Arab slave trade
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{{slavery}}
The '''Arab [[slave trade]]''' was the practice of [[slavery]] in [[Southwest Asia|West Asia]], [[North Africa]], [[East Africa]], and certain parts of [[Europe]] (such as [[Sicily]] and [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]]) during their period of domination by Arab leaders. The trade mostly involved North and East [[African people|Africans]] and [[Middle East]]ern peoples ([[Arab]]s, [[Berbers]], etc. Also, the Arab slave trade was not limited to people of certain color, ethnicity, or religion. In the early days of the [[Islam]]ic state—during the 8th and 9th centuries—most of the slaves were [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] [[Eastern Europe]]ans (called [[Saqaliba]]), people from surrounding [[Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean]] areas, Persians, [[Turkic peoples|Turks]], other neighbouring Middle Eastern peoples, peoples from the [[Caucasus]] Mountain regions (such as [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] and [[Armenia]]) and parts of [[Central Asia]], [[Berbers]], and various other peoples of varied origins as well as those of [[Black people|Black]] African origins. Later, toward the 18th and 19th centuries, slaves increasingly came from [[East Africa]].<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24159 Historical survey > The international slave trade]</ref><ref>[http://www.answering-islam.org/ReachOut/slavetrade.html Arabs and Slave Trade]</ref><ref>[http://www.globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=2617&cid=2&sid=2 Should The Islamic World Apologize For Slavery?]</ref>
Some historians estimate that between 11 and 18 million black African slaves crossed the [[Red Sea]], [[Indian Ocean]], and [[Sahara]] Desert from 650 AD to 1900 AD,<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24156 Welcome to Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to Black History]</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1523100.stm Focus on the slave trade]</ref><ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_9_54/ai_85410331/pg_2 The Unknown Slavery: In the Muslim world, that is — and it's not over]</ref> or more than the 9.4 to 14 million Africans brought to the Americas in the [[Atlantic slave trade]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6445941.stm BBC NEWS | Africa | Quick guide: The slave trade<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
The [[Middle Age|medieval]] slave trade in [[Europe]] was mainly to the East and South: The [[Byzantine Empire]] and the [[Muslim World]] were the destinations, pagan [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]] an important source. [[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>[http://scatoday.net/node/3565 Slavery, serfdom, and indenture through the Middle Ages]</ref> [[Viking]], [[Arab]], [[Greeks|Greek]] and [[Jew]]ish merchants (known as [[Radhanites]]) were all involved in the slave trade during the [[Middle Ages#Early Middle Ages|Early Middle Ages]].<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9378861 Slave trade -- Britannica Concise Encyclopedia]</ref><ref>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=849&letter=S JewishEncyclopedia.com - slave-trade]</ref><ref>[http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages\S\L\Slavery.htm Slavery Encyclopedia of Ukraine]</ref>
Periodic raiding expeditions were sent from [[Al-Andalus|Islamic Iberia]] to ravage the Christian Iberian kingdoms, bringing back booty and slaves. In a raid against [[Lisbon]] in 1189 CE, for example, the [[Almohad]] caliph [[Yaqub al-Mansur]] took 3,000 female and child captives, while his governor of [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]], in a subsequent attack upon [[Silves]] in 1191 CE, took 3,000 Christian slaves.<ref>[http://libro.uca.edu/rc/rc1.htm Ransoming Captives in Crusader Spain: The Order of Merced on the Christian-Islamic Frontier]</ref>
According to [[Robert Davis]] between 1 million and 1.25 million [[White people|Europeans]] were captured by [[Barbary pirates]], who were vassals of the [[Ottoman Empire]], and sold as slaves between the 16th and 19th centuries.<ref>[http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/whtslav.htm ''When europeans were slaves: Research suggests white slavery was much more common than previously believed'']</ref><ref>Davis, Robert. ''Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500-1800''.Based on "records for 27,233 voyages that set out to obtain slaves for the Americas". Stephen Behrendt, "Transatlantic Slave Trade", ''Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience'' (New York: Basic Civitas Books, 1999), ISBN 0-465-00071-1.</ref> These slaves were captured mainly from seaside villages from [[Italy]], [[Spain]], [[Portugal]] and also from more distant places like [[France]] or [[England]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Ireland]] and even [[Iceland]] and [[North America]]. The impact of these [[List of Ottoman sieges and landings|attacks]] was devastating – [[France]], [[England]], and [[Spain]] each lost thousands of ships, and long stretches of the Spanish and Italian coasts were almost completely abandoned by their inhabitants. [[Pirate]] raids discouraged settlement along the coast until the 19th century.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/white_slaves_01.shtml BBC - History - British Slaves on the Barbary Coast]</ref><ref>[http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_2_urbanities-thomas_jefferson.html Jefferson Versus the Muslim Pirates by Christopher Hitchens, City Journal Spring 2007]</ref>
