Did black Africans trade in slaves? My recollection from high school history class is that the local dealers who sold the slaves to Europeans were mostly Arabs. But lately I’ve been hearing that the Africans themselves sold each other into slavery. This not being the most politically correct topic in the world, I trust only you to give me the Straight Dope. –Name withheld, New York
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Many, perhaps most, African cultures kept slaves prior to European contact, as most societies in the world have done at one time or another. These slaves typically were war captives, convicts, or debtors, or else had been offered in tribute to a ruler. They apparently were not badly treated. But everything changed once Europeans arrived and let it be known they would pay good money (good pig iron, actually, iron being one favored medium of exchange) for slaves. Slave capture became a major commercial enterprise for African tribes and family groups. Where once taking slaves had been an incidental result of war, now it was often the primary purpose.
Slaving corrupted many Africans. Enslavement due to criminal conviction, once reserved for major crimes, was now meted out for the moral equivalent of jaywalking or for no crime at all. Free-lancers kidnapped the unwary and sold them for beer money to slave ships.
