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#REDIRECT [[Slavery in Africa]]
{{Use British English|date=January 2013}}
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[[File:African slave trade.png|thumb|350px|The main slave routes in medieval Africa.]]
{{Slavery}}


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:''This article discusses systems, history, and effects of slavery within Africa. See [[Maafa]], [[Atlantic slave trade]], [[Arab slave trade]], and [[Slavery in modern Africa]] for other discussions.''
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[[File:AfricanSlavesTransport.jpg|300px|right|thumb|''"Slave transport in Africa"''. Europeans usually did not enter the interior regions.]]
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The '''African slave trade''' refers to the historic [[Slavery|slave trade]] within [[Africa]]. Systems of servitude and slavery were common in many parts of the continent, as they were in much of the [[Ancient history|ancient world]]. In most African societies, the enslaved people were also [[Indentured servitude|indentured servants]] and fully integrated.<ref>[http://books.google.co.za/books?id=Af608-N1mPEC&q=false [[Basil Davidson]], ''The African Slave Trade'', pg 46 (Difference)]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://books.google.co.za/books?id=YrIjNMu5_vsC&q=Africans+were+equal+partners#v=snippet&q=Africans%20were%20equal%20partners&f=false |title=Anne C. Bailey, '&#39;African Voices of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Beyond the Silence and the Shame'&#39; |publisher=Books.google.co.za |date=}}</ref> When the [[Arab slave trade]] and [[Atlantic slave trade]] began, many local slave systems changed and began supplying captives for slave markets outside of Africa.<ref name="Legacy of the African Holocaust">{{cite web|url=http://www.africanholocaust.net/news_ah/african%20holocaust.htm|publisher=Africanholocaust.net|author=Owen 'Alik Shahadah|title=The Legacy of the African Holocaust (Mafaa)|accessdate=1 April 2005}}</ref>
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==Slavery within Africa==
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In certain African societies, there was very little difference between the free peasants and the feudal vassal peasants. Enslaved people of the [[Songhay 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 [[unfree labour|bondage]] was relative.<ref name="Legacy of the African Holocaust"/>

Several nations such as the [[The Ashanti|Ashanti]] of [[Ghana]] and the [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] of [[Nigeria]] were involved in slave-trading. Groups such as the [[Imbangala]] of [[Angola]] and the [[Nyamwezi]] of [[Tanzania]] would serve as intermediaries or roving bands, waging war on African states to capture people for export as slaves. Historians John Thornton and Linda Heywood of Boston University estimate that 90 percent of those shipped to the New World were enslaved by Africans and then sold to European traders. [[Henry Louis Gates]], the Harvard Chair of African and African American Studies, has stated that "without complex business partnerships between African elites and European traders and commercial agents, the slave trade to the New World would have been impossible, at least on the scale it occurred."<ref name="Ending the Slavery Blame-Game">{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/opinion/23gates.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&hp|author=Henry Louis Gates Jr.|title=Ending the Slavery Blame-Game|accessdate=2012-03-26 |archiveurl = http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/opinion/23gates.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 23 April 2010}}</ref> Scottish explorer [[Mungo Park (explorer)|Mungo Park]] wrote:

{{Quote|The slaves in Africa, I suppose, are nearly in the proportion of three to one to the freemen. They claim no reward for their services except food and clothing, and are treated with kindness or severity, according to the good or bad disposition of their masters. Custom, however, has established certain rules with regard to the treatment of slaves, which it is thought dishonourable to violate. Thus the domestic slaves, or such as are born in a man’s own house, are treated with more lenity than those which are purchased with money. ... But these restrictions on the power of the master extend not to the care of prisoners taken in war, nor to that of slaves purchased with money. All these unfortunate beings are considered as strangers and foreigners, who have no right to the protection of the law, and may be treated with severity, or sold to a stranger, according to the pleasure of their owners.<ref>Mungo Park, ''Travels in the Interior of Africa'' [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/5305 v. II, Chapter XXII – War and Slavery].</ref>}}

Slavery in African cultures was generally more like [[indentured servitude]], although in certain parts of sub-Saharan Africa, slaves were used for human sacrifices in annual rituals, such as those rituals practised by the denizens of Dahomey.<ref name="museeouidah1">{{cite web|url=http://www.museeouidah.org/Theme-Dahomey.htm|title=Dahomey|publisher=[[Ouidah Museum of History]]|accessdate=13 January 2010| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20091221084425/http://www.museeouidah.org/Theme-Dahomey.htm| archivedate= 21 December 2009 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref><ref name="britannica.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/149772/Dahomey|title=Dahomey (historical kingdom, Africa)|work=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|accessdate=13 January 2010}}</ref><ref name="Johnson">{{cite news|url=http://www.finalcall.com/national/slave_trade10-08-2002.htm|title=Benin seeks forgiveness for role in slave trade|last=Johnson|first=LaWanda|date=8 October 2002|work=[[The Final Call]]|accessdate=13 January 2010}}{{Verify credibility|date=January 2010}}</ref> Slaves were not meant to be chattel of other men, nor enslaved for life.{{Citation needed|date=December 2012}} These differences between slavery and traditional indentured servitude were used by Western slave owners during the time of abolition in an attempt to thwart slaves' efforts to free themselves, for example by John Wedderburn in ''[[Slavery at common law#Joseph Knight's case|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 calculations and voluntary adoption of moral restraints often mitigated the more vicious uses of slaves throughout history. Unfortunately this rarely extended to the slave traders and transporters, who preferred to weed out the "worthless, weak "individuals. {{Quote|The viewpoint that “Africans” enslaved “Africans” is obfuscating if not troubling. The deployment of “African” in African history tends to coalesce into obscurantist constructions of identities that allow scholars, for instance, to subtly call into question the humanity of “all” Africans. Whenever Asante rulers sold non-Asantes into slavery, they did not construct it in terms of Africans selling fellow Africans. They saw the victims for what they were, for instance, as Akuapems, without categorizing them as fellow Africans. Equally, when Christian Scandinavians and Russians sold war captives to the Islamic people of the Abbasid Empire, they didn’t think that they were placing fellow Europeans into slavery. This lazy categorizing homogenizes Africans and has become a part of the methodology of African history; not surprisingly, the Western media’s cottage industry on Africa has tapped into it to frame Africans in inchoate generalities allowing the media to describe local crisis in one African state as “African” problem.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=180999 |title=Dr. Akurang-Parry |publisher=Ghanaweb.com |date=29 April 2010 }}</ref>|Dr. Akurang-Parry|Ending the Slavery Blame}}

Africans knew of the harsh slavery that awaited slaves in the New World. Many elite Africans visited Europe on slave ships following the prevailing winds through the New World. One example of this occurred when Antonio Manuel, Kongo’s ambassador to the Vatican, went to Europe in 1604, stopping first in Bahia, Brazil, where he arranged to free a countryman who had been wrongfully enslaved. African monarchs also sent their children along these same slave routes to be educated in Europe, and thousands of former slaves eventually returned to settle Liberia and Sierra Leone.<ref name="Ending the Slavery Blame-Game"/>

