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116-554: Galam was a vassal of the empire of Jolof and Takrur kingdoms. The Bacili dynasty established a successor state to the Ghana Empire , preserving the traditional snake cult of Wagadu. They came to the region from the Inner Niger Delta sometime between the 8th and 11th centuries CE and conquered the native 'Gaja' Soninke people , but their control was only truly cemented in the 13th century. At some point Gajaaga became

232-471: A slave ship and asked if he was going to be eaten. Yet, the worst for slaves has only begun, and the journey on the water proved to be more harrowing. For every 100 Africans captured, only 64 would reach the coast, and only about 50 would reach the New World. Others believe that slavers had a vested interest in capturing rather than killing, and in keeping their captives alive; and that this coupled with

348-564: A wet period in the Sahel created areas for human habitation and exploitation which had not been habitable for the best part of a millennium, resulting in Wagadu rising out of the Tichitt culture . The introduction of the camel to the western Sahara in the 3rd century AD and pressure from the nomadic Saharan Sanhaja served as major catalysts for the transformative social changes that resulted in

464-411: A "bycatch" who would have been killed if there had not been an export market for them. British explorer Mungo Park encountered a group of slaves when traveling through Mandinka country: They were all very inquisitive, but they viewed me at first with looks of horror, and repeatedly asked if my countrymen were cannibals. They were very desirous to know what became of the slaves after they had crossed

580-658: A 1750 invasion by Kaarta and Khasso which, though defeated, signaled Gajaaga's weakness. After a long absence during the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars , the French re-established a fort at Bakel in 1820 and gave a monopoly on river trade to the 'Companie de Galam' in 1824, all to try and divert trade away from the British posts along the Gambia river . While remaining nominally neutral in local conflicts,

696-593: A ceremony known as the Annual Customs . As one of West Africa's principal slave states, Dahomey became extremely unpopular with neighbouring peoples. Like the Bambara Empire to the east, the Khasso kingdoms depended heavily on the slave trade for their economy. A family's status was indicated by the number of slaves it owned, leading to wars for the sole purpose of taking more captives. This trade led

812-599: A complex culture that was present by 1600 BC and had architectural and material cultural elements similar to those found at Koumbi Saleh in the 1920s. The earliest proto-polity ancestral to Ghana likely arose from a large collection of ancient proto- Mande agro-pastoralist chiefdoms that were spread over the western-most portion of the Niger River basin for over a millennium roughly spanning 1300 BCE – 300 BCE. Munsun theorized that, around 700 BCE Libyco-Berbers raiders destroyed this burgeoning state. Their opening of

928-429: A constant supply of gold. Upon Dinga's death, his two sons Khine and Dyabe contested the kingship , and Dyabe was victorious, founding Wagadu. In some versions, the fall of Wagadu happens when a nobleman tries to save a maiden, despite her objection, and kills the snake, unleashing its curse and annulling the prior deal. This tale appears to have been a fragment of what once was a much longer narrative, now lost, however

1044-547: A convoluted theory of an invasion by "Judeo-Syrians", which he linked to the Fulbe (who actually co-founded Takrur ). This idea of a foreign origin for Wagadu is generally disregarded by modern scholars. Levtzion and Spaulding, for example, argue that al-Idrisi's testimony should be looked at skeptically due to serious miscalculations in geography and historical chronology . The archaeologist and historian Raymond Mauny argues that al-Kati's and al-Saadi's theories were based on

1160-438: A deputy unto him." Koumbi Saleh was abandoned sometime in the 15th century. Most of the information about the economy of Ghana comes from al-Bakri . He noted that merchants had to pay a tax of one gold dinar on imports of salt, and two on exports of salt. Other products had fixed dues; al-Bakri mentioned both copper and "other goods." Imports probably included products such as textiles, ornaments and other materials. Many of

1276-425: A domestic gunpowder industry arose in its place. Ghana Empire The Ghana Empire ( Arabic : غانا ), also known as simply Ghana , Ghanata , or Wagadu , was a West African classical to post-classical era western-Sahelian empire based in the modern-day southeast of Mauritania and western Mali . It is uncertain among historians when Ghana's ruling dynasty began. The first identifiable mention of

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1392-835: A hundred yards off on one side, and another of the women on the other side, looking on; they said an Arab who passed early that morning had done it in anger at losing the price he had given for her, because she was unable to walk any longer. 27th June 1866 – To-day we came upon a man dead from starvation, as he was very thin. One of our men wandered and found many slaves with slave-sticks on, abandoned by their masters from want of food; they were too weak to be able to speak or say where they had come from; some were quite young. The strangest disease I have seen in this country seems really to be broken-heartedness, and it attacks free men who have been captured and made slaves... Twenty one were unchained, as now safe; however all ran away at once; but eight with many others still in chains, died in three days after

1508-613: A monopoly on gold heading north and salt heading south, despite not controlling the gold fields themselves. It is possible that Wagadu's dominance on trade allowed for the gradual consolidation of many smaller polities into a confederated state , whose composites stood in varying relations to the core, from fully administered to nominal tribute-paying parity. Based on large tumuli scattered across West Africa dating to this period, it has been proposed that relative to Wagadu there were many more simultaneous and preceding kingdoms which have unfortunately been lost to time. Information about

1624-400: A number of balls of the same metals. Ghana appears to have had a central core region and was surrounded by vassal states . One of the earliest sources to describe Ghana, al-Ya'qubi, writing in 889/90 (276 AH) says that "under his authority are a number of kings" which included Sama and 'Am (?) and so extended at least to the Niger River valley. These "kings" were presumably the rulers of

