Figure 1.--The caption of this image reads "Slave traders through the inland trails. Each young slave is worth 100 to 150 francs." (Marchands d'esclves sur les chememins de l'intérieur. Jeunes esclaves valant de 100 á 150 francs pièce.) The photograph was dated 1880. Based upon the French gold standard (1873) of one franc equaling 0.290322581g gold, one 1880 franc works out to about $4.00 in 2014 dollars. So each boy would bring about $400-$600. The sad photograph raises several different questions. The most important is why are these Arab slavers only collecting boy? And who deires to purchase these tragic little boys to? The ansser to the second question is complicated because we do not know where the photograpoh was taken. The source suggests it may be somewhere in the French Empire. Perhaps the native homes in the backgrouhd may help identify it. We do not think it was West Africa. This is because they are unlikely to be planning to sell them to the West. By this time the British Royal Navy anbd French coloial auhoritie had shut down the Atlantic slave trade. Also we have never heard of Western slave markets just handling boys. Morocco is a posdibility and close to West Africa. We think that an all boy group is more likely to be sold in Arab/Ottoman slave markets. But a trek from West Africa across the Sahara seems unlikely for young boys ans well as not sustify the time and expense. So we think that the boys could have come from from French Central Africa, perhaps what is now Chad or the Central Africa Republic. These colonies at the time was not fully controlled by the French and they bordered on the Sudan where Arabs were still resisting British efforts to supress the slave trade. We hope to lkear more about this evocative image, but this is our assessmrnt at this time. Source: Geographic Society of Paris. :

As far as we can tell, slave hunters selling in the West captured men, women, and children. We have never heard of slavers crossing the Atlantic and delivering cargos of all young boys to Brazil, the Caribean, or North America. We have found evidence of Arab slavers collecting just boys and slavers in the Indin Ocean delivering just boys to Arab slave markets. We do not yet fully understand this dichotmy and why very young boys were so in demand. We have not yet found similar evidence of just very young girls being captured, but that is not to say it was not done. We are still collecting evidence. The African boys taken by the early Arab slavers destined for Middle-Eastern (Muslim) markets were often castrated before puberty (at the ages of 8-12 years). Boys especially younger boys were not useful as workers. And they would have to be fed and raised for several years before they were useful. The purpose was to fill the demand for eunuchs. No one knows the numbers involved. Estimates suggest that hundreds of thousands of boys suffered castration. We do not know where this operation took place. We suspect that it was in the slave markets and not in the African bush. One source maintains that the operation took place at the borders of Muslim states because Islamic law did not allow mutilation of slaves and thus it was done before the slave caravans crossed the border. We can not yet confirm this nor quantify the number of individuals involved. We believe it was primarily pre-pubesent boys were boys that were castrated, but that too has to be confirmed. It is believed that a very large number of those castrated bleed to death or died of infection because of lack of medical knowledge the unsanitary conditions involved. We do not know when this practice ended. The primary market for Africa slaves during the medieval era was the Arab Caliphate which at its peak dominated the Middle East and North Africa. Some were also sold in Persian markets. The expanding Ottoman Empire conquered the Arab world (16th century). Slavery in the Ottoman Empire was a fully legal institution and important element of the Empire's economy and society. One aspect of Ottoman slavery was sexual slavery. [Inalcik] One sorce reports that some 20 percent of the population of Constantinople were slaves (1609). The Ottomans as their power declined relative to the European states prepared and increasingly caoable of protect Christian captives, banned the enslavement of Christians from the Caucasus and Balkans (early-19th century). The enslavement of other peoples continued. The Ottomans made several efforts to ban slavery, had little real impact. As a result, slavery continued in both the Turkish and Arab areas of the Empitre inyto the 20th century. One source reports slaves, mostly females being openly sold (1908). [Dursteler. p.72.] We know that capturing and enslaving African boys was not just a medieval practice. We continue to see boys being captured and delivered to slave markets into the late-19th century. We see boys here aboard an Arab ship in the Indian Ocean (1868) (figure 1). We see these boys being driven in long trecks along inland routes by Arab slave traders, oftem Arabized Africans. A French source reports "Slave traders through the inland trails"about 1880 (figure 1). The French report that each young slave was worth 100 to 150 francs--a substantial sum in the late-19th century. Unfortunately we do not know where the ohotograph was taken and where the boys were being taken. We beliece that they arevheaded for Arab slave markets, probably in East Africa, but can not yet confirm that. And we note Arab ships filled with boys headed for Arab slave markets. The British Royal Navy reported seizing Arab dhows with cargoes of pre-pubesent boys. How common this was we are not sure. One example was the Royal Navy seizure of two Arab dhows (1896). They were brought into Muscat and the boys freed (1896).

Western Markets: Mixed Cargos

As far as we can tell, slave hunters selling in the West captured men, women, and children. We have never heard of slavers crossing the Atlantic and delivering cargos of all young boys to Brazil, the Caribean, or North America.