===Slavery in West Africa===
[[File:Slave boat1869.jpg|thumb|Slaves captured from the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Congo]] aboard an Arab slave ship [[West Africa Squadron|intercepted]] by the [[Royal Navy]] (1869).]]
In [[Senegambia (geography)|Senegambia]], between 1300 and 1900, close to one-third of the population was enslaved. In early [[Islamic]] states of the western Sudan, including [[Ghana Empire|Ghana]] (750–1076), [[Mali Empire|Mali]] (1235–1645), [[Bamana Empire|Segou]] (1712–1861), and [[Songhai Empire|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. In the 19th century at least half the population was enslaved among the [[Duala people|Duala]] of the [[Cameroon]] and other peoples of the lower [[Niger river|Niger]], the [[Kingdom of Kongo|Kongo]], and the Kasanje kingdom and [[Chokwe people|Chokwe]] of [[Angola]]. Among the [[The Ashanti|Ashanti]] and [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] a third of the population consisted of enslaved people. The population of the [[Kanem Empire|Kanem]] (1600–1800) was about a third-enslaved. It was perhaps 40% in [[Bornu Empire|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 [[Sokoto]] caliphate formed by [[Hausa people|Hausas]] in the northern [[Nigeria]] and Cameroon was half-enslaved in the 19th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24157 |title=Welcome to Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to Black History |publisher=Britannica.com |date= |accessdate=17 November 2011}}</ref>

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.<ref>[http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/journal_of_world_history/v007/7.1blue02.html Slow Death for Slavery: The Course of Abolition in Northern Nigeria, 1897–1936 (review)], Project MUSE – Journal of World History</ref> Slavery in northern Nigeria was finally outlawed in 1936.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1624_story_of_africa/page56.shtml The end of slavery], BBC World Service | The Story of Africa</ref>

===Slavery in Ethiopia and Eritrea===
[[File:Slaves in Ethiopia - 19th century.jpg|thumb|right|Slaves in [[Ethiopia]], 19th century.]]
Slavery as practised in what is modern [[Ethiopia]] and [[Eritrea]] was essentially domestic. Slaves thus served in the houses of their masters or mistresses, and were not employed to any significant extent for productive purpose. Slaves were thus regarded as second-class members of their owners' family,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia/16.htm |title=Ethiopia – The Interregnum |publisher=Countrystudies.us |date= }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Ethiopian Slave Systems">{{cite web|url=http://www.africanholocaust.net/news_ah/ethiopianslavetrade.html|publisher=|title=Ethiopian Slave Trade}}</ref> The first attempt to abolish slavery in Ethiopia was made by Emperor [[Tewodros II of Ethiopia|Tewodros II]] (r. 1855–1868),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0848307.html |title=Tewodros II |publisher=Infoplease.com |date= }}</ref> although the slave trade was not abolished completely until 1923 with Ethiopia's ascension to the [[League of Nations]].<ref>[http://www.kituochakatiba.co.ug/selassie.htm Kituo cha katiba >> Haile Selassie Profile]</ref> Anti-Slavery Society estimated there were 2 million slaves in the early 1930s out of an estimated population of between 8 and 16 million.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/glc/events/cbss/Miers.pdf |title=Twentieth Century Solutions of the Abolition of Slavery |format=PDF |date= }}</ref> Slavery continued in Ethiopia until the Italian invasion in October 1935, when the institution was abolished by order of the Italian occupying forces.<ref>Abdussamad H. Ahmad, [http://www.jstor.org/stable/183622 "Trading in Slaves in Bela-Shangul and Gumuz, Ethiopia: Border Enclaves in History, 1897–1938", ''Journal of African History''], 40 (1999), pp. 433–446 ([http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=6443 Abstract])</ref> In response to pressure by Western [[Allies of World War II]], Ethiopia officially abolished slavery and involuntary servitude after having regained its independence in 1942.<ref>[http://www.africultures.com/anglais/Edito%20anglais/Edito6.htm The slave trade: myths and preconceptions]{{dead link|date=January 2013}}</ref><ref>[http://www.globalmarch.org/resourcecentre/world/ethiopia.pdf Ethiopia]{{dead link|date=January 2013}}</ref> On 26 August 1942, [[Haile Selassie]] issued a proclamation outlawing slavery.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chronology of slavery|url=http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/2691/COS2.html|work=|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5kmCuElxY|archivedate=24 October 2009|deadurl=yes}}</ref>

===Slavery in Somalia===
{{main|Slavery in Somalia|Arab slave trade}}
The Bantu (also called ''Wagosha'') are an ethnic minority group in [[Somalia]].<ref name="Cal">[http://www.cal.org/co/bantu/sbpeop.html Bantu – People]{{dead link|date=January 2013}}</ref> They are the descendants of people from various [[Bantu peoples|Bantu]] ethnic groups originating in what are modern-day [[Tanzania]], [[Malawi]] and [[Mozambique]] who were sold into slavery as part of the recent [[Arab slave trade]].<ref name="Cal"/> The number of Bantu inhabitants in Somalia before the [[Somali Civil War|civil war]] is thought to have been about 80,000 (1970 estimate), with most concentrated between the [[Jubba River|Juba]] and [[Shebelle River|Shabelle]] rivers in the south.<ref name="Britannica">Encyclopædia Britannica, ''Encyclopædia Britannica, v.20'', (Encyclopædia Britannica, inc.: 1970), p.897</ref> However, recent estimates place the figure as high as 900,000 persons.<ref name="Tanzacc">{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3020110.stm |title=Tanzania accepts Somali Bantus |publisher=BBC News |date=25 June 2003 }}</ref> Contrary to the [[Somali people|Somali]]s, who are for the most part [[nomad]]ic herders, the Bantu are mainly sedentary farmers. Bantus are also ethnically, physically, and culturally distinct from Somalis, and have remained marginalized ever since their arrival in Somalia.<ref name="Cal"/><ref>L. Randol Barker et al., ''Principles of Ambulatory Medicine'', 7 edition, (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins: 2006), p.633</ref> During the recent [[Somali Civil War|civil war]] in Somalia, many Bantu were evicted from their farms by various armed factions of Somali clans.<ref>{{cite web|author=By RACHEL L. SWARNS |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE2DC163EF933A25750C0A9659C8B63 |title=Africa's Lost Tribe Discovers American Way |publisher=New York Times |date=10 March 2003 }}</ref>
[[File:Servant or slave woman in Mogadishu.jpg|thumb|A [[Somali Bantu|Bantu]] slave woman in [[Mogadishu]] (1882–1883).]]
Bantu adult and children slaves (referred to collectively as ''jareer'' by their Somali masters<ref name="USRCLS2"/>) were purchased in the slave market exclusively to do undesirable work on plantation grounds.<ref name="USRCLS"/> They toiled under the control of and separately from their Somali patrons. In terms of legal considerations, Bantu slaves were also devalued. Additionally, Somali social mores strongly discouraged, censured and looked down upon any kind of sexual contact with Bantu slaves. Freedom for these plantation slaves was also often acquired through escape.<ref name="USRCLS">Catherine Lowe Besteman, ''Unraveling Somalia: Race, Class, and the Legacy of Slavery'', (University of Pennsylvania Press: 1999), pp. 83–84</ref>