1740-493: A rich and stable economy based on trading gold, iron, salt and slaves. In its last centuries, Ghana increasingly lost control of the gold trade to the Mali Empire and relied on slave raiding and trading as a principal economic activity. Testimony about ancient Ghana depended on how well disposed the king was to foreign travelers, from whom the majority of information on the empire comes. Islamic writers often commented on

1856-486: A trade route north, however, eventually changed the economic calculus from raiding to trade, and the native Soninke reasserted themselves around 300 BCE. This trade and the development of ironworking technology were crucial in the formation of the state. Work in Dhar Tichitt, Dhar Nema and Dhar Walata has shown that, as the desert advanced, the local groups moved southward into the still well-watered areas of what

1972-415: A trail of slaves: 19th June 1866 – We passed a woman tied by the neck to a tree and dead, the people of the country explained that she had been unable to keep up with the other slaves in a gang, and her master had determined that she should not become anyone's property if she recovered. 26th June. – ...We passed a slave woman shot or stabbed through the body and lying on the path: a group of men stood about

2088-520: A tributary of the Mali Empire , remaining so until 1506 when Songhai attacks broke Malian power in the Sahel. With the rise of the Deniankes in Futa Toro , Gajaaga became a nominal tributary state in the late 16th century. In 1690, Fula Torodbe cleric Malick Sy came to Gajaaga seeking a place to practice his interpretation of sharia . The tunka gave him control over a town and eventually

2204-400: A variety of locations in western Sudan, in each place leaving children by different wives. In order to take power he had to kill a serpent deity (named Bida), and then marry his daughters, who became the ancestors of the clans that were dominant in the region at the time. Some traditions state he made a deal with Bida to sacrifice one maiden a year in exchange for rainfall, and other versions add

2320-604: Is also a current phenomenon. A Nigerien study has found that more than 800,000 people are enslaved, almost 8% of the population. Niger installed an anti-slavery provision in 2003. In a landmark ruling in 2008, the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice declared that the Republic of Niger failed to protect Hadijatou Mani Koraou from slavery, and awarded Mani CFA 10,000,000 (approximately US$ 20,000 ) in reparations. Sexual slavery and forced labor are common in

2436-520: Is now northern Mali. Historian Dierk Lange has argued that the core of Wagadou was not Koumbi Saleh but in fact lay near Lake Faguibine , on the Niger Bend. This area was historically more fertile than the Tichitt zone, and Lange draws on oral traditions to support his argument, contending that dynastic struggles in the 11th century pushed the capital west. Towards the end of the 3rd century AD,

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2552-472: The Tarikh al-fattash , gave the name of the empire's capital as "Koumbi". According to the description of the town left by Al-Bakri in 1067/1068, the capital actually consisted of two cities 10 kilometres (6 mi) apart but "between these two towns are continuous habitations", so that they might be said to have merged into one. The most common identification for this capital is the site of Koumbi Saleh on

2668-867: The Akkadian Empire , Assyria , Babylonia , Persia , ancient Israel , ancient Greece , ancient India , the Roman Empire , the Arab Islamic Caliphates and Sultanates , Nubia , the pre-colonial empires of Sub-Saharan Africa, and the pre-Columbian civilizations of the Americas. Ancient slavery consists of a mixture of debt-slavery , punishment for crime, prisoners of war , child abandonment , and children born to slaves. Writing in 1984, French historian Fernand Braudel noted that slavery had been endemic in Africa and part of

2784-853: The Dey of Algiers to free many slaves. The trading of children has been reported in modern Nigeria and Benin . In parts of Ghana , a family may be punished for an offense by having to turn over a virgin female to serve as a sex slave within the offended family. In this instance, the woman does not gain the title or status of "wife". In parts of Ghana, Togo , and Benin , shrine slavery persists, despite being illegal in Ghana since 1998. In this system of ritual servitude , sometimes called trokosi (in Ghana) or voodoosi in Togo and Benin, young virgin girls are given as slaves to traditional shrines and are used sexually by

2900-580: The Early Middle Ages but continued to be practiced in some areas. Both Christians and Muslims captured and enslaved each other during centuries of warfare in the Mediterranean and Europe. Islamic slavery encompassed mainly Western and Central Asia, Northern and Eastern Africa, India , and Europe from the 7th to the 20th century. Islamic law approved of enslavement of non-Muslims, and slaves were trafficked from non-Muslim lands: from

3016-621: The Kanem was about one third enslaved. It was perhaps 40% in Bornu (1396–1893). Between 1750 and 1900 from one- to two-thirds of the entire population of the Fulani jihad states consisted of slaves. The population of the Sokoto caliphate formed by Hausas in northern Nigeria and Cameroon was half-slave in the 19th century. It is estimated that up to 90% of the population of Arab - Swahili Zanzibar

3132-621: The Niger river and west to the Senegal . This gradually strengthened Ghana's vassals while weakening the core. Awdaghost, at the time a seat of the king, fell to the Almoravids in 1054. Ghana Bassi died in 1063, and was succeeded by his nephew Tunka Manin . This may have created a succession dispute with Bassi's son Qanamar, providing an opportunity for the Almoravids to intervene in

3248-833: The Sahara , through the Red Sea, from the Indian Ocean ports and across the Atlantic. At least ten centuries of slavery for the benefit of the Muslim countries (from the ninth to the nineteenth)." He continues: "Four million slaves exported via the Red Sea , another four million through the Swahili ports of the Indian Ocean , perhaps as many as nine million along the trans-Saharan caravan route, and eleven to twenty million (depending on

3364-403: The Sahara , were the most important trade item. Gajaaga provided most of the slaves shipped out of Saint-Louis, as well as many of the slaves sold to the British along the Gambia river . During the 17th and early 18th centuries European competition and the insecurity created by constant slave-raiding and warfare gradually strangled the domestic cloth manufacturing and ironworking industries, but

