Africa : Evidence of Slavery In Pre Colonial Africa

Omowale Jabali

The Cosmic Journeyman
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Sep 29, 2005
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EVIDENCE FROM THE TRAVELS OF IBN BATUTA

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/batuta.html

"There was consequently less stigma attached to slavery, and in no other society has there been anything resembling the system by which, as has been shown in the preceding section, the white slaves came to furnish the priviledged cadre where the high officers of state, commanders, governors, and at lenght even Sultans, were exclusively drawn."

I came upon this doing some research on the relationship between the Turks and Africa prior to colonialism. Interesting contrast to the way whites then treated Africans who they later subjected to slavery. Or is it really that much different today. In the unted states we have "high officers of state", military commanders, state legislators, black mayors, etc.

Furthermore, the more one reads this document it is also interesting how Africans got involved in long standing conflicts between the Shiites in Syria and other areas. So, the presence of blacks among us troops in iraq is nothing new. Nor is the present conflict and in-fighting among the Shiites.
 
Reminiscent

omowalejabali said:
EVIDENCE FROM THE TRAVELS OF IBN BATUTA

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/batuta.html

"There was consequently less stigma attached to slavery, and in no other society has there been anything resembling the system by which, as has been shown in the preceding section, the white slaves came to furnish the priviledged cadre where the high officers of state, commanders, governors, and at lenght even Sultans, were exclusively drawn."

I came upon this doing some research on the relationship between the Turks and Africa prior to colonialism. Interesting contrast to the way whites then treated Africans who they later subjected to slavery. Or is it really that much different today. In the unted states we have "high officers of state", military commanders, state legislators, black mayors, etc.

Furthermore, the more one reads this document it is also interesting how Africans got involved in long standing conflicts between the Shiites in Syria and other areas. So, the presence of blacks among us troops in iraq is nothing new. Nor is the present conflict and in-fighting among the Shiites.

Sort of reminds me of the momentum you and Bro SunShip had in this post http://destee.com/forums/showpost.php?p=488114&postcount=15
 
MenNefer said:
Sort of reminds me of the momentum you and Bro SunShip had in this post http://destee.com/forums/showpost.php?p=488114&postcount=15


Well...as you stated...."By default WE are not meant (don't "innately" want/against our nature) to function exist as a collective within this particular infrastructure" and this article explains why.

Because whites have "flipped the script" from the social order pre-ceding "white supremacy" which is why I have problem with that term.

All they have done is "appropriated" a social structure that was formallly imposed against them, and used it against us.

But they are not the ones who created the model. The model came from "Africans". And a more extensive reading of Ibn Batuta's travels will reveal much more.

And I have not even begun discussing on this site after 5 years the writings of Ibn Khaldun on "capitalism".
 
Slavery and the Roots of African Capitalism

omowalejabali said:
EVIDENCE FROM THE TRAVELS OF IBN BATUTA

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/batuta.html

"There was consequently less stigma attached to slavery, and in no other society has there been anything resembling the system by which, as has been shown in the preceding section, the white slaves came to furnish the priviledged cadre where the high officers of state, commanders, governors, and at lenght even Sultans, were exclusively drawn."

I came upon this doing some research on the relationship between the Turks and Africa prior to colonialism. Interesting contrast to the way whites then treated Africans who they later subjected to slavery. Or is it really that much different today. In the unted states we have "high officers of state", military commanders, state legislators, black mayors, etc.

Furthermore, the more one reads this document it is also interesting how Africans got involved in long standing conflicts between the Shiites in Syria and other areas. So, the presence of blacks among us troops in iraq is nothing new. Nor is the present conflict and in-fighting among the Shiites.

Similar to the development of western capitalism in which the african slave trade was key, this also was modeled upon developments in Africa.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_economics_in_the_world

And in this development, as in the united states, there was a period of Reform.

See main article Early Reforms Under Islam.

So, today, when I speak to the role of China and India in post-colonial Africa, this is from a historical perspective dating to the period of "Classical Muslim Commerce".

"Technology and industry in Islamic were highly developed. Distillation techniques supported a flourishing perfume industry, while chemical ceramic glazes were developed constantly to compete with ceramics imported from China. A scientific approach to metallurgy made it easier to adopt and improve steel technologies from India and China. Primary exports included manufactured luxuries such as wood carving, metal and glass, textiles, and ceramics."

While the era of european colonisation interrupted this "free trade" between the Islamic states in Africa, the trade relations at present between Africa and China and India are, as I stated elsewhere, thousands of years old.

Another aspect of these trade relations also helps to explain present financial arrangements and relationships.

"Merchants would buy and sell on commission, with money loaned to them by wealthy investors, or a joint investment of several merchants who were often Muslim,Christian and Jewish."

So,what we see in pre-colonial societies was business partnerships and joint commercial ventures between African Muslims, Christians [again, many Ethiopians, Axumites and Nubians were/are Christians] and Jews.

"Networks developed during this time enabled a world in which money could be promised by a bank in Baghdad and cashed in Spain, creating the cheque system of today."


In fact Baghdad, the same capital of today's Iraq, was an international banking center where Africans freely traded and used as a center for international capital exchange.
 
Interesting ..will check those reads further

omowalejabali said:
Well...as you stated...."By default WE are not meant (don't "innately" want/against our nature) to function exist as a collective within this particular infrastructure" and this article explains why.

Because whites have "flipped the script" from the social order pre-ceding "white supremacy" which is why I have problem with that term.

All they have done is "appropriated" a social structure that was formallly imposed against them, and used it against us.

But they are not the ones who created the model. The model came from "Africans". And a more extensive reading of Ibn Batuta's travels will reveal much more.

And I have not even begun discussing on this site after 5 years the writings of Ibn Khaldun on "capitalism".

"Many of these early capitalist concepts were adopted and further advanced in medieval Europe from the 13th century onwards".[17]
My take on it is when the "script was flipped" they added some of their "Pathology" to the ensuing posture they were to have against Africans or the cultural other.

The atmosphere or cultural framework that buffered merchantilism kept a sort of checks and balance amongst its members as revealed in the article:
I gave him twenty dinars to lay out on the workmen. He spent ten on them and bought a garment for himself with the other ten. I said to him "What's this?" to which he replied "Don't be too hasty; no gentleman scolds his slaves." I said to myself "Here have I bought the Caliph's tutor without knowing it."
The slaves were kinda cocky hugh
Ibn Khaldun
"His idea about the benefits of the division of labor also relate to asabiyya, the greater the social cohesion, the more complex the successful division may be, the greater the economic growth. He noted that growth and development positively stimulates both supply and demand, and that the forces of supply and demand are what determines the prices of goods."

These were some interesting points that stood out to me while watching this clip last night (in regards to this discussion)

 

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