In addition to Bantu plantation slaves, Somalis sometimes enslaved peoples of [[Oromo people|Oromo]] pastoral background that were captured during wars and raids on Oromo settlements.<ref name="USRCLS2"/><ref name="Anderson">Bridget Anderson, ''World Directory of Minorities'', (Minority Rights Group International: 1997), p. 456.</ref> However, there were marked differences in terms of the perception, capture and treatment of the Oromo pastoral slaves versus the Bantu plantation slaves. On an individual basis, Oromo subjects were not viewed as racially ''jareer'' by their Somali captors.<ref name="USRCLS2">Catherine Lowe Besteman, ''Unraveling Somalia: Race, Class, and the Legacy of Slavery'', (University of Pennsylvania Press: 1999), p. 116.</ref> The Oromo captives also mostly consisted of young children and women, both of whom were taken into the families of their abductors; men were usually killed during the raids. Oromo boys and girls were adopted by their Somali patrons as their own children. Prized for their beauty and viewed as legitimate sexual partners, many Oromo women became either wives or concubines of their Somali captors, while others became domestic servants.<ref name="Anderson"/><ref name="USRCLS3"/> In some cases, entire Oromo clans were also assimilated on a client basis into the Somali clan system.<ref name="Anderson"/> Neither captured Oromo children nor women were ever required to do plantation work, and they typically worked side-by-side with the Somali pastoralists. After an Oromo concubine gave birth to her Somali patron's child, she and the child were emancipated and the Oromo concubine acquired equal status to her abductor's other Somali wives. According to the [[Somali Studies]] pioneer [[Enrico Cerulli]], in terms of [[diyya|diya]] ([[Blood money (term)|blood money]]) payments in the Somali [[customary law]] ([[Xeer]]), the life of an Oromo slave was also equal in value to that of an ordinary ethnic Somali.<ref name="USRCLS3">Catherine Lowe Besteman, ''Unraveling Somalia: Race, Class, and the Legacy of Slavery'', (University of Pennsylvania Press: 1999), p. 82.</ref> Freedom for Oromo slaves was obtained through [[manumission]] and was typically accompanied by presents such as a spouse and livestock.<ref name="USRCLS"/> During abolition, former Oromo slaves, who generally maintained intimate relations with the Somali pastoralists, were also spared the harsh treatment reserved for the Bantu plantation slaves.<ref name="USRCLS"/><ref name="USRCLS3"/>

===Slavery in North Africa===
Elikia M’bokolo, April 1998, [[Le Monde diplomatique]]. Quote:"The [[Africa]]n continent was bled of its human resources via all possible routes. Across the [[Sahara]], through the Red Sea, from the Indian Ocean ports and across the Atlantic. At least ten centuries of slavery for the benefit of the [[Muslim world|Muslim countries]] (from the ninth to the nineteenth)." He continues: "Four million slaves exported via the [[Red Sea]], another four million through the [[Swahili people|Swahili]] ports of the [[Indian Ocean]], perhaps as many as nine million along the [[Trans-Saharan trade|trans-Saharan]] caravan route, and eleven to twenty million (depending on the author) across the [[Atlantic Ocean]]."<ref name="mondediplo.com">{{cite web|url=http://mondediplo.com/1998/04/02africa |title=The impact of the slave trade on Africa |publisher=Mondediplo.com |date=22 March 1998 }}</ref>

[[Middle Age|Medieval]] slave trade in [[Europe]] was mainly to the East and South: [[Byzantine Empire]] and the [[Muslim World]] were the destinations, [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]] an important source.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24159 |title=Historical survey > The international slave trade |publisher=Britannica.com |date= }}</ref> [[Slavery in medieval Europe]] was so common that the Roman Catholic Church repeatedly prohibited it—or at least the export of Christian slaves to non-Christian lands was prohibited at, for example, the [[Council of Koblenz]] in 922, the [[Council of London (1102)|Council of London]] in 1102, and the [[Council of Armagh]] in 1171.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://scatoday.net/node/3565 |title=Slavery, serfdom, and indenture through the Middle Ages |publisher=Scatoday.net |date=3 February 2005 }}</ref> Because of religious constraints, the [[slave trade]] was monopolised in parts of Europe by Iberian [[Jew]]s (known as [[Radhanites]]) who were able to transfer the slaves from pagan [[Central Europe]] through Christian [[Western Europe]] to Muslim countries in [[Al-Andalus]] and [[Africa]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=693&letter=C#2276 |title=Routes of the Jewish Merchants Called Radanites |publisher=Jewishencyclopedia.com |date=14 November 1902 }}</ref> So many [[Slavs]] were enslaved for so many centuries that word '[[Slav]]' became synonymous with slavery. The derivation of the word slave encapsulates a bit of European history and explains why the two words ([[slaves]] and [[Slavs]]) are so similar; they are, in fact, historically identical.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ |title=Definition/Word Origin of 'slave' from |publisher=The Free Dictionary |date= }}</ref>
[[File:Christian slavery in Barbary (1859).jpg|thumb|[[Christian]] slavery in [[Barbary Coast|Barbary]]. As late as 1798 the islet near [[Sardinia]] was attacked by the [[Tunisia]]ns and over 900 inhabitants were taken away as slaves.<ref>"''[http://books.google.com/books?id=5q9zcB3JS40C&pg=PA45&dq&hl=en#v=onepage&q=&f=false Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500–1800]''". Robert Davis (2004). p.45. ISBN 1-4039-4551-9.</ref>]]
[[Mamluks]] were [[Ghilman|slave soldiers]] who converted to [[Islam]] and served the [[Muslim]] [[caliph]]s 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 1250–1517. From 1250 [[Egypt]] had been ruled by the [[Bahri dynasty]] of [[Kipchak people|Kipchak]] Turk origin. [[White people|White]] enslaved people from the [[Peoples of the Caucasus|Caucasus]] served in the army and formed an elite corp of troops eventually revolting in Egypt to form the [[Burgi dynasty]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sunnahonline.com/ilm/seerah/0075_popup11.htm |title=The Mamluk (Slave) Dynasty (Timeline) |publisher=Sunnahonline.com |date= }}</ref>