3480-494: The Senegal river valley, first established by Takrur in the 10th century, that exported salt from Awlil throughout the region. It also controlled the gold mines of Bambuk . During this period Ghana was fully Islamized, and the judicial system had shifted to something more closely resembling Sharia . This resurgence did not last, however. By 1203, the Sosso rose against their masters and conquered Ghana. Oral historians link

3596-752: The United States , France , Spain , Portugal , Holland , West Africa and Arabia . The King of Bonny (now in Nigeria ) allegedly became dissatisfied of the British intervention in stopping the trade of slaves: "We think this trade must go on. That is the verdict of our oracle and the priests. They say that your country, however great, can never stop a trade ordained by God himself." Joseph Miller states that African buyers would prefer males, but in reality, women and children would be more easily captured as men fled. Those captured would be sold for various reasons such as food, debts, or servitude. Once captured,

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3712-493: The Wangara diaspora throughout the region. In 1083, supported by the Almoravids, Ghana attacked Tadmekka and may have reached Gao , helping to spread Sunni orthodoxy there as well. Al-Idrisi, whose account was written in 1154, has the country fully Muslim by that date. He describes an empire as powerful as it had been in the days of al-Bakri, 75 years earlier. In fact, he describes its capital as "the greatest of all towns of

3828-492: The present day . Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The social, economic , and legal positions of slaves have differed vastly in different systems of slavery in different times and places. Slavery has been found in some hunter-gatherer populations, particularly as hereditary slavery, but the conditions of agriculture with increasing social and economic complexity offer greater opportunity for mass chattel slavery . Slavery

3944-673: The private sector ; 15.4 million live in forced marriages. Forms of slavery include domestic labour, forced labour in manufacturing, fishing, mining and construction, and sexual slavery . Evidence of slavery predates written records; the practice has existed in many cultures and can be traced back 11,000 years ago due to the conditions created by the invention of agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution . Economic surpluses and high population densities were conditions that made mass slavery viable. Slavery occurred in civilizations including ancient Egypt , ancient China ,

4060-455: The 11th century and Ibn Said in the 13th noted that rulers of Ghana traced their descent from the clan of Muhammad , either through his protector Abi Talib or through his son-in-law Ali . French colonial officials, notably Maurice Delafosse , erroneously concluded that Ghana had been founded by the Berbers and linked them to North African and Middle Eastern origins. Delafosse produced

4176-531: The 13th century. Despite its collapse, the empire's influence can be felt in the establishment of numerous urban centers throughout its former territory. In 1957, the British colony of the Gold Coast , under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah named itself Ghana upon independence. The word Ghana means warrior or war chief , and was the title given to the rulers of the kingdom. Kaya Maghan (king of gold)

4292-543: The 16th century. The earliest discussions of Ghana's origins are found in the Sudanese chronicles of Mahmud Kati (the Tarikh al-Fattash ) and Abd al-Rahman as-Sadi (the Tarikh al-Sudan ). Addressing the rulers' origin, the Tarikh al-Fattash offers three different theories: that they were Soninke ; or Wangara (a Soninke/Mande group), which the author considered improbable; or that they were Sanhaja Berbers , which

4408-435: The 17th century Gajaaga was the center of an extensive Soninke trading diaspora linking it with Diarra and Timbuktu to the east, southeast to Segou , and south to Tanda and Wuli on the upper Gambia river . Marabout jula families traded ivory, slaves, gold, and cloth woven by slaves that also functioned as currency. Gajaaga in the 18th century was one of the states most connected to European commerce. Every year when

4524-751: The 17th century. In Sierra Leone in the 19th century about half of the population consisted of slaves. In the 19th century at least half the population was enslaved among the Duala of the Cameroon , the Igbo and other peoples of the lower Niger , the Kongo , and the Kasanje kingdom and Chokwe of Angola . Among the Ashanti and Yoruba a third of the population consisted of slaves as well as Bono . The population of

4640-526: The 1840s, King Gezo of Dahomey said: "The slave trade is the ruling principle of my people. It is the source and the glory of their wealth...the mother lulls the child to sleep with notes of triumph over an enemy reduced to slavery." In 1807 the United Kingdom made the international trade of slaves illegal with the Slave Trade Act . The Royal Navy was deployed to prevent slavers from

4756-408: The 1920s, French archaeologists excavated the site of Koumbi Saleh , although there have always been controversies about the location of Ghana's capital and whether Koumbi Saleh is the same town as the one described by al-Bakri. The site was excavated in 1949–50 by Paul Thomassey and Raymond Mauny and by another French team in 1975–81. The remains of Koumbi Saleh are impressive, even if the remains of

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4872-532: The Americas . The merchants were sources of desired goods including guns, gunpowder, copper manillas , and cloth, and this demand for imported goods drove local wars and other means to the enslavement of Africans in ever greater numbers. In India and throughout the New World, people were forced into slavery to create the local workforce. The transatlantic slave trade was eventually curtailed after European and American governments passed legislation abolishing their nations' involvement in it. Practical efforts to enforce

4988-529: The Americas. The Dutch imported slaves from Asia into their colony at the Cape of Good Hope (now Cape Town ) in the 17th century. In 1807 Britain (which already held a small coastal territory, intended for the resettlement of former slaves, in Freetown , Sierra Leone ) made the slave trade within its empire illegal with the Slave Trade Act 1807 , and worked to extend the prohibition to other territory, as did

