Arab slave trade

A photograph of a slave boy in the Sultanate of Zanzibar. 'An Arab master's punishment for a slight offence.' c. 1890. From at least the 1860s onwards, photography was a powerful weapon in the abolitionist arsenal.

The Arab slave trade refers to various periods in which a slave trade has been carried out under the auspices of Arab peoples or Arab countries. The Arab slave trades are often associated or connected to the history of slavery in the Muslim world. The trans-Saharan slave trade relied on networks of all Arab, Berber, and sub-Saharan African merchants. ^{[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]}

Examples

Examples of Arabic slave trades are :

• Trans-Saharan slave trade (between the mid-7th century and the early 20th century)
  • Libyan slave trade (started in the 7th century, ongoing)
• Indian Ocean slave trade (between antiquity and the early 20th-century)
  • Comoros slave trade (from an unknown time until the mid 19th-century)
  • Zanzibar slave trade (from an unknown time until the early 20th-century)
• Red Sea slave trade (between antiquity and the mid-20th-century)

See also

• Saqaliba
• Prague slave trade
• Khazar slave trade
• Volga Bulgarian slave trade
• Black Sea slave trade
• Bukhara slave trade
• Khivan slave trade
• History of slavery in the Muslim world

References

1. "Slavery in Zanzibar". rmg.co.uk. Greenwich, London, United Kingdom: Royal Museums Greenwich.
2. Hunwick, John; Troutt Powell, Eve (2002). The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam. Markus Wiener Publishers. ISBN   978-1558762755.{{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
3. Lovejoy, Paul E. (2012). Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-1107002968.
4. Toledano, Ehud R. (1998). Slavery and Abolition in the Ottoman Middle East. University of Washington Press. ISBN   978-0295976426.
5. Campbell, Gwyn; Stanziani, Alessandro, eds. (2021). African Slavery in Asia and the Indian Ocean. Routledge. ISBN   978-0367755411.{{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
6. Mirzaai, Behnaz (2019). The Persian Gulf and the Swahili Coast: A History of the Indian Ocean Slave Trade. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN   978-1474455376.{{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
7. Hassanein, Mohamed (2022). "Beyond the Arab Lens: Revisiting the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade". Journal of African History. 63 (2): 215–234. doi:10.1017/S002185372200025X (inactive 5 July 2025).
8. Green, Nile (2020). "The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean World". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.634 (inactive 5 July 2025).