Over
several centuries countless East Africans were sold as slaves by Muslim Arabs
to the Middle East and other places via the Sahara desert and Indian Ocean.
Experts say it is time for this to be discussed more openly.
The
island of Zanzibar is today considered one of East Africa's best destinations:
white sandy beaches, crystal clear waters and hotels offer tourists from all
over the world a holiday to remember.
Long
forgotten is the dark past that overshadowed this sunny paradise 200 years ago.
The archipelago, which today is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, was then
regarded as the center of the East African slave trade.
In
addition to valuable raw materials such as ivory and the coveted cloves, one
thing stood out above all others in the colorful markets: hundreds of slaves.
From Eastern Europe to North Africa
The
sale of African slaves can be traced back to antiquity. It became popular in
the seventh century when Islam was gaining strength in North Africa. This was
seven centuries before Europeans explored the continent and ten centuries
before West Africans were sold across the Atlantic to America.
Back
then, Arab Muslims in North and East Africa sold captured Africans to the
Middle East. There, they worked as field workers, teachers or harem guards,
which is why the castration of male slaves was common practice. Muslims, on the
other hand, including African Muslims, were not allowed to be enslaved, according
to Islamic legal views.
"Initially,
the Arab Muslims in Eastern and Central Europe took white slaves to sell them
to Arabia," Senegalese author Tidiane N'Diaye told DW in an interview.
"But the growing military power of
Europe put an end to Islamic expansion and now that there was a shortage of
slaves, Arab Muslims were looking massively to black Africa."
Roots of slavery in Africa
According
to N'Diaye, slavery has existed in practically all civilizations. This was also
the case in Africa before settlers came.
In
central East Africa, ethnic groups such as the Yao, Makua and Marava were
fighting against each other and entire peoples within the continent traded with
people they had captured through wars. "Thus Arab Muslims encountered
already existing structures, which facilitated the purchase of slaves for their
purposes."
For
Abdulazizi Lodhi, Emeritus Professor of Swahili and African Linguistics at the
University of Uppsala in Sweden, slavery was part of different African cultures
"When it came to exports, tribal Africans themselves were the main actors.
In many African societies there were no prisons, so people who were captured
were sold."
Zanzibar as East Africa's slave hub
The
slave trade in East Africa really took off from the 17th century. More and more
merchants from Oman settled in Zanzibar. The island took on an even more
important role in the international trade of goods due to the large trade at
the Swahili coast and consequently also in the slave trade. This is how the
largest slave market in East Africa was created.
Only
estimates, some of which vary widely, exist as to how many Africans were sold
from East to North Africa. This is also due to the fact that many of the slaves
perished. Scientific research concludes that about three out of four slaves
died before they reached the market where they were to be sold. The causes were
hunger, illness or exhaustion after long journeys.
Author
N'Diaye estimates that 17 million East Africans were sold into slavery:
"Most people still have the so-called Transatlantic [slave] trade by
Europeans into the New World in mind. But in reality the Arab-Muslim slavery
was much greater," N'diaye said.
"Eight
million Africans were brought from East Africa via the Trans-Saharan route to
Morocco or Egypt. A further nine million were deported to regions on the Red
Sea or the Indian Ocean."
'The spice of slavery'
Historian
Lodhi disagrees with N'Diaye's figure. "17 million? How is that possible
if the total population of Africa at that time might not even have been 40
million? These statistics did not exist back then."
Old
reports were also methodically doubtful. For example, David Livingston, a
Scottish missionary and explorer, estimated that 50,000 slaves were being sold
annually in the markets of Zanzibar. "Even today, the number of people
living in Zanzibar is not close to 50,000. The numbers have neither hand nor
foot," Lodhi said.
Not
all slaves were taken to Egypt or Saudi Arabia. From 1820, Omani settlers began
cultivating cloves in Zanzibar to meet the growing demand on the world market.
Large plantations quickly developed and slaves could be bought cheaply at the
nearby slave market.
From
1839 to 1860, the quantity of exported cloves increased from 565 (1,246
pounds) to 12,600 kilograms, according
to American historian Frederick Cooper. Zanzibar's reputation changed from
being the center of the slave trade to a center of slave keeping which produced
notorious figures such as the legendary slave trader Tippu-Tip.
The end of slavery?
At the
end of August 1791, a slave revolt began in today's Haiti and the Dominican
Republic. These two uprisings significantly promoted the abolition of the
transatlantic slave trade, slavery and colonialism in Africa.
However,
it was not until 1873 that Sultan Seyyid Barghash of Zanzibar, under pressure
from Great Britain, signed a treaty that made the slave trade in his
territories illegal. That decree was not enforced effectively either. It was
not until 1909 that slavery was finally abolished in East Africa.
According
to author N'Diaye, slavery still exists, albeit in a different form. It is
estimated that nearly 40 million people worldwide still live in slavery. In
Africa there are hundreds of thousands. "In Mauritania they say they have
abolished slavery, but in reality the situation in North Africa has not changed
much. Young people are enslaved against their will, forced to work and sexually
exploited."
There
have been reports from Libya about organized slave markets and a few years ago,
a case of slavery was uncovered in Tanzania, according to Lodhi. "A mine
was found in a remote area where 50 to 60 boys were forced to work. They were
not paid and lived in a camp guarded by armed men."
The
effects of slavery in East Africa are not as severe as the economic
consequences of Western colonization of Africa, says N'Diaye. "The economy
of many of these countries is still dominated by the West; it's a topic being
discussed by many intellectuals. But N'Diaye says that what happened in East
Africa over the centuries should also be openly discussed.
"Most
of the African authors have not yet published a book on the Arab-Muslim slave
trade out of religious solidarity. There are 500 million Muslims in Africa, and
it is better to blame the West than talk about the past crimes of Arab
Muslims."
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