Slave trade in the modern world.

When it comes to the slave trade, most people probably remember the dark-skinned slaves who were taken out of Africa. But in fact, human trafficking appeared in history much earlier, and there are many shocking facts associated with it.

1. Mesopotamian Code of Hammurabi


The first mention of the slave trade is found in the Mesopotamian code of Hammurabi.

One of the first references to slavery was found in the Mesopotamian Codex of Hammurabi (circa 1860 BC). It is worth noting that earlier among hunter-gatherers who did not have a written language, slavery was not very popular, since it requires social stratification.

2. Pyramids of Egypt


Slavery and the construction of the Egyptian pyramids.

Since the dawn of civilization (after hunter-gatherers), slavery has played a huge role in society, from the building of the pyramids in Egypt to slavery in England. In fact, at the turn of the 19th century, according to modern estimates, 3/4 of the world were trapped in slavery against their will (we are talking about various forms of slavery or serfdom).

3. Arabian Peninsula


Slave trade in the Arabian Peninsula.

The first large-scale slave trade originated with the Arabs. In the 7th century, the export of slaves from West Africa to the Arabian Peninsula began. Some historians believe that the Arab slave trade was a possible source of prejudice against black sub-Saharan Africans that continues to this day.

4. Portugal


Slave trade in Portugal.

The Portuguese were the first to ship slaves across the Atlantic in the 16th century. Over the next 4 centuries, they were the main "suppliers" of slaves. In fact, by the time slavery was abolished in the 19th century, nearly half of all slaves transported across the Atlantic had been sent to Portuguese colonies such as Brazil.

5. West Africa


Slave trade in the USA.

Although most people think that most of the slaves were taken on British ships from West Africa to the United States, in fact it is only a little over 6% of all slaves.

The vast majority of slaves (approximately 60%) were sent to the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in South America. Most of the remaining slaves (about 30%) were brought to the Caribbean by the British, French and Dutch empires.

6. "Trading triangle"


Trade Triangle: New England, Caribbean, West Africa.

Interestingly, the so-called "Trade Triangle" was created on the basis of the slave trade. As the name suggests, this involves trading between three separate regions.

They originally took slaves in West Africa and traded them for commodities in the Caribbean. Then these raw materials and precious products were exchanged for manufactured goods in New England, and then manufactured goods were again exchanged for slaves in West Africa.

7. 12 million slaves


Between the 16th and 19th centuries, 12 million slaves were transported across the Atlantic.

Historians estimate that about 12 million African slaves were transported across the Atlantic between the 16th and 19th centuries. Approximately 1.5 million people died on ships during transport, and 10.5 million were sold into slavery, mostly in the Caribbean. In addition, 6 million were sold to Asian slave traders, and another 8 million were destined for slave traders in Africa itself.

8. Only the coast


The slave trade was carried out only on the coast.

About 4 million other slaves died while they were forcibly "driven" from the hinterland of Africa to the coast. Since Europeans were generally afraid to venture too far inland (because of illness), slaves were brought to the coast, where they were sold to slave traders.

9. Factories


20 million people passed through trading posts.

Once on the coast, slaves were kept in large forts called trading posts. According to historians, out of 20 million slaves who passed through trading posts, about 4% (820,000 people) died in them.

10 Slave Ships


The ships of the slave traders could accommodate from 350 to 600 people.

The captains of the slave merchant ships loaded from 350 to 600 people on their ships. As a result, the slaves were transported in such cramped conditions that they could hardly move after a 2-month voyage across the Atlantic. Many died of disease because they slept in their urine and feces.

Others committed suicide by escaping from the hold and jumping overboard. Even the sailors did not like to work on the ships of the slavers, as many died from disease. This was profitable in terms of profit as the captain of the ship had to pay fewer people.

11 Brazil Sugar Plantations


Sugar plantations are the main cause of the slave trade.

Sugar plantations were the reason why about 84% of the slaves were brought to the New World. The vast majority of them ended up in Brazil.

12. African slaves


African slaves - victims of progress in shipbuilding.

So why did Europeans buy African slaves. In a nutshell, technology was the cause. While it would have been cheaper to enslave other Europeans, advances in shipbuilding technology have made it possible to start enslaving people on another continent.

13. American South


A typical plantation in the American South averaged fewer than 100 slaves.

The plantations in the American South (which typically employed fewer than 100 slaves) were much smaller compared to those in the Caribbean and South America (which typically employed over 100 slaves each). This has led to high rates of disease in the large plantations of South America.

The death rates in the Caribbean and Brazil were so high and the birth rate so low that the number of slaves could not be maintained at the same level without a constant influx of new people from Africa. In the US, the slave birth rate was almost 80% higher.

14. Birth rate


The birth rate among slaves in the US was 80% higher.

By 1825, high U.S. slave birth rates meant that almost a quarter of all black people in the New World lived in the United States.

