From the Ancient Sahara and Americas and Into the New World
By: Mia H. Beaudet

History 151 - Section 5588
November 20, 2000
Art By: Kathleen Yamamura

Since ancient times, the practice of slavery has been a part of life in almost every society at some point. In different times and cultures, slavery played various roles in society and was used in many ways. The trade of slaves was a commodity utilized for hard labor, military respite, household servantry, and even ritual human sacrifice. In some parts of the world, slaves had rights not accorded to other slaves at that time. It is very interesting to see similar practices appear in cultures far apart from each other. It is also intriguing to see how time and outside influences changed those practices and the effects it had on the slave trade.

The people of ancient Africa relied heavily on trading. Their location allowed them to trade within the continent and throughout neighboring coastal areas. The Sahara desert encompassed a very important trade route, which became known as the Trans-Sahara. The popularity of the Trans-Saharan trade created a high demand for gold and slaves to mine this gold. Gold was a wonderful commodity used to trade for goods from around the entire Mediterranean area. Slaves became the second highest commodity in West Africa, a land rich in gold.

As in ancient America, African slaves were mostly prisoners of war. These slaves were initially used for mining to keep up with the demand on the Trans-Saharan trade, but also developed as a commodity in itself and a show of wealth. Slaves were bought for Muslim military service as religion became, in some areas, almost a form of government. During this period of the development of societies and the emergence and spread of religions, there continued to be a high demand for slaves.

Slavery was a part of life in the various kingdoms of Africa and part of the social structures throughout history. Much of this is due to the Trans-Saharan trade which affected all societies in ancient Africa in some way. For the most part, Africa had an aristocratic social structure with slaves at the bottom as they appeared in almost all societies. Though the slave trade throughout this period was in the millions, slaves were just a small percentage of the population.

Slavery was also a valuable export from the East African coast and slaves were captured for the purpose of being sold. Slaves were in demand in the neighboring continents and used for military purposes and labor, and served as domestic servants and concubines. The people of Asia seemed to be enticed by the idea of slavery and slaves became coveted personal property. During this time, however, the slave trade in Eastern Africa never amounted to the volume of the Trans-Saharan trade.

Prior to the 1500s, slavery was not based on skin color. Slaves were merely those who had been bought, captured in war, or kidnapped. Slaves of all races were severed from their roots and became part of their new society. West Africa exported black slaves to traders and imported some white slaves for household servantry.

The Americas in this period were unique in that they were a society that developed isolated for the most part. They developed without the influence of religions or cultures as opposed to the development of the African society. As in Africa, different ways of life emerged in different areas and times in this land. The Mayas, who were from Central America, had a hierarchical society that included slaves. The Aztecs were a viscous and feared people. They were quite ritualistic and used prisoners of war for human sacrifice. The Aztecs used human sacrifice as a form of punishment, but also held an annual tribute of ritual human sacrifice that consisted, not entirely, of slaves. Slaves were also used for labor of the Aztec infrastructure.

A warrior aristocracy governed the later Aztecs. Slaves were the lowest social class and in most areas, consisted of captured prisoners or kidnapped victims. The difference here is that Aztecs could also become slaves either by having committed a crime or if in great debt. Here, as we saw in the Eastern African slave trade, female slaves sometimes became concubines.

The slaves in this area held unprecedented rights. They could possess and own things, including land and their own slaves. They could also purchase their freedom and most eventually did so. A runaway slave could also become free if he made it to the sanctuary of the emperor's palace. In African slave trade and to those states who participated in the slave trade with Africa and the Americas, we have yet to see slaves accorded these type of privileges.

European society had a profound impact on the practice of slavery in many parts of the world. Europeans became the first world traders and influenced many societies and cultures because of this.

The Portuguese went on voyages of discovery with the search of wealth being the ultimate goal. They traded in slaves of all races in Asia because they did not possess any commodity that the Asians wanted. The Chinese then found favor on the slaves from Africa and preferred them so the Europeans needed to keep up with this demand. The African slave labor also dominated the sugar plantations in Brazil. The Portuguese controlled these plantations and the slave trade and, therefore, became the link between West Africa and Brazil and was strengthened by the demand for African slaves in China.

Meanwhile, the Spanish settled in America and the Portuguese taught them about sugar plantations and how to cultivate and work them. Since sugar was a great luxury and in high demand, the Spanish emulated the Portuguese but used the Native American Indians to work the plantations. The Indians were not used to the demands and rigors of the labor required and died at an alarming rate, causing a labor shortage. The Spanish thought that blacks would be harder workers so there was a huge import of black slaves from Africa into America.

In Italy, slave trade had nothing to do with race and slaves were in fact nearly all white. However, white slavery was stopped with the ruling of the Turks and Europe needed to obtain slaves from Africa instead. In this case, we saw that Europe expanded as a nation and as slavery coincided with trade in the Trans-Sahara in Ancient Africa, so was it tied to sugar and agriculture during this later period.

Although shortage of labor is attributed to the import of slaves to Americas, the Christian revolution also played a role. Church law did not forbid black slavery and the blacks were believed to be hard workers. This contributes to the beginning of racist ideas. Up until this time, slavery was not based on a color or a race. However, attitudes toward blacks became negative as Christian ideas see white as purity and black as evil. Blacks soon became thought of as inferior and uncivilized people who were only good enough for slavery. They were seen as the people with no self-worth as they allowed slavery to take over their life. These ideas spread as Europeans traveled the world and stories and ideas became widespread.

Ideas of racism, which never existed before, could have surfaced because the people of this time who were becoming more civilized needed to find a way to justify the uncivilized practice of slavery. Though slavery had been an accepted form of life since ancient times, it was never based solely on a specific race until this time.
Although we seem to have seen a trend of slavery from Africa, it is only a glimpse into slavery that occurred around the world with various people. Slavery took on different roles in society, but universally, slaves lacked freedom. Slavery erupted because of various reasons; either by constant warfare as in the ancient times which resulted in captive prisoner slaves, or by the shortage of labor due to either death or demand or both in other areas.

Slavery began with the need to keep up with supply and demand in the important trade history of this time. The trade of slaves became a commodity in itself What began as a fulfillment of a need became the means to acquire greater wealth and prestige. Greed played a role in the rush of slavery throughout history whether it was the desire to conquer many lands or the desire to monopolize trade. Slavery and the connotations given to the blacks during this time would have a profound effect later in history and in some areas, even until this day.

Works Cited:
McKay, Hill, John Buckler, and Patricia Ebrey. A History of World Societies, Fifth Edition, Volume 1. Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.

 

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