5104-691: The Companie's monopoly led to an explosion of new trading posts and even more conflicts between local leaders for control of the trade and resulting customs revenue, which the French "cannonade politics" did little to assuage. Merchants in Saint-Louis increasingly demanded conquest as a way to establish order. The threat of El Hadj Omar Saidou Tall gave French governor Louis Faidherbe the excuse he needed to do as they requested. In 1855 he annexed Bakel and Medine , where he built another fort. Tall's 1857 failure to capture this fort confirmed French power in

5220-734: The Democratic Republic of Congo. Many pygmies in the Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo belong from birth to Bantus in a system of slavery. Evidence emerged in the late 1990s of systematic slavery in cacao plantations in West Africa; see the chocolate and slavery article. According to the U.S. State Department , more than 109,000 children were working on cocoa farms alone in Ivory Coast in "the worst forms of child labour " in 2002. On

5336-527: The Diarisso dynasty. His son, Soumaoro Kante , succeeded him and forced the people to pay him tribute. The Sosso also managed to annex the neighboring Mandinka state of Kangaba to the south, where the important goldfields of Bure were located. In his brief overview of Sudanese history, Ibn Khaldun related that "the people of Mali outnumbered the peoples of the Sudan in their neighborhood and dominated

5452-534: The French pressured rulers by increasing or decreasing custom payments and gifts, creating rivalries between factions and villages. The two tunka of Gooy and Kamera competed for the Gajaaga throne from 1833 to 1841 with the French playing a prominent role as they tried to weaken the powerful state of Kaarta . In 1844 the French signed separate treaties with the leaders of the two provinces Gooy and Kamera, recognizing their de facto separation. The 1848 abolishing of

5568-624: The Khasso into increasing contact with the European settlements of Africa's west coast, particularly the French . Benin grew increasingly rich during the 16th and 17th centuries on the trade of slaves with Europe; slaves from enemy states of the interior were sold, and carried to the Americas in Dutch and Portuguese ships. The Bight of Benin 's shore soon came to be known as the "Slave Coast". In

5684-518: The Niger and Senegal Rivers and believed that they formed a single river often called the "Nile of the Blacks". Whether al-Idrisi was referring to a new and later capital located elsewhere, or whether there was confusion or corruption in his text is unclear. However, he does state that the royal palace he knew was built in 510 AH (1116–1117 AD), suggesting that it was a newer town, rebuilt closer to

5800-1170: The North via the Balkan slave trade and the Crimean slave trade ; from the East via the Bukhara slave trade ; from the West via Andalusian slave trade ; and from the South via the Trans-Saharan slave trade , the Red Sea slave trade and the Indian Ocean slave trade . Beginning in the 16th century , European merchants , starting mainly with merchants from Portugal , initiated the transatlantic slave trade . Few traders ventured far inland, attempting to avoid tropical diseases and violence. They mostly purchased imprisoned Africans (and exported commodities including gold and ivory ) from West African kingdoms, transporting them to Europe's colonies in

5916-1032: The Philippines during the Iberian Union (1580–1640). The Middle Passage , the crossing of the Atlantic to the Americas , endured by slaves laid out in rows in the holds of ships, was only one element of the well-known triangular trade engaged in by Portuguese, American, Dutch, Danish-Norwegians, French, British and others. Ships having landed with slaves in Caribbean ports would take on sugar, indigo, raw cotton, and later coffee, and make for Liverpool , Nantes , Lisbon or Amsterdam . Ships leaving European ports for West Africa would carry printed cotton textiles, some originally from India, copper utensils and bangles, pewter plates and pots, iron bars more valued than gold, hats, trinkets, gunpowder and firearms and alcohol. Tropical shipworms were eliminated in

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6032-420: The Sudan with respect to area, the most populous, and with the most extensive trade." This capital may not be the same city as the one described by al-Bakri, however. In this period the ruling dynasty, now thoroughly Islamized, re-established control over many of the former vassals who had become independent, including Kaniaga , Diarra , Diafunu and others. Ghana was the master of an extensive trade system in

6148-528: The United States in 1808. In Senegambia , between 1300 and 1900, close to one-third of the population was enslaved. In early Islamic states of the Western Sudan , including Ghana (750–1076), Mali (1235–1645), Segou (1712–1861), and Songhai (1275–1591), about a third of the population was enslaved. The earliest Akan state of Bonoman which had third of its population being enslaved in

6264-710: The abolition of slavery included the British Preventative Squadron and the American African Slave Trade Patrol , the abolition of slavery in the Americas, and the widespread imposition of European political control in Africa. In modern times, human trafficking remains an international problem. Slavery in the 21st century continues and generates an estimated $ 150 billion in annual profits. Populations in regions with armed conflict are especially vulnerable, and modern transportation has made human trafficking easier. In 2019, there were an estimated 40.3 million people worldwide subject to some form of slavery, and 25% were children. 24.9 million are used for forced labor , mostly in

6380-461: The arrival of the Portuguese . Because it had been established within his kingdom, Afonso I of Kongo believed that the slave trade should be subject to Kongo law. When he suspected the Portuguese of receiving illegally slaves to sell, he wrote letters to the King João III of Portugal in 1526 imploring him to put a stop to the practice. The kings of Dahomey sold their war captives into transatlantic slavery, who otherwise may have been killed in

6496-426: The author considered most likely. The author concludes that "the nearest to the truth is that they were not black." This interpretation derived from his opinion that the rulers' genealogies linked them to the Berbers. The Tarikh al-Sudan further states that "In origin they were white, though we do not know to whom they trace their origin. Their subjects, however, were Wa'kore [Soninke]." Chronicles by al-Idrisi in