15. Slavery today


There are 50 million slaves on the planet today.

All the states of the Earth "officially" banned slavery, but it still remains a huge problem. There are indeed more slaves in the world today than at any time in history. According to some estimates, up to 50 million people live in modern bondage.

Most of these slaves are in South Asia (over 20 million), but all other countries in Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East also have high levels of slavery.

We gave the king the ship Cleopatra. It has seventeen cannons, three masts, a seven-tiered hold, three hundred slaves can be stuffed into each tier. True, they cannot stand to their full height, and they don’t need to. To sit in such a tier for twenty-four days, and then get into the fresh air of the plantations, is not so scary. We gave the king this ship. Four times a year, ebony - a royal commodity - is transported on it from the coast of Liberia to Guadeloupe, Martinique and Haiti. This is his Majesty's sure income, more sure than the royal domains of France.

(Vinogradov. Black Consul).

Ships like the Cleopatra described a huge triangle in the Atlantic: from the coast of Europe to the West African coast, from there to the American coast, and from there back to Europe. They went to Africa, mostly loaded with rum, there, on a vast territory from the Gulf of Guinea to the White Nile, they acquired slaves and brought them to cotton and tobacco fields in the USA, sugarcane and coffee plantations in Cuba, Mexican and Brazilian mines. They returned home with "colonial" goods - sugar, molasses, coffee, fish, valuable tree species, etc.

In East Africa, the Arabs have long been involved in the slave trade. It has developed its own trade chain: East Africa - India - the countries of the Middle East (Persia, Turkey, the Levant). Slave markets functioned for centuries in Zanzibar, in Sofala, Mombasa and Malindi. In the 16th century, the Portuguese captured all the East African ports and built their administrative center - Fort Mozambique. Thus, the Indian Ocean was closed for a long time in the chain of Portuguese possessions. Later, the Dutch and the British forced them out of this region. The west coast, by contrast, was "no one's." The Portuguese, the Dutch and the British traded from here, even the Danes and Swedes built their trading posts (and a fort always towered next to the trading post). People, as scary as it sounds, were the main share of exports from Africa, and only in second place were gold and ivory.

Beginning in the middle of the 16th century, slaves from the west coast "went" to America, where there was already (!) an acute shortage of Indians. According to the most rough estimate, which fluctuated significantly over the years, 100 thousand people were taken away from the west coast. in year .

A profit of 500% was considered normal - as was the death of a third of the slaves in the party along the way. Shipbuilders and bankers, planters and winemakers, insurance companies and cloth factories, all kinds of brokers, dealers and intermediaries profited from the slave trade. In Africa, not only weapons and rum were willingly taken for slaves, but also simply iron and copper bars, even cowrie shells and glass beads! Slaves were unloaded in Rio, Bahia, Pernambuco, Montevideo, in English Barbados, Dutch Curaçao, Danish Saint Thomas, in Dutch and British Guianas, on the coast of New Spain, Virginia and Carolina, on all the islands of the West and East Indies. Only in South Africa did the reverse process take place - the Europeans brought Indians here from their eastern colonies to work on sugar plantations. In addition to the "legitimate" trade, there was also smuggling, which was carried out by the colonists themselves on their ships. If the British or Spaniards intercepted such a ship, they unceremoniously hanged every third person in the crew and requisitioned the ship, and for the slaves locked below, these events remained unknown and meaningless.

Distinguished trade "in trading posts" and trade "from the ship." In the first case, they used the services of a huge number of coastal markets that worked 6 days a week, such as Accra, Lagos, Loango, Luanda, Benguela, Ceuta, Oran, Algiers, Mayumba, Malembo, Cabinda. Especially popular were the mouths of such rivers as Bonnie and Calabar (Gulf of Benin). But it wasn't just coastal areas and river basins that were devastated, as one might think. Even in the depths of the continent, people did not feel safe. Slaves were captured everywhere, and regardless of the distance, they were dragged to the coast - to Angola, Congo, Vidah, the Gold Coast, Senegal, Sierra Leone.

When “trading from a ship”, one had to wait at least three months, cruising along the coast (until the right amount was captured on the shore), but the price was minimal (if a person was already captured far from the market, the seller had to sell him anyway). People were afraid to leave the house if a slave ship was visible nearby. Those who were captured fought to the end: they fled overland, attacked the guards, jumped from boats into the sea, raised a riot on the ships that took them away. It is noteworthy that on ships, as a rule, Europeans, being in the vast minority, brutally cracked down on the rebels, but even if the Negroes won, they still lost to fate - they did not know how to steer the ship and died at sea.

Livingstone writes:

"the most terrible of the diseases that I have observed in this country, apparently,“ a broken heart ”, free people who are captured and enslaved fall ill with it ... These negroes complained only of pain in the heart and correctly indicated its location, putting hand on him."

