--- tfast <tfast at yorku.ca> wrote:
> Um Africa is a continent not a monolithic entity
> that lends to such
> generalizations. Exactly where in Africa was
> chattel slavery the "normal"
> practice?
>
[WS:] Slave trade in Africa was practised by Arab slave trader for centuries before the American slave trade kicked in. For example, Zanzibar (an isalnd off the coast of Tanzania) was a major slave center until the end of the 19th century, when it was finally shut down by European (maninly British) colonizers. Not out of th egoodness of thieir hearts, of course, but because they had other plans for the area. West Africa (Mali) was also a major source of slaves, and Sahara was one of the major slave trade routes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_slave_trade
Europeans did not really invent or introduce slave trade to Africa - the shamelessly benefited from an already existing and well entrenched institutions. BTW, there were almost no slaves imported to Europe except perhaps a few British aristorcrats having a slave servant or two, all slave trade was to the New World colonies to make up for the deficiencies in agricultural labor there.
Wojtek
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