usually when we in the diaspora think about the slave trade we tend to think about the atlantic slave trade but today i wanted to bring our attention to an event that also disrupted african history an event that some may even consider much worse [Music] what a bathroom world it's home team here and i'm back at another video of african history culture and world view and as always if you want access to sources courses exclusive videos or if you simply want to support the home team you can do so on patreon.com the link is in the description box below the arab slave trade began when the arabs first invaded north africa in the 7th century the arabs first entry point into north africa was of course egypt the general amir aben alas invaded egypt in december 639 with a humble force of four thousand men according to the sources these men belonged to the arab tribe of akh and partly to the tribe of kafiq the troops also included some new converts of roman and persian soldiers ironically the muslim caliph omar after allowing his general to leave to conquer egypt was having second thoughts because he thought they surely couldn't conquer egypt with a measly four thousand men so he wrote a letter to general amir if you receive this letter when you have already crossed into egypt then you may proceed allah will help you and i will also send reinforcements as may be needed the arab general crossed into egypt received the letter and proceeded to conquer the country this was merely the beginning and the origin of the sweep across north africa in the arab invasion the arabs would then go on to conquer the byzantium territories of tunisia and western libya and area the arabs themselves called afrikia from their base in north africa early arab rulers such as akba bin nafi would impose a tribute of 360 slaves on whatever region he controlled this tradition of course continued to develop and rapidly expanded into a much larger demand to keep up with this demand slaves had to be taken from further south places like mali senegal chad and even northern nigeria after slavery was firmly established and very profitable it became a sort of free-for-all for the arab berber muslims the 12th century jewish traveler benjamin of todela recorded that arab slavers used to take wheat raisins and figs to the western sudan spread them across the ground near suitable settlements and then seized and enslaved unsuspecting africans as they came looking to purchase or inquire this method was rare but it just goes to show the lengths that arabs would go to profit from the booming slave trade in north africa large numbers of africans were sent north generally to serve as domestic servants or slave concubines it's been estimated that from the 10th to the 19th century some six thousand to seven thousand slaves were transported north each year the journey across the desert was of course absolutely brutal and many africans perished along the way according to henry hamilton johnston who was a british explorer he claims in his book that many slaves would be able to just reach the drinking place and then would sink down and die before the water reached their lips another primary source of slaves for the arab world was on the eastern coast of africa this is where enslaved africans known as the zhang were in high demand in general enslaved african people were used for agriculture labor household help or to be concubines or soldiers the first direct evidence of a sizeable indian ocean slave trade was when large numbers of east african male slaves labored on the plantations of the abbasid caliphate in mesopotamia slaves exported by arab traders to southwest asia india indonesia and china worked mainly as soldiers concubines and household servants the expanse of the arab slave trade was far-reaching in fact a 7th century chinese texts mentions ambassadors from java presenting the chinese emperor with two seng chi or zombed slaves as gifts in 614 and 8th and 9th century chronicles mentioned seng chi enslaved africans reaching china from the hindu kingdom these traitors captured bantu peoples largely from the interior of present-day kenya mozambique and tanzania large slave markets developed in zanzibar and pemba where at the height of the trade as many as fifteen thousand to twenty thousand slaves passed through annually the slave trade became so significant that in 1840 the sultan of oman moved his seat of power to zanzibar in the east african interior people such as the nimwesi ngoni yao and makua raided neighboring communities and sold their captives to arab caravans often in exchange for firearms in addition to the many east african slaves sent to the distant shores of arabia and the persian gulf others remained as laborers on arrow plantations in east africa such as the omani clove farms in zanzibar the arab slave trade was absolutely devastating to african people it was a trauma akin to the atlantic slave trade i'm not going to play a prussian olympics between the atlantic slave trade and the arab slave trade but i'll simply say this the arab slave trade was at least 700 years before the atlantic slave trade was no less dehumanizing or horrific and on top of that it lasted much longer one example of the shockingly dehumanizing character of the arab slave trade comes from a british traveler to east africa named david livingston david livingston was a traveling british physician and christian missionary in east africa he became very popular for his journey into africa and writing on his experience his first hand eyewitness account of the arab slave trade really increased his knowledge across the world what he witnessed seems to have a great impact on him in a very disturbing way and he makes it very clear how he felt about it to overdraw its evils is a simple impossibility we pass the slave woman shot or stabbed through the body and lying on the path onlookers said an arab who passed early that morning had done it in anger at losing the price he had given for her because she was unable to walk any longer we passed the woman tied by the neck to a tree and dead we came upon a man dead from starvation the strangest disease i have seen in this country seems really to be broken heartiness and it attacks free men who have been captured and made slaves livingston estimated that 80 000 africans died each year before even reaching the slave markets of zanzibar all the horrors of the atlantic slave trade can be found in the arab slave trade for whatever reason the atlantic slave trade is simply more popular some historians assert that as many as 17 million people were sold into slavery on the coast of the indian ocean the middle east and north africa and approximately 5 million enslaved africans were transported by muslim slave traders via the red sea indian ocean and sahara desert to other parts of the world between 1500 and 1900 this history is important for us in the diaspora to understand the report about africans being enslaved in libya is simply following a tradition that has survived since the 7th century it is our job as afro-descended people to be the light bearers for the dissemination of this knowledge this history so unacknowledged or simply underrepresented in the african and arab world is unfortunate because the terrors perpetuated upon these africans should be remembered and never forgotten well i'm all out guys if you like these videos and would like to support in its continued production you can do so on patreon.com the link is in the description box below know thyself remember your ancestors peace