The East Africa a slave trade was well established before the Europeans arrived on the scene. It was driven by the sultanates of the Middle East. African slaves ended up as sailors in Persia, pearl divers in the Gulf, soldiers in the Omani army and workers on the salt pans of Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). Many people were domestic slaves, working in rich households. Women were taken as sex slaves.
Arab traders began to settle among the Africans of the coast, resulting in the emergence of a people and culture known as Swahili. In the second half of the 18th century, the slave trade expanded and became more organised. There was also a huge demand for ivory, and slaves were used as porters to carry it.
The Arab Muslim Slave Trade Of Africans
Stranded From the Ottoman Slave Trade
What happened to all those countless men and women who were stranded from the Ottoman and Arab slave trades? Today we will be discussing one of the world’s most discrete slave trades, which saw the transportation of tens of millions of European Christians and African polytheists transplanted from their homeland into the Middle East, and the consequences on the genetics, culture and politics of the region.
