Is it true that Africans themselves were initially enslaving other Africans before the Eurpopeans started?

Answer 1

There has been slavery throughout the world and Africa is no exception. However, slavery in Africa was not even remotely similar to Western style "American" slavery which was a race based system that considered the slaves subhuman. Slaves in Africa could own property. And it was, for the most part, not a hereditary system. A person could buy a slave but they did not own that slaves offspring.

Answer 2

The history of Slavery is very muddled and complex. It is believed that Africans were indeed enslaved by Africans and that some Africans sold slaves to White slavers.

I have slowly been researching the history of Slavery for the past couple of years using the Internet. What has surprised me most about it, is just how long a history it is. I'm not simply talking of the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, but the trade in slaves which happened right here in England in the Middle Ages and which was banned by English Law. It was this same ancient law which started the anti-Slave movement in England in the 18th century which lead ultimately to the Bill to abolish slavery [Wm. Wilberforce - Wilber] being passed in the House of Commons in 1807, March 25th I think of that year.

Answer 3

Yes, it's true. The Egyptians had slaves long before the Europeans got to Africa, and slavery was a common result of warfare between the African tribes - if you captured a village, you enslaved all its people, it was natural practice. Also, no slaves were enslaved by the Europeans - they were all bought from African slave-traders, as when the Europeans came along with all their 'gifts', the only thing the Africans could think of to pay them back with were slaves. And the only places still to have slaves are in Africa. Kind of puts all these apologies the Africans are asking for into perspective.

Answer 4

Yes. Prisoners from war and criminals were enslaved. The increased demand for slaves in the Americas turned it into a profitable business, so kidnapping and raids for the purpose of obtaining slaves became common place. To protect themselves from slave traders people wanted guns which could be obtained from European in exchange for slaves, so the number engaged in the slave trade expanded.

Several peopled have commented that the Europeans did not invent slavery. No one know who did, but the Greeks and the Romans societies were built on slave labor to an even greater extent than the American South. Sparta had so many slaves that the entire male population did nothing but train to fight and keep the slaves in line. Slavery subsided as a way of life in Europe after the fall of Rome, but Europeans continued to enslave one another until the high middle ages.

Answer 5

Yes, Africans enslaved each other before the Europeans started it in Africa. And so did Europeans before then. The Greeks, Romans and even Medieval Europeans enslaved each other.

In Renaissance Europe slavery (of other Europeans) was justified because they thought that the Greeks practised slavery, and since the Renaissance was an attempt to recreate the civilisation of Ancient Greece, slavery was only fitting.

European enslavement of Africans differed in certain respects from "traditional" African enslavement.

1. African enslavement was not based on race

Unlike European slavery African slavery was not based solely on race or ethnicity. You could become a slave if you were captured in a tribal war or if you were indebted to someone else. One did not become a slave solely because you belonged to one ethnic group or another. This contrasts with European attempts to justify the slavery of Africans based on the Bible and "science"

2. Slaves were often adopted into their host families

Slaves were often made to work in a family. If the slave proved himself hardworking and capable, he would be adopted into the host family. In my family, for example (I am African), my great great grandfather was a slave captured in a tribal war in the late 19th century. He eventually proved himself a good and capable hand around the house. Subsequently he was adopted into my great great grandmother's family and married her.

Contrast this with the European system, which put every conceivable barrier against inter-racial marriage even among Free Blacks, deeming it unholy, vile and against the laws of God.

In conclusion, there was slavery in Africa before the Europeans came on the scene, but European involvement expanded the trade to an unimaginable scale, with devastating consequences for both slaver and enslaved.

Answer 6

Unfortunately yes. Even when the Europeans got involved, what would often happen is the Africans themselves would sell people into slavery.

I was talking to a friend the other day who's got a charity which does a lot of work in Romania, and he says that even today (especially in rural areas) a lot of them wouldn't think twice about selling their own kids.

Answer 7

Yes. It was a natural consequence of tribal warfare. You either killed your enemies or you enslaved them. The practice goes back at least to ancient Egypt and continues in some areas today.

By the way, American Indians did the same thing on a much smaller scale. It wasn't unusual for a captured woman of another tribe to become a slave in her new tribe. That is why some tribes captured white women instead of killing them. And, yes, they were brutally treated.

Answer 8

Yes. White Europeans did not invent slavery. Inter-tribal warfare and raids were common throughout Africa, and captured members of other tribes were either tortured and killed or held as slaves (which they probably preferred to the alternative). When Europeans came along, some simply saw this as just another commodity to be traded.

The scenarios often seen in movies of white men going into the jungle with rifles and capturing defenseless blacks seldom, if ever, happened. The usual way was that white slave traders would buy slaves already captured from the tribal leaders along the coast. Why would sailor types want to risk their own lives going into the bush, when they could simply buy their stock for beads and trinkets from tribes along the coast? These tribes would then raid inland tribes again to replenish their stock to be ready for sale to the next boat to come along.

Slavery still occurs in Africa and some other parts of the world, although the U.N. has been trying for years to stamp it out.

Answer 9

Yes. Domestic slave ownership as well as domestic and international slave trades in western Africa preceded the late 15th-century origins of the Atlantic slave trade. Since most West African societies did not recognize private property in land, slaves functioned as one of the only profitable means of production individuals could own. West Africans, therefore, acquired and expressed wealth in terms of dependent people, whether as kin, clients, or slaves. Moreover, caravan routes had long linked sub-Saharan African peoples with North Africa and the wider Mediterranean and Middle Eastern worlds. Not only was slavery an established institution in West Africa before European traders arrived, but Africans were also involved in a trans-Saharan trade in slaves along these routes. African rulers and merchants were thus able to tap into preexisting methods and networks of enslavement to supply European demand for slaves. Enslavement was most often a byproduct of local warfare, kidnapping, or the manipulation of religious and judicial institutions. Military, political, and religious authority within West Africa determined who controlled access to the Atlantic slave trade. And some African elites, such as those in the Dahomey and Ashanti empires, took advantage of this control and used it to their profit by enslaving and selling other Africans to European traders.

It is important to distinguish between European slavery and African slavery. In most cases, slavery systems in Africa were more like indentured servitude in that the slaves retained some rights and children born to slaves were generally born free. The slaves could be released from servitude and join a family clan. In contrast, European slaves were chattel, or property, who were stripped of their rights. The cycle of slavery was perpetual; children of slaves would, by default, also be slaves.

Answer 10

Yes, but their concept of slavery was very different than what Europeans had at the time.

One might capture members of another tribe during time of war and make them slaves. Or in some cases, if a member of your tribe was eating too much, talking too much, fighting too much and just being a pain in the neck, it was customary to offer them as a slave to another tribe until they settled down and agreed to behave.

However when it came to the notion of bartering and trading individuals in peace time and thinking of them as property for life, that itself was a foreign concept to the Africans.