The trans-Saharan slave trade is one of the darkest periods of African and Middle Eastern history, the lasting effects of which exist today both physically and culturally. Perhaps one of the most overlooked tragedies in all of world history, the enduring features resulting from the trans-Saharan slave trade can be seen primarily through the Middle Eastern culture. Assimilation to societal norms contrasts the prolonged effects of racism and how it has entwined itself within Arab culture. There has been no real recognition or acknowledgement at large regarding the trans-Saharan slave trade. Having spanned over 14 centuries dating back as far as the 7th century, estimates claim as many as twenty million lost their lives to the infamous trade
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It is a common misconception that areas of the world prior to the early the 16th century lived in isolationism and relative unawareness of the world around it. The trans-Saharan slave trade serves to debunk this myth. Exchange through trading has long since been one of the key components to economic development and the integration of cultures and society. The trans-Saharan slave trade not surprisingly had a direct correlation to the developmental attributes of fourteenth century Arab market economies. While we see the far better known trans-Atlantic slave trade largely overshadows the events of the trans-Saharan slave trade, an anomaly in the sense that the latter has spanned roughly 8 centuries longer and to the surprise of many continued to exist in parts of the worlds even today in Mauritania and Sudan. While the trans-Atlantic slave is primarily recognized with a Western emphasis, the trans-Saharan slave trade serves with distinction as an enterprise which existed mainly with the context of Arab-African …show more content…
With locations existing in what is present day Western Mali to Southeast Mauritania, Southern Algeria, the Niger Valley, Lake Chad into Libya, the Nile River via Sudan into Egypt, and at the merger of the Blue Nile and the White Nile on into Egypt. Six separate trade routes existed, though the one primarily used for the trans-Saharan slave trade was via the Nile. Export points for these slave voyages were relatively scarcely placed and isolated - the result of which was the geographical concentration of then areas affected by the trans-Saharan slave trade. This meant that those benefitting from the selling of these men and women into slavery grew wealthy, and those who sought to lose from these slave raids grew fearful and poor. The very most unfortunate individuals found themselves being sold into servitude, in a foreign land which spoke a language they did not recognize, whose cultures were also foreign to
It is a common misconception that areas of the world prior to the early the 16th century lived in isolationism and relative unawareness of the world around it. The trans-Saharan slave trade serves to debunk this myth. Exchange through trading has long since been one of the key components to economic development and the integration of cultures and society. The trans-Saharan slave trade not surprisingly had a direct correlation to the developmental attributes of fourteenth century Arab market economies. While we see the far better known trans-Atlantic slave trade largely overshadows the events of the trans-Saharan slave trade, an anomaly in the sense that the latter has spanned roughly 8 centuries longer and to the surprise of many continued to exist in parts of the worlds even today in Mauritania and Sudan. While the trans-Atlantic slave is primarily recognized with a Western emphasis, the trans-Saharan slave trade serves with distinction as an enterprise which existed mainly with the context of Arab-African …show more content…
With locations existing in what is present day Western Mali to Southeast Mauritania, Southern Algeria, the Niger Valley, Lake Chad into Libya, the Nile River via Sudan into Egypt, and at the merger of the Blue Nile and the White Nile on into Egypt. Six separate trade routes existed, though the one primarily used for the trans-Saharan slave trade was via the Nile. Export points for these slave voyages were relatively scarcely placed and isolated - the result of which was the geographical concentration of then areas affected by the trans-Saharan slave trade. This meant that those benefitting from the selling of these men and women into slavery grew wealthy, and those who sought to lose from these slave raids grew fearful and poor. The very most unfortunate individuals found themselves being sold into servitude, in a foreign land which spoke a language they did not recognize, whose cultures were also foreign to