How could the few teams from European ships, who had a limited supply of water and provisions (it was still necessary to count on feeding the “goods” on the way back), with very imperfect guns for that time, without guides, without immunity to malaria, without languages, could get to the very heart of Africa and bleed it?

The secret is simple. them andit was unnecessary to do so. All (or almost all) slaves were brought by the Africans themselves. They knew that the whites gave away their amazing goods only for people or elephant tusks. So judge who is easier to catch - a man or an elephant.

P True, a person needs to be captured alive ...

The most warlike tribes easily coped with this, capturing the "ordered" number of heads in the war. Those that were weaker gave their compatriots into slavery. Even the customs of the African tribes eventually adapted to the requirements of the slave trade, and for all the offenses of the guilty, one punishment awaited: sale into slavery. The only exception was debt slavery: it was served within the tribe, firstly, because it had a personal focus, and secondly, because it could be worked out.

The most terrible thing in the history of the slave trade is that the Europeans managed to make it a part of the life of Africans, to dull their consciousness that it was not just scary, but unacceptably. The slave trade has become something ordinary, like life and death (everyone tries to avoid death, but no one protests against it as such). Many tribes lived by the slave trade, and such as the Ashanti and Fanti, Dahomey and Ewe fiercely fought among themselves for the right to be the main partner of whites in human trafficking. The fate of the Andone tribes is indicative, who profited from the sale of people into slavery, and then, when the trading posts on the coast moved, they themselves became the subject of hunting.

In the early 19th century, Britain officially banned the slave trade. This was done for a simple reason: since by this time the British were already actively selling cotton to the world, they needed to somehow weaken the United States of North America (USA) competing with them (by the hands of slaves). English cotton was made by day laborers from India and, later, Egypt; black slaves worked on cotton in America. Therefore, the British zealously rose up against the transportation of blacks from Africa across the ocean.
Note that, firstly, the abolition of the slave trade did not mean abolition of slavery. Secondly, the smuggling slave trade immediately began, taking on the same, if not greater, scope. Especially zealously began to take out African women (there was a logic in this). With great reluctance, several other countries soon joined the ban, including the United States,Portugal refused to recognize him, and a number of other countries agreed with him for ... a ransom paid by Britain (truly, these are shameful pages of human history).
English ships, according to international treaties, received the right to search all foreign ships for the presence of slaves. When patrolmen appeared, some slave traders raised a foreign flag (usually Portuguese), others threw living "evidence" overboard, others went beyond the equator (the British did not have the right to pursue other people's ships south of the equator) or even boarded. US slave ships would take a Spaniard on board in advance, who, when a patrol approached, raised the Spanish flag and spoke to their pursuers in Spanish (all in order to evade responsibility under American laws that provided for the death penalty for those involved in the slave trade).

Strangely enough, the colonial seizure of Africa put an end to the slave trade. It became more profitable to leave working hands at home, someone had to work in the occupied territories. This event coincided with the American Civil War, Lincoln's abolition of slavery, and the loss of North America's largest slave market. Only thanks to this, by the end of the 19th century, the slave trade began to decline and subsided.

But the bitter cup of Africa has not yet been drunk to the bottom. Now the whites did not take the Africans to themselves. Now they were taking the ground from under their feet.

The number of victims of the slave trade amounted to about 100 million people. for 4 centuries. This figure is based on the fact that no more than one out of two who were attacked managed to be taken into slavery, and one out of five reached the coast. A large number of people died on the way, in crowded holds, dying from instantly spreading diseases or poor feeding (but slaves from the point of view of slave traders were dangerous to feed well).

Slavery is one of the most unpleasant and shameful pages in human history. It is worth noting that, although slavery itself appeared a very long time ago, it gained mass distribution from the moment when Europeans in the colonized territories needed cheap labor and it was decided to use dark-skinned slaves from Africa. Here are some facts about slavery and the slave trade from which you can see the extent of this phenomenon.

