Africa’s low population-to-land ratio helped drive its internal slave systems

Evidence

The institution of slavery in West Africa has been explained in part by the low population-to-land ratio characteristic of the region, which often resulted in a labor shortage. These shortages encouraged the expansion of slave labor, particularly once West Africa began to be drawn into commercial exchanges with the Atlantic world. The expansion of the Atlantic slave trade in the eighteenth century marked the first important increase in both forms of internal African slavery in the modern era, particularly in Lower Senegal. Slavery expanded again after 1850, when parts of West Africa began to be drawn into production of oils for the world commodity market; slave labor was used for much of this production. Finally, extensive warfare and war-induced famines in the Western Sudan in the 188o’s and 189o’s brought renewed slave-raiding in that region, with all its attendant miseries. Warring chiefs by tradition either enslaved those they had conquered, distributed their enemies as booty to their own soldiers, or sold them into slavery. Food shortages also led to an increase in slaves, as individuals searching for food became easy targets for raiders, and owners sold off slaves they could no longer feed. The French conquest of the Western Sudan contributed to these trends by further destabilizing the region; indeed, the French military openly tolerated the continuing trade in slaves in many of their posts for reasons of political expediency. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 111 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Slavery formed the demographic and economic backbone of precolonial West African states; Africa supplied slave labor because its region lay outside Europe’s world-economy; Advocates for indigenous welfare directly enabled the African slave trade (+4 more)

Related

• Africa was selected for slave labor because it sat outside Europe’s world-economy. (similarity 0.94)
• Labor shortages and Atlantic commerce drove West African slavery’s expansion. (similarity 0.92)
• Supply shifts emptied the slave trade of light-skinned captives, forcing reliance on black Africans (similarity 0.92)
• Labor shortage and world commodity demand drove internal African slavery expansion (similarity 0.90)
• The slave trade destabilized African kingdoms as early as 1526 (similarity 0.89)
• African slaves replaced decimated Indians and colonial policy shifted to importing bozales only (similarity 0.87)
• Africa supplied slave labor because its region lay outside Europe’s world-economy (similarity 0.85)
• Slaves formed majorities of West African town and state populations. (similarity 0.84)
• Warfare and famine renewed slave-raiding that French conquest worsened. (similarity 0.83)
• The slave trade advanced European capitalism while underdeveloping Africa’s economies. (similarity 0.82)
• West Africans traded widely internally before French rule. (similarity 0.82)
• Slavery formed the demographic and economic backbone of precolonial West African states (similarity 0.82)
• Each French West African colony’s labor fate hinged on land and population (similarity 0.81)
• West African manpower scarcity drove deeper French intervention in African labor (similarity 0.81)
• French planners hoped to make West Africa a cotton plantation for metropolitan self-sufficiency (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Labor shortages and Atlantic commerce drove West African slavery’s expansion. #corroborates (0.85) — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 111
• Africa supplied slave labor because its region lay outside Europe’s world-economy #expands (0.60)
• Capitalists extracted Black labor while letting African social formations reproduce the supply #expands (0.60)