Molefi Kete Asante: Henry Louis Gates Is Wrong About African Involvement In The Slave Trade
Dr. Molefi Kete Asante is the author of The History of Africa and 70 additional books on African and African American history. He wrote the commentary below in 2010. Dr. Henry Louis Gates is also scholar and an often sought-after expert on African American and African history. Currently, his series Many Rivers to Cross is airing on PBS.
“Henry Louis Gates is Wrong about African Involvement in the Slave Trade,” By Dr. Molefi Kete Asante, via Asante.net:
Over the past twenty-five years I have had various exchanges, some quite useful and productive, with Henry Louis Gates. We have shared a couple of public meetings and dinners during conferences, book signings, and the like. However, we have rarely agreed on Black Studies, Black History, Afrocentricity, Black Nationalism, or the slave trade.
The recent essay on slavery and reparations in the New York Times (April 23, 2010) caused me to reflect on my previous critiques of several of Gates projects such as Encarta Africana, documentaries, and Wonders of the African World. Gates is a combative, assertive, and quite active intellectual. He is not a do-nothing or say-nothing person that would, given his opinions, be a good thing. Since that is not the case it is necessary to dismantle the superstructure Gates has created to defend the European’s gross violation of African humanity. Attacking the factual errors of Gates’ essay is essential for the plinths upon which the reparations argument stands.
First, we must get the terms of the argument straight. There is no African Slave Trade, no Transatlantic Slave Trade; there is only European Slave Trade across the ocean as there is the Arab Slave Trade across the desert. I say European Slave Trade because the motive for kidnapping and transporting Africans across the ocean was a European initiative. Gates attempts to show Africans as being equally culpable with Europeans in the enslaving of Africans in order to argue in his narrative superstructure that it is difficult to say who should pay reparations.
It is not difficult at all. One only has to ask the questions, “Who traveled to Africa in search of captives?” “Who created an entire industry of shipbuilding, insurance, outfitting of crews and ships, and banking based on the slave trade?” “Who benefited enormously from the evil and vile project of human kidnapping?” “What countries held the asiento from the Catholic Church and the King of Spain for regions of Africa used exclusively for capturing Africans?”
There are some fundamental facts. First, no African kingdom used slavery as its principal mode of production. Africa has produced no economies based on slavery. It was left to Europe to create a system of slavery where humans were chattel to be used as tools in the development of wealth. Seondly, in all massive enterprises where there are oppressors and the oppressed there will be collaborators. It is no secret that some of Afriica’s best minds, Fanon, Memni, Karenga, have isolated incidents of collaboration among victims of oppression. Blacks were police officers in the white minority regime of South Africa but one cannot blame apartheid on black people. So when Gates claims that Africans were involved in the slave trade one can accept this, but what one cannot accept is that Africans were equally culpable for the slave trade. Nor should one blame the Judenrats (Jewish Councils) of Germany for Nazi atrocities although they often collaborated with the Germans. Indians collaborated with the British colonialists in India and some Chinese collaborated with the Japanese in occupied China, and while there is no excuse there is certainly explanation for collaboration.
Collaboration is often the results of personal ambition, greed, or force. After the Portuguese kidnapped scores of Africans in 1444 and took them to Lisbon, the process of capturing Africans from isolated villages was perfected. With overpowering force, as when the Portuguese in l482, destroyed the main capital of Nana Kwame Ansah, whites started to use other Africans to assist with their agenda. By the time Columbus opened up the Americas for Europe in l492 the Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch, French, Danish, and English were poised to use every device possible to entrap Africans. Like now, one way to gain access to the masses is through people who look like they are the same as the masses. There are and will be collaborators in Afghanistan and Iraq. Gates extends his reasoning in a distortion of fact. For example, he says that the whites did not go into the interior of Africa but this flies in the face of the facts. Perhaps whites did not enter the interior regions in massive numbers but almost every African nation that experienced the slave trade has evidence of white incursions and even some settlements in the interior during the period of the slave trade. Of course, it is true that some of this evidence is found in cemeteries littered in villages in the interior, such as the cemetery in Tafo, Akyem, in Ghana. So many whites died in the interior that it was called “the white man’s grave.”
Regardless to how unfortunate Gates’ essay is for scholarship and reason, there is something useful in it. The essay has refocused the attention of writers and scholars to the attempt to revise the collective text of the European world. Guilt is taken off of Europe for the slave trade and placed on black people. In fact, Gates sees blacks and whites as equally responsible for the slave trade. This is like blaming a battered woman for her own beatings. Gates is telling us that whites are saying, “You Africans made me do it.” What is useful is that Afrocentrists and Pan Africanists are now clearer about the dangers to our future than ever before. Those rooming in the so-called master’s house are in serious psychological crisis; our task is to make plain the truth and to defend African interests.
The arguments made by Henry Louis Gates remind me of the Texas Textbook Commission’s attempt to change history texts because they do not fit with its conservative views. Gates gives four examples of African kings or queens who participated with the Europeans in the process of capturing Africans. These examples are puny in the context of centuries of raids, wars, and battles in the African interior as well as on the coasts of Africa. Here is what Gates wrote, “There is very little discussion of the role Africans themselves played. And that role, it turns out, was a considerable one, especially for the slave-trading kingdoms of western and central Africa. These included the Akan of the kingdom of Asante in what is now Ghana, the Fon of Dahomey (now Benin), the Mbundu of Ndongo in modern Angola and the Kongo of today’s Congo.” This entire statement is misleading. There has been little discussion of the role Africans played in slave- trading because the role of the collaborators was minor vis-à-vis the role of white slave raiders. The examples given of the Asante, the Fon, the Mbundu, and the Kongo are not evidence of a general support of the slave trade by African kings or queens; these are merely aberrations where they occur, not a universal pattern of African collaboration over a three hundred year period. Take the example given about the Asante. The Europeans met the Akan people in the 15th century yet there is no indication of Asante involvement in the slave trade during the 15th, l6th, and l7th, centuries and the examples given from the 18th and l9th centuries disregard the Asante attempt to prevent the European take-over of the interior. Indeed, Asante’s involvement was at the level of seeking to control the slave routes and to prevent the British from disrupting their kingdom.
Gates’ own Encarta Africana claims that Nzinga, a queen of the Mbundu in the kingdom of Ndongo, was “a leading opponent of Portuguese colonialism.” In fact, from 1639 to 1648 her armies attacked the Portuguese and forced them out of the interior and back into fortresses along the coast. She retired to the royal city of Matamba in l656.