15 PHOTOS

1. One of the first references to slavery is found in the Mesopotamian codex of Hamurabi, dating from about 1860 BC.
2. Since the beginning of the development of civilization, slavery has played a huge role in the life of society. Many of the ancient structures, such as the Egyptian pyramids, were built by the efforts of slaves, and the slave trade was one of the sources of the financial power of the British Empire.
3. The first large-scale slave trade in history was the Arab slave trade. It began in the 7th century, when slaves were brought from West Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.
4. The most famous is the Transatlantic slave trade, which began in the 15th century and continued until the 19th century.
5. The Portuguese first joined the slave trade in the 16th century and have been its most active participants ever since. In fact, half of all slaves sold in the Atlantic Slave Trade were sent to Portuguese colonies such as Brazil.
6. Historians estimate that about 12 million African slaves were sold during the Transatlantic Slave Trade from the 16th to the 19th centuries. During this time, about 1.5 million of them died on ships during transportation, and 10.5 million were sold into slavery.
7. About 4 million slaves died during the grueling marches, when they were brought from remote parts of the country to the coast of Africa to be loaded onto ships.
8. On the coast, slaves were kept in large forts. Historians estimate that out of the 20 million slaves who passed through these forts, at least 800,000 people died.
9. The captains of ships carrying slaves took on board from 350 to 600 people of "live goods". The rooms where the slaves were kept were so crowded that the victims could hardly move during the two-month voyage across the Atlantic. Many died from disease, others, unable to withstand the terrible conditions, committed suicide by jumping over the side of the ship.
10. Upon arrival in America, slaves were sent to "seasonal camps." Almost 5 million people died due to dysentery in these camps.
11. Approximately 84% of the slaves were brought to the New World to work on sugar plantations. Most of them ended up in Brazil.
12. Plantations in the North American South pale in comparison to plantations in South America and the Caribbean. The hard work on the huge plantations resulted in high death rates and slave owners constantly had to buy new slaves from Africa. 14. Despite the emancipation of black slaves, they faced restrictions on their rights for many decades to come, a striking example of which was the ban on interracial marriages.
15. Although all governments today have officially banned slavery, it still remains a huge problem. According to some estimates, up to 50 million people are in slavery or in conditions close to slavery.

Cargo - "ebony"

A dozen guns with ammunition, a pack of tobacco and a bottle of rum. . To the obese leader, with rings on his hands, in his ears and in his nose, puffing on a long pipe, such a reward for 150 young, strong Guineans seemed too small. He asked for more.

The Dutchman, the captain of the schooner that anchored in the roadstead, finally pulled out a cheap watch from his pocket. His trading partner stared at them for a long time, unsure what to do with them. However, the metallic sheen and ticking inside made him delighted. The deal went through.

But not all of the ebony cargo made it to the Southern states. Chained Guineans violated the calculations of the slave traders. They rebelled against their tormentors. True, they did not manage to gain the upper hand on the deck, but they barricaded themselves in the hold. They tried to "smoke out". In vain. With a heavy heart - after all, it was his business - the captain, "under the pressure of his crew trembling with fear, decided to open fire on the hatches from the ship's cannon ...

This incident, described with amazing force in Merimee's story "Tamango", in the era of the black slave trade did not seem at all out of the ordinary. However, in most cases, the merciless methods of dealing with live goods justified themselves, and the slave transports safely reached their goal. Millions of Africans were forcibly transported to America and exploited there in the most ruthless manner. This is the most shameful chapter in the history of the capitalist maritime powers, which began in the first half of the 16th century. in the African colonies of Portugal, ended only in the XIX century.

Black slaves have been the most profitable commodity for centuries. At any time of the year, slave ships sailed along the Middle Pasig route from West Africa to Central America. The slave trade, more and more risky every year, was reflected even in shipbuilding: in order to evade persecution, slave traders needed the fastest ships. The slenderness and lightness of the design of these; ships were bought at the cost of reducing the volume of holds, so the conditions of transportation became more and more unbearable for the unfortunate Africans. As a room for live cargo, the captains even used the cramped spaces between decks, where the prisoners could only lie. They were stacked so tightly to each other that sometimes there were more than 300 people on an area of ​​30x10 m2. It is clear that mortality under such conditions was colossal, especially since the "black goods" were exhausted by the long road from the hinterland of Africa to the west coast even before being loaded onto ships.

And yet another publicized case demonstrates the shamelessness of human traffickers. When one captain learned during the voyage that a disease had broken out among the slaves, he ordered 132 Africans to be thrown into the sea. Arguing his act by the fact that he saved the rest of the “cargo” in this way, the captain received an insurance premium for the lost “goods”, which would not have been due to him if people had simply died of illness.

Despite significant losses, traders still hit a huge jackpot; each of the survivors made a profit of $4,000. Trade in human commodities, which had been practiced in this form for several centuries, was a very lucrative source of "primitive accumulation" of capital. The ruling classes did not find anything shameful in this business. Some particularly cruel and unscrupulous slave traders, who managed to quickly amass wealth, even enjoyed the favor of the British crown. These gentlemen were looked upon as capable entrepreneurs who, instead of extracting raw materials or running factories, were engaged in the extraction of laborers.

In 1713, on the basis of the Treaty of Utrecht, England received the exclusive right to trade in slaves with Spanish possessions in South America and the West Indies. The colossal fortunes of the families, which to this day make up the ruling elite of England and France, were knocked together in those days on human trafficking. The monopoly right to supply slaves to Spain's own colonies and overseas possessions led to the fact that entire slave fleets formed in English harbors During the first half of XV1II! in. Bristol alone equipped for the transport of slaves from 80 to 90 ships. Since the middle of the century, Liverpool has become the main center of the ebony business. By the end of the century, Liverpool's slave fleet had grown to 150 ships. The first millionaire of this city, the banker and mayor Thomas Leyland, earned an average of 43 English pounds from each slave.

