Slavery and State-Building

Abstract

Before the middle of the 2nd millennium ce, most Africans lived in relatively small-scale societies. An important role in the development of more complex societies was played by using slaves. Even among the least complex societies, “big men” developed entourages of kin, clients, pawns, and slaves. Out of struggles with other “big men,” chiefdoms and early states evolved. States gradually became larger, more complex, and more centralized. The most complex states developed in the Sudanic belt that stretched across Africa just south of the Sahara. Islam justified enslavement, horses facilitated it, and slaves were a major item of trade. They were not only menial slaves doing agricultural and artisanal labor but also soldiers and administrators. With the development of the Atlantic slave trade, this process was replicated but on a much larger scale. The 17th century saw the emergence of a series of powerful slave-trading and slave-using states. The end of the transatlantic slave trade in the 19th century did not end the slaving cycle but, instead, diverted slaves to producing commodities for export. If anything, slaving increased as did the use of slaves, particularly in states led by or created by warlords. The armies that conquered Africa at the end of the century were also largely slave armies, and many former slaves took on subaltern roles in the colonial administration. Slave women in harems also played a role as the mothers of princes and sometimes as administrators within royal households.