6612-574: The author) across the Atlantic Ocean" Zanzibar was once East Africa's main slave-trading port, during the Indian Ocean slave trade and under Omani Arabs in the 19th century, with as many as 50,000 slaves passing through the city each year. Prior to the 16th century, the bulk of slaves exported from Africa were shipped from East Africa to the Arabian peninsula . Zanzibar became a leading port in this trade. Arab traders of slaves differed from European ones in that they would often conduct raiding expeditions themselves, sometimes penetrating deep into

6728-411: The best clothing, meaning they were even more exposed to diseases. On top of the fear of disease, people were afraid of why they were being captured. The popular assumption was that Europeans were cannibals . Stories and rumours spread that whites captured Africans to eat them. Olaudah Equiano accounts his experience about the sorrow slaves encountered at the ports. He talks about his first moment on

6844-573: The cold Atlantic waters, and at each unloading, a profit was made. The Atlantic slave trade peaked in the late 18th century when the largest number of people were captured and enslaved on raiding expeditions into the interior of West Africa. These expeditions were typically carried out by African states, such as the Bono State , Oyo empire ( Yoruba ), Kong Empire , Kingdom of Benin , Imamate of Futa Jallon , Imamate of Futa Toro , Kingdom of Koya , Kingdom of Khasso , Kingdom of Kaabu , Fante Confederacy , Ashanti Confederacy , Aro Confederacy and

6960-435: The coming of Islam to the final end of Ghana. When the Muslims Cisse dynasty came to power they killed Bida, the sacred snake and protector of the kingdom. A seven-year drought ensued, destroying the kingdom and forcing much of the population to flee in search of more hospitable territory. According to much later traditions, from the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Diara Kante took control of Koumbi Saleh and established

7076-483: The continent. They also differed in that their market greatly preferred the purchase of enslaved females over male. The increased presence of European rivals along the East coast led Arab traders to concentrate on the overland slave caravan routes across the Sahara from the Sahel to North Africa. The German explorer Gustav Nachtigal reported seeing slave caravans departing from Kukawa in Bornu bound for Tripoli and Egypt in 1870. The trade of slaves represented

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7192-435: The country's history as related to him by 'Uthman, a faqih of Ghana who took a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1394, according to which the power of Ghana waned as that of the "veiled people" grew through the Almoravid movement. Whether the Almoravids conquered Ghana or not, the country certainly did convert to Islam around 1076. This conversion and its accompanying rejection of the earlier, more accommodating Islam may have pushed

7308-429: The crew. Death was so common that ships were called tumbeiros, or floating tombs. What shocked Africans the most was how death was handled in the ships. Smallwood says the traditions for an African death were delicate and community-based. On ships, bodies would be thrown into the sea. Because the sea represented bad omens, bodies in the sea represented a form of purgatory and the ship a form of hell. Any Africans who made

7424-662: The crossing. They described their only pain in the heart, and placed the hand correctly on the spot, though many think the organ stands high up in the breast-bone. African states played a key role in the trade of slaves, and slavery was a common practice among Sub Saharan Africans even before the involvement of the Arabs , Berbers and Europeans . There were three types: those who were enslaved through conquest, instead of unpaid debts, or those whose parents gave them as property to tribal chiefs. Chieftains would barter their slaves to Arab, Berber, Ottoman or European buyers for rum, spices, cloth or other goods. Selling captives or prisoners

7540-410: The disproportionate removal of males and the introduction of new crops from the Americas ( cassava , maize) would have limited general population decline to particular regions of western Africa around 1760–1810, and in Mozambique and neighbouring areas half a century later. There has also been speculation that within Africa, females were most often captured as brides , with their male protectors being

7656-419: The empire at its height is sparse. According to Kati's Tarikh al-Fettash , in a section probably composed around 1580 but citing the chief judge Ida al-Massini who lived somewhat earlier, twenty kings ruled Ghana before the advent of Islam. Al-Sadi purports that approximately 18 through 34 ancient Kaya (kings) ruled before the Hijra and 24 more kaya (kings) ruled afterward. Written sources are vague as to

7772-457: The empire's formation. By the time of the Muslim conquest of North Africa in the 7th century, the camel had changed the ancient, irregular trade routes into a network running between North Africa and the Niger River . Soninke tradition portrays early Ghana as very warlike, with horse-mounted warriors key to increasing its territory and population, although details of their expansion are extremely scarce. Wagadu made its profits from maintaining

7888-454: The empire's maximum extent, though according to al-Bakri , Ghana had forced Awdaghost in the desert to accept its rule sometime between 970 and 1054. Oral traditions indicate that, at its height, the empire controlled Takrur , Jafunu, Jaara , Bakhunu, Neema, Soso, Guidimakha , Gijume, Gajaaga , as well as the Awker, Adrar, and Hodh to the north. It also had some degree of influence over Kaniaga , Kaarta , and Khasso . Diabe, supposedly

8004-568: The empire, promoting pro-Islam candidates for the throne. A tradition in historiography maintains that Ghana was conquered by the Almoravid dynasty in 1076–77, but this interpretation has been sharply questioned by modern scholars. Conrad and Fisher (1982) argued that the notion of any Almoravid military conquest at its core is merely perpetuated folklore, derived from a misinterpretation or naive reliance on Arabic sources. Dierke Lange agrees but argues that this does not preclude Almoravid political agitation, claiming that Ghana's demise owed much to

8120-405: The entire sparsely-populated area of Bundu . In the 18th century, however, Bundu's power increased as they captured land from their former overlords, and Gajaaga declined. Gajaaga also lost land to the kingdoms of Khasso and Guidimaka . At the beginning of the 18th century, they suffered raids by the Trarza Moors and Kaarta . The French built a fort in Gajaaga in 1700, from which came most of

