The History of Africa as Witness to the Slavery of its Own People

The history of Africa is a sad witness to the struggle of its people. A lot of Africans have been taken away from their families and made slaves in their own continent and across the oceans.

It is still being disputed whether slavery existed in the Sub-Saharan Africa even before the conquest of the Europeans. What is certain though is that slavery came in many forms for the people of Africa.

Different Forms of Slavery

The history of Africa and the world recognizes slavery as the ownership of any or all the rights of an individual. Here are some forms of slavery that the African people were subjected to:

•    Chattel Slavery – In this form of slavery, people are considered properties and can therefore be traded as such. Slaves in this ordeal has no rights, needs to do any labor including sexual favors. This kind of slavery existed in the Americas through the transatlantic slave trade.

•    Debt Bondage- This kind of slavery uses people as collateral for someone’s debt.  People will pay their debt through personal or a relative’s service. It is a no escape route for slaves since they will also be paying for their food, clothes, and lodging. It is known that such slavery is inherited from one generation to the next.

•    Forced Labor- As the name implies, people are under threat of violence to compel them to work. History of Africa reveals such ordeals during the time of King Leopold and on plantations in San Tome and Cape Verde

•    Serfdom- a term usually for European, Serfdom has been used to describe the condition of the tenants in the kingdoms of Zulu in the early 19th Century. A person is bound to a certain portion of the land where he must serve under his landlord.

Slavery in Numbers

The exact number of slaves brought to other lands is not known. History of Africa shows an estimate of almost 11 Million Africans exported and abused in other lands. The Europeans was expanding their empires in the early 15th Century and abused Africans to serve as their workforce.

There were military expeditions devoted in capturing slaves from different parts of Africa.  The slaves were brought overseas through several trade routes like the Islamic-run, trans-Saharan, and trans-Atlantic. It has been witnessed that thousands of these slaves died while in transport since they were subjected to hunger, thirst, and diseases.

The slaves were used to tend the lands and plantations in the Americas owned by the Europeans. They were also brought to Europe to carry products like sugar, cotton, tobacco, molasses, and wine. GP