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. The coastal villages and towns of [[Italy]], [[Portugal]], [[Spain]] and [[List of islands in the Mediterranean|Mediterranean islands]] were frequently attacked by them and long stretches of the Italian and Spanish coasts were almost completely abandoned by its inhabitants; after 1600 Barbary pirates occasionally entered the Atlantic and struck as far north as [[Iceland]]. The most famous corsairs were the Ottoman [[Hayreddin Barbarossa|Barbarossa]] ("Redbeard"), and his older brother [[Aruj|Oruç]], [[Turgut Reis]] (known as [[Dragut]] in the West), [[Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin Reis|Kurtoğlu]] (known as [[Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin Reis|Curtogoli]] in the West), [[Kemal Reis]], [[Salih Reis]] and [[Murat Reis the Older|Koca Murat Reis]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/whtslav.htm |title='&#39;When Europeans were slaves: Research suggests white slavery was much more common than previously believed'&#39; |publisher=Researchnews.osu.edu |date= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/white_slaves_01.shtml |title=BBC – History – British Slaves on the Barbary Coast |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date= }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web|last=Richtel |first=Matt |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2003/09/26/trsic_ed3_.php |title=The mysteries and majesties of the Aeolian Islands |publisher=International Herald Tribune |date= }}</ref> 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 6000 prisoners. In 1558 Barbary corsairs captured the town of [[Ciutadella]], destroyed it, [[murder|slaughtered]] the inhabitants and carried off 3,000 survivors to [[Istanbul]] as slaves.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.holidays2menorca.com/history.php |title=History of Menorca |publisher=Holidays2menorca.com |date= }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|author=Christopher Hitchens |url=http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_2_urbanities-thomas_jefferson.html |title=Jefferson Versus the Muslim Pirates by Christopher Hitchens, City Journal Spring 2007 |publisher=City-journal.org |date= }}</ref><ref>Davis, Robert. ''Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500–1800''.[http://www.amazon.com/dp/1403945519]</ref>

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 people|Berber]]-descended [[znaga]] tribes. The so-called [[Haratin]] lower class, largely sedentary [[oasis]]-dwelling people of Africa.

==Enslaved people taken from Africa==
{{Off-topic|Atlantic slave trade|date=June 2011}}

===Trans-Saharan trade===
:''Main article [[Arab slave trade]]''
[[File:Arabslavers.jpg|thumb|19th-century engraving of [[Arab]] slave-trading caravan transporting African slaves across the [[Sahara]].]]
The very earliest external [[slavery|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 [[camel]]s were introduced from [[Arabia]] in the 10th century. By this point, a [[trans-Saharan trade|trans-Saharan trading]] network came into being to transport slaves north. [[Zanzibar]] was once [[East Africa]]'s main slave-trading port, and under [[Oman]]i Arabs in the 19th century as many as 50,000 slaves were passing through the city each year.<ref>[http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/data/2001/10/01/html/ft_20011001.6.html Swahili Coast]. Nationalgeographic.com</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6510675.stm Remembering East African slave raids], BBC News, 30 March 2007</ref> Most historians estimate that between 11 and 18 million African slaves crossed the [[Red Sea]], [[Indian Ocean]], and [[Sahara]] Desert from 650 AD to 1900 AD,<ref name=Slavery>[http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24156 Historical survey > Slave-owning societies]. ''Encyclopædia Britannica.''</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1523100.stm Focus on the slave trade], BBC News, 3 September 2001</ref> Frequent intermarriages meant that the enslaved people were [[cultural assimilation|assimilated]] in North Africa. Unlike in the [[Americas]], enslaved people in North Africa were mainly [[servant (domestic)|servant]]s and soldiers rather than [[manual labour|labour]]ers, and a greater number of females than males were taken, who were often employed as servants, forced into prostitution or to become the women of [[harem]]s.<ref>[http://www.sfusd.edu/schwww/sch618/Ibn_Battuta/Battuta's_Trip_Twelve.html Battuta's Trip: Journey to West Africa (1351–1353)]{{dead link|date=January 2013}}</ref> Swiss explorer [[Johann Ludwig Burckhardt|Johann Burckhardt]] wrote: "I frequently witnessed scenes of the most shameless indecency, which the traders, who were the principal actors, only laughed at. I may venture to state, that very few female slaves who have passed their tenth year, reach Egypt or Arabia in a state of virginity."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/burckhardt/john_lewis//nubia/chapter2.html |title=Travels in Nubia, by John Lewis Burckhardt |publisher=Ebooks.adelaide.edu.au |date=5 November 2012 }}</ref> It was also not uncommon to turn enslaved males, both African and European, into [[Eunuch (court official)|eunuchs]] via castration to serve as guardians to the [[harems]].<ref name="Slavery in Arabia">{{cite web|url=http://www.arabslavetrade.com|publisher="[[Owen 'Alik Shahadah]]"|title=Myths regarding the Arab Slave Trade}}</ref>

===Indian Ocean trade===
The trade of slaves across the [[Indian Ocean]] also has a long history beginning with the control of sea routes by [[Afro-Arab]] traders in the ninth century. It is estimated that only a few thousand enslaved people were taken each year from the Red Sea and Indian Ocean coast. They were sold throughout the [[Middle East]]. This trade accelerated as superior ships led to more trade and greater demand for labour on [[plantation]]s in the region. Eventually, tens of thousands per year were being taken.<ref>Fage, J.D. ''A History of Africa''. Routledge, 4th edition, 2001. pg. 258</ref> In east Africa the main slave trade involved arabised east Africans<ref>{{cite news| url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/history/0,6121,679352,00.html | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=In the service of the Sultan | first=Fiachra | last=Gibbons | date=6 April 2002 | accessdate=23 April 2010}}</ref>

[[David Livingstone]] wrote of the slave trade: "''To overdraw its evils is a simple impossibility ... We passed a slave woman shot or stabbed through the body and lying on the path. [Onlookers] said an Arab who passed early that morning had done it in anger at losing the price he had given for her, because she was unable to walk any longer. We passed a woman tied by the neck to a tree and dead ... We came upon a man dead from starvation ... The strangest disease I have seen in this country seems really to be broken heartedness, and it attacks free men who have been captured and made slaves."'' Livingstone estimated that 80,000 Africans died each year before ever reaching the slave markets of [[Zanzibar]].<ref>[http://chi.gospelcom.net/GLIMPSEF/Glimpses/glmps111.shtml David Livingstone; Christian History Institute]</ref><ref>[http://www.pilotguides.com/destination_guide/africa/tanzania_and_zanzibar/slave_trade.php The blood of a nation of Slaves in Stone Town]{{dead link|date=January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Mwachiro |first=Kevin |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6510675.stm |title=BBC Remembering East African slave raids |publisher=BBC News |date=30 March 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Zanzibar|url=http://uk.geocities.com/goldenmaggot.t21@btinternet.com/zanzibar.html|work=|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5kmCtlBDt|archivedate=24 October 2009|deadurl=yes}}</ref> Zanzibar was once East Africa's main slave-trading port, and under Omani Arabs in the 19th century as many as 50,000 slaves were passing through the city each year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/data/2001/10/01/html/ft_20011001.6.html |title=Swahili Coast |publisher=.nationalgeographic.com |date=17 October 2002 }}</ref>