8236-417: The former. Over time the economic and social disruptions created by European penetration and the slave trade led to near-constant warfare, much of it civil. The aristocracy's monopoly on guns led to increased oppression for the lower classes and a winner-take-all attitude in succession disputes. The decline of the slave trade in the early 19th century took away Gajaaga's most important export, further weakening

8352-426: The hand-crafted leather goods found in present-day Morocco also had their origins in the empire. al-Bakri also mentioned that Muslims played a central role in commerce and held court appointments. Ibn Hawqal quotes the use of a cheque worth 42,000 dinars. The main centre of trade was Koumbi Saleh . The king claimed as his own all nuggets of gold, and allowed other people to have only 'gold dust'. In addition to

8468-421: The imperial dynasty in written records was made by Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī in 830. Further information about the empire was provided by the accounts of Cordoban scholar al-Bakri when he wrote about the region in the 11th century. After centuries of prosperity, the empire began its decline in the second millennium , and would finally become a vassal state of the rising Mali Empire at some point in

8584-425: The incident. According to police, approximately 276 children were taken in the attack, of whom 53 had escaped as of 2 May. Other reports said that 329 girls were kidnapped, 53 had escaped and 276 were still missing. The students have been forced to convert to Islam and into marriage with members of Boko Haram, with a reputed " bride price " of ₦ 2,000 each ( $ 12.50/ £ 7.50). Many of the students were taken to

8700-509: The influence exerted by the king in local regions, tribute was received from various tributary states and chiefdoms on the empire's periphery. The introduction of the camel played a key role in Soninke success as well, allowing products and goods to be transported much more efficiently across the Sahara. These contributing factors all helped the empire remain powerful for some time, providing

8816-574: The journey to the coast killed many and weakened others. Disease engulfed many, and insufficient food damaged those who made it to the coasts. Scurvy was common, and was often referred to as mal de Luanda ("Luanda sickness," after the port in Angola). The assumption for those who died on the journey died from malnutrition . As food was limited, water may have been just as bad. Dysentery was widespread and poor sanitary conditions at ports did not help. Since supplies were poor, slaves were not equipped with

8932-654: The journey would have survived extreme disease and malnutrition, as well as trauma from being on the open ocean and the death of their friends. In Algiers during the time of the Regency of Algiers in North Africa in the 19th century, up to 1.5 million Christians and Europeans were captured and forced into slavery. This eventually led to the Bombardment of Algiers in 1816 by the British and Dutch , forcing

9048-490: The king stand ten pages holding shields and swords decorated with gold, and on his right are the sons of the kings of his country wearing splendid garments and their hair plaited with gold. The governor of the city sits on the ground before the king and around him are ministers seated likewise. At the door of the pavilion are dogs of excellent pedigree that hardly ever leave the place where the king is, guarding him. Around their necks they wear collars of gold and silver studded with

9164-540: The kingdom of Dahomey . Europeans rarely entered the interior of Africa, due to fear of disease and moreover fierce African resistance. The slaves were brought to coastal outposts where they were traded for goods. The people captured on these expeditions were shipped by European traders to the colonies of the New World . It is estimated that over the centuries, twelve to twenty million slaves were shipped from Africa by European traders, of whom some 15 percent died during

9280-466: The latter. Furthermore, the archaeology of ancient Ghana does not show the signs of rapid change and destruction that would be associated with any Almoravid-era military conquests. Sheryl L. Burkhalter (1992) suggested that there were reasons to believe that there was conflict between the Almoravids and the empire of Ghana. Ibn Khaldun, a 14th-century North African historian who read and cited both al-Bakri and al-Idrisi, reported an ambiguous account of

9396-574: The legend of Wagadu continues to have a deep-rooted significance in Soninke culture and history. The tradition of Gassire's lute mentions Wagadu's fall. The traditions of the Moors , Hassaniya Arabs and Berbers in Mauritania maintain that the earliest occupants of areas such as the Adrar and Tagant were Black. These regions, part of the core of Wagadu, remained largely Soninke until at least

9512-530: The major source of revenue for the state of Bornu as late as 1898. The eastern regions of the Central African Republic have never recovered demographically from the impact of 19th-century raids from the Sudan and still have a population density of less than 1 person/km . During the 1870s, European initiatives against the trade of slaves caused an economic crisis in northern Sudan, precipitating

9628-543: The majority of these Muslims were merchants, this part of the city was probably its primary business district. It is likely that these inhabitants were largely black Muslims known as the Wangara and are today known as Jakhanke or Mandinka . The separate and autonomous towns outside of the main governmental center is a well-known practice used by the Jakhanke tribe of the Mandinka people throughout history. Beginning in

9744-420: The master or patron in question. Some slaves were allowed to maintain their names and inheritance over generations; others were chattel tasked with domestic work; others were destined for the slave trade . Different social groups lived in designated villages. The most prominent were the animist warrior aristocracy and the marabouts , with each family among the latter linked in a patronage relationship to one among

9860-540: The mid 20th century as more archeological data became available, scholars began to favor a purely local origin for Ghana. These works bring together archaeology, descriptive geographical sources written between 830 and 1400 AD, the Tarikhs from the 16th and 17th centuries, and the oral traditions. In 1969 Patrick Munson excavated at Dhar Tichitt (a site associated with the ancestors of the Soninke), which clearly reflected

9976-545: The neighbouring countries of Chad and Cameroon , with sightings reported of the students crossing borders with the militants, and sightings of the students by villagers living in the Sambisa Forest , which is considered a refuge for Boko Haram. On 5 May 2014 a video in which Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility for the kidnappings emerged. Shekau claimed that "Allah instructed me to sell them...I will carry out his instructions" and " [s]lavery