[[Image:Slavezanzibar.jpg|thumb|right|160px|upright|Slavery in [[Zanzibar]]. 'An Arab master's punishment for a slight offence. The log weighed 32 pounds, and the boy could only move by carrying it on his head.' Unknown photographer, c. 1890.<ref>[http://www.untoldlondon.org.uk/news/ART38118.html National Maritime Museum, London]</ref>]]
The [[Ottoman wars in Europe]] and [[Tatar invasions|Tatar raids]] brought large numbers of European Christian slaves into the [[Islam by country|Islamic world]] too.<ref>[http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~fisher/hst373/readings/inalcik6.html Supply of Slaves]</ref><ref>[http://www.avalanchepress.com/Soldier_Khan.php Soldier Khan]</ref><ref>[http://www.americanthinker.com/2005/04/the_living_legacy_of_jihad_sla.html The living legacy of jihad slavery]</ref>
The 'Oriental' or 'Arab' slave trade is sometimes called the 'Islamic' slave trade, but a religious imperative was not the driver of the slavery, [[Patrick Manning]], a professor of World History, states. However, since if a non-Muslim population refuses to adopt Islam or pay the Jizzya protection/ subjugation tax, that population is considered to be at war with the Muslim "ummah" and therefore it becomes legal under Islamic law to take slaves from that non-Muslim population. Usage of the terms "Islamic trade" or "Islamic world" has been disputed by some Muslims as it treats Africa as outside of Islam, or a negligible portion of the [[Islamic world]].<ref> Manning (1990) p.10 </ref> Propagators of [[Islam in Africa]] often revealed a cautious attitude towards proselytizing because of its effect in reducing the potential reservoir of slaves.<ref>Murray Gordon, “Slavery in the Arab World.” New Amsterdam Press, New York, 1989. Originally published in French by Editions Robert Laffont, S.A. Paris, 1987, page 28.</ref>
From a Western point of view, the subject merges with the '''[[Islam and slavery#Oriental slave trade|Oriental slave trade]]''', which followed two main routes in the [[Middle Ages]]:
* Overland routes across the [[Maghreb]] and [[Mashreq]] deserts ([[Trans-Saharan trade|Trans-Saharan]] route)<ref>[http://www.sfusd.edu/schwww/sch618/Ibn_Battuta/Battuta's_Trip_Twelve.html Battuta's Trip: Journey to West Africa (1351 - 1353)]</ref>
* Sea routes to the east of Africa through the [[Red Sea]] and [[Indian Ocean]] (Oriental route)<ref>[http://www.pilotguides.com/destination_guide/africa/tanzania_and_zanzibar/slave_trade.php The blood of a nation of Slaves in Stone Town]</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6510675.stm BBC Remembering East African slave raids]</ref>
Historians say the Arab slave trade began in the 7th century and lasted more than a [[millennium]].<ref>[http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/22NTE7XMTJIHE "Know about Islamic Slavery in Africa"]</ref><ref>[http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Classroom/9912/easterntrade.html The Forgotten Holocaust: The Eastern Slave Trade]</ref> Arab traders brought Africans across the Indian Ocean from present-day [[Kenya]], [[Tanzania]], [[Sudan]], western [[Ethiopia]] and elsewhere in East Africa to present-day [[Iraq]], [[Iran]], [[Kuwait]], [[Turkey]] and other parts of the [[Middle East]] <ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A6645-2004Jan10¬Found=true A Legacy Hidden in Plain Sight]</ref> and [[South Asia]] (mainly [[Pakistan]] and [[India]]). Unlike the trans-[[Atlantic slave trade]] to the [[New World]], Arabs supplied African slaves to the [[Muslim world]], which at its peak stretched over three continents from the [[Atlantic]] ([[Morocco]], [[Spain]]) to [[India]] and eastern [[China]].
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. 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]] 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>[http://mondediplo.com/1998/04/02africa The impact of the slave trade on Africa]</ref>
[[Image:Geromeslavemarket.jpg|thumb|upright|220px|''The Slave Market'' (c. 1884), painting by [[Jean-Leon Gerome]]. Painting suggests that some White Europeans, particularly women, were brought as slaves in the Islamic world.]]
==Sources and historiography of the slave trade==
===A recent and controversial topic===
[[Image:Boutre indien.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Dhow]]s were used to transport African slaves to [[India]].]]
