Antiquity The
Land of Punt maintained long-standing trade relations with
Ancient Egypt in which a variety of goods were exchanged, including enslaved people. Pharaoh
Djedkare is known to have kept a
Congoid (pygmy) slave acquired through Punt at his court for entertainment, the young
Pharaoh Pepi II was likewise intrigued by another Congoid slave procured through Punt. In the 1st century CE,
Barbaroi pirates launched raids on
Adulis attacking ships and capturing Habesha people who were then sold as slaves primarily at the city-state of
Opone, from which
Roman and
Greek merchants transported them to
Roman Egypt. .According to the ancient writer
Ptolemy: "Besides aromatics, slaves of a superior description are exported from Opone, chiefly for the Egyptian markets."Many scholars have suggested the name of the city-state Opone derives from the ancient Egyptian term Pwene, referring to the Land of Punt, which exported both
frankincense and enslaved people.
Early Habesha slave trade Al-Idrisi is the earliest author to mention the slave trade, noting that slaves constituted one of the most important exports of Zeila.
Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi and
Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari state that slaves captured in
Abyssinia were taken to a town called Washilu which was located near
Ganz in the
Ifat Sultanate where they were prepared for export. The male captives were rendered
eunuchs and then sent to
Hadiya for medical treatment, after which they were transported to the Somali port of
Zeila. Yemeni Rasulid sources in the same period mention that most of these
Abyssinian concubines and
eunuchs brought to
Yemen were Jazli,
Amhara and
Saharti (Tigrayans). Habesha slaves were priced at roughly twice the value of
Zanji slaves. These Habesha mamluks often rose to positions of power in Yemen. The Jazli seized power from the
Ziyadids and established the
Najahid dynasty, Faraj al-Saharti and Surur al-Amhari ruled successively as
Wazirs of
Zabid between 1133 and 1157 and other Habeshas participated in the state as military leaders such as Ishaq bin Marzuq al-Saharti. , influential Indian slave born in Harar.
Christian-Muslim wars In 1376, the Sultan
Haqq al-Din II of the
Walashma dynasty started a
holy war against the
Christian Solomonid dynasty. He was ceaselessly engaged in conflict with the Solomonid king, from whom he took many captives. According to
al-Maqrizi, his successor Sultan
Sa'd al-Din raised bigger armies, increased the amount of raids into the Christian kingdom and captured many spoils. The Sultan led incursions as far as
Hadiya which he plundered. Raids continued during the
Bar Sa'd al-Din. In the 1420s, an emir serving under the Sultan
Jamal al-Din II had captured such a large amount of Ethiopian captives that slaves became highly abundant in the Muslim kingdom, Abyssinian slave-girls were reportedly sold for the value of a ring. Each
Fakir was also given three slaves.His successor, Sultan
Badlay, followed in his footsteps and launched multiple military expeditions into the
Ethiopian kingdom. According to
Richard Pankhurst, he brought numerous
Christian lands under his rule, and burnt at least six churches. He killed many Christian leaders, and made their subjects captive. The Sultan soon grew immensely wealthy, accumulating gold, silver, fine garments, armour, and a large number of slaves. According to Rene Basset, Mahfuz's incursions reached as far as the
Dukem river near Addis Ababa.
Francisco Alvarez states that Mahfuz targeted the regions of
Shewa,
Amhara, and
Fatagar in his raids. Emir Mahfuz concluded agreements with several
Arabian rulers, under which they supplied him with horses, arms, and "everything he wanted" in exchange for the annual delivery of large numbers of Abyssinian slaves to
Mecca. On one occasion, Mahfuz reportedly carried off 19,000 slaves, whom he sent as gifts to his friends and supporters in
Arabia. The
Ottoman admiral
Salman Reis also mentioned these annual raids into Abyssinia. Sihab al-Din Ahmed says that every Emir in the
Barr Sa'd al-Din had the right to raise a small army and lead a raiding party into
Abyssinia. Christian slaves captured by Mahfuz were converted to Islam after being sold in Arabia. Abyssinian slaves were regarded by Arabs as more loyal and more skillful than other enslaved peoples.