===Atlantic Ocean trade===
:''Main article [[Atlantic slave trade]]''
The first Europeans to arrive on the coast of [[Guinea (region)|Guinea]] were the [[Portugal|Portuguese]]; the first European to actually buy enslaved Africans in the region of Guinea was [[Antão Gonçalves]], a Portuguese explorer in 1441 AD. Originally interested in trading mainly for [[gold]] and [[spice]]s, they set up colonies on the uninhabited islands of [[São Tomé]]. 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 enslaved Africans. [[Elmina Castle]] on the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]], originally built by African labour 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]].<ref>John Henrik Clarke. ''Critical Lessons in Slavery & the Slavetrade''. A & B Book Pub</ref>
[[File:Tobacco.JPG|thumb|240px|African slaves working in 17th-century [[Virginia]], by an unknown artist, 1670]]
The [[Slavery in the Spanish New World colonies|Spanish]] were the first Europeans to use enslaved Africans in the New World on islands such as [[Cuba]] and [[Hispaniola]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2028.html?countryName=Haiti&countryCode=ha&regionCode=ca&#ha |title=CIA Factbook: Haiti |publisher=Cia.gov |date= }}</ref> where the alarming death rate in the native population had spurred the first royal laws protecting the native population (Laws of Burgos, 1512–1513). The first enslaved Africans arrived in Hispaniola in 1501 soon after the [[Inter caetera|Papal Bull of 1493]] gave all of the New World to Spain.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukcouncilhumanrights.co.uk/webbook-chap1.html |title=Health in Slavery|year=1989|work=Of Germs, Genes, and Genocide: Slavery, Capitalism, Imperialism, Health and Medicine|publisher=United Kingdom Council for Human Rights|accessdate=13 January 2010 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080617150332/http://www.ukcouncilhumanrights.co.uk/webbook-chap1.html |archivedate = 17 June 2008}}</ref>

In 1452, [[Pope Nicholas V]] issued the [[papal bull]] [[Dum Diversas]], granting [[Afonso V of Portugal]] the right to reduce any "Saracens, pagans and any other unbelievers" to hereditary slavery. This approval of slavery was reaffirmed and extended in his [[Romanus Pontifex]] bull of 1455. These papal bulls came to serve as a justification for the subsequent era of slave trade and European colonialism.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} However [[Pope Eugene IV]] in his bull, [[Sicut Dudum]] of 1435 had condemned the enslavement of the inhabitants of the [[Canary Islands]]. [[Pope Paul III]] in 1537 issued an additional Bull, [[Sublimis Deus]], declaring that all peoples, even those outside the faith should not be deprived of their liberty. The followers of the church of England and Protestants did not use the papal bulls as a justification for their involvement in slavery.

Increasing penetration into the Americas by the Portuguese created more demand for labour in [[Brazil]]—primarily for [[farming]] and [[mining]]. The first permanent European settlement in the United States was established in [[St. Augustine, Florida]] by the Spanish, who imported the first African slaves in 1581. Slave-based economies quickly spread to the Caribbean and the southern portion of what is today the [[United States]], where Dutch traders brought enslaved Africans in 1619. These areas all developed an insatiable demand for slaves. As European nations grew more powerful, especially [[Portugal]], [[Spain]], [[France]], [[Great Britain]] and the [[Netherlands]], 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/africa_caribbean/britain_trade.htm|title=Britain and the Trade|work=Black Presence: Asian and Black History in Britain, 1500–1850|publisher=[[The National Archives]]|accessdate=13 January 2010}}</ref>

The [[Atlantic slave trade]] peaked in the late 18th century, when the largest number of slaves were captured on raiding expeditions into the interior of West Africa. The increase of demand for slaves due to the expansion of European colonial powers to the [[New World]] made the slave trade much more lucrative to the West African powers, leading to the establishment of a number of actual [[African empires|West African empires]] thriving on slave trade.
These included [[Oyo empire]] ([[Yoruba people|Yoruba]]), [[Kong Empire]], [[Kingdom of Benin]], [[Kingdom of Fouta Djallon]], [[Kingdom of Fouta Tooro]], [[Kingdom of Koya]], [[Kingdom of Khasso]], [[Kaabu|Kingdom of Kaabu]], [[Fante Confederacy]], [[The Ashanti|Ashanti Confederacy]], and the kingdom of [[Dahomey]]. The gradual abolition of slavery in European colonial empires during the 19th century again led to the decline and collapse of these African empires.
These kingdoms that relied on a militaristic culture of constant warfare to generate the great numbers of human captives required for trade with the Europeans.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/slav/hd_slav.htm|title=The Transatlantic Slave Trade|last=Bortolot|first=Alexander Ives|date=originally published October 2003, last revised May 2009|publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]|accessdate=13 January 2010}}</ref>

{{Quote|They were all very inquisitive, but they viewed me at first with looks of horror, and repeatedly asked if my countrymen were cannibals. They were very desirous to know what became of the slaves after they had crossed the salt water. I told them that they were employed in cultivation the land; but they would not believe me ... A deeply-rooted idea that the whites purchase blacks for the purpose of devouring them, or of selling them to others that they may be devoured hereafter, naturally makes the slaves contemplate a journey towards the coast with great terror.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/p/park/mungo/travels/chapter24.html |title=Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa, 1795-7, by Mungo Park |publisher=Ebooks.adelaide.edu.au |date=10 November 2012 }}</ref>|[[Mungo Park (explorer)|Mungo Park]]|Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa, 1795-7}}

[[File:Slaves Unloading Ice in Cuba 1832.jpg|thumb|240px|Slaves in [[Cuba]] unloading ice from Maine]]
Before the arrival of the [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]], slavery had already existed in [[Kingdom of Kongo]]. Despite its establishment within his kingdom, [[Afonso I of Kongo]] believed that the slave trade should be subject to Kongo law. When he suspected the Portuguese of receiving illegally enslaved persons to sell, he wrote letters to the King [[João III]] of Portugal in 1526 imploring him to put a stop to the practice.

The kings of [[Dahomey]] sold their [[POW|war captives]] into transatlantic slavery, who otherwise would have been killed in a ceremony known as the [[The annual customs of Dahomey|Annual Customs]]. As one of West Africa's principal slave states, Dahomey became extremely unpopular with neighbouring peoples.<ref name="britannica.com"/><ref name="Johnson"/><ref name="museeouidah1"/> Like the [[Bambara Empire]] to the east, the [[Khasso]] kingdoms depended heavily on the [[slave trade]] for their economy. A family's status was indicated by the number of slaves it owned, leading to [[wars]] for the sole purpose of taking more captives. This trade led the Khasso into increasing contact with the [[Europe]]an settlements of the west coast, particularly the [[France|French]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.histoire-afrique.org/article76.html?artsuite=5|title=Le Mali précolonial|last=Yattara |first=Elmouloud |coauthors=Diallo, Boubacar Séga|publisher=Histoire-afrique.org|language=French|accessdate=13 January 2010}}</ref> [[Benin Empire|Benin]] grew increasingly rich during the 16th and 17th centuries on the slave trade with Europe; enslaved people from enemy states of the interior were sold, and carried to the Americas in Dutch and Portuguese ships. The [[Bight of Benin]]'s shore soon came to be known as the "Slave Coast".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/4chapter7.shtml|title=West African Kingdoms|work=The Story of Africa|publisher=[[BBC World Service]]|accessdate=13 January 2010}}</ref>