The history of the slave trade has given rise to numerous debates amongst historians. For one thing, specialists are undecided on the number of Africans taken from their homes; this is difficult to resolve because of a lack of reliable statistics: there was no census system in medieval Africa. Archival material for the transatlantic trade in the 16th to 18th centuries may seem useful as a source, yet these record books were often falsified. Historians have to use imprecise narrative documents to make estimates which must be treated with caution: Luiz Felipe de Alencastro states that there were 8 million slaves taken from Africa between the 8th and 19th centuries along the Oriental and the Trans-Saharan routes.<ref>Luiz Felipe de Alencastro, ''Traite'', in ''Encyclopædia Universalis'' (2002), corpus 22, page 902.</ref> Olivier Pétré-Grenouilleau has put forward a figure of 17 million African people enslaved (in the same period and from the same area) on the basis of Ralph Austen's work.<ref>Ralph Austen, ''African Economic History'' (1987)</ref> [[Paul Bairoch]] suggests a figure of 25 million African people subjected to the Arab slave trade, as against 11 million that arrived in the Americas from the [[transatlantic slave trade]].<ref>Paul Bairoch, ''Mythes et paradoxes de l'histoire économique'', (1994). See also: ''Economics and World History: Myths and Paradoxes'' (1993)</ref> [[Owen 'Alik Shahadah]] author of African Holocaust (audio documentary), puts the figure at 10 million and argues that the trade only boomed in the 18th century, prior to this the trade was "a trickle trade" and that exaggerated numbers have been claimed in order to de-emphasize the Transatlantic trade. <ref name="Arab Slave Trade">{{cite web|url=http://www.arabslavetrade.com|publisher="[[Owen 'Alik Shahadah]]"|title="Slavery in Arabia"|}}</ref>
Another obstacle to a history of the Arab slave trade is the limitations of extant sources. There exist documents from non-African cultures, written by educated men in Arabic, but these only offer an incomplete and often condescending look at the phenomenon. For some years there has been a huge amount of effort going into historical research on Africa. Thanks to new methods and new perspectives, historians can interconnect contributions from [[archaeology]], [[numismatics]], [[anthropology]], [[linguistics]] and [[demography]] to compensate for the inadequacy of the written record.
In Africa, slaves taken by African owners were often captured, either through raids or as a result of warfare, and frequently employed in manual labor by the captors. Some slaves were traded for goods or services to other African kingdoms.
The Arab slave trade from East Africa is one of the oldest slave trades, predating the European transatlantic slave trade by hundreds of years.<ref> Mintz, S. ''Digital History Slavery, Facts & Myths'' </ref> Male slaves who were often made [[eunuchs]] were employed as servants, soldiers, or laborers by their owners, while female slaves, mostly from Africa, were long traded to the Middle Eastern countries and kingdoms by Arab and Oriental traders, some as [[concubines]] and others as servants. Arab, African, and Oriental traders were involved in the capture and transport of slaves northward across the Sahara desert and the Indian Ocean region into the Middle East, Persia, and the Indian subcontinent.
From approximately 650 CE until around 1900 CE the Arab slave trade continued in one form or another. The Moroccan Sultan [[Moulay Ismail]] "the Bloodthirsty" (1672-1727) raised a corps of 150,000 black slaves, called his [[Black Guard]], who coerced the country into submission.<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/lewis1.html Lewis. Race and Slavery in the Middle East. Oxford Univ Press 1994.]</ref> Historical accounts and references to slave-owning nobility in Arabia, [[Yemen]] and elsewhere are frequent into the early 1920s.<ref> Mintz, S. ''Digital History Slavery, Facts & Myths'' </ref> In 1953, sheikhs from [[Qatar]] attending the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II included slaves in their retinues, and they did so again on another visit five years later.<ref>http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-85410331.html 'The Unknown Slavery: In the Muslim world, that is -- and it's not over.
(From: [[National Review]] | Date: 5/20/2002 | Author: Miller, John J.)
</ref> As recently as the 1950s, the [[Saudi Arabia]]’s slave population was estimated at 450,000 — just 20% of the population.<ref>[http://www.answering-islam.org/Silas/slavery.htm Slavery in Islam]</ref><ref>[http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/apr07/page18.html £400 for a Slave]</ref> It is estimated that as many as 200,000 black Sudanese children and women had been taken into [[slavery in Sudan]] during the [[Second Sudanese Civil War]].<ref>[http://www.iabolish.org/slavery_today/in_depth/sudan-genocide.html War and Genocide in Sudan]</ref><ref>[http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/livewire/archived/the_lost_children_of_sudan/ The Lost Children of Sudan]</ref> [[Slavery in modern Africa|Slavery in Mauritania]] was legally abolished by laws passed in 1905, 1961, and 1981.<ref>[http://www.reuters.com/article/inDepthNews/idUSL1833437920070322?feedType=RSS Slavery still exists in Mauritania]</ref> It was finally criminalized in August 2007.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6938032.stm Mauritanian MPs pass slavery law]</ref> It is estimated that up to 600,000 black Mauritanians, or 20% of the [[Mauritania]]’s population, are currently enslaved, many of them used as [[bonded labour]].<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1458_abolition/page4.shtml The Abolition season on BBC World Service]</ref>
For some people, any mention of the slave-trading past of the Arab world is rejected as an attempt to minimise the [[Atlantic slave trade|transatlantic trade]]. Yet a slave trade in the [[Indian Ocean]], [[Red Sea]], and [[Mediterranean]] pre-dates the arrival of any significant number of Europeans on the African continent.<ref>Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch, in ''Les Collections de l'Histoire'' (April 2001) says:''"la traite vers l'Océan indien et la Méditerranée est bien antérieure à l'irruption des Européens sur le continent"'' </ref><ref> Mintz, S. ''Digital History Slavery, Facts & Myths'' </ref>
Descendants of the African slaves brought to the Middle East during the slave-trade still exist there today, and are aware of their African origins.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A6645-2004Jan10 A Legacy Hidden in Plain Sight (washingtonpost.com)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://members.tripod.com/~yajaffar/african.html Dr Susan<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
===Medieval Arabic Sources===
[[Image:IbnBattuta.jpg|thumb|left|220px|[[Ibn Battuta|Ibn Battûta]] - first Arab geographer to visit sub-Saharan Africa {{Fact|date=February 2007}}]]
These are given in chronological order. Scholars from the [[Arab world]] had been travelling to Africa since the time of [[Muhammad]] in the 7th century.