However, by this time, traditional slave labor had already begun to become obsolete. Under the pressure of the revolutionary and national liberation movement, the bourgeois colonial powers abolished by the beginning of the 19th century. slavery in Europe. Soon they were forced to formally extend this ban to their colonies. In the USA, some states also banned all slavery, and in accordance with one of the federal laws of 1808, the slave trade with Africa was even punished with severe punishment.

However, in 1793 the cotton gin was invented. In a short time, huge cotton plantations grew at a frantic pace in the Southern States. Slave labor became profitable again. The demand for slaves immediately increased greatly and the slave traders again began to receive colossal profits. They delivered their "goods" across the Atlantic, first to the West Indies, and from there to the states where slavery was still preserved.

Whereas in the United States the public seemed resigned to this state of affairs, such great maritime powers as England and France, under the pressure of public opinion, as well as for competitive reasons, tried with the help of their fleets to prevent the trade in "ebony". In 1830, England outlawed the slave trade, and in 1845, John Bull decided to consider the sale of slaves overseas as piracy.

This, of course, complicated the slave trade, but could not destroy it, because the need for "live chocolate" (the cynical slang name for Negro slaves) was high, and the price for it, due to the high risk, was even higher. During these times, the "slave shanti" was folded:

Oh, were you, boy, on the Congo River,

Blow, boys, blow! Where is the fever of people in a fist?

Blow, boys, blow! There the Yankees ripped the wave with a stem

Blow, boys, blow, And his masts rested on the moon,

Blow, boys, blow! Was Joseph holy captain on it,

Blow, boyz, blow

Blow, boys, blow! One hundred "black sheep" caught him,

Blow, boys, blow. He avoided ports, as if in a plague,

Blow, boys, blow!

After the British placed their patrol ships in the Middle Passage and, without long words, began to crack down on the captains of slave ships, the Yankees put their last trump card into play - Baltimore clippers with racing foxes, which, in fact, were designed specifically for this purpose.

However, it was not always possible to take advantage of the best seaworthiness of these clippers, especially if a calm suddenly set in. Then the guns started talking. The slave ships were superbly armed. It seemed that the times of Caribbean piracy were revived again. With the difference, however, that this time the attacker acted as a guardian of order.

Both sides suffered heavy casualties. But the true victims were the slaves, for their lives were now under even greater threat. Only one thing could save them - if the whites killed each other in boarding battles or in fights that sometimes arose among the trophy teams after the capture of the ship. Often the pursuit led to the premature death of the entire ship's "cargo": the slave traders caught red-handed preferred to throw the slaves along with the chains from the obscure side of the ship overboard than to please themselves for life hard labor.

In such circumstances, the transportation of slaves justified itself only if it was possible to increase the number of transported slaves. And this meant that even more unfortunate people were being pushed into the slender hulls of the clippers than before. Bathing and deck walks were over, as were dancing and singing. Up to 650 slaves were squeezed into the tween deck of a slave ship 28 m long and 7.6 m wide. And this is for a flight of 6000 km at a speed of 5-6 knots and a temperature of 30 ° C in the shade! It is difficult to imagine the suffering of people driven into this gas chamber. More than half of them did not live to see the end of the voyage.

The slave trade became unprofitable in the Middle Passage only after some of the fastest clippers captured as a prize were at the disposal of the guard service. Many captains of slave ships were sent to hard labor, and some were even hanged. The remaining ships were turned into “coolie transports”, which delivered cheap Indian and Chinese labor to tropical sugar and cotton plantations. The fact that many of these coolies got there far from their will follows at least from the fact that it In those days, the word washanhait arose, which meant forcibly delivering a person on board.

The coast of the Indian Ocean is located in the east of Tanzania. It is also called the Swahili Coast. Swahili is a unique ethnic group that arose as a result of the assimilation of Arabs from Shiraz among the local black population. In past centuries, the Swahili became famous throughout the world as enterprising merchants. To this day, the Swahili Coast is the global face of Tanzanian commerce. In ancient times, ships sailed from numerous ports filled with ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoise shells, iron, salt, textiles, mangrove wood, fish and gold from all over Africa. But it was not ivory or gold that was the highlight of successful African entrepreneurs. One of the most profitable areas of the Swahili economy was the slave trade. And even after the slave trade was officially banned throughout the world, commercial slave routes across the Swahili coast continued to operate illegally for a long time.