Ludovico di Varthema, who visited Zeila in 1503, was surprised by the “very great” number of slaves sold there, noting that they had been captured in battle and were mainly shipped to Mecca, Yemen,
Persia,
Cairo, and
India. Through Zeila, and to a lesser degree
Berbera, passed the main stream of slaves from the Ethiopian hinterland. According to Amélie Chekroun, raids carried out into the neighboring
Christian kingdom enabled forces based in the Bar Saʿad ad-Dīn to seize livestock and slaves, while also serving as a reminder to Muslim populations of the persistent threat posed by renewed hostilities. These expeditions combined economic motives with a strategic function. In 1525, the Somali military general
Imam Ahmed bin Ibrahim al-Ghazi started his invasion of Ethiopia with a Somali army. At the
Battle of Shimbra Kure the Ethiopian forces were decisively defeated, opening the way for Imam Ahmed to conquer Ethiopia, Imam Ahmed and his forces were able to penetrate the heartland of the Christian state in
Northern Shewa, Amhara, and
Tigray. In some of his campaigns, his soldiers had so many slaves and loot that he was forced to make them abandon it as it was slowing them down. In the course of these military campaigns, Imam Ahmad captured an innumerable amount slaves, this led to a vast, though incalculable, increase in the number of Habesha slaves arriving in the Indian subcontinent.
João de Castro wrote that Ethiopian slaves serving as soldiers in India were held in high regard to such a degree that there was a proverb throughout India that good soldiers or servants must be Abyssinian. He added that they were so highly regarded in
Bengal,
Cambay,
Balagate, and other parts of India that those who commanded armies or held high rank were all drawn from among them. The war was considered a major reason for the importation of Ethiopian slaves into India during the sixteenth century. Abyssinians of slave origin played a major role in the politics of
Mughal India, where they were called Habshis. Imam Ahmed is recorded saying to his troops:"If you encounter enemies, fight them, seize their wealth, enslave their women, and kill the men.." In the early 17th century,
Pedro Paez notes that the invading Oromos captured Amharas from as far as
Gojjam and sold them to the
Imamate of Awsa. Young Ethiopian female slaves were in high demand in the markets of the Muslim world, but the supply of young Ethiopian males was even more important to the Arabian rulers, whose power depended on private armies composed largely of Ethiopian slaves. The
Tahirid Sultans of Yemen had 300 Abyssinian slave bodyguards, all captured from Abyssinia. Slaves pens built of stone were found by archeologists in the Medieval town of
Amud in
Awdal.
Oromo slave trade In the 16th century, the
Oromos invaded the Horn of Africa. A manuscript recovered in
Mogadishu by
Enrico Cerulli may preserve the earliest reference to Oromo captives in Somalia. In 1573, it records a woman from Mogadishu freeing her slave. In 1908, the Italian
Giacinto Vicinanza noted that the slaves in Somalia were of two sorts: Oromo and Swahilis. In the 19th century, Somalis raided
Oromo settlements, killing most men and taking women and children as slaves. The captives were incorporated into household life while remaining subjects. Oromo women, valued for their beauty, were kept as concubines, used as domestic servants, or married to other slaves. According to
Vittorio Bottego, livestock losses would often lead Oromo families to sell relatives to the Somalis to avoid starvation, while others voluntarily sold themselves to passing caravans. Giuseppe Piazza also documented that Amharas occasionally sold Arussi Oromo slaves to Somalis. People who had been captured in raids could become slaves in both the northern and the southern parts of Somalia. Somali pastoralists in southern Somalia had control over a substantial numbers of pastoral slaves by the turn of the century. These slaves were primarily, if not entirely of Oromo origin. with his Oromo concubine, 1895. Through raids rather than bartering, Oromo slaves were acquired by the Ogaden and Cablalla living north of
Kismayo. In 1848, the Somalis launched a great invasion attacking the Oromos living south of the
Juba river, 80,000 women and children were enslaved and the survivors fled south. By 1899, 600 survivors were rescued by the
British and resettled to the
Tana river area. One 19th century
Ogaden slave trader recounted a series of battles that resulted in the capture of 30,000 livestock and 8,000 Oromo women and children. The heavy traffic in Oromo slaves led one historian to describe the period as a “golden age” for slave traders.
