked the
Balearic islands, resulting in many coastal
watchtowers and fortified churches being erected. The threat was so severe that
Formentera became uninhabited. s captured in a
slave raid being marched to a slave market in the Arab world Early modern sources are full of descriptions of the sufferings of Christian
galley slaves of the
Barbary corsairs: As late as 1798, the islet near
Sardinia was attacked by the
Tunisians and over 900 inhabitants were taken away as slaves.
Sahrawi-
Moorish society in
Northwest Africa was traditionally (and still is, to some extent) stratified into several tribal castes, with the
Hassane warrior tribes ruling and extracting tribute –
horma – from the subservient
Berber-descended
znaga tribes. Below them ranked servile groups known as
Haratin, a black population. Enslaved Sub-Saharan Africans were also transported across North Africa into Arabia to do agricultural work because of their resistance to
malaria that plagued the Arabia and North Africa at the time of early enslavement. Sub-Saharan Africans were able to endure the malaria-infested lands they were transported to, which is why North Africans were not transported despite their close proximity to Arabia and its surrounding lands.
Horn of Africa (1882–1883) In the
Horn of Africa, the
Christian kings of the
Ethiopian Empire captured slaves primarily from the pagan
Nilotic Shanqella and
Oromo peoples from their western borderlands, or from newly conquered or reconquered lowland territories. The
Somali and
Afar Muslim sultanates, such as the medieval
Adal Sultanate, through their ports also traded
Zanj (
Bantu) slaves captured from the hinterland. , 19th century Slavery, as practised in
Ethiopia, was essentially domestic and was geared more towards women; this was the trend for most of Africa as well. Women were transported across the Sahara, the Middle East, the Mediterranean and the
Indian Ocean trade more than men. Enslaved people served in the houses of their masters or mistresses, and were not employed to any significant extent for productive purpose. The enslaved were regarded as second-class members of their owners' family. The slave trade was only legally abolished in 1923 when Ethiopia ascended to the
League of Nations. Slavery persistent even longer, with the Anti-Slavery Society estimating that there were 2 million slaves in the early 1930s, out of an estimated population of 8 to 16 million. Slavery remained legal in Ethiopia until the Italian invasion in October 1935, when the institution was abolished by order of the Italian occupying forces. The abolishment of slavery and involuntary servitude was reconfirmed when Ethiopia regained its independence in 1942, in response to pressure by Western
Allies of World War II. In
Somali territories, slaves were purchased in the slave market exclusively to do work on plantations.
Central Africa , king
Ibrahim Njoya Slaves were transported since antiquity along trade routes crossing the Sahara. Oral tradition recounts slavery existing in the
Kingdom of Kongo from the time of its formation with
Lukeni lua Nimi enslaving the Mwene Kabunga whom he conquered to establish the kingdom. Early Portuguese writings show that the Kingdom did have slavery before contact, but that they were primarily war captives from the
Kingdom of Ndongo. Slavery was common along the Upper
Congo River, and in the second half of the 18th century the region became a major source of slaves for the
Atlantic slave trade, when high slave prices on the coast made long-distance slave trading profitable. When the Atlantic trade came to an end, the price of slaves dropped dramatically, and the regional slave trade grew, dominated by
Bobangi traders. The Bobangi also purchased many slaves with profits from selling ivory, whom they used to populate their villages. Slaves who had been sold by their kin group, typically as a result of undesirable behaviour such as adultery, were unlikely to attempt to flee. The sale of children was also common in times of famine. Captured slaves were however likely to attempt to escape and had to be moved hundreds of kilometres from their homes as a safeguard against this. The slave trade had a profound impact on this region of Central Africa, completely reshaping various aspects of society. For instance, the slave trade helped to create a robust regional trade network for the foodstuffs and crafted goods of small producers along the river. As only a few slaves in a canoe were sufficient to cover the cost of a trip and still make a profit, traders could fill any unused space on their canoes with other goods and transport them long distances without a significant markup on price. While the large profits from the Congo River slave trade only went to a small number of traders, this aspect of the trade provided some benefit to local producers and consumers. In parts of the
Congo Basin, it was not rare for slaves to be killed and
eaten, especially (but not only) at festive occasions. Eyewitness accounts describe the purchase, butchering, and consumption of slaves as a "daily-life activity, free from strong emotions", seen by those who practised it as not essentially different from the eating of goats and other animals.