In the 16th century when the Mani-kongo, called Affonso by the Portuguese, discovered that his trade with Portuguese was not based on mutual respect and that he would not be able to get the shipbuilders, teachers, and skilled craftspeople he desired from Portugal because the Portuguese wanted to make his people slaves, including his ministers. Thus, in l526, the Mani-Kongo attacked the Portuguese after sending a letter to King John III saying “You should here neither merchants nor wares because it is our will that in the kingdom of the Kongo there should not be any slaves nor market for slaves.”
Therefore, Asante, Ndongo, and Kongo have been flipped by this revisionist view espoused by Henry Louis Gates and others who would like to blame slavery on Africans.
The kingdom of Dahomey was involved with the D’Souza dynasty in its vile and horrendous promotion of the slave trade from Dahomey to Brazil for scores of years. but the corrupt, venal leaders of Dahomey during their collaboration with the Portuguese family is nothing more than an aberration. This is why the “selling” of “disposable captives of warfare” became a part of the rhetoric of Africans involved in the slave trade. Remember Africans were stolen from more than 100 ethnic groups, not just from the Fon of Dahomey, and the resistance of Africans, as recorded in my book, The History of Africa, far overwhelms the vile example of Dahomey. I offer these ideas in the spirit of a corrective on a corrosive essay but have little confidence that those who are anti-Africa and anti-African will learn anything.
Dr. Molefi Kete Asante is a Professor at Temple University’s Department of African American Studies. He has been recognized as one of the ten most widely cited African Americans. Visit Dr. Asante’s website at Asante.net
Posts: 42919 | From: , | Registered: Jan 2010
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Extremes on both sides, for different motives.
Gates is motivated by Money and status from Jews while Molefi is in denial for emotional reasons to deny involvement of African snitches, middle-men and collaborators. Even the Africans who acted as guides/translators/guards to the invading Europeans are culpable.
Neither Negro seem to want to embrace accountability.
Gates wants to lessen responsibility for Europeans while Asante is doing what Africans and African Americans always do, hide and forgive the many traitors among us.
Posts: 4693 | From: Saturn | Registered: Apr 2012
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Asante has demonstrated the fact and presence of collaborators.........where do you see hiding and forgiving ???
His point is that responsibility for the "slave trade" lies on Europeans....and he is correct.
Jews colloborated with Nazis, Arabs collaborate with Israelis, Native Americans colloborated with frontier armies, Malinche collaborated with the Spanish, etc.........
the presence of collaborators does not create responsibility for condition of wanting or needing to collaborate.
Gates on the hand......well we all know his agenda...
You in fact do not understand the agendas at all.
If White Supremacy is to be dealt with, the victims of it on both sides of the Atlantic must be in agreement on at least one issue......that they are in fact victms.
Gates wants to drive a wedge between Blacks on the two sides of the Atlantic (pleasing his masters)......
The impression I get from him is that He steadfastly believes in White Supremacy and that it is a good thing.....
He cosigns on all the lies about Black history and always tries to bash the "Afrocentrics" without ever reall addressing their arguments.
-------------------- Keldal Posts: 2818 | From: new york | Registered: Apr 2014
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I am sorry to say that the slave trade was not extortion. The African ruling class and elites actively participated in the slave trade for their own gain.
When Gates did his special on Africa, some years ago their was no remorse from the decendants of African slave trading families. Rodney noted this aspect of slavery which is rarely discussed. Shamefully people prefer the myth that Europeans forced Africans to participate in the slave trade instead of the duplicity of most African elites and kings in this terribel trade.
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-------------------- C. A. Winters Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Clyde Winters: I am sorry to say that the slave trade was not extortion. The African ruling class and elites actively participated in the slave trade for their own gain.
When Gates did his special on Africa, some years ago their was no remorse from the decendants of African slave trading families. Rodney noted this aspect of slavery which is rarely discussed. Shamefully people prefer the myth that Europeans forced Africans to participate in the slave trade instead of the duplicity of most African elites and kings in this terribel trade.
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It is not really meaningful to expect people to feel remorse for something they themselves were not participants in and have no knowledge of. How many of the white people whose ancestors were involved in slavery in the Americans know about it, let alone feel personally responsible after getting to know about it? People are not accountable for the ancestors crimes, they may develop feelings of disgrace and shame about it, and might even want to divest themselves of any gains from it, bequeath them to a charity or use some of it to compensate the descendants of the victims, but asking them to feel remorseful about it is just fascism.
Another fact you should know about slavery in Africa today is that many African themselves are descendants of slaves or servants, even high status Africans. What purpose is there to in expecting some African to feel remorse for slavery, when they know themselves to be descendants of slaves? The only difference between them and the diaspora is that being of the diaspora is more or less evidence of your ancestors being slaves, where as in Africa you will not know until you are informed about it.
Motherland: A Genetic Journey - check this series and see the guy who went to checkout his roots in Africa and was awarded with a name which turned out to that of the captain of a slave raiding unit.
Posts: 890 | From: London | Registered: Apr 2014
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This is common knowledge or should be to the informed black. I haven't read that book but I'll be getting it.
To believe that African Royalty and elites weren't involved to a great extent is to believe that Europeans simply stole 100M or more bodies from the continent and the rulers were completely unaware and helpless to stop them. Nonsense. More than likely, Rival tribes sold off their captives and didn't care until it was their turn to board the boat.
If Africans and African Americans were healthy in mind, spirit and soul, showing even a bit of rage and accountability of these traitors, they would have kept the memory of all these betrayers alive in shame for 10,000 years. Every group will have traitors, but these past soulless African traitors are responsible for selling tens of million of it's own people, and losing their own continent to boot.
Over 1000 years later, Chinese still tell the infamous story of one of the Song dynasties greatest traitors, General/Lord Pan Renmei, who betrayed his country in 980AD. His descendants still live in shame for their traitor ancestor and that's how Africans and African Americans are supposed to treat their own traitors.
Lord Pan Renmei's traitorous story has been told many times and still kept alive in the latest Asian movie, Saving General Yang.
FBI agent James Wormley (very appropriate surname), the nigga FBI agent who setup Marcus Garvey should have been branded as a traitor and his family shamed for his betrayal that cost African Americans one of their most promising leaders. The same is true for the hundreds of Niggas who spied on King, Malcolm X, and many of black leaders in employ to the Jew albinos. Their names are plainly listed in the FBI FOI files, yet Negroes have no shame and don't care. Today, it's fashionable to be a Nigga snitch/informant/Uncle Tom/Traitor.