Several historians, such as João C. Curto, have made important contributions to the global understanding of the African side of the [[Atlantic slave trade]]. By arguing that African merchants determined the assemblage of trade goods accepted in exchange for slaves, many historians argue for African agency and ultimately a shared responsibility for the slave trade.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=13661080113274 |title=João C. Curto. Álcool e Escravos: O Comércio Luso-Brasileiro do Álcool em Mpinda, Luanda e Benguela durante o Tráfico Atlântico de Escravos (c. 1480–1830) e o Seu Impacto nas Sociedades da África Central Ocidental. Translated by Márcia Lameirinhas. Tempos e Espaços Africanos Series, vol. 3. Lisbon: Editora Vulgata, 2002. ISBN 978-972-8427-24-5 |publisher=H-net.org |date= }}</ref>

King Gezo of [[Dahomey]] said in 1840s:
:''The slave trade is the ruling principle of my people. It is the source and the glory of their wealth ... the mother lulls the child to sleep with notes of triumph over an enemy reduced to slavery ...''<ref>[http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20855855-28737,00.html West is master of slave trade guilt]</ref>

The British were the largest transporters of slaves across the Atlantic ocean during the 18th century.<ref>Emma Christopher. ''Slave Ship Sailors and Their Captive Cargoes, 1730-1807.'' Page 6. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-67966-4.</ref> In 1807, the UK Parliament passed The Slave Trade Act, which did not abolish slavery but prohibited the slave trade in the British Empire. The King of Bonny (now in [[Nigeria]]) was horrified at the conclusion of the practice:
:''We think this trade must go on. That is the verdict of our oracle and the priests. They say that your country, however great, can never stop a trade ordained by God himself.''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/9chapter2.shtml |title=African Slave Owners |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date= }}</ref>

The enslaved people came from many different sources. About half came from the societies that sold them. These might be [[Crime|criminal]]s, [[heresy|heretic]]s, the [[mental illness|mentally ill]], the [[debt|indebted]] and any others that had fallen out of favour with the rulers. Little is known about the details of these practices before the arrival of Europeans, and so it is difficult to tell if the number of people considered as undesirables was artificially increased to provide more slaves for export. It is believed that [[capital punishment]] in the region nearly disappeared since prisoners became far too valuable to dispose of in such a way.<ref name="Fage, J.D. 2001. pg. 267">Fage, J.D. ''A History of Africa''. Routledge, 4th edition, 2001. pg. 267</ref>

Another source of enslaved people, comprising about half the total, came from [[military]] conquests of other [[Sovereign state|states]] or [[tribe]]s. It has long been contended that the slave trade greatly increased violence and warfare in the region due to the pursuit of slaves, although [[endemic warfare]] was certainly common even before slave hunting had added such an extra inducement.<ref name="Fage, J.D. 2001. pg. 267"/>

For the Atlantic slave trade, captives purchased from slave dealers in West African regions known as the [[Slave Coast]], [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]], and [[Côte d'Ivoire]] were sold into slavery as a result of a defeat in warfare. In the [[Bight of Biafra]] near modern-day [[Senegal]] and [[Benin]], some African kings sold their captives locally and later to European slave traders for goods such as metal cookware, rum, livestock, and seed grain. Previous to the voyage, the victims were held in "slave castles"<ref>{{cite book|last=Woodfork|first=Lisa|title=Embodying American slavery in contemporary culture|year=2009|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-03390-2|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lrofR-tFpdsC&pg=PA101&dq=%22slave+castles%22+died&hl=en&ei=A4Z1TsX1KeLW0QWH2LSXCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22slave%20castles%22%20died&f=false|page=101}}</ref> where many died from multiple illnesses and malnutrition. Conditions were even worse in the [[Middle Passage]] across the Atlantic where it has been estimated that 12% of the slaves died en route.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rodriguez|first=Junius|title=Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia: 2|year=2007|publisher=ABL-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-544-5|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4X44KbDBl9gC&pg=PA383&dq=Middle+Passage+across+the+Atlantic+++slaves+died+en+route&hl=en&ei=_YZ1Tqq8IuHW0QWb7tyXCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false|page=383}}</ref>

==Effects==
{{Weasel|date=March 2009}}

===Effect on the economy of Africa===
[[File:Different cowries.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Cowrie]] shells were used as money in the slave trade]]
[[File:ManillaOkhapos.JPG|thumb|left|<center>Two slightly differing Okpoho [[Manillas]] as used to purchase slaves<center>]]
Most scholars find that the trade in slaves had a detrimental effect on long-term economic growth and development. It ultimately undermined local economies and political stability as villages' vital labour forces were shipped overseas as slave raids and civil wars became commonplace. With the rise of a large commercial slave trade, driven by European needs, enslaving your enemy became less a consequence of war, and more and more a reason to go to war.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.africanholocaust.net/html_ah/holocaustspecial.htm | title= African Holocaust Special | publisher=African Holocaust Society | accessdate=4 January 2007}}</ref> The slave trade impeded the formation of larger ethnic groups, causing ethnic fractionalisation and weakening the formation for stable political structures. It also reduced the mental health and social development of African people.<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Nunn
| first = Nathan
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = The Long-Term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades
| journal = [[Quarterly Journal of Economics]]
| volume = 123
| issue = 1
| pages = 139–1745
| publisher = [[MIT Press]]
| location = [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]], [[Massachusetts|MA]]
| month = February | year = 2008
| url = http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/nunn/files/empirical_slavery.pdf
| doi = 10.1162/qjec.2008.123.1.139
| id =
| accessdate =10 April 2008|format=PDF}}
</ref>

In contrast, J.D. Fage asserts that slavery did not have a wholly disastrous effect on those left behind in Africa.<ref>Fage, J.D. ''A History of Africa''. Routledge, 4th edition, 2001. pg. 261</ref> Slaves were an expensive commodity, and traders received a great deal in exchange for each enslaved person. 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. Most of this money was spent on British-made firearms (of very poor quality) and industrial-grade alcohol. Trade with Europe at the peak of the slave trade—which also included significant exports of gold and [[ivory trade|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 (Professor)|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.<ref>Contours of Slavery and Social Change in Africa, by Patrick Manning</ref>

===Effects on Europe's economy===

[[Karl Marx]] in his influential economic history of capitalism, ''[[Das Kapital]]'' claimed that '...the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins [that is, the slave trade], signalled the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production.' He argued that the slave trade was part of what he termed the 'primitive accumulation' of European capital, the 'non-capitalist' accumulation of wealth that preceded and created the financial conditions for Britain's industrialisation.<ref>Marx, K. "Chapter Thirty-One: Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist" Das Kapital: Volume 1, 1867.,[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch31.htm]</ref>