Sadani National Park and about city ​​of Bagamoyo

The slave trading system developed in the 15th century and proved to be a highly lucrative business. Slaves were sold for money, they were exchanged for products of other colonies. The main slave markets in East Africa were on the Swahili coast, where special caravans arrived daily. The journey to the Indian Ocean from the depths of the Black Continent took from three to six months. Slaves walked on foot with wooden blocks tied around their necks. Those who, due to exhaustion, illness, or some kind of injury, could not move on, were killed on the spot. Further, in the coastal markets of slaves, Europeans, Arabs, Americans bought these unfortunates for next to nothing and sorted them into ships. A huge number of slaves died in the holds from crowding, darkness, disease, and poor nutrition. As a result of such thoughtful transportation, one out of five slaves reached their destination alive. The price of a slave at each link in the trade chain increased several times, not only covering the costs, but also giving an excellent profit from the slave trade. The slave trade was so lucrative that entire states fought for the monopoly on it.

On the Swahili coast, the most famous center of the slave trade was the port city of Bagamoyo. Bwaga moyo means "here I leave my heart" in Swahili. This figurative name reflects the despair of the unfortunate who were waiting for the slave market in Bagamoyo, and then the journey into the unknown, far from their native continent. At first, there was a small settlement on the site of Bagamoyo. But since the world market demand for slaves was great, and the local natural harbor was ideal for shipping and seafaring, as a result, an entire city developed here, a giant transshipment point for supplies between Africa and the rest of the world. Through this port alone on the Swahili coast, 50,000 slaves passed each year. Basically, these were slaves from Mozambique, Lake Nyasa, Uganda, and the eastern regions of the Congo.

Already at the end of the 18th century, the slave trade had opponents. They were passionate people who sincerely believed in the idea of ​​freedom for all mankind. And first of all, these freedom-loving people rushed with their sermons to where the most famous slave markets flourished on the planet. So, in Bagamoyo there were spiritual fathers from the French Missionary Brotherhood, who founded the Freedom Village and the Catholic Mission. One of the main precepts of the Brotherhood was: "Fight against slavery and the slave trade, redeeming as many slaves as possible." And the missionaries redeemed the slaves, and then gave them freedom. As a rule, they ransomed children because they were cheaper. As a result of this cheapness, it was possible to save more human souls. The redeemed slaves could stay in the Village of Freedom, or they could go wherever they wished. Most remained. Soon, 300 children and about 30 adult married couples lived in the Freedom Village. The missionaries taught Swahili, as in an ordinary church school, to read, write, pray in a Christian way, as well as the basics of all kinds of useful professions. The inhabitants of Liberty Village were farmers, gardeners, tailors, carpenters, builders and painters. They had their own administrative structure and their own set of laws. It cannot be said that life in the wonderful Liberty Village was unclouded. Outbreaks of cholera and malaria, as well as terrible cyclones, regularly claimed the lives of both those freed from slavery and the liberators themselves. But despite all these hardships, Liberty Village was the first sign of hope on the Swahili coast, testifying to the advent of new times.

Attention! Under this article, read practical information - what, as well as about Sadani National Park and about city ​​of Bagamoyo, the ancient center of the slave trade.

In the 19th century, the slave trade began to be banned at the legislative level, one after another, by the civilized countries of the world. In 1807, such a law was passed by the English Parliament. In 1865, in the United States, one of the main consumer markets for the slave trade, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was adopted, abolishing slavery throughout the state. In 1886, the slave trade was banned in Cuba. In 1888 - in Brazil. The convention for the complete prohibition of slavery and the slave trade throughout the world was adopted by the League of Nations only in 1926.

Officially, the slave trade has sunk into oblivion. However, in Bagamoyo, children are still frightened in the evenings with tales of evil uncles who illegally earn money by trading slaves from the Swahili coast. It is easy to believe in such evil uncles even in the 21st century, since the whole atmosphere of the city is imbued with the spirit of the slave trade. We can say that in none of the settlements of Tanzania it is so clearly in the air as in Bagamoyo. Ancient shackles soldered into stones.. Arab fort, in the underground tunnels of which crowds of slaves were waiting for their fate.. Cemeteries of the untimely dead.. However, are children's horror stories really just fairy tales? The slave trade was banned in the last century, but this did not work. The brutal exploitation of people continues to flourish today. There is even a special term “trafficking”, which means human trafficking. Most often, children, adolescents and women are trafficked. The CIA estimates that only 2% of traffickers are men. This gender and age preference in the modern slave trade is associated with the requirements for passivity and weakness of slaves. Children and women are more easily turned into disenfranchised victims in a foreign country. You can apply physical violence and psychological pressure to them and not meet resistance. The modern slave trade supplies living human material for sweatshops, for agricultural work, for domestic slavery, for organ donation and transplantation, for forced marriage, for forced pregnancy and childbearing, for sham adoption, for drug trafficking, for free work in the field of intimate services.

Transnational networks of slave traders spread widely. All countries of the world are divided into "suppliers of slaves" and "recipients of slaves". Unfortunately, as in past centuries, African countries belong to the first category. According to the UN, 12 million people in the world live in slavery. However, some sources consider this information to be just the tip of the iceberg. They claim that more than 200 million people living on the planet have become victims of the modern slave trade. For comparison: the total demographic losses of Africa from the slave trade for the 15th-19th centuries are estimated at 48-80 million people. Europol (the police organization of the EU) claims that the slave trade generates $19 billion in profits for transnational crime every year.