Yet, because African Americans are mentally ill, hardly no one knows who this traitor is. Today, his descendants are still living off the money and status Jews paid Wormley to sell out his own people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wormley_Jones
Likewise, the sins of these African traitors are 1,000,000x greater than Agent Wormley, yet no one knows their names because of Negro lack of responsibility.
Posts: 4693 | From: Saturn | Registered: Apr 2012
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The saddest part of slavery is that both Black Native Americans and Africans sold their brothers into slavery to benefit Europeans as a source of Cheap labor.
We try to lessen the pain by claiming that Black Native Americans and Africans did not know about the mean and vile things done to Black slaves but this is not true. African slaves returned to Africa, and Black Native Americans ran-away and told their fellow Indians about the mistreatment they experienced as slaves on the Indigo , Rice and Tobacco plantations, but this did not stop either party from continuing the sale of Black people to Europeans as slaves.
It just proves that human nature encourages most people to be Greedy and selfish, thinking only about what they want for themselves.
-------------------- C. A. Winters Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
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" He apparently knew that his clandestine role was not well concealed. During a March 1920 speech at the UNIA Liberty Hall he took special pains to point out to the audience that he was indeed of African ancestry, although he had the appearance of a person of Caucasian or European ancestry. Nevertheless, he engendered the trust of the UNIA leadership to such an extent that he was able to gain responsibility for registering all incoming correspondence. "
Apparently this man was a mulatto.......not Black.....this is why Blacks accepting them us so dangerous...
Which leads to another point about Africa and Natives in America. Many of the "traitors" where in fact mulattoes.....
They used their mother's connections, cultural familiariy, and knowledge of terrain and language to deliver the full blooded into bondage...often times where Whites could not go or were not permitted, they used mulattoes to infiltrate....
Posts: 2818 | From: new york | Registered: Apr 2014
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quote:Originally posted by Clyde Winters: The saddest part of slavery is that both Black Native Americans and Africans sold their brothers into slavery to benefit Europeans as a source of Cheap labor.
We try to lessen the pain by claiming that Black Native Americans and Africans did not know about the mean and vile things done to Black slaves but this is not true. African slaves returned to Africa, and Black Native Americans ran-away and told their fellow Indians about the mistreatment they experienced as slaves on the Indigo , Rice and Tobacco plantations, but this did not stop either party from continuing the sale of Black people to Europeans as slaves.
It just proves that human nature encourages most people to be Greedy and selfish, thinking only about what they want for themselves.
Both happnend, selling/ looting as well as rebellions. We tend to hear a lot about the popular African sold each other, however...what we don't tend to hear.
quote: Africans started to fight the transatlantic slave trade as soon as it began. Their struggles were multifaceted and covered four continents over four centuries. Still, they have often been underestimated, overlooked, or forgotten. African resistance was reported in European sources only when it concerned attacks on slave ships and company barracoons, but acts of resistance also took place far from the coast and thus escaped the slavers’ attention.
In Africa some societies, such as the Djola and Balanta, resisted the arrival of transatlantic slavery and the Europeans that brought the system with them. Elsewhere, cultural and religious movements which resisted slavery were brutally put down. To give one example, the movement led by Catholic Seer Dona Beatrice Kimpa Vita in early eighteenth century Congo, which sought to end the European-inspired wars, was crushed and many of her followers were, ironically, exported as slaves.
The most well-documented resistance in Africa was off the African coast on the slaving ships. There were around 500 documented rebellions on slave ships as well as numerous smaller acts of resistance during the transatlantic slave trade period.
In African societies, there are many examples of opposition to the transatlantic slave trade. One of the earliest documented is the correspondence of the Kongo ruler Nzinga Mbemba (also known as Afonso I, c. 1446–1543) who wrote to the king of Portugal, João III, in 1526 to demand an end to the illegal depopulation of his kingdom. The Kongolese king's successor Garcia II made similar unsuccessful protests.
Other African rulers took a stand. For instance, in the early 17th century Nzinga Mbandi (c. 1583–1663), queen of Ndongo (modern-day Angola), fought against the Portuguese – part of a century-long campaign of resistance waged by the kingdom against the slave trade. Anti-slavery motives can also be found in the activities of the Christian leader Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita (1684–1706) in Kongo.
Several major African states took measures to limit and suppress the slave trade, including the kingdoms of Benin and Dahomey. Agaja Trudo, the king of Dahomey (r. 1708–40), banned the slave trade and even went as far as attacking the European forts on the coast. Unfortunately, Agaja Trudo’s successor did not share his view and profited from engaging in the trade.
Several Muslim states in West Africa, including Futa Toro in the Senegal River basin in the late 18th century and, in the early 19th, Futa Jallon in what is now Guinea, were opposed to the trafficking of humans. In Futa Jallon, the religious leader Abd al-Qadir wrote a letter to British slave traders threatening death to anyone who tried to procure slaves in his country.
Many ordinary Africans also took measures to protect themselves from enslavement. Flight was the most obvious method, but there is also evidence that many Africans moved their villages to more inaccessible areas or took other measures to protect them. In his Narrative, Olaudah Equiano mentions some of the defensive measures that were taken in his own village.
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Scholar Dr Molefi Kete Asante did a great job showing the Europeans were the only one responsible for the slave trade. According to Molefi Asante the African Kingdoms didn't have a slave base economy. I agree with Molefi Asante African slave trade is a misnomer, the slave trade should be call European slave trade. Molefi Asante is right the decision to start the African slave trade was taken in Europe by Pope Nicholas V and the European Kings. European bankers financed and insured the slave trade. The slave boats, the gun boats and the guns were all manufactured in Europe.
According to Jean Phillipe Omotunde For thousand of years before the European Slave traders came to Africa African Kingdoms have been trading with Mesoamerican, Indian and Chinese Kingdoms without any slave trading. The Europeans and Arabs brought the slave trade to Africa.
According to Jean Philippe Omotunde L Histoire de L Esclavage before the European started the African slave trade the European had a Eastern white European slave trade were Slavic people (the word slave come from Slavs or Slavic people) were sold to the Arab world and Western Europe. A port in Venice is name Port of slaves after that trade.
When Analysing the African slave trade and colonization a researcher should look out at the balance of power between the countries involed. During the Col
quote:Originally posted by kdolo: James Wormley Jones -
" He apparently knew that his clandestine role was not well concealed. During a March 1920 speech at the UNIA Liberty Hall he took special pains to point out to the audience that he was indeed of African ancestry, although he had the appearance of a person of Caucasian or European ancestry. Nevertheless, he engendered the trust of the UNIA leadership to such an extent that he was able to gain responsibility for registering all incoming correspondence. "
Apparently this man was a mulatto.......not Black.....this is why Blacks accepting them us so dangerous...
