SUMMARY:

This article starts by examining some key questions in the evolution of African slavery, in particular, the role of slavery in traditional African society and in the evolution of the African state. It looks at John Thornton’s argument about why slavery was important in Africa, and the debate on whether the slave trade was beneficial for Africa. It makes the argument that the most important effect of the slave trade was not in the demographic drain, but in the importance of slaving to the African state and the use of slaves within Africa.
The bulk of the article looks at the evolution of slaving structures, the place of the slave trade in the Senegal River economic system, and the success of the French in inserting themselves in and developing that river trading system. Slaves thus became important not only as an export but also as commercial labor and producers of gum. It then looks at the application of the French abolition law in 1848 and the efforts to limit abolition outside Saint Louis and Gorée so it did not limit French expansion. The article describes the role of slavery and the slave trade in the conquest, particularly the use of slave soldiers and the gift of slaves as a reward for service. Once the conquest was completed, France took action to end slave raiding and trading, but was cautious about threatening slavery itself. About a million slaves left their masters and returned to previous homes, but even more continued to live in the places where they had been slaves. There was a slow process of emancipation, but the stigma of slave origins persists even in areas where economic obligations have disappeared.