The problem of combating the slave trade has not been resolved to this day. And it is not known how the intense struggle with it will end. A weak legal framework allows many criminals to evade responsibility. But the law is not the only solution to the problem. The slave trade also becomes possible due to the low cultural level of the planet's population. The ministries of tourism in many African countries create special tours to terrible places, one way or another connected with the slave trade that flourished several centuries ago, including excursions to such abandoned and now forgotten slave markets as Bagamoyo. And the more such educational work is done, the more conscious will be the horror experienced by a human being who has lost freedom. The more compassionate and more attentive to any manifestations of enslavement will become all of humanity as a whole.

How to get to Bagamoyo

Bagamoyo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is located 75 km north of Dar es Salaam, almost opposite the island of Zanzibar. The cities are connected by a good paved road. Minibuses and buses run daily. Can be reached by rented transport.

Attractions Bagamoyo.

For a long time, almost until the 70s of the 20th century, Bagamoyo was one of the most famous places in East Africa, and now it is resting from the glory of past centuries, abandoned and forgotten. This sleepy provincial town can be recommended for those who are looking for solitude and wilderness. Bagamoyo these days is more like a village than a city. Time flows very slowly here. Sometimes there is an illusion that it has completely stopped. After all, each era left its mark on Bagamoyo:

1. For the first time, Arabs from Shiraz settled on this part of the coast. In 1300 they founded the flourishing city of Caole. After being attacked by cannibals from the Zimba tribe, Kaole fell into disrepair and was never able to recover. The ruins of Kaole can be seen on the coast in the village of the same name near modern Bagamoyo. These are two mosques and about 30 graves. On some graves, pillars up to 5 meters high are stacked.



Then, in the 16th century, the Portuguese came here and left small Portuguese cannons on the streets of Bagamoyo.

2. After the Portuguese, settlers from the Sultanate of Oman encroached on the territory. They left the Arab fort, the first stone building in Bagamoyo, which was used for different purposes in different centuries. At one time, this fort was a slave prison, where crowds of slaves awaited their fate in underground tunnels. It was also used as a military garrison and as a police station. It now houses the local branch of the Tanzania Department of Antiquities. Also, about 14 mosques testify to the dominance of Arab culture. The oldest ones are the Jamaat Khana an Ismaili Mosque, the Mosque on Gongoni Street and the Friday Mosque at the northern exit.



Many African explorers started and ended their expeditions in Bagamoyo. This was especially true for those African explorers who were looking for the origins of the Nile. Among them are David Livingston, Henry Morton Stanley, James Grant, Richard Burton, John Speke. In this regard, it is interesting to look at the 150-year-old baobab in the Catholic Mission. African explorers tied their horses to a chain at the base of a tree during church visits. You can visit the secluded beach house where Henry Morton Stanley lived. In Bagamoyo there is the Church of David Livingstone, where the remains of the famous explorer of Africa were kept before they were sent to London, Westminster Abbey. The same church also bore the name of the Mother of all Churches in East Africa for a long time, as it was the first Catholic church on the Swahili coast. David Livingstone's heart was buried under a tree in northern Zambia where he died. But his body, soaked in salt, was carried by slaves for 9 months to Bagamoyo. About 700 Swahili came to say goodbye to the body of David Livingston.



Bagamoyo is the cradle of all Catholicism in East Africa. The Catholic Mission was built here in 1868 and is an open-air museum. Here it is recommended to visit the cross on the ocean (the first Christian cross in Africa), the old residence of missionaries, the Church of David Livingston, a 150-year-old baobab, a cemetery with the graves of missionaries who died at a very young age from tropical diseases, the grotto of the Blessed Virgin Mary. By the way, the Grotto of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a place of pilgrimage from all over Africa, as well as from other parts of the world. The redeemed slaves erected it, as thanksgiving to the Lord for their liberation. Pope Leo XIII consecrated this Grotto and served a blessed liturgy in it. You can also see the first St. Peter's Catholic Seminary in Africa. For a long time, almost all African priests received church education in Bagamoyo. Up to 160 people graduated per year. In later years the seminary was moved to Morogoro.

3. During German East Africa, Bagamoyo became the capital. However, the port of the city did not meet the requirements of the Germans and was considered inconvenient, so the capital was moved to Dar es Salaam. Several ruined German buildings remain from the German colonial era in Bagamoyo. Recommended for the study of customs (Custom House) and warehouse. On the ruins of the warehouse, you can still see the bowls that were filled with kerosene so that the rats did not penetrate the food bins. Also of interest is the Liku-House, which housed the first German headquarters. This is one of the oldest buildings in Bagamoyo.
4. Not far from Bagamoyo is a crocodile farm where visitors are allowed.

