Slavery and African Life: Occidental, Oriental, and African Slave Trades / Edition 1

by Patrick Manning

Overview

This interpretation of the impact of slavery on African life emphasizes the importance of external demand for slaves by Occidental and Oriental purchasers in developing an active trade in slaves within Africa. The book summarizes a wide range of recent literature on slavery for all of tropical Africa. It analyzes the demography, economics, social structure and ideology of slavery in Africa from the beginning of large-scale slave exports in the seventeenth century to the gradual elimination of slavery in the twentieth century. While primarily a general survey, Dr. Manning presents original research and analysis, especially in his demographic model, computer simulation of slave trade and analysis of slave prices. By revealing clearly the succession of transformations which slavery brought throughout the African continent, the book shows in new depth the place of Africa in the history of the Atlantic basin, of western Asia and North Africa, and of the Indian Ocean.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521348676
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/28/1990
Series:	African Studies , #67
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

List of plates; List of figures; List of maps; Acknowledgements; Prologue: tragedy and sacrifice in the history of slavery; 1. The political economy of slavery in Africa; 2. Why Africans? The rise of the slave trade to 1700; 3. Slavery and the African population: a demographic model; 4. The quantitative impact of the slave trade, 1700–1900; 5. The economics and morality of slave supply; 6. Patterns of slave life; 7. Transformations of slavery and society, 1650–1900; 8. The end of slavery; 9. The world and Africa; Appendix 1: slave prices; Appendix 2: the demographic simulation; Notes; bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"When American scholars examine slavery, more often than not they focus on the Americas in the nineteenth century. Patrick Manning, to his credit, has taken a broader view of slavery, examining slavery and the slave trade in the Orient and Africa as well as in the Occident...This is a valuable yet provocative book. In a relatively small number of pages, the author makes many (often controversial) causal assertions." Journal of Economic History

"This bold and innovative short work seeks to demonstrate the impact of slavery on sub-Saharan Africa from the seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries." David Geggus, HAHR

"Manning provides his readers wth a well-written, broad-ranging, and interdisciplinary introduction to a very important subject. In additon to summarizing recent work in this field, he is provocative, insightful, and refreshingly sensitive to the complexties and nuances of this topic....These qualities will make this book a good introduction to African slavery for both undergraduate students and the non-specialist scholar." Richard B. Allen, African Studies Review

From the Publisher