Which leads to another point about Africa and Natives in America. Many of the "traitors" where in fact mulattoes.....
They used their mother's connections, cultural familiariy, and knowledge of terrain and language to deliver the full blooded into bondage...often times where Whites could not go or were not permitted, they used mulattoes to infiltrate....
I once saw a photo of Wormley. Next to Garvey, who was dark black, Wormley was light, but anyone with eyes could clearly see he was a Negro. He looked like Adam Clayton Powell with light skin and wavy hair, like many light skinned Negroes. Over the centuries, Negroes have have the honour, humility, and dignity beaten out of them. Today, they just grasp at illusionary and meaningless symbolism and fallacy to garner false pride.
Any group with dignity would have exposed and made examples of traitors in their group. Negroes ignore them and even go so far as to modify their true histories to use them as false pride symbols, such as what they did with the Buffalo soldiers, who were in reality, albino henchmen (military, police and slave hunters) assisting albinos to genocide Native Americans, many of them being escaped African slaves.
Warped minds react in warped and sub-human ways.
The Africans assisting albinos during the slave trade were very likely just as helpful to whites as the ANC, The AU, the NAACP and President Obama is today. History shows that this type of massive invasion usually does not work so well without a significant inside corruption. The fact that African nations were (and still are) so disjointed and disorganized certainly didn't help but instead aided this exploitation.
History of nations show that the most dangerous traitors are often the country's so-called intellectuals and scholars, who placed themselves above the common citizen and were in position to impact national policy decision making. In the US we have Frederick Douglas the early integrationist, DuBois the intellectual, Gates the opportunist, Clarence Thomas the Tom, Sharpton the FBI/CIA snitch, Jesse Jackson The Bible Pimp, and many tens of thousands more traitors lacking dignity and shame. These types are not new and were definitely present in African performing similar roles, for fear, cash, trinkets, or some other deal that motivates traitors.
Posts: 4693 | From: Saturn | Registered: Apr 2012
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Asante is in error on slavery in Africa. The larger kingdoms such as Ghana, Mali, and Songhay did have slaves--i.e. "unfree persons belonging to others". And more recently, kingdoms such as the Sokoto Caliphate had as many as 2 million slaves way into the early 20th century. Today, Mauritania does harbour slaves--and it is justified on Islamic grounds.
The smaller ethnic groups also kept slaves such as the Yoruba, Ibo, and Ashanti--all based in West Africa. The Ashanti were noted for their slaving exploits--wars especially. The Tinubu clan of Nigeria also had a strong hand in slavery.
One of the most interesting books on West African-Atlantic slavery is that of Theo Conaut. His text "A Slaver's Log" documented his 20 years of slaving on the African coast. One of his main claims is that the bulk of the persons who became slaves in the Americas were war captives( men who fought in the wars) who were then bartered away for cloth, muskets, petty commodity trade items, molasses, and even alcohol. But there was also many who just kidnapped by roving gangs who kidnapped and bartered off. Cases in point: Ajai Crowther, Suleiman Job, Mahama Baquaqua, Gustavus Vassa, etc.
Ajai Crowther's case is interesting in that he was kidnapped to be sent to the Americas--but a British Man o' War(Ship) blocked the ship taking him to the Americas and docked it at the Freetown(hence the name) port. Crowther eventually made his way back to the place in Nigeria where he was kidnapped. He luckily found his mother in a market place one day. It must have been some reunion. Today, in Nigeria there is a university named after him in Oyo state.
But what is less known is the Portuguese practiced chattel slavery in Africa itself. Places like Cape Verde, Angola, Sao Tome, and Mozambique come to mind. The French also practiced slavery in Mauritius--an island nation, a member of the AU. But a much bigger slavery was practiced in South Africa before the Apartheid era with slaves being brought in from Angola and Congo especially. But the most extreme version of virtual slavery was practiced in the Congo under Belgian King Leopold's despotic rule. It is claimed that 8 million Africans succumbed to his cruel and draconian rule. Limbs were routinely chopped off for not bringing in a designated quota of rubber.
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Scholar Dr Molefi Kete Asante did a great job showing the Europeans were the only one responsible for the slave trade. According to Molefi Asante the African Kingdoms didn't have a slave base economy. I agree with Molefi Asante African slave trade is a misnomer, the slave trade should be call European Slave Trade. Molefi Asante is right the decision to start the African slave trade was taken in Europe by Pope Nicholas V and the European Kings. European bankers financed and insured the slave trade. The slave boats, the gun boats and the guns were all manufactured in Europe.
According to Jean Phillipe Omotunde For thousand of years before the European slave traders came to Africa African Kingdoms have been trading with Mesoamerican, Indian and Chinese Kingdoms without any slave trading. The Europeans and Arabs brought the slave trade to Africa.
According to Jean Philippe Omotunde L Histoire de L Esclavage before the European started the African slave trade the European had a Eastern white European slave trade were Slavic people (the word slave come from Slavs or Slavic people) were sold to the Arab world and Western Europe. A port in Venice is name Port of slaves after that trade.
When Analysing the African Slave Trade and colonization a researcher should look out at the balance of power between the countries involed. During the Colonial and Africa Slave trade era the Europeans had the most powerful and advance weapons in the world. The Europeans had guns, gunboats and advance military tactic. The Native Americans and Africans only had medieval weapons like spears, swords, bows etc. The Europeans with their superior gun powder weapons and powerful armies and navies were able to conquered the American continents and most of the world. They were also able to imposed the Atlantic slave trade on the Africans.
The British weapons, navies, armies were so powerful that they were able to defeat the Moghul Empire of India who had similar gun powder weapons that match the British weapons and conquered India. The British defeated China who had gunpowder weapons in the opium war and dominated China. If the British had the power to defeat big and powerful Empires like the Mogul of India and the Qing of China they could have easily defeated any African Kingdoms who had opposed their slave trade.
The Europeans during the Atlantic Slave Trade encircled the coast of West and West Central Africa with their Fort and Navies according to JP Omotunde in Verite et Mensonge. In military strategy once you control the coast of a country you control the trade and can influence the economy and politic of that country. Many coastal African Kingdoms were puppets of the European powers. Some of the Kings of those Kingdoms were Portugueses hiding behind a veil or the mulato children of Portugueses.