[[Eric Williams]] has written about the contribution of Africans on the basis of profits from the slave trade and slavery, arguing that the employment of those profits were used to help finance Britain’s industrialisation. He argues that the enslavement of Africans was an essential element to the Industrial Revolution, and that European wealth was, in part, a result of slavery, but that by the time of its abolition it had lost its profitability and it was in Britain's economic interest to ban it.<ref>Williams, ''Capitalism & Slavery'' (University of North Carolina Press, 1944), pp. 98–107, 169–177, ''et passim''</ref> Joseph Inikori has written that the British slave trade was more profitable than the critics of Williams believe. Other researchers and historians have strongly contested what has come to be referred to as the “Williams thesis” in academia: [[David Richardson (historian)|David Richardson]] has concluded that the profits from the slave trade amounted to less than 1% of domestic investment in Britain,<ref>David Richardson, "The British Empire and the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1660–1807," in P.J. Marshall, ed. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II: The Eighteenth Century (1998) pp 440–64</ref> and economic historian [[Stanley Engerman]] finds that even without subtracting the associated costs of the slave trade (e.g., shipping costs, slave mortality, mortality of whites in Africa, defense costs) or reinvestment of profits back into the slave trade, the total profits from the slave trade and of West Indian plantations amounted to less than 5% of the British economy during any year of the [[Industrial Revolution]].<ref name="The Slave Trade and British Capital Formation in the Eighteenth Century">{{cite web|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/3113341?seq=13|author=Stanley L. Engerman|title=The Slave Trade and British Capital Formation in the Eighteenth Century|accessdate=26 April 2012}}</ref> Historian [[Richard Pares]], in an article written before Williams’ book, dismisses the influence of wealth generated from the West Indian plantations upon the financing of the Industrial Revolution, stating that whatever substantial flow of investment from West Indian profits into industry there was occurred after emancipation, not before.<ref name="The Economic Factors in the History of the Empire">{{cite web|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2590147?origin=JSTOR-on-page|author=Richard Pares|title=The Economic Factors in the History of the Empire|accessdate=26 April 2012}}</ref>

Seymour Drescher and Robert Anstey argue the slave trade remained profitable until the end, and that moralistic reform, not economic incentive, was primarily responsible for abolition. They say slavery remained profitable in the 1830s because of innovations in agriculture.<ref>J.R. Ward, "The British West Indies in the Age of Abolition," in P.J. Marshall, ed. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II: The Eighteenth Century (1998) pp 415–39.</ref>

A similar debate has taken place about other European nations. French slave trade was more profitable than alternative domestic investments and probably encouraged [[capital accumulation]] before the Industrial Revolution and [[Napoleonic Wars]].<ref>Guillaume Daudin « Profitability of slave and long distance trading in context : the case of eighteenth century France », Journal of Economic History, vol. 64, n°1, 2004</ref>

===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.<ref>Rodney, Walter. ''How Europe underdeveloped Africa.'' London: Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications, 1972</ref> 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.<ref>David Eltis ''Economic Growth and the Ending of the Transatlantic slave trade''</ref>

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.<ref>"Ideology versus the Tyranny of Paradigm: Historians and the Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on African Societies," by Joseph E. Inikori ''African Economic History.'' 1994.</ref> 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 even more drastic.<ref name="Legacy of the African Holocaust"/>

Elikia M’bokolo, April 1998, [[Le Monde diplomatique]]. Quote: "The African continent was bled of its human resources via all possible routes. Across the [[Sahara]], through the Red Sea, from the Indian Ocean ports and across the Atlantic." He continues: "Four million slaves exported via the Red Sea, another four million through the [[Swahili people|Swahili]] ports of the Indian Ocean, perhaps as many as nine million along the trans-Saharan caravan route, and eleven to twenty million (depending on the author) across the Atlantic Ocean."<ref name="mondediplo.com"/>

===Legacy of racism===
[[Maulana Karenga]] states that the effects of the African slave trade were "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 people of today". He cites that it constituted the destruction of culture, language, religion and human possibility.<ref name="Ethics on Reparations">{{cite web|url=http://www.africawithin.com/karenga/ethics.htm|publisher="[[Ron Karenga]]"|title=Effects on Africa}}</ref>

==Abolition==
{{Suppression of the Slave Trade}}
Beginning in the late 18th century, France was one of Europe's first countries to abolish slavery, in 1794, but it was revived by [[Napoleon]] in 1802, and banned for good in 1848. Denmark-Norway was the first European country to ban the slave trade. This happened with a decree issued by the king in 1792, to become fully effective by 1803. Slavery itself was not banned until 1848.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ATq5_6h2AT0C&pg=PA8&dq=abolish+slavery+iceland&hl=en&ei=O9RSTI7CLueXOPPMzJ4O&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=abolish%20slavery%20iceland&f=false |title="The Historical encyclopedia of world slavery, Volume 1 By Junius P. Rodriguez". Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 4 December 2011.}}</ref> In 1807 the British Parliament passed the [[Abolition of the Slave Trade Act]], under which captains of slave ships could be stiffly 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 [[1820 U.S. Law on Slave Trade]] made slave trading [[piracy]], punishable
by [[capital punishment|death]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/08trouvadore/background/piracy/piracy.html|title=The U.S. Navy and the Anti-Piracy Patrol in the Caribbean|last=Carrell|first=Toni L|publisher=[[NOAA]]|accessdate=11 January 2010}}</ref> In 1827, Britain declared the slave trade to be piracy, punishable by death. 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 was eradicated in the year 1850 by senator Eusebio de Queiroz, Minister of Justice of the [[Empire of Brazil]], the law was called ''Law Eusebio de Queiroz''.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=HJdaM325m8IC&pg=PA110&dq=Eusebio+de+Queiroz+Law&hl=en&ei=eHHqTfiBGant0gG0upiTAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Eusebio%20de%20Queiroz%20Law&f=false|title=A concise history of Brazil|publisher=Cambridge University Press|accessdate=4 June 2011}}</ref> After struggles that lasted for decades in the Empire of Brazil, slavery was abolished completely in 1888 by Princess [[Isabel of Brazil]] and Minister [[Rodrigo Silva]] (son-in-law of senator Eusebio de Queiroz). The [[West Africa Squadron]] was credited with capturing 1,600 slave ships between 1808 and 1860 and freeing 150,000 Africans who were aboard these ships.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2007/03/20/abolition_navy_feature.shtml|title=Sailing Against Slavery|last=Loosemore|first=Jo|date=8 July 2008|publisher=BBC|accessdate=12 January 2010}}</ref> Action was also taken against African leaders who refused to agree to British treaties to outlaw the trade, for example against ‘the usurping [[Oba of Lagos|King of Lagos]]’, deposed in 1851. Anti-slavery treaties were signed with over 50 African rulers.
[[File:HMS Brisk and Emanuela.jpg|thumb|left|Capture of slave ship ''[[Sunny South (clipper)|Emanuela]]'' by {{HMS|Brisk|1851|6}}.]]
The [[Islamic]] trans-[[Sahara]]n and [[Indian Ocean]] trades continued, however, and even increased as new sources of enslaved people became available. In [[Peoples of the Caucasus|Caucasus]], slavery was abolished after Russian conquest. 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 land-based intra-continental trade.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/9chapter3.shtml|title=The East African Slave Trade|publisher=BBC|accessdate=12 January 2010| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20091207134427/http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/9chapter3.shtml| archivedate= 7 December 2009 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>

