Slavery In West Africa Before The Europeans

Question 1

When and why did slavery in West Africa start?

Answer 1

Probably in about 900 CE due to wars. When a kingdom won a war, it captured its opponents and enslaved them. People were also enslaved as punishment for a crime or as payment for a debt

Question 2

How did slavery in West Africa work?

Answer 2

For example, people in the Songhai Empire had to work as farmers and pay tribute to their masters in crops and services. However, slaves were not ‘owned’ like the chattel slaves in the transatlantic slave trade. Most slavery in West Africa was like indentured servitude, so slavery was not a lifetime status: someone might be born free, made a slave for a few years, and then be free again. Slaves also had rights. They could marry, own property, inherit goods from their owner and own slaves themselves. Their children were generally born into freedom. Some owners even adopted their slaves as family

Question 3

Why did Arab trading expanding into West Africa provide a demand for slaves?

Answer 3

Because many Arabs wanted slaves

Question 4

How were slaves traded with Arab traders?

Answer 4

Africans who had been enslaved in wars became commodities to be traded with Arab traders. There were also slave raids (razzias) in which slave raiders raided villages and abducted young women and men who were traded with Arab traders