Researcher should also analyse the cause of the Atlantic Slave Trade. The Europeans with their superior gunpowder weapons and armies had conquered North and South America and genocide 100 million Native Americans. The Europeans needed workers to replace the Native Americans who worked in the plantations and mines in America. Pope Nicholas V, the European Kings, Priest Las Casas decided they were going to enslaved Africans to developed the American Continents. African Kings and Ambassadors were not invited in Europe when the decision was made to enslaved them.
The African Kingdoms didn't need the Atlantic Slave Trade because the African Kingdoms were among the richest kingdoms on earth. The West African Kingdoms were the number one exporter of gold to Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Age and Renaissance era. East African Kingdoms exported gold to India. The Portuguese, Dutch and English explorers who visited Africa before the Atlantic Slave Trade were surprise to see well organized and sophisticated African Kingdoms with great farms capable to feed their entire population and had surplus left for export(JP Omotunde Verite et Mensonge). The Europeans in order to find slaves for the Americas had to destroyed the African Kingdoms by creating wars among them to divided to conquered.
The International European economic system like the IMF, the World Bank and others corrupt the Chief of State of many African, Latin American and Asian countries. The International Drug trade had corrupted many Latin American chief of states and bureaucrats and many Western bureaucrats. The same way the Atlantic Slave Trade had corrupted many African Kings, Ministers and Priests. The market or demand for slaves yesterday and drug today are more powerful then the Chief of States and Bankers. The Europeans to maintained the Atlantic Slave Trade refused to sell African Kingdoms guns for gold they will only sell guns for slaves aka prisoner of wars therefore causing more wars in West Africa.
To be fair and balance not all African Kings were force to participate in the Atlantic Slave Trade some Kings in West Africa and West Central Africa were zealous Slave Trader. The Muslim Fulani Sultans were brainwashed by that religion to sell non Muslim Africans to slavery. The vast majority of Africans in South, Central and East Africa didn't participate in the slave trade.
Lamin I think the slavery that existed in Africa before the coming of the Arabs and Europeans was more like serfdom and servitude were the bonded servants maintained their human right. Servitude in original Africa wasn't base on race like the Atlantic Slave Trade and religion like the Arab Slave Trade.
Troll Patroll great post about the African who resisted slavery like Queen Nzinga, Kimpa Vita, King Trudo, Toussaint Louverture, Dessalines, Ganga Zumba, Cato, Attuck, Nat Turner, General Cudjoe.(Doumbi Fakoli L Origine Biblique du Racisme Anti Noire) Lionness great thread.
Posts: 5374 | From: sepedat/sirius | Registered: Jul 2012
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Meena, You disagree with what I wrote but you just repeated what Asante wrote. There is historical evidence to support that there was internal slavery in Africa before the Europeans entered Africa. I mentioned Ghana, Mali and Songhay.
According to historical archives Mansa Musa in his trip to Macca(1342) traveled with some 60,000 persons and 12,000 slaves.
The Sokoto Caliphate in the area of what is now Northern Nigeria had at least 1 million slaves.
It is a fact that some economies in Africa were large enough to employ slave labour for production purposes.
Of course, one should be free to critique historical events but empirically valid data should be the basis of the critiques.
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:Originally posted by mena7: Scholar Dr Molefi Kete Asante did a great job showing the Europeans were the only one responsible for the slave trade. According to Molefi Asante the African Kingdoms didn't have a slave base economy. I agree with Molefi Asante African slave trade is a misnomer, the slave trade should be call European slave trade. Molefi Asante is right the decision to start the African slave trade was taken in Europe by Pope Nicholas V and the European Kings. European bankers financed and insured the slave trade. The slave boats, the gun boats and the guns were all manufactured in Europe.
According to Jean Phillipe Omotunde For thousand of years before the European Slave traders came to Africa African Kingdoms have been trading with Mesoamerican, Indian and Chinese Kingdoms without any slave trading. The Europeans and Arabs brought the slave trade to Africa.
According to Jean Philippe Omotunde L Histoire de L Esclavage before the European started the African slave trade the European had a Eastern white European slave trade were Slavic people (the word slave come from Slavs or Slavic people) were sold to the Arab world and Western Europe. A port in Venice is name Port of slaves after that trade.
When Analysing the African slave trade and colonization a researcher should look out at the balance of power between the countries involed. During the Col
Very well analyzed.
Posts: 22234 | From: האם אינכם כילדי הכרית אלי בני ישראל | Registered: Nov 2010
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quote:Originally posted by lamin: Meena, You disagree with what I wrote but you just repeated what Asante wrote. There is historical evidence to support that there was internal slavery in Africa before the Europeans entered Africa. I mentioned Ghana, Mali and Songhay.
According to historical archives Mansa Musa in his trip to Macca(1342) traveled with some 60,000 persons and 12,000 slaves.
The Sokoto Caliphate in the area of what is now Northern Nigeria had at least 1 million slaves.
It is a fact that some economies in Africa were large enough to employ slave labour for production purposes.
Of course, one should be free to critique historical events but empirically valid data should be the basis of the critiques.
How sure are we that Mansa Musa had slaves, and not just servants? Could it be a matter of semantics?
Posts: 22234 | From: האם אינכם כילדי הכרית אלי בני ישראל | Registered: Nov 2010
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Africans avoiding responsibility and denying documented history of their culpability. No big surprise here. I mean, more than any other presented excuse, this is the one that takes precedence over all. It is the primary reason why millions of people and a continent was lost. It is the reason why AA's and Africans still today live under the yoke of the albino.
In business, once an opportunity is lost, the responsible company does what is referred to as a post mortem where all of the flaws in the system or strategy are exposed, analysed and corrected. else in the next endeavour will have a very high probability of repeating failure. Instead of taking accountability, it's much easier, and feels better to simply take the path of denial and feel-good-illusion such as blaming the whole failure on outside influences (US slavery, Colonialism, etc) that were for whatever excuse presented, beyond internal control of those who failed.
Marcus Garvey spoke of this personal and group responsibility way back in the 1920s, Malcolm X spoke strongly about it in the 1960s, and Farrakhan speaks about it today. Small islands of progressive blacks heard, analysed and reacted to the message by taking true responsibility and developing responsible organizations to fulfil the corrected initiative. Groups such as, The Black Moors based out of Baltimore MD and the The Nation Of Islam out of Chicago The majority of Negroes remain in the shadow of previous integration groups like the Buffalo soldiers and DuBois's Talented Ten, ignoring history and doomed to repeat it. Proving, you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.
