CONTENT STATEMENT
- The advent of the trans-Saharan slave trade had profound effects on both West and Central Africa and the receiving societies.
CONTENT ELABORATION
Slavery existed in Africa long before the arrival of Europeans. Africans became slaves through debt or from being captured in warfare. For centuries, Africans were sold by their rulers to Arab traders who moved them across the Sahara to North Africa to sell in Mediterranean countries. Many Africans died during the transport across the desert.
Unlike the Atlantic slave trade, this form of slavery was not race-based. Slaves were more like indentured servants and there was more assimilation of slaves into the culture of North Africa due to the large number of integrated marriages. Slaves generally served as servants or soldiers in contrast to the harsh conditions for slaves in the Americas.
The trans-Saharan slave trade contributed to the development of powerful African states on the southern fringes of the Sahara and in the East African interior. Rulers who sold slaves grew wealthy.
This content serves as a foundational understanding of the slave trade as students will study the trans-Atlantic slave trade in grade eight. The trans-Saharan slave trade in Africa contributed to the European rationale for the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
EXPECTATIONS FOR LEARNING
Describe the trans-Saharan slave trade and explain the effects on both West and Central Africa and the receiving societies.