SLAVE TRADE

Slave Trade

Early Arab sources suggest significant commerce across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and that many slaves were at this time exported from various parts of Abyssinia to Arabia. The nineteenth century British historian William Muir reminds us in his "Life of Mahomet" (1861) that caravans from Mecca, in the seventh century (as perhaps earlier), left for Abyssinia every year. One of those thus trading across the Red Sea was none other than the Prophet Muhammad's grandfather Abdal Muttalib. Such trade, which included the shipment of slaves from the African side of the sea, led to the emergence at Mecca, and other parts of Arabia, of a sizable Ethiopian community. The best known of its members at this time was Bilal, who will ever be remembered as Muhammad's muezzin, who called the early Muslims to prayer, and was referred to by the Prophet as "the first fruit of Abyssinia".

The export of slaves from the African coast was subsequently reported, in the tenth century, by the Arab author Ibn Hawqal. He stated in 976-7 A.D. that the then ruler of Yaman received slaves, as well as amber and leopard skins, from the chief of the Dahlak Islands (off the coast from Massawa). These slaves were reported to number a thousand, half of them Abyssinian and Nubian women. Subsequently, in 985, Al Maqrizi listed Abyssinian slaves as among the principal imports, much further south, at the great Arab emporium of Aden. Later again, in 1021 an Abyssinian slave called Najah, who had been purchased on the other side of the sea by another ruler of Yemen, seized power to the north, at Zabid, where there were reportedly five thousand Abyssinian spearmen. A subsequent Yemeni ruler is said to have sent messengers across the Red Sea for the purchase of a further twenty thousand.

The millennial-old Ethiopian-Yemeni slave trade may well have expanded in the sixteenth century. The presence of Ethiopian slaves in Yemen was noticed by Ludovico di Varthema, who traveled in the area in 1503-8. He learnt that the Sultan of Sana'a had no less than “three thousand horsemen, sons of Christians, as black as Moors.” They had been purchased as slaves at the age of eight or nine years, and trained to arms. They served as the ruler’s personal guards, and were considered worth more than all the rest of his eighty thousand soldiers.

In the Arabian Gulf, boats from the British sloop of war, HMS Spiteful, fire on a dhow used by slave traders (picture to come)

"Worth More than Other Slaves"

Duarte Barbosa, writing at about the same time, confirms that the Christians of Abyssinia were “held in great esteem” among the Arabs, and were “worth much more”, he says, “than any other slaves”, as they were considered “skillful and faithful and fine men in their persons”. He adds that once taken as slaves by the Arabs, they were made to abandon the faith of their fathers, and embrace Islam.

Many of the Ethiopian slaves taken to Yemen, and elsewhere, had been captured in the course of the fighting between the Ethiopian Christian rulers and their Muslim neighbours to the east. This was recognised by Alvares, who reports that Imam Mahfuz, the Muslim ruler of Zayla‘, had carried out over twenty annual forays into the Christian interior, in the course of which he had captured innumerable slaves. On one occasion the chief had seized no less than 19,000 prisoners, and had “sent them all as an offering to the house of Mecca and as presents to the Moorish kings”. Alvares adds that such slaves became “very good Moors and great warriors”. He adds that they were found in Arabia, as well as Persia, India, Egypt, and Greece, and “were much esteemed by the Moors”, who “would not let them go at any price”.

The Rasulid governors in Aden were eager to select the best slaves, probably as palace guards and royal servants. As the ships arrived with their human cargoes, the slaves were taken to be inspected and, out of them, a group of servants was chosen. Whoever appeared would be useful to the Dîwân, was bought. When slave girls were presented in the market, they would be sprinkled with frankincense and perfumes and girded with linen. Then the dealer of each would come and lead her around the market by the hand, presenting her to the prospective buyers.

Slaves were usually brought from Mogadishu which was the centre from which slaves were supplied to Aden. On Ethiopian slaves a tax was imposed in Aden of 4 dinars, whilst on women slaves the tax was 2 ¼ dinars