Why? Because Negroes in the US and Africa are afraid. They fear physical harm, they fear not being accepted by whites, they fear not achieving the Anglo dream, they fear alienation from their albino counterparts and superiors. They fear freedom, and death.
However, there is always an mental/physical escape just in arms reach to sooth the troubled mind. This is the slow death suicide path of cocaine, alcohol, black-on-black violence, Nigga churches and wide open susceptibility to illusion. LOL. I'm sure Niggas on the site much prefer KING's message of giving your life to Christ and turning a passive cheek rather than taking responsibility, confronting their own historic and present dysfunctional behavioural realities.
Posts: 4693 | From: Saturn | Registered: Apr 2012
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^ How would you know when the sound of his voice makes you want to pee?
Also, if you had read Dianetics you'd realize that it too speaks about taking personal responsibility to allow breaking down historically placed mental barriers, fears, obsessions, and compulsions.
Note that of everything stated above, you choose to only reply about a small subset of Farrakhan.
You can also choose to just read the teachings of Buddha, but it seems you may reject anything that isn't presented by albinos.
Posts: 4693 | From: Saturn | Registered: Apr 2012
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[quote]Lamin I think the slavery that existed in Africa before the coming of the Arabs and Europeans was more like serfdom and servitude were the bonded servants maintained their human right. Servitude in original Africa wasn't base on race like the Atlantic Slave Trade and religion like the Arab Slave Trade[quote]
Small differences. So long as an individual is the property of owned by another person then that person is a slave.
Historically slavery arises when the victors in warfare had absolute authority over their prisoners of war. The victors could easily kill them but they didn't because the conquered could work for victors and be treated as property. There were ethnic wars in Africa before the Europeans arrived--hence slavery existed.
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Yes, Dianetics, to help you to fortify your weak and easily misled thinking processes. So far, we have yet to see any sign of creative thinking from you, or the ability to correcting form a valid conclusion from correlated data streams.
If the thread is being ruined, perhaps you should look within, beyond the simple Cut and paste ability you've displayed.
Posts: 4693 | From: Saturn | Registered: Apr 2012
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quote:Originally posted by lamin: [quote]Lamin I think the slavery that existed in Africa before the coming of the Arabs and Europeans was more like serfdom and servitude were the bonded servants maintained their human right. Servitude in original Africa wasn't base on race like the Atlantic Slave Trade and religion like the Arab Slave Trade[quote]
Small differences. So long as an individual is the property of owned by another person then that person is a slave.
Historically slavery arises when the victors in warfare had absolute authority over their prisoners of war. The victors could easily kill them but they didn't because the conquered could work for victors and be treated as property. There were ethnic wars in Africa before the Europeans arrived--hence slavery existed.
Not always from war, but also as a part of a political system. For example, Russia and British Feudalism tied serfs to a specific piece of property owned by a specific Lord, for life. Not only their lives, but the lives of their children and their children's children. Under these system serfs had little to no rights and as law, it was prohibited for a serf to make any accusations or claims against a noble. Punishable by death or serious physical penalty.
Asia had similar laws, and looking from a high level view, I see very little difference between Serfdom, and out right enslavement. Neither held any rights and both had their lives held in their Lord's hands.
Treason was another path for a nobleman, and his family and servants to become slaves. If a noble was found guilty of treason, then they were either executed or enslaved. Usually if the charge was made, there was no way out because the interrogation went on until they confessed, true or not. Their 100s strong klan and servants were also either executed or enslaved. As expected, this strategy was often used to get rid of any opposition to the throne or political body. Charges of treason were very easy to trump up.
In China or Korea, a person and his entire family could become a slaves simply by falling out of grace with the monarch or nobleman. However, the largest representation of slaves in Asia were usually people of conquered lands where nobles could become slaves after such an occurrence. You can imagine the large scale number of people enslaved in China, Korea, and Japan as the all when through their individual unification phases.
Posts: 4693 | From: Saturn | Registered: Apr 2012
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Powerful African states had no interest in perpetuating the slave trade. That's why the Spanish Portuguese English and the Moroccans had to destroy the Songhai empire the arabs in north Africa were the key to the success of the European slave trade in West Africa. The arabs exploited religious ties with the Africans to ingratiate themselves to the Europeans. The Songhai empire collapsed in the 16th century after being attacked by these arab and European forces its an important fact to remember.
Posts: 3 | From: Minnesota | Registered: Nov 2014
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Mouktar is right the Africans who were the true slave traders were the Africans who converted to the Arabs religion of Islam and saw the Africans practicing traditional religion as infidels to be enslaved. Exemple the Muslim Kingdoms and empires of North Nigeria and Senegal. For Non Moslem Africa the Slave Trade European system was imposed on them like European communism, capitalism, globalization,Western fiat currency are imposed on African countries today. Look at what happen to Kaddafi Libya when they were trying to create an African currency and an African bank.
quote:Originally posted by mena7: Mouktar is right the Africans who were the true slave traders were the Africans who converted to the Arabs religion of Islam and saw the Africans practicing traditional religion as infidels to be enslaved. Exemple the Muslim Kingdoms and empires of North Nigeria and Senegal. For Non Moslem Africa the Slave Trade European system was imposed on them like European communism, capitalism, globalization,Western fiat currency are imposed on African countries today. Look at what happen to Kaddafi Libya when they were trying to create an African currency and an African bank.
If correct, didn't the African Ethiopia Jews believe the same thing, they they were above and not associated with Non-Hebrew Africans? I mean, wouldn't they feel that their connection for Israel was greater than Africa? Also, wouldn't they have had an inside connection with the Dutch Jews who ran the slave business?
Posts: 4693 | From: Saturn | Registered: Apr 2012
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The European Colonialists imposed chattel slavery on the Native Americans of America, they imposed the Atlantic Slave Trade on the African Kingdoms. The Potugueses also imposed the Chattel Slave Trade on the Japanese. The fact that the Portuguese imposed the same Slave Trade on Africans and Asian Japanese proved Dr Molefi Kete Asante point that the African Slave Trade was a European creation.
Narmerthot you raise a good point to be investigated. Did the African Jews collaborated with the European Jews during the European Atlantic slave Trade ?
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Radio Host Sotomayor states that the slaves in America choose to be slaves because they had a choice between dying free or be slaves. Sotomayor say the Native Americans choose to dies instead of becoming slaves.