Other sights of the Swahili coast.

The Swahili Coast is a coastal plain 16 km wide and 800 km long, formed on coral reefs and covered with mangrove forests. In general, this is a wild impregnable coast, on which there are only a few bays that are convenient for sailing and navigation. There are now located either the major ports of Tanzania - for example, Tanga (Tanga), Dar-es-Salam (Dar-es-Salam) and Mtwara (Mtwara) - or the remnants of past civilizations. If you look at the map of Tanzania from north to south, then on the Swahili coast it is recommended to visit:

Semi-colonial town of Tanga. The second largest modern seaport in Tanzania. Located in the northeast of the country, on the Swahili coast. From Tanga you can go on an excursion to the Amboni Caves. The caves are located 7 km from the center of the town, on the road between Tanga and Khorohoro. Their total area is 234 km. There are 10 caves in total, some up to 13 meters high. You can hire a boat at the Tangi pier and go fishing or go to the islands of Totem or Pemba. You can hire a guide and visit the Ruins Tongoni. Or take a walk in Jampuri Park with a picturesque view of the harbor.

1. The old colonial outpost of Pangani, 50 km south of Tanga along the Swahili coast. In the 14th century, Persians and Arabs set up quite a few beautiful buildings on the left bank of the Pangani River. On this river, ships could go far deep into the African continent. In the late 19th century, Pangani became an important Swahili trading port, through which ivory and the slave trade were exported. Now it is a charming provincial town, located away from the traditional tourist routes. Therefore, the traveler is provided with a sweet solitude in the bosom of nature. You can go to the waterfall, walk through the ruins, and lie on the beach.
2. Further south along the Swahili coast is Saadani National Park. This is a rather wild place where not every traveler dares to go. However, only here in all of East Africa can you see elephants bathing in the ocean.



The Ruins of Kilwa are located in the southeast of Tanzania. This is one of the most historically significant buildings on the entire Swahili coast. Dating from the 12th to 19th centuries, the ruins have largely decayed and decayed, but there are occasional surprises as well. For example, the 800-year-old swimming pool is perfectly preserved. The ruins of Kilwa are under the protection of UNESCO. The ruins cover three modern cities in Tanzania: Kivinje, Masoko and Kisiwani. “The seaside cities of Africa did not differ in beauty and comfort from most seaside cities in Europe or India. They stood just as proudly on the shores of the sparkling ocean, their houses were just as high, their walls were just as strong, their embankments were paved with stone. The tops of the hills were built up with fortresses and palaces. It seemed that these cities were strong enough to last forever. And, nevertheless, nothing remained of them .. Almost all of them disappeared from the face of the earth. Only a few scientists now know about their existence. Their ruins, lost in the coastal jungle or among the desert hills, are only a subject of riddles for lovers of antiquity. An excerpt from Thea Buttner's book "History of Africa since ancient times", M, 1981, translated from the German edition of 1976.

3. The very south of the Swahili coast in Tanzania is the modern port city of Mtwara and next to it is the historic town of Mikindani. Mikindani was also once a major center of the slave trade. Today you can go fishing here. Barracuda, mackerel, tuna, etc. are caught. The bay is a real reef paradise for diving and snorkeling. White sandy beaches stretch for miles. From Mikindani, you can go on a photo hunt south to the Ruvuna River, the home of hippos and crocodiles, or to the Lukwila-Lumesule reservation in the southwest. There you can shoot excellent scenes from the life of lions, leopards, and antelopes. Cruises along the entire east coast of Tanzania from Mtwara to Tanga are also delightful. Especially if you go to sea in the evening, when the moon lies on its back in the velvet sky, and the clouds hang over the mountains like tsunami waves..

Sadani National Park.

How to get to Sadani National Park.

Sadani National Park is 100 km north of Dar es Salaam, 50 km north of Bagamoyo and not far south of Tanga. Sadani National Park is considered ideal for a day trip from Dar es Salaam. You can order a charter flight from Dar es Salaam or from Zanzibar. Twice a week, there is a shuttle bus from Dar es Salaam to the Sadani National Park, the journey takes 4 hours. But it is best to get there by rented transport, preferably an off-road vehicle. There is no road that runs from Dar es Salaam along the coast to the north. Therefore, you must first go along the Moshi road for about 160 km, then turn off and follow the dirt road for another 60 km. The road to Sadani National Park from the towns of Tanga and Pangani (turn from Chalinze along Tanga road to Miono) is impassable during the rainy season.

Adventures in Sadani National Park.

Seasonality of rest in Sadani National Park.

In general, Sadani National Park is open for visits all year round. Restrictions are imposed only by the ways of communication. The best time (when the roads can be driven) is from April to May. January-February, June-August are best suited for photography. You can spend the night in a tent camp on the territory of the Sadani National Park. There is a small inn in Sadani village.