* [[Ali al-Masudi|Al Masudi]] (died 957), ''Muruj adh-dhahab'' or ''Meadows of Gold'', the reference manual for geographers and historians of the Muslim world. The author had travelled widely across the Arab world as well as the Far East.
* [[Ya'qubi]] (9th century), ''Book of Countries''
* [[Al-Bakri]], author of ''[[Book of Roads and Kingdoms (al-Bakri)|Book of Roads and Kingdoms]]'', published in Cordoba around 1068, gives us information about the [[Berbers]] and their activities; he collected eye-witness accounts on [[Sahara]]n caravan routes.
* [[Muhammad al-Idrisi|Al Idrisi]] (died circa 1165), ''Description of Africa and Spain''
* [[Ibn Battuta|Ibn Battûta]] (died circa 1377), [[Marinid]] geographer who travelled to sub-Saharan Africa, to [[Gao]] and to [[Timbuktu]]. His principal work is called ''Gift for those who like to reflect on the curiosities of towns and marvels of travel''.
* [[Ibn Khaldun]] (died in 1406), historian and philosopher from North Africa. Sometimes considered as the historian of Arab, Berber and Persian societies. He is the author of ''Historical Prolegomena'' and ''History of the Berbers''.
* [[Al-Maqrizi|Ahmad al-Maqrî]] (died in 1442), Egyptian historian. His main contribution is his description of Cairo markets.
* [[Leo Africanus]] (died circa 1548), author of a rare description of Africa.
* Rifa'a al Tahtawi (died in 1873), who translated medieval works on geography and history. His work is mostly about Muslim Egypt.
* Joseph Cuoq, ''Collection of Arabic sources concerning Western Africa between the 8th and 16th centuries (Paris 1975)
===European texts (16th - 19th centuries)===
* [[João de Castro]], ''Roteiro de Lisboa a Goa'' (1538)
* [[James Bruce]], (1730-1794), ''Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile'' (1790)
* [[René Caillié]], (1799-1838), ''Journal d'un voyage à Tombouctou''
* [[Johann Ludwig Burckhardt]], (1784-1817), ''Travels in Nubia'' (1819)
* [[Henry Morton Stanley]], (1841-1904), ''Through the Dark Continent'' (1878)
===Other sources===
* African Arabic and [[Ajami]] Manuscripts
* African oral tradition
* [[Kilwa Kisiwani|Kilwa]] Chronicle (16th century fragments)
* Numismatics: analysis of coins and of their [[Diffusion (anthropology)|diffusion]]
* Archaeology: architecture of trading posts and of towns associated with the slave trade
* Iconography: Arab and Persian [[Miniature (illuminated manuscript)|miniatures]] in major libraries
* European engravings, contemporary with the slave trade, and some more modern
* Photographs from the 19th century onward
* [[Ethiopia]]n ( [[Ge'ez language|Ge'ez]] and [[Amharic]])historical texts
==Historical and geographical context of the Arab slave trade==
{{Totally-disputed|date=March 2008}}
A brief review of the region and era in which the Oriental and trans-Saharan slave trade took place should be useful here. It is not a detailed study of the Arab world, nor of Africa, but an outline of key points which will help with understanding the slave trade in this part of the world.
===The Islamic world===
{{mainarticle|Muslim world}}
The religion of [[Islam]] appeared in the 7th century [[Common Era|CE]], and in the next hundred years it was quickly diffused throughout the Mediterranean area, spread by Arabs who had conquered North Africa after its long occupation by the Berbers; they invaded the [[Iberian peninsula]] where they displaced the [[Visigoth]] kingdom. Arabs also took control of western Asia from the [[Byzantine Empire]] and from the [[Sassanid]] Persians. These regions therefore had a diverse range of different peoples. To some extent, these regions were unified by an imposed Islamic culture built on both religious and civic foundations; they used the Arabic language and the ''[[dinar]]'' (currency) in commercial transactions. [[Mecca]] in Arabia, then as now, was the holy city of Islam and pilgrimage centre for all Muslims, whatever their origins.
