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Although slavery has been practiced for almost the whole of recorded history, the vast numbers involved in the African slave trade has left a legacy which can not be ignored.
Slavery in Africa
Whether slavery existed within sub-Saharan African societies before the arrival of Europeans is a hotly contested point between Afrocentric and Eurocentric academics. What is certain is that Africans were subjected to several forms of slavery over the centuries, including chattel slavery under both the Muslims with the trans-Saharan slave trade, and Europeans through the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Even after the abolition of the slave trade in Africa, Colonial powers used forced labor – such as in King Leopold’s Congo Free State (which was operated as a massive labor camp) or as libertos on the Portuguese plantations of Cape Verde or São Tomé.
• Slavery in Africa
Islam and African Slavery
The Qur’an prescribes a humanitarian approach to slavery — free men could not be enslaved, and those faithful to foreign religions could live as protected persons. However, the spread of the Islamic Empire through Africa resulted in a much harsher interpretation of the law, and people from outside the borders of the Islamic Empire were considered an acceptable source of slaves.
• The Role of Islam in African Slavery
The Start of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
When the Portuguese first sailed down the Atlantic African coast in the 1430s, they were interested in one thing. Surprisingly, given modern perspectives, it was not slaves but gold. However, by 1500 they had traded already 81,000 Africans to Europe, nearby Atlantic islands, and to Muslim merchants in Africa.
• Origins of the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
São Tomé is considered to be a principle port in the export of slaves across the Atlantic, this is, however, only part of the story.
• São Tomé and the Slave Trade
The ‘Triangular Trade’ in Slaves
For two hundred years, 1440-1640, Portugal had a monopoly on the export of slaves from Africa. It is notable that they were also the last European country to abolish the institution – although, like France, it still continued to work former slaves as contract laborers, which they called libertos or engagés à temps. It is estimated that during the 4 1/2 centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Portugal was responsible for transporting over 4.5 million Africans (roughly 40% of the total). During the eighteenth century however, when the slave trade accounted for the transport of a staggering 6 million Africans, Britain was the worst transgressor – responsible for almost 2.5 million. (A fact often forgotten by those who regularly cite Britain’s prime role in the abolition of the slave trade.)
• The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
Information on how many slaves were shipped from Africa across the Atlantic to the Americas during the sixteenth century can only be estimated as very few records exist for this period. But from the seventeenth century onwards, increasingly accurate records, such as ship manifests, are available.
• How Many Slaves Were Taken from Africa?
Slaves for the Trans-Atlantic slave trade were initially sourced in Senegambia and the Windward Coast. Around 1650 the trade moved to west-central Africa (the Kingdom of the Kongo and neighboring Angola).
• Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: Origins of Slaves
Slavery in South Africa
It is a popular misconception that slavery in South Africa was mild compared to America and the European colonies in the Far East. This is not so, and punishments meted out could be very harsh. From 1680 to 1795 an average of one slave was executed in Cape Town each month and the decaying corpses would be re-hung around town to act as a deterrent to other slaves. Find out more about the laws and punishments imposed on slaves in the Cape Colony during the 18th century.
• Slave Laws in South Africa
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