What was slavery like in ancient Africa?

What was slavery like in ancient Africa?

In West African kingdoms, slaves of the king often lived in separate agricultural villages and toiled to produce food for noble families and government officials. Away from the royal courts, however, enslaved people generally did the same agricultural and artisanal work as free people and dressed in a similar manner.

What was slavery like in the ancient world?

Slavery in the ancient world, from the earliest known recorded evidence in Sumer to the pre-medieval Antiquity Mediterranean cultures, comprised a mixture of debt-slavery, slavery as a punishment for crime, and the enslavement of prisoners of war.

How did slavery start in the world?

Slavery operated in the first civilizations (such as Sumer in Mesopotamia, which dates back as far as 3500 BC). Slavery features in the Mesopotamian Code of Hammurabi (c. 1860 BCE), which refers to it as an established institution. Slavery was widespread in the ancient world.

What was the difference between African slavery and European slavery?

While the transatlantic slave trade mainly involved enslaving people from West Africa and forcing them to work on plantations in the Americas, modern slavery is more widespread in countries across the world, including the UK.

How were African slaves treated in Africa?

Assimilative slavery was increasingly replaced with chattel slavery. Assimilitave slavery in Africa often allowed eventual freedom and also significant cultural, social, and/or economic influence. Slaves were often treated as part of their owner’s family, rather than simply property.

Did African slavery exist in ancient Africa?

Often when we think of African slavery, we think of the African slaves in the United States in the 1800s. However, slavery was common throughout much of the world for most of human history. This was also true of Ancient Africa where slavery existed in most of the ancient empires and civilizations on the continent.

When did slavery end in West Africa?

“Slavery in the United States ended in 1865,” says Greene, “but in West Africa it was not legally ended until 1875, and then it stretched on unofficially until almost World War I. Slavery continued because many people weren’t aware that it had ended, similar to what happened in Texas after the United States Civil War.”

What were the transformations of slavery in Africa?

Transformations of slavery in Africa. Slave relationships in Africa have been transformed through three large-scale processes: the Arab slave trade, the Atlantic slave trade, and the slave emancipation policies and movements in the 19th and 20th century. Each of these processes significantly changed the forms, level,…

What was life like for slaves in Africa in the 1800s?

Getting captured and becoming a slave was a real fear for many Africans living in West Africa during the early 1800s. Slaves were a major source of wealth for many African merchants, leaders, and warlords. A former slave, Mansa Sakura, became Emperor of the Mali Empire in the 1200s.