Arab slave traders removed perhaps 17 million Africans over 900 years

Evidence

In the tenth century, however, the Arab traders began the extraction of a more variable wealth: slaves. Utilizing ports on the Red Sea coast, over the next 900 years, Arab slave traders plundered African societies for perhaps as many as 17 million people. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 460

Islamic civilization, however, did more than simply function as a belated conduit in the development of Western civilization. Northern Africa as the end point to the gold trade with West Africa was systematically proscribed to European merchants. The purpose, apparently, was to maintain the secret of the sources of the mines and the trans-Saharan routes of trade. In the tenth century, however, the Arab traders began the extraction of a more variable wealth: slaves. Utilizing ports on the Red Sea coast, over the next 900 years, Arab slave traders plundered African societies for perhaps as many as 17 million people. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 460

Categorization

• XREF: Directly feeds the reader’s stated goal: the pre-Atlantic slave trade that prefigures the transatlantic trade central to the Black radical tradition’s origins.
• QUESTION: The 17 million figure needs verification and comparison against the Atlantic slave trade numbers Robinson engages later in the book.
• CANDY: A striking, easily-retold fact: Arab traders spent nine centuries extracting up to 17 million Africans via Red Sea ports.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 460