West Africa to Guinea, the
Cacongo and Barbela rivers, and Ghana Lake on the Niger River as far as Regio Auri (1743) Various forms of slavery were practised in diverse ways in different communities of West Africa prior to European trade. The prerequisites for slave societies to exist weren't present in West Africa prior to the Atlantic slave trade considering the small market sizes and the lack of a
division of labour. 's
Mossi cavalry returning with captives from a raid Martin Klein has said that before the Atlantic trade, slaves in
Western Sudan "made up a small part of the population, lived within the household, worked alongside free members of the household, and participated in a network of face-to-face links." The
Mossi Kingdoms tried to take over key sites in the trans-Saharan trade and, when these efforts failed, became defenders against slave raiding by the powerful states of the western Sahel. The Mossi eventually entered the slave trade in the 1800s, mainly in the Atlantic slave trade. In a paper read to the
Ethnological Society of London in 1866, the
viceroy of
Lokoja, Mr T. Valentine Robins, who in 1864 accompanied an expedition up the
River Niger aboard , described slavery in the region: With the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade, demand for slaves in West Africa increased and a number of states became centered on the slave trade and domestic slavery increased dramatically. Near the Gold Coast, many of those enslaved came from deep inside the interior of the continent as defeated people from numerous wars and were sold off as part of a practice called "eating the country" that aimed to disperse fallen enemies and prevent regrouping. , In the
Senegambia region between 1300 and 1900, close to one-third of the population was enslaved. In early
Islamic states of the western Sahel, including
Ghana (750–1076),
Mali (1235–1645),
Segou (1712–1861), and
Songhai (1275–1591), about a third of the population were enslaved. In
Sierra Leone in the 19th century about half of the population consisted of enslaved people. Among the
Vai people during the 19th century, three quarters of the people were slaves. In the 19th century at least half the population was enslaved among the
Duala of the
Cameroon and other peoples of the lower
Niger, the
Kongo, and the Kasanje kingdom and
Chokwe of
Angola. Among the
Ashanti and
Yoruba, a third of the population consisted of enslaved people. The population of the
Kanem (1600–1800) was about one-third enslaved. It was perhaps 40% in
Bornu (1580–1890). Between 1750 and 1900 from one- to two-thirds of the entire population of the
Fulani jihad states consisted of enslaved people. The population of the largest Fulani state, the
Sokoto Caliphate, was at least half-enslaved in the 19th century. Among the Adrar 15 per cent of people were enslaved, and 75 per cent of the
Gurma were enslaved. Slavery was extremely common among the
Tuareg peoples and many still hold slaves today. When British rule was first imposed on the Sokoto Caliphate and the surrounding areas in
northern Nigeria at the turn of the 20th century, approximately 2 million to 2.5 million people there were enslaved. Slavery in northern Nigeria was finally outlawed in 1936.
