War, slave raiding, kidnapping, and politico-religious
struggle accounted for the vast majority of Africans deported to the
Americas. Several important wars resulted in massive
enslavement, including the export of prisoners across the Atlantic,
the ransoming of others, and the use of enslavement within Africa itself.
Akan wars of the late seventeenth century and the first half
of the eighteenth century were a struggle for power among states in the Gold
Asante groups battled for more than half a century for
control of the region. By the mid-eighteenth century,
Asante emerged as the dominant force.
Oyo had become a consolidated imperial power in the interior
Bight of Benin by defeating the
Nupe in the north and other
Yoruba states to the south. The wars between various Gbe
groups resulted in the rise of
Dahomey and its victory over
Allada in 1724. The winners occupied the port of
Whydah three years later but were then forced to pay tribute
to the more powerful Oyo. These wars accounted for the deportation of over a
million Africans along the Bight of Benin coast.
The sixty-year period of the Kongo civil wars, ending in 1740, was
responsible for the capture and enslavement of many. Among them were the
followers of the Catholic martyr
Beatrice of Kongo, who tried to end the wars through
The spread of militant Islam across West Africa began in Senegambia
during the late seventeenth century. The
jihad led to two major political transformations: the
emergence in the late eighteenth century of the Muslim states of
Futa Jallon in the
Guinea highlands and
Futa Toro on the
The jihad movement continued into the nineteenth century, especially
with the outbreak of war in 1804 in the
Hausa states (northern Nigeria) under the leadership of
Usman dan Fodio. These wars in turn exacerbated political
tensions in Oyo, which resulted in a Muslim uprising and the collapse of the
Oyo state between 1817 and 1833. New strongholds were
Ijebu, and the conflict intensified over attempts to replace
or resurrect the Oyo state.
After 1700, the importation of firearms heightened the intensity of many
of the wars and resulted in a great increase in the numbers of enslaved
peoples. European forces intervened in some of the localized fighting and in
warfare all along the Atlantic coast. They sought to obtain captives directly
in battle or as political rewards for having backed the winning side.
Working from their permanent colonies at
Benguela, and other coastal points, the Portuguese conducted
joint military ventures into the hinterlands with their African allies.
Africans also became enslaved through non-military means. Judicial and
religious sanctions and punishments removed alleged criminals, people accused
of witchcraft, and social misfits through enslavement and banishment.
Rebellious family members might be expelled from their homes through
pawns, especially children, held as collateral for debt were
almost always protected from enslavement by relatives and customary practices.
However, debts and the collateral for those debts were sometimes subjected to
illegal demands, and pawned individuals, especially children, were sometimes
"sold" or otherwise removed from the watchful eyes of the relatives and
communities that had tried to safeguard their rights.
Africans were also kidnapped, though kidnapping was a crime in most
communities, and sold into slavery. Captives were
sometimes ransomed, but this practice often encouraged the taking of prisoners
for monetary rewards.
As the slave trade destroyed families and communities, people tried to
protect their loved ones. Various governments and communal institutions
developed means and policies that limited the trade's impact. Muslims were
particularly concerned with protecting the freedom of their co-religionists.
Qur'anic law stated that those of the Faith born free must
remain free. But this precept was often violated.
Throughout Africa, people of all beliefs tried to safeguard their own.
Some offered themselves in exchange for the release of their loved
ones. Others tried to have their kin redeemed even after they had been shipped
away. Resistance took the form of attacks on slave depots
and ships, as well as revolts in the forts, in
barracoons, and on slave ships.
But at a higher level, the political fragmentation - many small
centralized states and federations governed through secret societies - made it
virtually impossible to develop methods of government that could effectively
resist the impact of the slave trade. Even the largest states, such as Asante
and Oyo, were small by modern standards. Personal gain and the interests of the
small commercial elites who dominated trade routes, ports, and secret societies
also worked against the freeing of captives, offenders, and displaced children,
who could easily end up in the slave trade.