{{mainarticle|Islam and slavery}}
It must be noted here that the conquests of the Arab armies and the expansion of the Islamic state that followed, have always resulted in the capture of war prisoners who were subsequently set free or turned into slaves or ''Raqeeq'' (رقيق) and servants rather than taken as prisoners as was the Islamic tradition in wars. Once taken as slaves, they had to be dealt with in accordance with the Islamic law which was the law of the Islamic state especially during the [[Umayyad]] and [[Abbasid]] eras. According to that law, slaves are allowed to earn their living if they opted for that, otherwise it is the owner’s (master) duty to provide for that. They also can’t be forced to earn money for their masters unless with an agreement between the slave and the master. This concept is called “مخارجة” in the Islamic jurisprudence. If the slave agrees to that and he would like the money s/he earns to be counted toward his/her emancipation then this has to be written in the form of a contract between the slave and the master. This is called “مكاتبة” (mukatabah) in the Islamic jurisprudence. Muslims believe that slave owners in Islam are strongly encouraged to perform “mukatabah” with their slaves as directed by [[Qur’an]]
:And if any of your slaves ask for a deed in writing (to enable them to earn their freedom for a certain sum), give them such a deed if ye know any good in them: yea, give them something yourselves out of the means which Allah has given to you. [http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/024.qmt.html 24:33] </blockquote>
The framework of Islamic civilisation was a well-developed network of towns and [[oasis]] trading centres with the market (''[[souk]], [[bazaar]]'') at its heart. These towns were inter-connected by a system of roads crossing semi-arid regions or deserts. The routes were travelled by convoys, and black slaves formed part of this [[Caravan (travellers)|caravan]] traffic.
===Instances of Arab prejudice regarding Negroid peoples and slaves===
Racist opinions occurred in the works of some historians and geographers: so in the 14th century CE [[Ibn Khaldun]] could write:
''"...the [[Negro]] nations are, as a rule, submissive to slavery, because (Negroes) have little that is (essentially) human and possess attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals..."''
However, Ibn Khaldun also wrote about the nomad Arabs themselves (referring to the Bedouin):
'':"they are the most savage human beings that exist. Compared with sedentary people, they are on a level with wild, untamable animals and dumb beasts of prey ... Arabs dominate only on the plains, because they are, by their savage nature, people of pillage and corruption. They pillage everything that they can take without fighting or taking risks, then flee to their refuge in the wilderness, and do not stand and do battle unless in self defence."<ref> [http://www.al-eman.com/islamlib/viewchp.asp?BID=163&CID=8#s3]. The Muqaddimah, Translated by F. Rosenthal</ref> ''
In addition, there is debate over his ethnicity, some refer to him as Andalusian/Spanish (he grew up there, his parents were from there), some say he was a Berber/North African (time spent in Tunis, ancestry), and some say he was an Arab (he traced ancestors to Yemen).
{{mainarticle|Ibn Khaldun}}
In the same period, the Egyptian Al-Abshibi (1388-1446) wrote, "It is said that when the [black] slave is sated, he fornicates, when he is hungry, he steals."<ref>{{cite book
| last = Lewis
| first = Bernard
| authorlink = Bernard Lewis
| year = 2002
| title = Race and Slavery in the Middle East
| pages = 93
| publisher = Oxford University Press
| id = ISBN 0195053265
}}</ref>
===Africa: 8th through 19th centuries===
[[Image:Medieval Arab Slave Trade.svg|thumb|right|400px|13th century Africa - Map of the main trade routes and states, kingdoms and empires]]
In the 8th century AD, Africa was dominated by Arab-Berbers in the north: Islam moved southwards along the [[Nile]] and along the desert trails.
*The Sahara was thinly populated. Nevertheless, since Antiquity there had been cities living on a trade in salt, gold, slaves, cloth, and on agriculture enabled by irrigation: [[Tahert]], [[Oualata]], [[Sijilmasa]], Zaouila, and others. They were ruled by Arab, Berber, [[Fulani]], [[Hausa]] and [[Tuareg]]s. Their independence was relative and depended on the power of the Maghrebi and Egyptian states.
*In the Middle Ages, sub-Saharan Africa was called [[Sudan(region)|bilad -ul-Sûdân]] in Arabic, meaning ''land of the Blacks''. It provided a pool of manual labour for North Africa and Saharan Africa. This region was dominated by certain states: the [[Ghana Empire]], the [[Empire of Mali]], the [[Kanem-Bornu Empire]].
*In eastern Africa, the coasts of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean were controlled by native Muslims, and Arabs were important as traders along the coasts. [[Nubia]] had been a "supply zone" for slaves since Antiquity. The Ethiopian coast, particularly the port of [[Massawa]] and [[Dahlak Archipelago]], had long been a hub for the exportation of slaves from the interior, even in [[Kingdom of Aksum|Aksumite]] times. The port and most coastal areas were largely Muslim, and the port itself was home to a number of Arab and Indian merchants.<ref>Pankhurst, Richard. ''The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century'' (Asmara, Eritrea: Red Sea Press, 1997), pp.416</ref>
[[Image:ST-slaves.jpg|thumb|left|300px|''Slaves in eastern Africa'' - illustration from late 19th century)]]
The [[Solomonic dynasty]] of [[Ethiopia]] often exported [[Nilotic]] slaves from their western borderland provinces, or from newly conquered or reconquered Muslim provinces. <ref>Pankhurst. ''Ethiopian Borderlands'', pp.432</ref> Native Muslim Ethiopian sultanates exported slaves as well, such as the sometimes independent [[Adal Sultanate]].<ref>Pankhurst. ''Ethiopian Borderlands'', pp.59</ref> On the coast of the Indian Ocean too, slave-trading posts were set up by Arabs. The archipelago of [[Zanzibar]], along the coast of present-day [[Tanzania]], is undoubtedly the most notorious example of these trading colonies. East Africa and the Indian Ocean continued as an important region for the Oriental slave trade up until the 19th century. [[David Livingstone|Livingstone]] and [[Henry Morton Stanley|Stanley]] were then the first Europeans to penetrate to the interior of the Congo basin and to discover the scale of slavery there. The Arab [[Tippu Tip]] extended his influence and made many people slaves. After Europeans had settled in the [[Gulf of Guinea]], the trans-Saharan slave trade became less important. In Zanzibar, slavery was abolished late, in 1897, under Sultan [[Hamoud bin Mohammed of Zanzibar|Hamoud bin Mohammed]].
