9 African Empires (Now countries) involved in Slave Trade.
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Africans were sold during the Arab-Muslim, Transatlantic and Trans-saharan slave trades.
But what many people are unaware of is how involved Africans were in this trade and how most ancient empires were built mostly or solely on slavery.
Here are nine African empires that participated in the Slave trade from the period to the 700s - 1900s.
1. Kanem Bornu (Located in Present Day Cameroon, Chad and Northern Nigeria).
This empire lasted from 700 to 1900 AD and was notorious for selling off people to slave traders making exceptions for Black Muslims.
They participated in the Trans-Saharan and Transatlantic slave trade.
Kanem Bornu also traded slaves to people in North Africa in exchange for war horses; by the early nineteenth century, Kanem-Bornu was an empire in decline due to the Fulani Jihad.
In 1893, Rabih az-Zubayr led an invading army from eastern Sudan, conquering Bornu.
2. Ottoman Empire; Egypt & Algeria (Present day Turkey and Egypt and Algeria)
The Ottoman empire existed since the 1300s but conquered Egypt and Algeria in 1500. It was in control of Egypt until the 1900s and Algeria until the French took control in the 1800s.
At some point, Egypt became an eyalet (an administrative division of the Ottoman empire) and together they sold millions of people into slavery including Africans and Europeans for 400 years of slavery.
Like other empires that practised trans-Saharan slavery, the Ottoman Empire was very much interested in concubinage, they acquired women for sexual slavery and forced the men to work in farms.
3. Mali Empire (Located in Present Day Mali). 1235-the 1600s
One thing the Mali empire had in surplus was gold mines and slaves, slaves were acquired during wars and exported out to other countries through the Timbuktu route, Mali was very much active in the Trans-saharan slave trade.
One of Mali's kings Mansa Musa was one of if not the richest people in the world to date, during his time as King; gold dust was a currency and slavery flourished.
War helped Mali acquire slaves but constant civil war between leaders led to a weakened state and interrupted the trade.
Mali continued to decline until it was replaced by the Songhai empire in 1460.
4. The Songhai Empire (Located in Present-Day Mauritania and Mali)
The Songhai Empire aka Songhay was very powerful, It replaced the Mali Empire that existed from 1460 - 1591
The Songhai empire procured slaves through raids and wars with neighbouring nations, they took control over the trans-Saharan trade through Timbuktu and Djenne and prospered throughout the 16th century until it was ripped apart by civil wars.
The Songhai empire was attacked and absorbed into the Moroccan Empire in 1591.
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5. Oyo empire ( Located in the present-day Oyo State, Nigeria.)
For more than 400 years, the great Oyo empire ruled mightily, so great it was that it made the Yoruba language a lingua franca almost to the shores of the Volta.
The majority of the success and wealth Oyo took pride in come from the wealth they gathered by acting as middlemen for both the Trans-Saharan and Trans-Atlantic slave trade.
In exchange for salt, the Oyo empire sold slaves to Europeans at Porto Novo and Ouidah slave ports.
They were able to successfully sell slaves after taking control of these slave ports by subjugating the Allada and Dahomey kingdoms.
In the early 19th century, Dahomey ended the Oyo hegemony which put an end to almost 100 years of tributary rites they paid to Oyo, they took over the seaports making the Oyo empire too weak because they relied too much on the slave trade.
As the state’s income and authority declined, some of its subjects began to rebel. The empire eventually fell to the superior forces of the Fulani Empire from northern Nigeria in 1835.
6. Aro Confederacy; (Present day Arochukwu in Nigeria)
After the fall of the great Oyo empire in the year 1820, the Aro Confederacy saw a large boom.
From the year 1690 -1902, over 850,000 slaves were sold by the Aros through the Calabar slave port route and out of 850,000 slaves, about 85% were said to come from Igboland
The Aros were able to capture slaves through
Indentured Servitude; is a form of labour in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years due to the debt they owed or judicial punishment.
Another common method they used to capture enslaved people was the ancient Cave Temple complex.
The journey for Igbo slaves often began in the ancient Cave Temple that was located in Arochukwu Kingdom.
Another way people were enslaved was through the divine oracle who resided in the Cave Temple complex.
During this time, if a person commits a crime, was in debt, or did something considered an "abomination" which includes killing a sacred animal, they would be taken to the cave complex to face the oracle for sentencing.
'The Oracle', would then sentence the accused to slavery even for the smallest crimes.
Unknown to both the accused and members of the community, 'the Oracle's decision has been influenced by the demands of European slave traders, which would sentence these people to slavery.
The victim would be commanded by the Chief priest to walk further into the cave so that the spirits could "devour" them, but, in reality, they were taken to an opening on the other side and loaded directly onto a waiting boat. This boat would take them to a slave ship en route to the Americas.
The Aro Confederacy ended after they lost the Anglo-Aro war to the British Empire in the year 1902
7. Dahomey Empire (Located in the Benin Republic, Africa)
After Dahomey ended the Oyo hegemony, they took charge of the Port Novo and Ouidah slave ports.
From the time of the Oyo empire up until the end of Dahomey's reign in 1852, over 3,500,000 slaves were shipped to the Americas.
The European slave traders were isolated in the slave ports and had little access to the King of Dahomey or his people because he wanted to deal directly with the Europeans and keep the profits to himself.
In 1851-1852, the British imposed a naval blockade on the ports of Dahomey to force them to end the slave trade. In January 1852, King Ghezo accepted a treaty with the British ending the export of slaves from Dahomey.
8. Kingdom of Allada. ( Currently located in Southern Benin republic)
The Kingdom of Allada was a coastal Kingdom located in Southern Benin.
From 1640 to 1690, 125,000 slaves were sold from Allada, it used to be the centre of the Atlantic Slave trade until it was captured by raiding and attacking enemies; Oyo and Dahomey respectively.
Allada paid tributary rites to the great Oyo empire until Oyo fell and Dahomey took over.
9. Ashanti Empire. ( Located in Present day Ghana)
The Ashanti or Asante Empire was a pre-colonial West African state that emerged in the 17th century in what is now Ghana.
In the late 1600s, the Portuguese made Ashanti Empire a significant trading partner, providing wealth and weapons in exchange for gold which allowed the small state to grow stronger than its neighbours but all this changed when Osei Tutu the Asantehene of Ashanti from 1701 - 1717 unified the kingdoms and the independent chiefdoms into the most powerful political and military state in the coastal region.
The Ashanti Empire was in a perpetual state of war involving expansion or defence of its domain and most of these wars allowed them the opportunity to acquire more slaves for trade.
Captives are either made to serve as slaves in the Ashanti Empire or exported across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas.
The British deposed and exiled the Asantehene and annexed the Empire into their Gold Coast colony in 1902.
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Credit:
Newworldencyclopedia.org
Wikipedia
Slaveryandremembrance.org
Black past
Saylor.org
Thinkafrica.net
Blackhistorymonth