, both as domestic workers and as both prostitutes and sex slaves. This is thought to be the opposite effects, as was caused by the Transatlantic Slave Trade, where strong young African males, were very much in demand, due to their ability to work long hours in the fairly arduous conditions of the sugar plantations, gold mines, etc. Clearly both the Arab and the Transatlantic Slave Trades impacted heavily on both sexes, of the native African population; and it would be wrong to simply assume that Arabs only enslaved women or the European slavers only men, as both parties were known to have taken both genders, although according to some reporters in equally disproportionate numbers.
According to some sources, the Indian Ocean slave route, had begun as a relatively small scale operation in the 9th century, but was one that developed substantially over time, eventually accounting for tens of thousands of African slaves being taken into the Middle East for similar reasons as elsewhere. The port of Zanzibar, on the east coast of Africa, was reported to have been the largest and most important slave trading centre in the whole of Africa, with a reported 50,000 slaves being traded and passing through the port during the height of the trade in the 19th century. The African Slave Trade was also known to have played a significant part within early African societies and of course their regional economies, with some native kingdoms employing roving bands of warriors, to attack and capture neighbouring tribesmen, who would then be sold into captivity.
For some tribal monarchs, the slave economy allowed them and their peoples to accumulate great wealth, as was said to be the case of the predominant tribes of modern day Ghana and Nigeria, who became rich by selling their fellow Africans. Even though the capture and selling of neighbouring tribesmen was a major financial benefit of such inter-tribal warfare, fundamentally such conflicts were thought to have been precipitated for the same reasons as elsewhere, which was regional dominance, land or border disputes, access to and acquisition of natural resources such as water, etc, or simply as the result of personal and tribal vendettas. Prior to the advent of both the Arab and Atlantic though, some of these tribal captives were reported to have been ritually killed in annual native ceremonies, rites and punishments, which were thought have become far less common as the slave trades developed and expanded. Although the majority of slaves were not thought to have been subjected to such ritual ceremonies, prior to their sale to the European slave trading nations, most captives were thought to have been employed as farm workers, soldiers, domestic servants and occasionally public servants, such as civil servants or administrators. With the large scale development of both the Arab and Atlantic slave trades however, so such native captives were less commonly used within the native African kingdoms, but were more commonly traded to the European nations.
Within many of these early African societies however, the concept of slavery was thought to have been regarded in an entirely different way, as were the captives themselves. Unlike western nations, where captives might commonly be treated as a chattel, being the possession of a particular master, in some African societies, slaves were said to have been treated reasonably well, occasionally being paid for their labour, being allowed to accumulate possessions and wealth; and sometimes even being able to buy their freedom from the person who had originally purchased them. This was in complete contrast to most Arab and European slave owners, who generally took the view that African slaves were a possession that could be bought and sold in the same way that one might buy or sell an animal, which had absolutely no rights whatsoever.
But of course it would be wrong to over-simplify, what was in reality a much more complex set of circumstances that laid the basis for the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which ultimately proved to be so lucrative for some and so catastrophic for others. Primarily the reasons behind the establishment and large-scale development of this inhumane trade was said to have been the greed and acquisitive natures of those that drove it forward, both the African tribal leaders who sacrificed their fellow Africans for their own prosperity and the Europeans who not only chose to disregard the rights of their human cargoes, but deliberately exploited native African traditions of enslavement, for their own financial and national benefit.
According to some experts on the subject, up to 80% of those traded into slavery, had been taken captive by other African tribes, as a result of neighbouring wars or disputes and were therefore commonly regarded as booty by the victorious warriors. Of the remaining 20%, some were reported to have been sold into slavery as a punishment for their own wrongdoing, while others were simply child slaves, sold into captivity by their parents, who were either unwilling or unable to care for them. Some, although not all, of this early slave trading was also thought to have been as a result of a native caste system, which continues to exist in parts of the world today, most notably in parts of Africa, the Indian Sub-Continent and in Asia. Within the African continent, the largest number of slaves was reported to have been taken from the region now occupied by the modern day states of Congo, Angola, Ghana, Sierre Leone, Madagascar, Mozambique and Cameroon.
One of the main African slave trading nations within the continent, were reported to be the Ashanti people, whose territories included the modern day states of Ghana and Togo; and who were said to be one of the principal suppliers to the western European slave trading nations. Reportedly at their height, between the 17th and 19th centuries, from 1670 to 1870, the Ashanti were thought to have become one of the primary slave trading nations through the use of the modern weapons which had originally been supplied by the likes of Britain and Holland. According to some sources the main African tribes who were said to have fallen victim to slave traders were the Bakongo, Igbo, Mande’, Wolof, Akan, Fon and Makua peoples who were generally thought to be natives of the African states which were previously noted.
The Igbo people for example, were said to have originated from the south east region of the modern state of Nigeria and were thought to have been enslaved during the period of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and transported from the area then known as the Bight of Biafra. The Bakongo or Congolese people were said to have been members of the much larger Bantu people, who originated from the west coast of Africa, including the area of modern day Angola. Reportedly, some of the earliest African people to have established trading links with the Portuguese around the 15th century, initially the merchandise exchanged between the two sides, was said to have included ivory, copper and slaves, who were undoubtedly prisoners-of-war, or criminals who had first been enslaved by the Bakongo themselves.
The Makua people were thought to be yet another offshoot from the much larger Bantu people, who were taken as slaves from their tribal homelands of both Mozambique and Tanzania. The kingdom of Dahomey was reported to have been formed by a combination of the Aja and Fon peoples in Western Africa, who, during the 17th century were thought to have been ruled by an individual called Wegbaja. Native rituals within this particular tribal society were said to have included human sacrifice, especially during times of war, pestilence, natural disaster or even the death of a monarch, when hundreds and possibly thousands of captives were reported to have been sacrificed by having their heads removed. It was said that these human sacrifices were killed in order to provide the dead king with servants in the afterlife and they joined the late monarch’s many wives who were reportedly buried alive to await their ruler husband in the next world. On one occasion, several thousand prisoners-of-war were said to have been killed in celebration of the Dahomey’s victory over a neighbouring tribe. King Wegbaja was reported to have been actively involved in the sale of slaves, to the Western European nations, who visited his kingdom during the 17th century and was thought to have become extremely wealthy and powerful through the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Even before the rise of the kingdoms of Dahomey and Ashanti, much of the region now occupied by the modern states of Nigeria, Benin and Togo was said to have been dominated by the Oyo Empire of the Yoruba people, who were reported to be a highly skilled and militaristic tribe that subjugated many of the smaller native kingdoms and made them their vassal states. The Oyo Empire was reported to have been actively involved with the supply of slaves to the newly arrived western European traders, as well as other commodities such as gold, ivory and textiles.
However, as their military strength and political influence eventually declined, the Yoruba people themselves were said to have been suppressed and exploited by the emerging kingdoms of both the Dahomey and the Ashanti, who enslaved many of their former oppressors and delivered them into the hands of the transatlantic slave traders, forcing them to share a similar fate, as had many of their former captives. Other native tribes that were thought to have been complicit in the Transatlantic Slave Trade were the Imbangala from Angola and the Nyamwezi of Tanzania, both of whom were said to have involved themselves with the sale of captured Africans, as well as participating as roving slave catchers.
The Imbangala were thought to be a native African people who originated from the coastal and highland regions of what is now modern day Angola. Said to have been a highly aggressive and militaristic tribe, they were reported to have been traditional raiders who roved throughout their home regions attacking neighbouring tribes, seizing their possessions and enslaving