Introduction:
From North to South, and from East to West, the African continent
became intimately connected with black slavery both as one of the principal
areas in the world where slavery was common, and also as a major
source of slaves for ancient civilization, the medieval world and all
the continents of the modern period.
In West Africa slavery was known among many of the states and
societies. For example the Mende and Temne of Sierra Leone, the Vai of
Liberia and Sierra Leone, and virtually all the states and societies
in Guinea, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Mali, Nigeria etc. In Central
Africa slavery was practiced in much of Bantu Africa for example among
the Duala of Cameroon; the Bakongo, Bapende Lubaand Lunda of Zaire (
now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Congo and part of Angola,
and the Lozi of Zambia. In East Africa the Buganda state, the Nyamwezi
and the Chagga peoples practiced slavery. Along the coast, the Mrima
Arabs, Omani Arabs and the Sawahilis practiced slavery. In Southern
Africa the Cokwe of Angola, the Sena of Mozambique and the Ngoni
people scattered across East, Central and Southern Africa were all
familiar with the institution of slavery.
Dimensions of the Slave Trade:
There were two
dimensions to slavery and the slave trade in pre-colonial Africa, an
external and internal dimension. The external dimension involved trade
across the Sahara, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Arabic and
Indian ocean worlds. This trade began in ancient times and continued
into the modern period. Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome used African
slaves. Medieval Europe and the Arabic and Islamic world, and the
continent of Asia made use of African slaves. On the islands of the
Eastern Mediterranean African slaves could be found working with
slaves from Asia Minor, Greece, the Balkans, Eastern and Northern
Europe.
In the early modern period the picture was very much the same. What is interesting in the ancient, medieval and early modern period is
the existence of not only black and white slaves working together but
also the prevalence of three main forms of labour not limited to
colour, i.e. slave labour, indentured labour and serfdom.
In 1453 the Ottoman capture of Constantinople halted the flow of white
slaves from the Black Sea region and the Balkans. Mediterranean Europe
was thus cut off from one of its traditional source of slaves.
Mediterranean Europe turned completely to Africa for slave labour ( A
History of World Societies, 3rd Ed., Mckay, Hill & Bucklar, U.S.A.
1992, p.596).
The last phase of the external trade was that which involved the
Oriental, Islamic and Atlantic worlds during the 15thto the
19th centuries. Suzanne Miers relates that the function of slavery in
the Islamic world was both social and economic, and that the market
was selective and sophisticated. The most highly prized were not
Africans but the white slaves usually Circassian or Georgian girls.
They were wanted as concubines in Harems as far apart as Zanzibar and
Morocco in Africa, but they were expensive and the numbers small. In
Arabia, Ethiopian men cost more than the black men of Africa because
they were considered more refined and intelligent and less suited to
heavy work. The desert nomads and the employers of heavy labour,
however, wanted hardy blacks. There was a market in Arabia for
black slaves from as far afield as modern Malawi in Africa ( Britain
and the Ending of the Slave trade, S. Miers, London 1975, p. 56-58).
The internal trade was conducted within the African continent itself.
It involved trade between North Africa and West Africa on the one hand
and East, Central and Southern Africa on the other hand. My country
Ghana, formerly called the Gold Coast became important in the trade
with other West African states and with North Africa because of its
richness in gold. Daaku relates that the Akan of Ghana were drawn into
the main stream of developments in the trade across the Sahara to
North Africa because the Offin and the Pra river basins where they
were concentrated in large numbers were rich in gold ( Trade and
Politics on the Gold Coast 1600-1720, K.Y. Daaku, Great Britain 1970,
p. 3). Archaeological evidence indicates that the ancient gold mining
areas in Ghana were atJinjini and Chemraso in modern Dormaa Ahenkro;
Nsuhunu, Banda Nkwanta, Jenikrom, Awusu and Atuna in the modern
Takyiman area and a number of Adanse villages and towns such as
Kenyasi, Jameskrom and Jeda (Rediscovering Ghana's Past, J. Anquandah,
Great Britain, 1982, p.41).
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Sub-Saharan Africa
Slavery Index:
East Africa & The
Sahara
How Were Slaves
Acquired? 
Why Were Slaves Needed?
Pre-Colonial
Structure
Rights &
Treatment
Disabled Slaves
Traditional
Political Setting
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Bono Manso and Begho in modern Brong Ahafo region became
important centres for this trade from 1000 to 1750 A.D. The
Mande Dyula were the professional merchants in this trade. The
West African forest region supplied gold, kola nuts, ivory and
slaves in this trade. Ghana though in the forest region was
known to have supplied gold, kola nuts and ivory. The West
African savanna region provided millet, sorghum, wheat, live
stock, gum, shea butter, ivory, ostrich feathers, cloth, gold
and slaves. The Sahara contributed salt, copper, tobacco and
dates. From Europe and the Muslim world came textiles and
garments made from wool, silk, brocade, velvet or satin;
calicoes, metals such as brass, copper, silver, tin and lead.
Other goods from the Mediterranean world were books, writing
paper, cowries, tea, coffee, sugar, spices, jewellery, perfumes,
bracelets, mirrors, carpets, beads etc. Ghana obtained slaves
through this trade from the 1stto the 16th centuries A.D.
All the West African states along the Atlantic coast were linked by a
southern trade route covering modern Senegal to modern Nigeria. Ghana,
again because of its wealth in gold, exchanged gold for slaves, beads,
cotton, cloth and palm oil from the Benin state in modern Nigeria.
From Dahomey and Ivory Coast, Ghana exchanged gold for the famous
quaqua cloth. Shama on the Ghana coast was the entrepot of trade.
When the first Europeans i.e. the Portuguese set foot on the shores of
Ghana in 1471, they found in existence a brisk trade in slaves and
other goods between Ghana and its coastal neighbours, it took part in
the trade and for 100 years was the only European country trading
directly with Ghana and its coastal neighbours. In 1479 Eustache de la
Fosse stated that he bought slaves from the Grain Coast for sale at
Shama. Pacheco Pereira reported that because the kingdom of Benin in
modern Nigeria was usually at war with its neighbours it possessed many
captives. The slaves were brought to Ghana and exchanged for gold (
Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis, D. Pacheco Pereira, translated and edited by
G.H.T. Kimble, London 1937, p. 126). In addition to slaves the
Portuguese brought cotton cloths, panther skins, palm oil and some
blue shells with red stripes called coris from Benin to exchange for
gold.
Post Abolition:
While we can talk of the year 1807 as the year Britain
passed a law abolishing the Atlantic slave trade in Britain
and all its colonial possessions and therefore most of
Africa was affected, we cannot say the same with respect to
the Internal/ Indigenous system of slavery. Every country
had a different date passed by its colonial master. In Ghana
for example Internal slavery and slave trading was abolished
in 1874 by the British Colonial Government in the Gold Coast
Colony. This was the southernmost part of Ghana marked by
the Pra river. In Asante and the Northern Territories it was
not until 1908.
There were immediate and long term effects of abolition in
Ghana. The immediate effects were that first, freed slaves
who could readily trace their relatives and families which
could trace their enslaved relatives appealed to the British
District Commissioners' Courts for redemption of their
relatives after payment of a fee. Second, some freed slaves
settled on Christian Mission Stations, especially the Basel
Mission Stations at Agogo and Kumasi. Third, other slaves
left their former owners to begin lives on their own.
Fourth, the majority of freed slaves remained in the
households of their former owners under new terms and
conditions. In the long term, freed slaves and their
descendants were assimilated into the families to which they
were already associated.
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