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Patterns of Dislocation: The Slave Trade Within Africa
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Examination of the slave trading era from the African perspective. Discusses how slave trade was the principle export of of sub-Saharan Africa. Also discussed are possible consequences such as depopulation and a depressed economy.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Examination of the slave trading era from the African perspective. Discusses how slave trade was the principle export of of sub-Saharan Africa. Also discussed are possible consequences such as depopulation and a depressed economy.
Paper Introduction:
PATTERNS OF DISLOCATION
The Slave Trade Within Africa
The slave trade of the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries is known, in popular imagination, primarily for those parts of it in which Europeans or people of European descent participated directly. We can draw on vivid images of slave ships making the Middle Passage, or of slaves being sold on the block or working in the fields in the New World. But, though the kidnapping of Kunte Kinte figured in Roots, the African end of the slave trade is far less familiar.
Yet the slave trade was the principal export trade of sub-Saharan Africa through much of the slave-trading era. By the same token, the trade goods which European slavers brought in
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From a few hundred slaves exported per year in the fifteenth century,annual exports by Europeans at first grew slowly, and only reached tenthousand annually about 16 . There is little directevidence that it stifled other trades; the exchange goods bought with slaveexports were, for the most part, goods not produced in Africa. Yet the slave trade was the principal export trade of sub-SaharanAfrica through much of the slave-trading era. Private buyers sought slaves chiefly for domestic use.The demand for domestic slaves was necessarily limited, and could be filledby casual raiding, or -- as was often the case -- by judicial enslavementfor crimes. 18).Price data indicate that the price of slaves purchased on the African coastdropped by a factor of three or four from the early seventeenth centurytill about 166 , and then began to increase again, going up roughlyfivefold by 175 . A slave could look forward to anything from humansacrifice to becoming eventually a member of his or her buyer's household,and perhaps even an heir (Reynolds, 1985, pp. It is the point at which theinternal African slave trade developed into a mechanism specialized toprovide a steady stream of Africans for purchase by European buyers. 22-23). For the most part, however, there was not a large-scale slave tradeas such, because of the nature of how slaves were obtained and the natureof the markets for slaves. However individual slavers obtained individual slaves, theywere essentially tapping the indigenous slave market. By its peak, the slave trade was removing more people than could bereadily replaced (Manning, 199 , pp. About that time the slave trade began to growmore rapidly, and by c. This was somewhat akin to English law, whichfunctioned at times to provide a steady flow of convicts for"transportation" as indentured servants (Reynolds, 1985, p. Where the demand for slaves was extensive, it was therefore dominatedby rulers rather than by merchants supplying private demand. From thepoint of view of a convicted person, his or her fate might or might nothave been improved. There was no extensive private plantationslavery, as there had been in the classical Mediterranean or as developedin the New World. New York:Cambridge.Reynolds, Edward (1985). New York: Allison and Busby. Throughslave trade they could purchase items such as guns and gunpowder. Near the point of capture,captives were of no particular use, and might also more easily escape. 175 exports reached their peak of 8 , slavesper year (All numbers estimated from Figure 1.1 in Manning, 199 , p. In turn,such items could be used to ensure their continued dominance -- andcontinued ability to obtain more slaves by raiding for them or exactingthem from neighbors as tribute. Throughout the slave era, the interiorof Africa remained largely unknown to Europeans; thus, it was Africanmerchants and other entrepreneurs who organized the trade within Africa. Before 166 , slave prices steadily dropped even asthe demand for slaves was gradually expanding. By the same token, the tradegoods which European slavers brought in order to purchase slaves was theprincipal sub-Saharan import trade. Itwas logical, then, to devise means by which captives could be quickly sentback from the front lines to safer holding areas. This mechanism took several forms. From thattime, price varied with demand, indicating that a mature slave-supplymarket was in place. PATTERNS OF DISLOCATION The Slave Trade Within Africa The slave trade of the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries isknown, in popular imagination, primarily for those parts of it in whichEuropeans or people of European descent participated directly. In those regions where judicialslavery had long existed, the law was essentially converted into ahandmaiden of slave traders. (For instance, if the penalty for their crime wouldhave been death, but they were transported instead, they could safely beconsidered better off.) Slave-taking states or individual rulers were ableto avail themselves of their relationship with European customers. 166 . A state thatrequired a large number of slaves could obtain them non-commercially,either by conquest and enslavement of neighbors, or (essentially avariation on the first) by imposing a tribute of slaves upon them. In some areas, slaverywas long-established; in others, there was no slavery until the developmentof the European slave trade. Stand the Storm: A History of the AtlanticSlave Trade. For simplicity,we will henceforth say simply "Africa," with the understanding that onlycertain portions of sub-Saharan West Africa are actually meant.The African Slave Background Slavery of various sorts was a long-established social institution inmany parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Indigenous slavery in Africa could takemany forms, and be characterized by greater or lesser degrees ofoppressiveness. The annual volume grew to some twentythousand around 166 -7 . We can drawon vivid images of slave ships making the Middle Passage, or of slavesbeing sold on the block or working in the fields in the New World. ReferencesManning, Patrick (199 ). Europeans were originally drawn tothe coast of West Africa by gold, and the rulers of the Gold Coast usedslaves to work their mines long before the arrival of the Europeans.Likewise, in the Songhai Empire, slaves were used in a plantation-likerole, to clear land, but these plantations were answerable directly to theAskiya or emperor. It is reasonable toassume, however, that this trade was originally a minor factor in theoverall movement of slaves within Africa. Moreover, any surplusesover state needs then made available to private buyers for whatever pricethey would fetch. The implication is that166 marks an approximate transition point. 5ff). In terms of its broad economic impact on West Africa, the maineffects of the slave trade were probably depopulation and a general tone ofinsecurity, both of which must have had a depressing effect on economiclife. Early slavers bought whateverslaves were readily available for sale, or carried out their own raids toobtain slaves. 37). Thus any aggressive state taking large numbers of slavesby capture was well-positioned to develop the institutions needed for alarge-scale commercial slave trade. In Mali and elsewhere, slaves were used as soldiers.This is a role quite alien to Western sensibilities, but far from rarehistorically; it was particularly widespread in the Muslim world, whereboth the Ottoman and Mameluke empires were based upon slave-soldiers. But,though the kidnapping of Kunte Kinte figured in Roots, the African end ofthe slave trade is far less familiar. No available data tell us the volume of slave-trading within Africabefore the growth of the European export slave trade. Taking these sets of data together, we find a sharp distinctionbetween price and supply patterns before and after c. The only large-scale users of slaves were what we would call thestate sector (Reynolds, 1985, pp. 8-9). Our concern here is with the internal slave trade in those parts ofWest Africa that eventually became influenced by the European slave trade.Separate slave trades existed in East Africa, supplying Middle Easternmarkets, but these trades lie outside our area of concern. The generaleffect of the slave trade, then, was to distort traditional Africaneconomic and social institutions into monstrous proportions. In thefirst of these cases, slaves were obtained by military means; in thelatter, basically by taxation. Slavery and African Life. However, the practice of enslaving war prisoners might lead to thedevelopment of slave-trading institutions.
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