*The rest of Africa had no direct contact with Muslim slave-traders.
==Africa and the Arab slave trade==
{{Unreferenced|date=November 2006}}
{{POV-section|date=December 2007}}
People were captured, transported, bought and sold by some very different characters. The trade passed through a series of intermediaries and enriched some sections of the Muslim aristocracy.
Slavery fed on wars between African peoples and states, which gave rise to an internal slave trade. Those conquered owed tribute in the form of men and women reduced to captivity. [[Sonni Ali]] Ber (1464–1492), emperor of [[Songhai Empire|Songhai]], waged many wars to extend his territory.
In the 8th and 9th centuries, the [[Caliph]]s had tried to colonise the African shores of the Indian Ocean for commercial purposes. But these establishments were ephemeral, often founded by exiles or adventurers. The Sultan of Cairo sent slave traffickers on raids against the villages of [[Darfur]]. In the face of these attacks, the people formed militias, building towers and outer defences to protect their villages.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
==Geography of the slave trade==
==="Supply" zones===
[[Image:Different cowries.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Cowrie]] shells were used as money in the slave trade]]
Merchants of slaves for the Orient stocked up in Europe. Danish merchants had bases in the [[Volga]] region and dealt in [[Slavic peoples|Slavs]] with Arab merchants. [[Circassians|Circassian]] slaves were conspicuously present in the [[harem]]s and there were many [[odalisque]]s from that region in the paintings of [[Orientalism|Orientalists]]. Non-Muslim slaves were valued in the harems, for all roles (gate-keeper, servant, odalisque, musician, dancer, court dwarf). In the Ottoman Empire, the last black slave sold in Ethiopia named Hayrettin Effendi, was freed in 1918. The slaves of Slavic origin in [[Al-Andalus]] came from the [[Varangians]] who had captured them. They were put in the Caliph's guard and gradually took up important posts in the army (they became ''[[saqaliba]]''), and even went to take back [[taifa]]s after the civil war had led to an implosion of the Western Caliphate. Columns of slaves feeding the great harems of [[Córdoba, Spain|Cordoba]], [[Seville]] and [[Grenada]] were organised by Jewish merchants (''mercaderes'') from Germanic countries and parts of Northern Europe not controlled by the [[Carolingian Empire]]. These columns crossed the [[Rhône River|Rhône]] valley to reach the lands to the south of the [[Pyrenees]].
There are also many historical evidence and reports of North African Muslim slave raids all along the Mediterranean coasts across Christian Europe and beyond to even as far north as the British Isles and Iceland. See book titled [[White Gold]]
Slaves were also brought into the Arab world via [[Central Asia]]. many of these slaves went on to serve in the armies forming an elite rank.
*At sea, [[Barbary pirates]] joined in this traffic when they could capture people by boarding ships or by incursions into coastal areas.
*[[Nubia]] and [[Ethiopia]] were also "exporting" regions: in the 15th century, Ethiopians sold slaves from western borderland areas (usually just outside of the realm of the [[Emperor of Ethiopia]]) or [[Ennarea]],<ref>Emery Van Donzel, "Primary and Secondary Sources for Ethiopian Historiography. The Case of Slavery and Slave-Trade in Ethiopia," in Claude Lepage, ed., ''Études éthiopiennes'', vol I. France: Société française pour les études éthiopiennes, 1994, pp.187-88.</ref> which often ended up in India, where they worked on ships or as soldiers. They eventually rebelled and took power (dynasty of the [[Habshi]] Kings in Bengal 1487-1493).
*The Sûdân region and Saharan Africa formed another "export" area, but it is impossible to estimate the scale, since there is a lack of sources with figures.
* Finally, the slave traffic affected eastern Africa, but the distance and local hostility slowed down this section of the Oriental trade.
===Routes===
Caravan trails, set up in the 9th century, went past the oases of the Sahara; travel was difficult and uncomfortable for reasons of climate and distance. Since Roman times, long convoys had transported slaves as well as all sorts of products to be used for [[barter]]. To protect against attacks from desert nomads, slaves were used as an escort. Any who slowed down the progress of the caravan were killed.
