Islam's Black Slaves: The Other Black Disporia - Hardcover

Ronald Segal

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9781903809808: Islam's Black Slaves: The Other Black Disporia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1903809800 ISBN 13: 9781903809808

Publisher: Atlantic Books, 2002

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Everyone has heard of the Atlantic Trade, in which millions of Africans were transported to the Americas by Europeans to work as slaves. However, there is another slave trade, previously neglected by historians, which matches the European one in scale and massively exceeds it in duration.Islam's Black Slaves tells the horrifying story of the Islamic slave trade. It traces the business of slavery from Islam's inception in the seventh century, through to today, where in Sudan and Mauritania, Africans continue to be bought and sold. It identifies how many millions of people were involved and explores the differences between Eastern and Western slavery. Islamic slavery was conducted on a different scale and provided slaves for domestic - including sexual - and military service, rather than plantation work. Some slaves even rose to positions of authority. Islamic slavery was generally more humane than its Atlantic counterpart and more willing to grant slaves freedom, although transportation brutalised millions, as did the creation of eunuchs. The book also examines why the existence of this other black diaspora has been denied for so long. It is a highly original account of a previously untold story.

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About the Author:

Ronald Segal was born in South Africa and is the former publisher of Africa South. He left his country with ANC leader Oliver Tambo in 1960 for political exile in England, where he has remained ever since. The founding editor of the Penguin African Library, he is the author of 13 books, including most recently, The Black Diaspora.

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