Whereas the transatlantic slave trade mainly drew its human raw material from West Africa, the Arab slave trade harvested people from East Africa, but was not limited to those of African ethnicity.  Many slaves were Indians and Chinese, and from the tenth century were Eastern Europeans and Persians.

Around the seventh century, Arabs swept South and East into Africa to proclaim the religion of Islam. Those they met were either converted or forced into the worship of Allah, but generally the Arabs and the Africans lived in relative peace and respect.  This , however, slowly started to change as Africans became more absorbed into Muslim society.

Arabs became to feel resentful at working beside Blacks, especially in high positions.  An air of hostility was generated and the Arabs regarded the Africans as being an inferior race.  They started to raid African villages for humans to sell as slaves, but eventually found it easier to have African Muslims do the job for them.  Hundreds of human beings would be tied at the hands and ropes tied round their necks would link them together as long chains of people were led through the countryside.

Beatings, rape and death were commonplace, and the dead were often left bound to their fellow captives on the journey.  Women and children were the most popular and African males were often killed as being of less value.  The Arabs justified their actions as being the punishment due to ‘unbelievers’.  Due to the high value of eunuchs, many young boys aged 8 – 12 were castrated by total removal of the penis and testicles, and only around 5% - 10% survived this horrendous treatment.  The slaves ultimately ended up in Arab slave ships from where they were taken to the slave markets for sale.

The East African Arab slave trade is the oldest known in the world, and slavery of Africans certainly predates ancient Egypt where slavery was common.  Current evidence is proving that it is still strong, though mainly in the slavery of females and children.  It has been estimated that from the 8th century to date over 25 million people have passed into slavery compared with the approximate 11 million of the transatlantic slave trade.  However, the latter was over a much shorter time scale.

To Muslims it is an offence to forbid anything allowed by God, and slavery to them was authorized by God.  If a slave was ‘fortunate’ enough to be enslaved within a Muslim community, they were treated relatively well, and in fact could become merchants and make money for themselves.  They were allowed certain rights under Arab law, and were certainly better treated than their unfortunate cousins on the other side of the Atlantic.  

However, any slaves remaining unsold were left to die and rot around the slave markets. Slaves unable to work were unable to fend for themselves and were left to die.  Like the transatlantic trade, many also died during transportation in the Arab slave ships and between 15 and 20 million died due to the Arab slave trade, a total mortality rate of not far off 50%.

Slavery was only officially made illegal in Saudi Arabia in the 1960s, not because of moral conscience, but due to pressure applied by the French and the British.  To this day there is evidence that it is still carried out in The Sudan and Mauritania,  and is also illegally practiced in many other Arab countries in the form of trafficking of white women and children.

The major difference between the transatlantic and the Arab slave trades was that the Arab slaves were not the economic driving force that they were in the New World.  The women of Africa were used to populate the Arab harems, and their children were born free to fathers of standing in the community and were assimilated as citizens into the Arab way of life.   They were not killed without reason, as the American slaves were, and it was in fact an offence against Allah to kill a slave who had committed no offence.

The term ‘slave’, then, did not mean the same to Arabs as it did to other races.  There were no Arab slave ghettos as in the Southern states of the USA, and they were rarely mistreated if they had not misbehaved.

However, things changed in the 18th century, and not for the better.  When the colonial countries of Europe worked their way through Africa they generated a slave industry that the Arabs were only too happy to provide.  Furthermore, the demand for slaves from India, Persia, Egypt and other Arab countries rose.  In order to meet demand, the Arabs had to foray deeper and deeper into Africa, and many deaths occurred.  Only fit slaves were taken, the rest of the population killed off. 

The slaves passed by the Arabs to the Europeans were not treated in the same way had they remained in Arab hands, and  a dark period of the Arab slave trade started. It was the Belgians and the British that pressed deep into Africa and conquered the continent to put an end the Arab slave trade in the name of humanity.

However, for the Africans the end of mass slavery was only a temporary respite:  the next thing to come their way was colonialism.

If you are serious about becoming an internet capitalist, we at CapitalistLife.com highly recommend the Wealthy Affiliate system. You can learn more about it by visiting CapitalistLifeOnline.com.