According to Catherine Acholonu a slave boat full of Ibo kidnapped in Nigeria and taken to the coast of North Carolina or Virginia were surprised to see all the kidnapped Ibo jumped in the sea and drowned themselves.
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^ He is wrong. There exists many records of slaves chained together jumping overboard in the middle of the ocean, preferring to drown then to become slaves. There are also many hundreds of non-albino reported instances of massive slave rebellions in the US, the largest and most lengthy being the escaped slave/Native American rebellion in Florida that lasted 50 years.
-------------------- Selenium gives real life and true reality Posts: 4693 | From: Saturn | Registered: Apr 2012
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Slavery in America was part of a system created in Europe to create profit by any means necessary off the land and labor of other people in other places. It was sanctioned by the Pope which gave the royalty of Europe the right to conquest and dominion by decree in the creation of crown colonies. These crown colonies were enterprises started by investors with the permission of the royalty who "granted" lands outside of Europe for them to use in generating profits. All of the early colonies were crown colonies or better crown companies. The investors in these companies had a simple business model. Obtain a grant or charter from the royalty giving them quasi governmental status as agents of the crown, go to said lands and act as sovereigns of state and demand lands and workers from the native population. Use peasants from Europe as indentured workers and "test dummies" to see if said lands were workable and able to grow crops for mercantile trade back to Europe for manufacturing. Over time, as more of indentured servants were sent to the colonies under charter, the peasants became restless and objected to not being able to own lands and share in the profits of the company.
By this time Africans were also being added to this group in lands "incorporated" by the company and its freeholders, landholders and trustees. And in response to these objections, the investors and board of governors of the company sent representatives to the colonies to establish a governing council to oversee the plantations and manage the operations. This governing council was made up of the major landowning officials in the company and in America was called the House of Burgesses.
As the colony was a defacto extension of European nations, the laws of the nation were also in place in the colony. For this law gave the citizens their "rights" as subjects of the crown. In America this meant that the common law of England was the law of the land and the company. However, under the common law and by decree of the crown, the board of governors were given jurisdication to create new laws to govern the company lands incorporated in the colony. And thus rights and privileges were incorporated into the law allowing for more rights among the indentured population of peasants. The organization of the governing councils was almost like an assembly of government even if it was for the affairs of a company engaged in trade. The House of Burgesses was structured with an upper and lower house where all major land owners elected representatives to speak for them. This structure eventually became the defacto structure of all state assemblies and the United States congress. Likewise, the tradition of the biggest landowners (and later slaveowners) also became the basis of most State and Federal appointments in the United States, even after independence. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson being notable examples as both were members of the House Burgesses, but many other state governors, sentators and other officials also counted in this group as major landowners and slaveowners.
These assemblies also passed laws to suppress and destroy the rights of natives and Africans as part of the "business plan". For Africans these are known as the "black codes" which became common among all the colonies. These black codes were the basis of what we call "systematic racism".
None of that came from Africa at all.
Also, keep in mind that there was a whole branch of so called "thinking" or "philosophy" in Europe that gave legitimacy to this idea of profiting off conquest or conquest in the name of profits. Namely in the person of Francis Bacon, among others.
Again, none of this is found in African thought.
On a side note, lets go over more info on the First President, George Washington. Washington was originally a general in the colonial Army of England. Washington was born to a slaveowning family in Virginia and became a colonel in the first indigenous standing Army created by the British, the Virginia Regiment. He also married Martha Dandrige Custis, from Virginia, who was a widow who inherited a large number of slaves and land from her British husband Daniel Parke Custis. From this previous marriage, George Washington inherited the "White House Plantation" which was the main family house built by Daniel P. Custis. George Washington had no children so he raised the Custis children as his own and they maintained the family name of Custis (primarily because of the sizeable inheritance of slaves and lands in the Custis estate). Martha Washington Custis's grand son George Washington Parke Custis's daughter was the wife of Robert E. Lee of the confederacy who inherited much of his land and estates from this marriage. GWP Custis also built Arlington House a plantation and estate along the Potomac in Virginia, that eventually came in the Possession of Robert E. Lee and after the war was confiscated and converted into Arlington National Cemetary. Robert E. Lee also resided in the White House Plantation which he inherited from his marriage to GWP Custis' daughter. The White House was literally a symbol of racism and was the basis of the later building in Washington DC.
It is from the Marriage to Martha Custis that George Washington became a member of the house of burgesses and eventually the first president of the United States, being among the wealthiest landowners and slaveowners in Virginia.
The key here is that the whole structure of the American system is lock, stock and barrel an import from England with no substantial change after the revolution, which includes the black codes (systematic racism) and wars against Native Americans to steal more land and so forth.
Also being the nature of the development of the colony, new lands within the colony were "incorporated" under the authority of the crown, where landowners or "freeholders" and board of directors are given governance over said lands within a "corporate" boundary or limit.
quote:Originally posted by mena7: Radio Host Sotomayor states that the slaves in America choose to be slaves because they had a choice between dying free or be slaves. Sotomayor say the Native Americans choose to dies instead of becoming slaves.
There were many Native American slaves. In fact they were the major slaves in America up to 1720. In addition to being enslaved on the Continental United States, 60,000 Native American slaves were sold into slavery in the Caribbean. These slaves were mainly sold to Europeans by Native Americans. Check out the video below:
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Doug M say:Slavery in America was part of a system created in Europe to create profit by any means necessary off the land and labor of other people in other places. It was sanctioned by the Pope which gave the royalty of Europe the right to conquest and dominion by decree in the creation of crown colonies. These crown colonies were enterprises started by investors with the permission of the royalty who "granted" lands outside of Europe for them to use in generating profits. All of the early colonies were crown colonies or better crown companies
The key here is that the whole structure of the American system is lock, stock and barrel an import from England with no substantial change after the revolution, which includes the black codes (systematic racism) and wars against Native Americans to steal more land and so forth.
Also being the nature of the development of the colony, new lands within the colony were "incorporated" under the authority of the crown, where landowners or "freeholders" and board of directors are given governance over said lands within a "corporate" boundary or limit
Mena: I agree Doug M American slavery and the African Slave Trade was a very sophisticated system created in Europe by the Machiavellic European elite.
Great Black Native American video Clyde. The video have many new Black Native American pictures. Erasing Black people from history is not only immoral but is a crime that should be prosecuted in the court of law. The books looks like a good book Clyde I don't know if you going to have an Ebook or Kindle book.