10092-683: The night of 14–15 April 2014, a group of militants attacked the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok , Nigeria. They broke into the school, pretending to be guards, telling the girls to get out and come with them. A large number of students were taken away in trucks, possibly into the Konduga area of the Sambisa Forest where Boko Haram were known to have fortified camps. Houses in Chibok were also burned down in

10208-481: The period from the late 19th century and early 20th century, demand for the labour-intensive harvesting of rubber drove frontier expansion and forced labour . The personal monarchy of Belgian King Leopold II in the Congo Free State saw mass killings and slavery to extract rubber. Surviving the voyage was the main struggle. Close quarters meant everyone was infected by any diseases that spread, including

10324-656: The presence (after Ghana's demise) of nomadic Berbers originally from Libya, and the assumption that they were the ruling caste in an earlier age. Earlier accounts such Ya'qubi (872 CE), al-Masudi (c. 944 CE), Ibn Hawqal (977 CE), al-Biruni (c. 1036 CE), and al-Bakri (1068 CE) all describe the population and rulers of Ghana as " negroes ". Delafosse's works, meanwhile, have been harshly criticised by scholars such as Charles Monteil , Robert Cornevin and others for being "unacceptable" and "too creative to be useful to historians", particularly in relation to his interpretation of West African genealogies, Beginning in

10440-581: The priests in addition to providing free labor for the shrine. An article in the Middle East Quarterly in 1999 reported that slavery is endemic in Sudan . Estimates of abductions during the Second Sudanese Civil War range from 14,000 to 200,000 people. During the Second Sudanese Civil War people were taken into slavery; estimates of abductions range from 14,000 to 200,000. Abduction of Dinka women and children

10556-622: The region shows that in his day, or 1067/1068, Ghana was surrounded by independent kingdoms, and Sila, one of them located on the Senegal River , was "almost a match for the king of Ghana." Sama is the only such entity mentioned as a province, as it was in al-Ya'qubi's day. In al-Bakri's time, the rulers of Ghana had begun to incorporate more Muslims into government, including the treasurer, his interpreter, and "the majority of his officials." A 17th-century chronicle written in Timbuktu ,

10672-413: The region. In 1858 they annexed half of Gooy and made the rest a protectorate, bringing an end to a millennium of Bacilli rule in Gajaaga. The core of the state was two provinces, Gooy and Kamera, with their capitals at Tiyaabu and Makhaana respectively. Each was led by a tunka , the oldest of whom ruled the entire kingdom. The tunka was commander-in-chief of the army and administrator of justice and had

10788-479: The right to tax the population, although villages retained considerable autonomy at least until the arrival of Europeans. The ruling class or dambe were supported by sakko griots who memorized and recited their illustrious lineage. Gajaaga society was marked by a complex series of hierarchies. One involved nobles, freemen, and slaves; another cleavages distinguished between natives and strangers, Muslims and animists, job groups, or degree of servitude and status of

10904-468: The rim of the Sahara desert. According to al-Bakri, the major part of the city was called El-Ghaba and was the residence of the king. It was protected by a stone wall and functioned as the royal and spiritual capital of the Empire. It contained a sacred grove of trees in which priests lived. It also contained the king's palace, the grandest structure in the city, surrounded by other "domed buildings". There

11020-509: The rise of Mahdist forces. Mahdi 's victory created an Islamic state , one that quickly reinstituted slavery. European involvement in the East African trade of enslaved people began when Portugal established Estado da Índia in the early 16th century. From then until the 1830s, c.  200 enslaved people were exported from Portuguese Mozambique annually and similar figures has been estimated for enslaved people brought from Asia to

11136-570: The river than Koumbi Saleh. The empire was populated by ancient Mande tribes and would come under unity through the Soninke tribe of the greater Mande ethnic group, with its citizens living in deeply established patrilineal /paternal clans and family structures. 15°40′N 8°00′W  /  15.667°N 8.000°W  / 15.667; -8.000 History of slavery The history of slavery spans many cultures , nationalities , and religions from ancient times to

11252-415: The royal town, with its large palace and burial mounds, have not been located. In recent years, the identification of Koumbi Saleh with the 'city of Ghana' described in the sources has been increasingly disputed by scholars. al-Idrisi , a twelfth-century writer, described Ghana's royal city as lying on a riverbank, a river he called the "Nile." This followed the geographic custom of his day, which confused

11368-485: The salt water. I told them that they were employed in cultivation the land; but they would not believe me ... A deeply-rooted idea that the whites purchase negroes for the purpose of devouring them, or of selling them to others that they may be devoured hereafter, naturally makes the slaves contemplate a journey towards the coast with great terror, insomuch that the slatees are forced to keep them constantly in irons, and watch them very closely, to prevent their escape. During

11484-462: The slaves traded out of Saint-Louis in the decades following. The penetration of the slave trade and the rising influence of Moroccan Orman forces in the Senegal river valley created widespread social upheaval that affected Gajaaga as much as its neighbors. Beginning in 1700 the kingdom saw frequent succession disputes and civil wars, destroying the confederation's internal unity. They culminated in

11600-454: The social-political stability of the empire based on the seemingly just actions and grandeur of the king. Al-Bakri , a Moorish nobleman living in Spain questioned merchants who visited the empire in the 11th century and wrote of the king: He sits in audience or to hear grievances against officials in a domed pavilion around which stand ten horses covered with gold-embroidered materials. Behind

11716-654: The son of Dinga, is sometimes given credit for driving the Mandinka out of the Gajaaga. Two other Soninke groups to the south, the Gaja and the Karo, were dominated by the Wagu. Given the scattered nature of the Arabic sources and the ambiguity of the existing archaeological record, it is difficult to determine when and how Ghana declined. With the gradual drying of the Sahel, the all-important epicenters of trade began to most south to

