Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa

396 Pages·2000·15.313 MB·English

by  Paul E. Lovejoy

Transformations
in Slavery
A History of Slavery in Africa,
Second Edition
Paul E. Lovejoy

L°iH±.
ovo
c2
Transformations in Slavery
This history of slavery in Africa from the fifteenth to the early twentieth
century examines how indigenous African slavery developed within an inter¬
national context.
Professor Lovejoy discusses the medieval Islamic slave trade and the
Atlantic trade as well as the process of enslavement and the marketing of
slaves. He considers the impact of European abolition and assesses slavery’s
role in African history.
The book corrects the accepted interpretation that African slavery was mild
and resulted in the slaves’ assimilation. Instead, slaves were used extensively
in production, although the exploitation methods and the relationships to
world markets differed from those in the Americas. Nevertheless, slavery in
Africa, like slavery in the Americas, developed from its position on the
periphery of capitalist Europe.
The new edition revises all statistical material on the slave trade demogra¬
phy and incorporates recent research with an updated bibliography.
PAUL E. LOVEJOY received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in
1973 and has been chair of the Department of History, York University; Asso¬
ciate Vice-President (Research), York University; and Vice President of the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He is currently
Distinguished Research Professor of History at York University as well as a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and he serves on the International
Scientific Committee of the UNESCO Slave Route Project. He has edited or
authored 14 books and more than 50 articles and chapters in books on African
history and slavery.
i
*-
African Studies Series
Editorial Board
Professor Naomi Chazan, The Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advance¬
ment of Peace, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Professor Christopher Clapham, Department of Politics and International Relations,
Lancaster University
Professor Peter Ekeh, Department of African American Studies, State University of
New York, Buffalo
Dr. John Lonsdale, Trinity College, Cambridge
Professor Patrick Manning, Department of History, Northeastern University, Boston
Published in collaboration with
THE AFRICAN STUDIES CENTRE, CAMBRIDGE
OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES
3 Land Policy in Buganda Henry W. West
4 The Nigerian Military: A Sociological Analysis of Authority and Revolt 1960-67 Robin
Luckham
5 The Ghanaian Factory Worker: Industrial Man in Africa Margaret Peil
6 Labour in the South African Gold Mines, 1911-1969 Francis Wilson
7 The Price of Liberty: Personality and Politics in Colonial Nigeria Kenneth W. J. Post and
George D. Jenkins
9 Dependence and Opportunity: Political Change in Ahafo John Dunn and A. F. Robertson
10 African Railwaymen: Solidarity and Opposition in an East African Labour Force R. D. Grillo
11 Islam and Tribal Art in West Africa Rene A. Bravmann
12 Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos Patrick Cole
13 Asante in the Nineteenth Century: The Structure and Evolution of a Political Order Ivor Wilks
14 Culture, Tradition and Society in the West African Novel Emmanuel Obiechina
15 Saints and Politicians: Essays in the Organisation of a Senegalese Peasant Society Donal B.
Cruise O’Brien
16 The Lions ofDagbon: Political Change in Northern Ghana Martin Staniland
17 Politics of Decolonization: Kenya Europeans and the Land Issue 1960-1965 Gary Wasserman
18 Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-century Africa B. G. Martin
19 Warfare in the Sokoto Caliphate: Historical and Sociological Perspectives Joseph P.
Smaldone
20 Liberia and Sierra Leone: An Essay in Comparative Politics Christopher Clapham
21 Adam Kok’s Griquas: A Study in the Development of Stratification in South Africa Robert
Ross
23 West African States: Failure and Promise: A Study in Comparative Politics John Dunn (ed.)
24 Afrikaners of the Kalahari: White Minority in a Black State Margo and Martin Russell
25 A Modem History of Tanganyika John Iliffe
26 A History of African Christianity 1950-1975 Adrian Hastings
(continuedfirst page after index)
‘
Transformations
in Slavery
A History of Slavery in Africa, Second Edition
Paul E. Lovejoy
Distinguished Research Professor,
Department of History, York University, Canada
Cambridge
UNIVERSITY PRESS
PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk
40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA http://www.cup.org
10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia
Ruiz de Alarcon 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain
© Cambridge University Press 1983
© Paul E. Lovejoy 2000
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1983
Reprinted 1988, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997
Second edition 2000
Printed in the United States of America
Typeface Times Roman 10/12 pt. System QuarkXPress [TW]
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Lovejoy, Paul E.
Transformations in slavery : a history of slavery in Africa/Paul E. Lovejoy-2nd ed.
p. cm.-(African studies ; 36)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-521-78012-8-ISBN 0-521-78430-1 (pbk.)
1. Slavery—Africa—History. 2. Slave trade—Africa—History. I. Title. II. African studies
(Cambridge, England); 36
HT1321 .L68 2000
306.3'62'096—dc21 99-59862
ISBN 0 521 78012 8 hardback
ISBN 0 521 78430 1 paperback
Contents
List of Maps and Tables page xi
Note on Currencies, Weights, and Measures xiii
Preface xv
Preface to the Second Edition xix
1 Africa and Slavery 1
Slavery: A Definition 1
Slavery in Social Formations 9
The African Setting 12
The Islamic Factor 15
The Trans-Atlantic Trade 18
2 On the Frontiers of Islam, 1400-1600 24
The Medieval Slave Trade: The African Frontier 24
The Institution of Slavery in Muslim Africa 29
Origins of the Atlantic Trade: The Muslim Connection 36
Slavery Along the Guinea Coast 41
3 The Export Trade in Slaves, 1600-1800 46
Volume of the Export Trade, 1600-1800 46
The Dominance of West-Central Africa 53
The Bight of Benin, 1640-1800 55
The Gold Coast 57
The Bight of Biafra 59
The Upper Guinea Coast and Senegambia 60
The Volume of the Trade Across the Sahara, Red Sea, and
Indian Ocean 61
Demographic Implications of the Export Trade 62
4 The Enslavement of Africans, 1600-1800 68
A Politically Fragmented Continent 68
The Muslim Tradition of War and State * 70
vii
viii Contents
War-Lords of West-Central Africa 76
Politics of Slave Trading on the West African Coast 80
The Dynamics of Slave Supply 86
5 The Organization of Slave Marketing, 1600-1800 91
Muslim Networks 91
Administered Trade in West-Central Africa 95
Coastal West Africa: State Trade, River-Boats, and Oracles 98
Patterns in Restrictive Practices 104
Slaves and Other Commodities 105
The Import Trade 106
6 Relationships of Dependency, 1600-1800 112
The Expansion of Slavery 112
The Northern Savanna 115
The West African Coast and Its Interior 120
Slavery in West-Central Africa 127
European Slavery in Africa 133
7 The Nineteenth-Century Slave Trade 140
The Dynamics of Slavery in the Nineteenth Century 140
The Trans-Atlantic Trade: The Last Surge 145
The Volume of the Non-Slave Trade 151
The Trans-Saharan and Red Sea Trade 152
The East African Trade 155
The Internal Trade 15 8
8 Slavery and ‘Legitimate Trade’ on the West African Coast 165
Slavery and ‘Legitimate Trade’ 165
The Western Coast and Asante 167
Dahomey and the Yoruba States 176
The Bight of Biafra 182
9 Slavery in the Savanna During the Era of the Jihads 191
The Size of the Slave Population in the Savanna 191
The Western Sudan 194
The Central Sudan 201
The Region East of Lake Chad 208
The Organization of the Plantation Sector 212
Slavery in the Sahel 216
Assimilation of Slaves 220
Slavery on the Periphery 224