Historians know less about the sea routes. From the evidence of illustrated documents, and travellers' tales, it seems that people travelled on [[dhow]]s or ''[[jalba]]s'', Arab ships which were used as transport in the Red Sea. Crossing the Indian Ocean required better organisation and more resources than overland transport. Ships coming from Zanzibar made stops on [[Socotra]] or at [[Aden]] before heading to the [[Persian Gulf]] or to India. Slaves were sold as far away as India, or even China: there was a colony of Arab merchants in [[Guangzhou|Canton]]. Serge Bilé cites a 12th century text which tells us that most well-to-do families in Canton had black slaves whom they regarded as savages and demons because of their physical appearance. Although Chinese slave traders bought slaves (''Seng Chi'' i.e. the ''[[Zanj]]''<ref name="Oliver">Roland Oliver, ''Africa in the Iron Age: c.500 BC-1400 AD'', (Cambridge University Press: 1975), p.192</ref>) from Arab intermediaries and "stocked up" directly in coastal areas of present-day [[Somalia]], the local [[Somali people|Somalis]] -- referred to as ''Baribah'' and ''Barbaroi'' ([[Berber people|Berbers]]) by medieval Arab and ancient [[Greeks|Greek]] geographers, respectively (see ''[[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]]''),<ref name="Bagley">F.R.C. Bagley et al., ''The Last Great Muslim Empires'', (Brill: 1997), p.174</ref><ref>Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, ''Culture and Customs of Somalia'', (Greenwood Press: 2001), p.13</ref><ref>James Hastings, ''Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Part 12: V. 12'', (Kessinger Publishing, LLC: 2003), p.490</ref>and no strangers to capturing, owning and trading slaves themselves<ref>Henry Louis Gates, ''Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience'', (Oxford University Press: 1999), p.1746</ref> -- were not among them<ref>David D. Laitin, ''Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience'', (University Of Chicago Press: 1977), p.52</ref>:
<blockquote>One important commodity being transported by the Arab dhows to Somalia was slaves from other parts of East Africa. During the nineteenth century, the East African slave trade grew enormously due to demands by Arabs, Portuguese, and French. Slave traders and raiders moved throughout eastern and central Africa to meet the rising demand for enslaved men, women, and children. Somalia did not supply slaves -- as part of the Islamic world Somalis were at least nominally protected by the religious tenet that free Muslims cannot be enslaved -- but Arab dhows loaded with human cargo continually visited Somali ports.<ref>Catherine Lowe Besteman, ''Unraveling Somalia: Race, Class, and the Legacy of Slavery'', (University of Pennsylvania Press: 1999), p. 51</ref></blockquote>
[[Image:Slaves Zadib Yemen 13th century BNF Paris.jpg|thumb|left|250px|13th century slave market in the Yemen]]
Slave labor in East Africa was drawn exclusively from the ''[[Zanj]]'', who were [[Negroid]] [[Bantu languages|Bantu]]-speaking peoples that lived along the East African coast in an area roughly comprising modern-day [[Tanzania]], [[Mozambique]] and [[Malawi]].<ref name="Bagley">F.R.C. Bagley et al., ''The Last Great Muslim Empires'', (Brill: 1997), p.174</ref><ref name="Ogot">Bethwell A. Ogot, ''Zamani: A Survey of East African History'', (East African Publishing House: 1974), p.104</ref>
The Zanj were for centuries shipped as slaves by Arab traders to all the countries bordering the [[Indian Ocean]]. The [[Umayyad]] and [[Abbasid]] [[caliph]]s recruited many Zanj slaves as soldiers and, as early as 696 AD, we learn of slave revolts of the Zanj against their Arab enslavers in [[Iraq]] (see [[Zanj Rebellion]]). Ancient Chinese texts also mention ambassadors from Java presenting the Chinese emperor with two ''Seng Chi'' (Zanj) slaves as gifts, and Seng Chi slaves reaching China from the [[Hindu]] kingdom of [[Srivijaya|Sri Vijaya]] in [[Java]].<ref name="Oliver"/>
===Barter===
Slaves were often bartered for objects of various different kinds: in the Sûdân, they were exchanged for cloth, [[trinket]]s and so on. In the Maghreb, they were swapped for horses. In the desert cities, lengths of cloth, pottery, Venetian glass beads, dyestuffs and jewels were used as payment. The trade in black slaves was part of a diverse commercial network. Alongside gold coins, [[cowrie shells]] from the Indian Ocean or the Atlantic ([[Canary Islands|Canaries]], [[Luanda]]) were used as money throughout black Africa (merchandise was paid for with sacks of cowries).{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
===Slave markets and fairs===