African Great Lakes i slave trader
Tippu Tip owned 10,000 slaves. With sea trade from the eastern
African Great Lakes region to
Persia, China, and India during the first millennium AD, slaves are mentioned as a commodity of secondary importance to gold and ivory. When mentioned, the slave trade appears to have been small-scale and mostly involves slave raiding of women and children along the islands of
Kilwa Kisiwani,
Madagascar, and
Pemba. In places such as
Uganda, the experience for women in slavery was different from that of customary slavery practices at the time. The roles assumed were based on gender and position within the society. First one must make the distinction in Ugandan slavery of peasants and slaves. Researchers Shane Doyle and Henri Médard assert the distinction with the following: "Peasants were rewarded for valour in battle by the present of slaves by the lord or chief for whom they had fought. They could be given slaves by relatives who had been promoted to the rank of chiefs, and they could inherit slaves from their fathers. There were the abanyage (those pillaged or stolen in war) as well as the abagule (those bought). All these came under the category of abenvumu or true slaves, that is to say people not free in any sense. In a superior position were the young Ganda given by their maternal uncles into slavery (or pawnship), usually in lieu of debts... Besides such slaves both chiefs and king were served by sons of well to do men who wanted to please them and attract favour for themselves or their children. These were the abasige and formed a big addition to a noble household.... All these different classes of dependents in a household were classed as Medard & Doyle abaddu (male servants) or abazana (female servants) whether they were slave or free-born.(175)" In the Great Lakes region of Africa (around present-day Uganda), linguistic evidence shows the existence of slavery through war capture, trade, and pawning going back hundreds of years; however, these forms, particularly pawning, appear to have increased significantly in the 18th and 19th centuries. These slaves were considered to be more trustworthy than those from the Gold Coast. They were regarded with more prestige because of the training they responded to. The language for slaves in the Great Lakes region varied. This region of water made it easy for capture of slaves and transport. Captives, refugees, slaves, and peasants were all used in order to describe those in the trade. The distinction was made by where and for what purpose they would be utilized for. Methods like pillage,
plunder, and capture were all semantics common in this region to depict the trade. Historians Campbell and Alpers argue that there were a host of different categories of labour in
Southeast Africa and that the distinction between slave and free individuals was not particularly relevant in most societies. However, with increasing international trade in the 18th and 19th century, Southeast Africa began to be involved significantly in the Atlantic slave trade; for example, with the king of Kilwa island signing a treaty with a French merchant in 1776 for the delivery of 1,000 slaves per year. At about the same time, merchants from
Oman, To provide workers on these plantations, slave raiding and slave holding became increasingly important in the region and slave traders (most notably
Tippu Tip) At various times, between 65 and 90 per cent of
Zanzibar was enslaved. Along the
Kenya coast, 90 per cent of the population was enslaved, while half of
Madagascar's population was enslaved.
Southern Africa Slavery in Southern Africa developed through several overlapping systems, most notably a settler-based slave society at the
Dutch Cape Colony and export-oriented slave trades linked to the
Indian Ocean and
Atlantic worlds. At the Cape, the formal slave system began in 1658 with the arrival of the ships
Amersfoort and
Hasselt, which brought enslaved people to the colony from West Central Africa and other regions under Dutch control. Under the
Dutch East India Company (VOC), the colony developed into a slave society in which agriculture, domestic service, and urban labour depended heavily on enslaved workers imported from
Madagascar,
India,
Ceylon, and the
Dutch East Indies. Although the VOC formally restricted the enslavement of indigenous peoples,
Khoikhoi and
San communities were subjected to dispossession, forced apprenticeship, commando violence, and the capture of children on the expanding frontier. On the south-eastern coast,
Portuguese Mozambique became an important centre of slave trading from the eighteenth century onward. Enslaved people were exported through ports such as
Mozambique Island,
Quelimane,
Inhambane, and
Delagoa Bay to
Brazil, the
Mascarene Islands, and other destinations in the western Indian Ocean. In the Zambezi valley, the
Prazo estates were controlled by Afro-Portuguese and Portuguese landholders who relied on dependent labour and armed retainers known as
Chicunda, who also participated in raiding and regional warfare. The relationship between slave trading and the upheavals known as the
Mfecane remains debated. Earlier interpretations emphasised state formation and military expansion under the
Zulu Kingdom, while later historians, notably
Julian Cobbing, argued that European and Portuguese demand for captives contributed significantly to regional instability. Subsequent scholarship has generally treated the Mfecane as a multi-causal process involving political competition, environmental pressures, migration, and the disruptive effects of slave raiding and trade. After the abolition of slavery in the
British Empire in 1834 and the end of apprenticeship in 1838, coerced labour persisted in new forms. During and after the
Great Trek, Boer communities in the interior employed the
Inboekstelsel, under which captured or orphaned African children were registered as
inboekelinge and compelled to labour until adulthood. In what is now
Namibia,
Oorlam and other armed groups conducted raids for cattle, firearms, and captives, contributing to prolonged instability among
Herero and
Damara communities. In the twentieth century, earlier slave systems were succeeded by colonial forced-labour regimes. In Mozambique, the Portuguese administration imposed the
Chibalo system, which compelled Africans to work on plantations, infrastructure projects, and state enterprises well into the mid-twentieth century. Related systems of migrant labour also became central to the mining economies of
South Africa and
Southern Rhodesia. ==Transformations==