The continuing [[Abolitionism|anti-slavery movement]] in Europe became an excuse and a [[casus belli]] for the European conquest and colonisation of much of the African continent.{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}} In the late 19th century, the [[Scramble for Africa]] saw the continent rapidly divided between Imperialistic European powers, and an early but secondary focus of all [[colony|colonial]] [[regime]]s was the suppression of slavery and the slave trade. In response to this 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 African states, such as [[Chad]], [[Ethiopia]], [[Mali]], [[Niger]], and [[Sudan]], in places where [[law]] and [[Peace|order]] have collapsed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/sudanupdate.htm|title=Slavery and Slave Redemption in the Sudan|date=March 2002|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|accessdate=12 January 2010}}</ref> ''See also [[Slavery in modern Africa]].''

Although outlawed in nearly all countries today, slavery is practised in secret in many parts of the world.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2010401.stm|title=Millions 'forced into slavery'|date=27 May 2002|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=12 January 2010}}</ref> There are an estimated 27 million victims of slavery worldwide.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2005/issue3/0305p28.html|title=Slavery in the Twenty-First Century|last=Dodson|first=Howard|year=2005|work=[[UN Chronicle]]|publisher=[[United Nations]]|accessdate=12 January 2010}}</ref> In [[Mauritania]] alone, up to 600,000 men, women and children, or 20% of the population, are enslaved, many of them used as [[bonded labour]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1458_abolition/page4.shtml|title=Modern slavery|publisher=[[BBC World Service]]|accessdate=12 January 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L01877550.htm|title=Poverty, tradition shackle Mauritania's slaves|last=Flynn|first=Daniel|date=1 December 2006|publisher=Reuters|accessdate=12 January 2010}}</ref> [[Slavery in Mauritania]] was finally criminalised in August 2007.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6938032.stm|title=Mauritanian MPs pass slavery law |date=9 August 2007|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=12 January 2010| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100106014658/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6938032.stm| archivedate= 6 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> It is estimated that as many as 200,000 Sudanese children and women have been taken into [[slavery in Sudan]] during the [[Second Sudanese Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iabolish.org/slavery_today/in_depth/sudan-genocide.html|title=War and Genocide in Sudan |last=Alley|first=Sabit A|date=17 March 2001|publisher=iAbolish|accessdate=12 January 2010}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}{{Verify credibility|date=January 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/livewire/archived/the_lost_children_of_sudan/|title=The Lost Children of Sudan|last=Coe|first=Erin|publisher=NYU Livewire|accessdate=12 January 2010}}{{Verify credibility|date=January 2010}}</ref> In [[Niger]], where the practice of slavery was outlawed in 2003, a study found that almost 8% of the population are still slaves.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4250709.stm|title=Born to Be a Slave in Niger|last=Andersson|first=Hilary|date=11 February 2005|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=12 January 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://abcnews.go.com/International/Story?id=813618&page=1|title=The Shackles of Slavery in Niger|last=Steeds|first=Oliver|date=3 June 2005|publisher=[[ABC News]]|accessdate=12 January 2010}}</ref> In many Western countries, slavery is still prevalent{{Contradict-inline|article=Sexual_slavery#Contemporary_sexual_slavery|date=October 2011}} in the form of [[sexual slavery]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/23/48hours/main675913.shtml | work=CBS News | title=Rescued From Sex Slavery | date=23 February 2005}}</ref>

==See also==
{{div col|4}}
*[[Cudjoe Lewis]] purported as last African born slave of this era to be enslaved in the United States.
*[[Atlantic slave trade]]
*[[Arab slave trade]]
*[[Blockade of Africa]]
*[[Anti-Slavery operations of the United States Navy]]
*[[Barbary pirates]]
*[[Christianity and slavery]]
*[[Islam and slavery]]
*[[Slavery in Mauritania]]
*[[Slavery in Sudan]]
*[[Unfree labour]]
*[[Maafa]]
*[[Tippu Tip]]
*[[Abolitionism]]
*[[History of slavery]]
*[[Slavery in ancient Rome]]
*[[History of slavery in the United States]]
*[[James Riley (Captain)]] white slaves in the Sahara
*[[Slave ship]]
*[[African Diaspora]]
*[[Slavery]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
* Eric Williams, ''Capitalism and Slavery'', London 1972.
*Fage, J.D. ''A History of Africa'' (Routledge, 4th edition, 2001 ISBN 0-415-25247-4)
*{{cite book
| last = Faragher
| first = John Mack
| coauthors = [[Mari Jo Buhle]], Daniel Czitrom, Susan H. Armitage
| title = [[Out of Many]]
| publisher = [[Pearson Prentice Hall]]
| year = 2004
| isbn = 0-13-182431-7
| page = 54 }}
*Lovejoy, Paul E. ''Transformations in Slavery'', Cambridge 1983.
* "The Peopling of Africa: A Geographic Interpretation".(Review): An article from: ''Population and Development Review'' [HTML] (Digital) by Tukufu Zuberi
* Edward Reynolds. ''Stand the Storm: a history of the Atlantic slave trade''. London: Allison and Busby, 1985.
* Walter Rodney: How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, London 1973.
* Savage, Elizabeth (ed.), ''The Human Commodity: Perspectives on the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade'', London 1992.
* Donald R. Wright, [http://autocww.colorado.edu/~blackmon/E64ContentFiles/AfricanHistory/SlaveryInAfrica.html "History of Slavery and Africa"], ''Online Encyclopedia'', 2000.

==External links==
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* [http://www.africanholocaust.net/ah_articles.htm African Holocaust: The history of slavery in Africa]
* [http://www.yale.edu/glc/events/cbss/Miers.pdf Twentieth Century Solutions of the Abolition of Slavery]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/index_section9.shtml The story of Africa: Slavery]
* [http://mondediplo.com/1998/04/02africa "The impact of the slave trade on Africa," Le Monde diplomatique]
* [http://digilander.libero.it/wrnzla/SlaveryEthiopia.pdf "Ethiopia, Slavery and the League of Nations" Abyssinia/Ethiopia slavery and slaves trade]

{{Africa topics}}
{{Pirates}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:African Slave Trade}}
[[Category:African slave trade| ]]

[[ar:تجارة العبيد الأفارقة]]
[[da:Slavehandel]]
[[de:Sklaverei innerhalb von Schwarzafrika]]
[[fr:Traites négrières]]
[[lt:Afrikos vergų prekyba]]
[[nl:Slavenhandel]]
[[pl:Handel czarnymi niewolnikami]]
[[pt:Escravidão africana]]
[[ru:Работорговля]]
[[simple:African slave trade]]
[[uk:Работоргівля]]

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