Enslaved Africans were sold in the towns of the Muslim world. In 1416, al-Makrisi told how pilgrims coming from Takrur (near the [[Senegal river]]) had brought 1700 slaves with them to Mecca. In North Africa, the main slave markets were in Morocco, [[Algiers]], [[Tripoli]] and Cairo. Sales were held in public places or in souks. Potential buyers made a careful examination of the "merchandise": they checked the state of health of a person who was often standing naked with wrists bound together. In Cairo, transactions involving eunuchs and [[concubine]]s happened in private houses. Prices varied according to the slave's quality.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} {{clr}}
===Towns and ports implicated in the slave trade===
{|
|-
|valign="top"|
* North Africa:
** [[Marrakesh]] (Morocco)
** [[Algiers]] (Algeria)
** [[Tripoli]] (Libya)
** [[Cairo]] (Egypt)
** [[Aswan]] (Egypt)
* Sub-Saharan Africa
** [[Aoudaghost]]
** [[Timbuktu]] (Mali)
** [[Gao]]
** [[Bilma]]
|valign="top"|
* East Africa:
** [[Massawa]] (Eritrea)
** [[Zeila]] (Somalia)
** [[Mogadishu]] (Somalia)
** [[Bagamoyo]] (Tanzania)
** [[Zanzibar]] (Tanzania)
** [[Kilwa (district)|Kilwa]]
** [[Sofala]] ([[Beira, Mozambique|Beira]], Mozambique)
* Arabian peninsula
** [[Mecca]]
** [[Zabid]] (Yemen)
** [[Muscat, Oman|Muscat]] (Oman)
** [[Aden]] (Yemen)
** [[Socotra]]
|}
==See also==
*[[Slavery]]
*[[Atlantic slave trade]]
*[[African slave trade]]
*[[History of slavery]]
*[[Slavery in modern Africa]]
*[[Slavery in Libya]]
*[[Slave beads]]
*[[Slavery in antiquity]]
*[[Islam and slavery]]
*[[Christianity and slavery]]
*[[Jewish slave trade]]
*[[Zanj Rebellion]]
*[[Afro Arab]]
*[[Black orientalism]]
*[[Slavery (Ottoman Empire)|Slavery in the Ottoman Empire]]
==References==
:''This article was initially translated from the featured [[French language|French]] wiki article "[[:fr:Traite musulmane|Traite musulmane]]" on 19 May 2006. ''
{{reflist|2}}
* [http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/slav_fact.cfm] Mintz, S., ''Digital History/Slavery Facts & Myths''
==Bibliography==
===Books in English===
* The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam (Princeton Series on the Middle East) by Eve Troutt Powell (Editor), John O. Hunwick (Editor)
* Edward A. Alpers, ''The East African Slave Trade'' (Berkeley 1967)
* Robert C. Davis, ''Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast, and Italy, 1500-1800'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) ISBN 978-1403945518
* Allan G. B. Fisher, ''Slavery and Muslim Society in Africa'', ed. C. Hurst (London 1970, 2nd edition 2001)
* Murray Gordon, ''Slavery in the Arab world'' (New York 1989)
*[[Bernard Lewis]], '' Race and slavery in the Middle East'' (OUP 1990)
*[[Ibn Khaldun]], ''The Muqaddimah'' trans. F.Rosenthal ed. N.J.Dawood (Princeton 1967)]
* Paul E. Lovejoy, ''Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa '' (Cambridge 2000)
* Ronald Segal, ''Islam's Black Slaves'' (Atlantic Books, London 2002)
==Audio Material==
* Owen 'Alik Shahadah, ''African Holocaust'' [http://www.africawithin.com/clarke/part30f10.htm Audio Documentary]
===Books and articles in French===
* Serge Daget, ''De la traite à l'esclavage, du Ve au XVIIIe siècle, actes du Colloque international sur la traite des noirs'' (Nantes, Société française d'histoire d'Outre-Mer, 1985)
* Jacques Heers, ''Les Négriers en terre d'islam'' (Perrin, ''Pour l'histoire'' collection, Paris, 2003) (ISBN 2-262-01850-2)
* Murray Gordon, ''L'esclavage dans le monde arabe, du VIIe au XXe siècle'' (Robert Laffont, Paris, 1987)
* Bernard Lewis, ''Race et esclavage au Proche-Orient'', (Gallimard, ''Bibliothèque des histoires'' collection, Paris, 1993) (ISBN 2-07-072740-8)
* Olivier Petré-Grenouilleau, ''Les Traites oubliée des négrières'' (la Documentation française, Paris, 2003)
* Jean-Claude Deveau, ''Esclaves noirs en Méditerranée'' in ''Cahiers de la Méditerranée'', vol. 65, Sophia-Antipolis
* Olivier Petré-Grenouilleau, ''La traite oubliée des négriers musulmans'' in ''L'Histoire'', special number 280 S (October 2003), pages 48-55.
==Websites==
* [http://www.arabslavetrade.com Arab Slave Trade.com]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/white_slaves_01.shtml BBC - History - British Slaves on the Barbary Coast]
* [http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24157 Welcome to Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to Black History]
* [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/mtjprece.html The Thomas Jefferson Papers - America and the Barbary Pirates - (American Memory from the Library of Congress)]
* [http://creepysleepy.com/2008/03/17/sudan-freeing-of-slaves/ Audio recorded immediately after 100 slaves freed on the South Sudan / Darfur border] Creepy Sleepy
* [http://creepysleepy.com/2008/04/05/creepy-sleepy-show-141-live-from-sudan/ A two-hour and twenty minute audio documentary from South Sudan and Darfur] Produced by Dan Patterson
{{Racism topics|state=collapsed}}
[[Category:Racism]]
[[Category:African slave trade]]
[[Category:Islam and slavery]]
[[Category:History of Africa]]
[[Category:Arab history]]
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[[fr:Traite arabe]]
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