Richard Pankhurst estimated that between 1800-1850, 1.25 million Oromo,
Gurage and
Sidama slaves were exported from the ports of
Massawa,
Tadjura,
Zeila, and
Berbera. The slaves taken in the western
Oromo regions were usually sent to Massawa, while Zeila served as the main market for those captured from the eastern Oromo areas. By 1876, large numbers of slaves were still reportedly being exported from Zeila to
Hodeida in Yemen. A French traveller writing from Zeila in 1881 noted that most of the slaves found there were Oromo women captured as prisoners of war. During his travel to
Harar,
Richard Burton met several Oromo slave girls. In the mid 19th and early 20th centuries, Oromo slaves were more common than Bantu slaves in the interior of northern Somali speaking regions. Harar was a "rendez-vous" for all the slave caravans in the region. A British report from 1840 states that the northern Somali tribes also carried out regular
slave-raiding expeditions against Oromo populations, with captives sold in Arabian markets, female slaves reportedly sold for 15 to 35 dollars. In the 1850s, a British crew reportedly observed hundreds of Oromo slaves for sale in the port of
Berbera. The British
forced the Habr Awal to sign a treaty that outlawed slavery at Berbera and in the region in 1856. However, in April 1869 the British freed 135 young Oromo slaves from Berbera, bringing them to
Aden. According to Richard Burton, 6000 Oromo slaves were exported from Zeila and Berbera annually. It is estimated that during the 19th century, more than two thousand slaves were shipped annually from the northern Somali coast to the Persian Gulf. In 1873, Oromo slaves were reportedly being exported from Zeila to the Persian gulf, with the females costing around 75$. Oromo slaves were also exported to Persia from the
Banadir ports. In the south of the
peninsula, most of the Oromo slaves captured in the interior were sent to the coast via
Bardera. In the 1840s, Shaikh Abu Bakr of Bardera led several raiding expeditions against the Oromo. The town of
Luuq was also a major inland slave-market.
Philip Howard Colomb noted that Oromo slave-girls were exported from the city of
Barawa. He reported seeing six Oromo slaves being bought there. Second and third-generation slaves were reported to be living in Barawa. In the decades following the 1860s, nearly half of the 82 slave-carrying dhows captured by the British in East-Africa were caught along the
Banaadir coast, most of them in the harbours of
Barawa and
Merka. The
Tunni Somalis living around Barawa had around 4000 Oromo and Swahili slaves. In the mid 19th century, contemporary European accounts stated that grain in the environs of Barawa was cultivated by Oromo slaves. According to
Luigi Robecchi, the Tunni owned many plantation slaves. When British Captain Smee visited the southern Somali coast in 1811, he described a flourishing slave trade, with enslaved people being transported down the Jubba River and brought to Barawa and other Somali ports for shipment. French vessels at that time were also reported to have taken on slave cargoes at these Somali ports. In 1866, The German explorer
Richard Brenner met in Barawa a man with what he described as two "very pretty" Oromo concubines, with one of them living in his plantation. In July 1891, during his exploration of the Juba River, British Captain Frederick George Dundas saw Oromo slave girls living among Somalis: "
As we came alongside the right bank at Hadjowen, the natives crowded down to look at the vessel.. I noticed numbers of Galla slave-girls about, the different features and lighter colour marking them out from the Somalis, who are very black."