Posts: 5374 | From: sepedat/sirius | Registered: Jul 2012
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quote:Originally posted by mena7: Doug M say:Slavery in America was part of a system created in Europe to create profit by any means necessary off the land and labor of other people in other places. It was sanctioned by the Pope which gave the royalty of Europe the right to conquest and dominion by decree in the creation of crown colonies. These crown colonies were enterprises started by investors with the permission of the royalty who "granted" lands outside of Europe for them to use in generating profits. All of the early colonies were crown colonies or better crown companies
The key here is that the whole structure of the American system is lock, stock and barrel an import from England with no substantial change after the revolution, which includes the black codes (systematic racism) and wars against Native Americans to steal more land and so forth.
Also being the nature of the development of the colony, new lands within the colony were "incorporated" under the authority of the crown, where landowners or "freeholders" and board of directors are given governance over said lands within a "corporate" boundary or limit
Mena: I agree Doug M American slavery and the African Slave Trade was a very sophisticated system created in Europe by the Machiavellic European elite.
Great Black Native American video Clyde. The video have many new Black Native American pictures. Erasing Black people from history is not only immoral but is a crime that should be prosecuted in the court of law. The books looks like a good book Clyde I don't know if you going to have an Ebook or Kindle book.
Clyde you could have your DNA tested to see how high the frequenices of your ancestry that is African and how high the frequenices are (if any) that you have that are American
Even a white person could claim 5% "Black" Native American ancestry and one couldn't tell it by looking at them
Posts: 42919 | From: , | Registered: Jan 2010
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Clyde you could have your DNA tested to see how high the frequenices of your ancestry that is African and how high the frequenices are (if any) that you have that are American
Even a white person could claim 5% "Black" Native American ancestry and one couldn't tell it by looking at them
This is not really necessary. Black Native Americans carried the same haplogroups as Black Africans.
quote:Originally posted by Clyde Winters: Black Native Americans carried the same haplogroups as Black Africans.
Africa is the most diverse region in the world. There are different haplogroup frequencies in different parts of Africa. There are both the maternal and paternal sides of the ancestry.
So by analyzing the frequency level of haplogroups a person's genome one can tell how prominent each ancestral line is in a person's genome is and what specific geographic regions and specific ethnic gourps in Africa we are associated with
One African American might be 30% native American while another might be 0%
So we need to analyze your DNA to see if you have any Native American ancestry at all
Posts: 42919 | From: , | Registered: Jan 2010
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henry louis gates has shown to be a disseminator of falsehoods and a supporter of oppression against african people at the same time proclaiming to be the authority on everything black and using this credential authority as an excuse to plague black minds out there with misinformation. such a disgusting shame. he could have been so much more by helping his own people who are in desperate need of the knowledge, gifts and talents of such. it only proves being so called successful in america isn’t always “it” if you know what i mean. molefi kete asante is right in all accounts. the european slave trade is an accurate description instead of the transatlantic slave trade for it was established out of a european enterprise. you can’t blame slavery on black people because black people didn’t start slavery by selling black people into slavery. they were kidnapped.
Posts: 535 | From: From the Darkest of the Abyss | Registered: Apr 2010
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Don Carlos was a Congolese ambassador to Brazil, during the slavery era.
There is some research about Africans who settled in Suriname who traveled between the two continents and were never enslved but were rather slave owners.
Slaves bought slaves to work for them or to hire them out.
There were no pink slave masters, they were considered WHITE TRASH by masters and African slaves alike.
The purpose should be to end racism today, and abstain from pointing the finger to pinks. They were first subdued by the European African masters who next set out to enslave Africans, buying them on the coast from African rulers who enslaved their own people.
Diop writes in detail about African slavery and finds it superior to the European system...
The proceeds of slave labour still keep some people and companies very rich.
Egmond Codfried recommends to talk about BACK PAY, and not reparation, as the discussion would be ethical etc. We just need to open the account books and we can calculate by the penny how much any plantation and such made by not paying for labour. All the account books are stil present in national archieves.
As does the paper which says George Washington had a MULATTO COMPLEXION..
For present I would like us to concentrate on ending racism today and focusing on what Blacks do against Blacks everyday to keep racism going. We can at least control our own actions, not what pinks do or think.
Posts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
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Dough M is Djehakakakaolo the dried dog turd. The people behind the controls can determine the same IP adress spawns 20 or so other forum members. This here forum might improve if we simply start weeding out this type of bull s h i t.
Posts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
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Sotomayoris just wrong on slavery in the Americas. The Native Americans were enslaved for 100 years by the Spaniards to work in the gold mines and in agriculture. Many died from the hard work and that is what spurred Spanish priest Bartolomo de las Casas to want to save the Native Americans for conversion to Christianity.
It was then that he hit on the nefarious idea to replace the Native American slaves with Africans from West Africa.
Despite having produced the Mayan and Aztex civilisations in Central America the Native Americans were still seen as inferior humans. It is this that led the European settlers in Mexico to hire for pay German male migrants to impregnate as many local females as possible to "imbue the race of Native Americans with healthy and superior genes".
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Mighty Mack, The vast majority of slaves to the Americas were not kidnapped. They were mostly prisoners of war between the different ethnic groups who were then bartered off for trade goods including weapons of war such as muskets and cannon.
But some were indeed kidnapped by roving gangs in the pay of the slave traders ensconced on the coast. Some of the well-know kidnapped are people like Suleiman Ben Job, Olaudah Equiano, Ajayi Crowther, Mahamma Baquaqua, etc.
The book titled "A Slaver's Log--20 Years of Slaving in Africa" written by Theo Conneau offers first hand details of the details of the Atlantic slavery enterprise.
But it is an error to think that there was no slavery in Africa when the European traders first set foot on te West coast of Africa. There was domestic slavery that resulted from enslaving the conquered in battle. The Muslim Sokoto Caliphate of now Northern Nigeria, for example, had at least 2 million slaves as late as 1925. They were eventually freed when the Caliphate disintegrated under British colonialism. Even today slavery is sanctioned in Mauritania--though officially outlawed. Very recently some ant-slavery advocates were jailed for opposing slavery. The supporters of slavery in that country claim that slavery is an integral part of Islam.
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Slavery as an abuse of humans in terms of their rights and human agency still exists in Mauritania and is culturally justified on the grounds that it is an integral part of Islam--even though it has been abolished in the 20th century.
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Egghead, did you find out my Doug alias? The only way I can think of is that you have paid off the owners of Egyptsearch to find the common URLs. That's clever Egmond but I will have the last laugh, Ampuku will follow you in Maroc.
Posts: 3257 | From: Madisonville, KY USA | Registered: Nov 2011
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