African Slave Trade

Although slavery has been in effect for almost the majority of recorded history, the staggering numbers involved in the African slave trade has left an irreparable scar which has thus far failed to heal.

• Slavery in Africa

Whether slavery existed in African society before the invasion of Europeans is highly debated among Africans and Europeans. What is known is that Africans have endured several forms of slavery for centuries, including chattel slavery not only under the Europeans through the trans-Atlantic slave trade but also by Muslims with the trans-Saharan slave trade as well.



Even after abolishing the slave trade in Africa, Colonial powers used forced labor.


• Islam and African Slavery

The Qur'ans humanitarian outlook on slavery says free men can not be enslaved, and those who put their faith in foreign religions should live as protected people. However, the advancing of the Islamic Empire through Africa resulted in a much crueler interpretation of this law, hence anyone from outside the borders of the Islamic Empire were considered fair game for their slave market.





 • The Start of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

When the Portuguese 1st sailed down the Atlantic African coast in the 1430s, they were on a mission. Surprisingly, it was not slaves they were after, it was gold. However, by 1500 they had already traded 81,000 Africans with nearby Atlantic islands, Muslim merchants and of course, Europe.


• The 'Triangular Trade' in Slaves

From 1440-1640, for 200 years, Portugal had monopolized the export of slaves from Africa. Also take note that they were the last European country to abolish the institution, although, like France, it still continued to work former slaves as contract laborers. It has been estimated that during the 4 1/2 centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Portugal was responsible for transporting over 4.5 million Africans. During the 18th century however, when the slave trade accounted for the transport of a whopping 6 million Africans, Britain was the worst violator being responsible for trafficking almost 2.5 million Africans.


Documentation on how many slaves were carried from Africa across the Atlantic to the Americas during the sixteenth century can only be estimated as very few records exist for this time period. But from the 17th century onwards, accurate records are surfacing, such as ship logs and manifests.


Slaves for the Trans-Atlantic slave trade were initially abducted from Senegambia and the Windward Coast. Around 1650 the trade moved to west-central Africa (the Kingdom of the Kongo and neighboring Angola).



Slavery in South Africa

It is a total misconception that slavery in South Africa was soft compared to America and the European colonies in the Far East. This is not the case as punishments dealt out could be very harsh. From 1680 to 1795 an average of one slave was executed in Cape Town each month and the decaying bodies would be re-hung around town as a deterrent to other slaves.