Johann Ludwig Krapf noted that the Oromo slave girls sold at Somali ports were in great demand in the
Swahili coast and sold for up to a hundred dollars, often ending up in the harems of prominent people. In 19th century
Zanzibar, Oromo slave girls were greatly valued and were bought by the
Sultans for their harem. Somalis would also infrequently bring a few captured Oromos to Lamu. Oromo women were also common in the harems of
Egypt.
Edward William Lane writes that many Egyptians had long maintained a custom of keeping Oromo female slaves instead of marrying local women, which he claimed led to a darkening of their complexion over time. German ethnographer
Friedrich Ratzel (1897) stated that Oromo women were highly sought after in the harems of Egypt, Nubia, and Zanzibar:"
The Abyssinian women, so highly valued in the harems and dancing-saloons of Egypt and Nubia, are frequently of noble Galla blood. In Zanzibar too, Galla girls are in demand both with Europeans and with Indians."In the 19th century, Oromo women were so desired that "there was hardly a harem in Arabia that had no Oromo girls." In Mecca, the widespread practice of keeping female slaves led to a mixture of Abyssinian ancestry, which was said to give the Meccawis a distinct complexion compared to desert Arabs. The British traveller
Charles Doughty noted that there were so many Oromos in Mecca and Medina that “Habashy” was commonly spoken from house to house. French explorer
Edmond Combes found what he described as "a large number of Oromo slaves" in Yemen. According to
Maurice Tamisier, the Arabian port of
Jeddah was inhabited in 1834 by a large number of Oromo slaves of both sexes. Prices of Oromo slaves in Somalia according to
Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti (1904)
Bantu slave trade The
Indian Ocean slave trade was multi-directional and changed over time. To meet the demand for menial labor, Bantu slaves were captured from southeastern Africa and sold in cumulatively large quantities over the centuries to customers in
Egypt,
Arabia,
Somalia,
Persia,
India,
the Far East,
and the Indian Ocean islands. In the late 18th and 19th century, growing demand for agricultural produce in the Arabian Peninsula drove Somalis to expand farming, however labor shortages in southern Somalia left much fertile land uncultivated, leading Somalis to purchase Bantu slaves from Arab in Zanzibar to supply the necessary labor. Bantu slaves were made to work in
plantations owned by Somalis along the
Shebelle and
Jubba rivers, harvesting lucrative cash crops such as grain and cotton. servant woman in
Mogadishu (1882–1883) river.The Somali Bantus belong to several ethnic groups, namely Majindo, Mnyasa, Mkuwa, Mzihuwa, Mushunguli, and Molima, each consisting of numerous subclans. Their ancestral roots can be traced back to various historical and
modern African nations, including many in
Central Africa, those of the
Congo region,
Mozambique,
Malawi, and
Tanzania. Bantus are ethnically, physically, and culturally distinct from
Somalis and
Ethiopians and they have remained marginalized ever since their arrival to the Horn of Africa. From 1800 to 1890, between 25,000 and 50,000 Bantu slaves are thought to have been sold from the slave markets of
Zanzibar to the Somali coast. Most of the slaves were from the
Makua,
Nyasa,
Yao,
Zaramo and
Zigua ethnic groups of
Tanzania,
Mozambique and
Malawi. Most of the Bantu living in southern Somalia are descendants of Bantus who were enslaved by the
Sultanate of Zanzibar in the 18th century. But the Somalis also sometimes raided and enslaved neighboring Bantu groups in Kenya, especially the
Pokomo. British reports in 1894 described how the Somalis would come to the Pokomo country nearly every year during the dry season, carrying off women and children into slavery, while the Pokomo reportedly never dreamed of offering any resistance. By 1898, the Pokomo began building new villages in inaccessible jungle areas due to frequent Somali slave-raids. In 1912, a French explorer described how the Pokomo region had been so ravaged by the Somalis that it was nearly deserted : "
If the Ndura was so sparsely inhabited, it was because the Somalis had ravaged it in every way, stealing, pillaging, kidnapping women and children as slaves, and killing those who defended themselves."Prices of Swahili/Bantu slaves in Somalia according to
Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti (1904) == Hierarchies ==