11832-479: The state and paving the way for formal colonization. Gajaaga was a riverine state, and much of the economy rested on a dual agricultural system where one crop was planted in the uplands during the rainy season, while another was grown in the floodplain as the Senegal river's annual flood tapered off during the dry season. This gave the inhabitants insurance against inconsistent rains. The ruling class, marabouts, and well-off free men had slaves to work their fields. By

11948-504: The structure of everyday life throughout the 15th to the 18th century. "Slavery came in different guises in different societies: there were court slaves, slaves incorporated into princely armies, domestic and household slaves, slaves working on the land, in industry, as couriers and intermediaries, even as traders". During the 16th century, Europe began to outpace the Arab world in the export traffic, with its trafficking of slaves from Africa to

12064-477: The surrounding areas in northern Nigeria at the turn of the 20th century, approximately 2 million to 2.5 million people living there were enslaved. Slavery in northern Nigeria was finally outlawed in 1936. Writing in 1998 about the extent of trade coming through and from Africa, the Congolese journalist Elikia M'bokolo wrote "The African continent was bled of its human resources via all possible routes. Across

12180-623: The terrible voyage, many during the arduous journey through the Middle Passage . The great majority were shipped to the Americas, but some also went to Europe and Southern Africa. While talking about the trade of slaves in East Africa in his journals, David Livingstone said To overdraw its evil is a simple impossibility. While travelling in the African Great Lakes Region in 1866, Livingstone described

12296-469: The territorial units often called kafu in Mandinka . The Arabic sources are vague as to how the country was governed. Al-Bakri, far and away the most detailed one, mentions that the king had officials ( mazalim ) who surrounded his throne when he gave justice, and these included the sons of the "kings of his country" which we must assume are the same kings that al-Ya'qubi mentioned in his account of nearly 200 years earlier. Al-Bakri's detailed geography of

12412-517: The time a vassal of the Sosso , rebelled with Kangaba and became part of a loose federation of Mande-speaking states. After Soumaoro's defeat at the Battle of Kirina in 1235 (a date again assigned arbitrarily by Delafosse), the new rulers of Koumbi Saleh became permanent allies of the Mali Empire . As Mali became more powerful, the Ghana's role as an ally declined to that of a submissive state, although he

12528-525: The water rose trading ships would leave Saint-Louis at the mouth of the river, arriving in Gajaaga around September. The trading season lasted a few months, at which point the merchants would return downriver and the local jula would begin stocking and preparing for the next year. Slaves, captives from the wars of the Bamana Empire and the Imamate of Fula Djallon or locals captured by raiders from

12644-490: The whole region." He went on to relate that they "vanquished the Susu and acquired all their possessions, both their ancient kingdom and that of Ghana." According to a modern tradition, this resurgence of Mali was led by Sundiata Keita , the founder of Mali and ruler of its core area of Kangaba . Delafosse assigned an arbitrary but widely accepted date of 1230 to the event. This tradition states that Ghana Soumaba Cisse, at

12760-654: Was institutionalized by the time the first civilizations emerged (such as Sumer in Mesopotamia , which dates back as far as 3500 BC). Slavery features in the Mesopotamian Code of Hammurabi (c. 1750 BC), which refers to it as an established institution. Slavery was widespread in the ancient world in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Slavery became less common throughout Europe during

12876-772: Was a common practice among Africans, Turks, Berbers and Arabs during that era. However, as the Atlantic trade of slaves increased its demand, local systems which primarily serviced indentured servitude expanded. European trading of slaves, as a result, was the most pivotal change in the social, economic, cultural, spiritual, religious, political dynamics of the concept of trading in slaves. It ultimately undermined local economies and political stability as villages' vital labour forces were shipped overseas as slave raids and civil wars became commonplace. Crimes which were previously punishable by some other means became punishable by enslavement. Slavery already existed in Kingdom of Kongo prior to

12992-442: Was also one mosque for visiting Muslim officials. (El-Ghaba, coincidentally or not, means "The Forest" in Arabic.) The name of the other section of the city is not recorded. In the vicinity were wells with fresh water, used to grow vegetables. It was inhabited almost entirely by Muslims, who had with twelve mosques , one of which was designated for Friday prayers, and had a full group of scholars, scribes and Islamic jurists. Because

13108-505: Was another title for these kings. The Soninke name for the polity was Ouagadou . This meant the "place of the Wague", the term current in the 19th century for the local nobility or may have meant 'the land of great herds'. According to oral traditions , although they vary much amongst themselves, the legendary progenitory of the Soninke was a man named Dinga, who came "from the east" (possibly Aswan , Egypt ), after which he migrated to

13224-595: Was common. In Mauritania it is estimated that up to 600,000 men, women and children, or 20% of the population, are currently enslaved, many of them used as bonded labor . Slavery in Mauritania was criminalized in August 2007. During the Darfur conflict that began in 2003, many people were kidnapped by Janjaweed and sold into slavery as agricultural labor, domestic servants and sex slaves. In Niger , slavery

13340-546: Was enslaved. Roughly half the population of Madagascar was enslaved. Slavery in Ethiopia persisted until 1942. The Anti-Slavery Society estimated that there were 2,000,000 slaves in the early 1930s, out of an estimated population of between 8 and 16 million. It was finally abolished by order of emperor Haile Selassie on 26 August 1942. When British rule was first imposed on the Sokoto Caliphate and

13456-405: Was still accorded prestige as the leader of an ancient and storied state. According to a detailed account of al-'Umari, written around 1340 but based on testimony given to him by the "truthful and trustworthy" shaykh Abu Uthman Sa'id al-Dukkali, Ghana still retained its functions as a sort of kingdom within the empire, its ruler being the only one allowed to bear the title malik and "who is like

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