Islamic Africa: Reflections on the Servile Estate

Abstract

Slavery in Islamic Africa has been a fascinating subject to which many scholars have referred, but of which no detailed modern monograph has emerged. If the subject of Islamic slavery in Africa has failed to arouse the interest which has attended the trans-Atlantic slave trade (1) to the New World, it must be said that it compares with the latter in scale and scope, and outdistances the more popular subject in its length of duration. (2) Indeed, slaves of African origin formed a vital thread in the living lines of economic production in the Near and Middle East (3) and formed the cord of economic