Eastern/Arab Markets: Boys

We have found evidence of Arab slavers collecting just boys and slavers in the Indin Ocean delivering just boys to Arab slave markets. We do not yet fully understand this dichotmy and why very young boys were so in demand in Eastern and Arab markets. We have not yet found similar evidence of just very young girls being captured, but that is not to say it was not done. We are still collecting evidence.

Chronology

There is no complete record of the Indian Ocean slave trade as it was conducted ob=ver such a long historical period. We know virtually nothing about the African slave trade in antiquity. Nor is much known about

Early Arab slave trade: Castration

The African boys taken by the early Arab slavers destined for Middle-Eastern (Muslim) markets were often castrated before puberty (at the ages of 8-12 years). Boys especially younger boys were not useful as workers. And they would have to be fed and raised for several years before they were useful. The purpose was to fill the demand for eunuchs. No one knows the numbers involved or the percentage of cative boys subjcted to this treatment. Estimates suggest that hundreds of thousands of boys suffered castration. We do not know where this operation took place. We suspect that it was in the slave markets and not in the African bush, but it may have been before the Slavers brought the boys within the jurisdiction of Muslim states. One source maintains that the operation took place at the borders of Muslim states because Islamic law did not allow mutilation of slaves and thus it was done before the slave caravans crossed the border. We can not yet confirm this nor quantify the number of individuals involved. We believe it was primarily pre-pubesent boys were boys that were castrated, but that too has to be confirmed. This wouls depend on the purose for which the resulting enuchs were to be used. It is believed that a very large number of those castrated bleed to death or died of infection because of lack of medical knowledge the unsanitary conditions involved. We do not know when this practice ended. The primary market for Africa slaves during the medieval era was the Arab Caliphate which at its peak dominated the Middle East and North Africa.

Persia

Arab slave traders also sold into Persian markets. We have little information on this trade. We are not sure how large it was and to what extent boys were involved.

Ottoman Empire

The expanding Ottoman Empire conquered the Arab world (16th century). Slavery in the Ottoman Empire was a fully legal institution and important element of the Empire's economy and society. One aspect of Ottoman slavery was sexual slavery. [Inalcik] One sorce reports that some 20 percent of the population of Constantinople were slaves (1609). The Ottomans as their power declined relative to the European states prepared and increasingly caoable of protect Christian captives, banned the enslavement of Christians from the Caucasus and Balkans (early-19th century). The enslavement of other peoples continued. The Ottomans made several efforts to ban slavery, had little real impact. As a result, slavery continued in both the Turkish and Arab areas of the Empitre inyto the 20th century. One source reports slaves, mostly females being openly sold (1908). [Dursteler. p.72.]

Arab Indian Ocean shipments

We know that capturing and enslaving African boys was not just a medieval practice. We continue to see boys being captured and delivered to slave markets into the late-19th century. We know this because the British Royal Navy was active in the Ocean and seized a number of Arab ships packed with captive African boys. Note the Royal Navy seizures included not just ships packed with captive ficans, some of shom were boys, but Arab ships packed with just boys or mosly boys. We have found several photographs, but not a lot of information about them. We see boys here aboard an Arab ship in the Indian Ocean (1868) (figure 1). We see these boys being driven in long trecks along inland routes by Arab slave traders, often Arabized Africans. This suggests that boys were of some value or they would not have been selectively enslaved. A French source reports "Slave traders through the inland trails"about 1880 (figure 1). The French report that each young slave was worth 100 to 150 francs--a substantial sum in the late-19th century. Unfortunately we do not know where the photograph was taken and where the boys were being taken. We beliece that they are headed for Arab slave markets, probably in East Africa, but can not yet confirm that. We note Arab ships filled with boys headed for Arab slave markets. The British Royal Navy reported seizing Arab dhows with cargoes of pre-pubesent boys. How common this was we are not sure. One example was the Royal Navy seizure of two Arab dhows (1896). They were brought into Muscat and the boys freed (1896).

Modern era

Slavery continued into the modern era. The primary cause of the Mhadist Revolt was the British campasign to end the slave trade (1881-98). The Mhadi and his followers eventually overwealmed the British and Egyptain garrison in Khartoum includung General Charles George Gordon. The British eventually supressed the revolt, but did not entirely supress the slave trade. The British and French supressed, but dud not end the slave trade in their colonies. After independence, slavery continued and even increased in several independent Muslim countriies. One of those countries wa Sudan. Sudanese Arabs were still taking slaves from the African Christian population in the south. And here boys and women were primary targets. Men werevmore likely to be killed. It was part of the Arab Khartoum Govern,ent's strategy for defrating the rebellion in the south. The captives seem to have been primarily used as domestic servitude.

Sources

Dursteler, Eric. Venetians in Constantinople: Nation, Identity, and Coexistence in the Early Modern Mediterranean (JHU Press: 2006).

Inalcik, Halil. "Servile Labor in the Ottoman Empire" in A. Ascher, B. K. Kiraly, and T. Halasi-Kun (eds), The Mutual Effects of the Islamic and Judeo-Christian Worlds: The East European Pattern (Brooklyn College, 1979), pp. 25-43.]

Created: 1:24 AM 10/31/2014
Last updated: 1:24 AM 10/31/2014