The 25th of March was as usual commemorated as the day Britain officially abolished its slave trade in 1807. But how many recall that Arab slavers were the first and last in modern times to ship millions of Africans out of the continent as slaves? The Arab history of anti-black racism predates European anti-black racism by several centuries. The early Islamic empire exhibited all the characteristics of anti-black racism, and black people suffered the lowest form of bondage. Europeans took photographs of chained black African slaves and Arab slave trading vessels on the east coast of Africa in the 1880s.
Slavery persisted openly in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries in the latter half of the 20th century, 100 years after slavery was abolished in the United States. As late as the 1960s, African Muslims still sold slaves when they arrived on pilgrimages as a way to finance their pilgrimages. Arab nations lagged far behind the rest of the world in abolishing slavery: Saudi Arabia and Yemen in 1962, United Arab Emirates in 1963, Oman in 1970. However, unlike the rest of the Arab nations, hereditary racial slavery persists in Mauritania despite multiple official attempts to abolish it.
In 1981, by Presidential decree, Mauritania became the last country in the world to abolish slavery, but no criminal laws were passed to enforce the ban. Under international pressure, in 2007, the Mauritanian government passed a law allowing slaveholders to be prosecuted; however, that law has rarely been enforced. Far more anti-slavery human rights activists have been prosecuted than the handful of Mauritanian white masters. In addition, slavers are offered compensation for freeing the enslaved, while the victims of the brutality are offered nothing.
In 2015, under international and some domestic mobilization pressure, the Mauritanian government created three special courts to prosecute slavery, but so far they have only tried very few cases. However, that is not all about this oddly unique sect of slavers. The Arab slavers, at some point in history, driven outrageously by their odd ambition for economic power and human control, had their African male captives subjected to unimaginable suffering and exploitation: castration.
Yes, you heard correctly. Now, it is of utmost importance to note that what you are about to hear might seem like comparing which between two evils is better. It does not detract from the fact that the trade in human beings was unspeakably hideous. In the Americas, slaves were allowed to marry, though their children could be sold off like puppies right before their eyes. But what happened to the blacks enslaved by the Arabs?
“Arabs castrated African slaves; thus, they could not reproduce their kinds to multiply and replenish the Earth.”
The castration of male captives during the Arab slave trade would be a forever-lasting, devastating experience for the individuals who were subjected to this depraved, inhuman practice. In his book Slaves and Slavery, published in 1998, the British writer Duncan Clark defined slavery as the reduction of fellow human beings to the legal status of chattels, allowing them to be bought and sold as goods. This, in essence, is what both the Arabs and Europeans did to Africans to justify the shipping of millions of Africans as slaves to faraway lands in Asia, in particular the Middle East, and the Americas.
The African slave trade, surely one of the most tragic and disturbing episodes in the history of mankind, Clark uncovers in his book, had its origins in the intervention of forces from the civilizations that developed in the regions of the Mediterranean Sea—today’s Europe and the Middle East—into the arena of the more fragmented civilizations of sub-Saharan Africa. Africa became a source of slaves for the cultures of the Mediterranean world many centuries before the discovery of the Americas, but it was that discovery and the resulting shift in focus towards the Atlantic that prompted the culminating, explosive growth in slavery with such tragic effect.
Slavery was, in fact, a central feature of life in the Mediterranean world, especially in Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, Greece, Imperial Rome, and the Islamic societies of the Middle East and North Africa. The most important source of slaves in medieval Europe, Clark’s research shows, was the coast of Bosnia on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea. The word “slave” and its cognates in most modern European languages is itself derived from “Slavus,” meaning “Slav,” the ethnic name for the inhabitants of this region.
For various reasons, including the harshness of the terrain and endemic warfare among local clans, Bosnia proved the most convenient and long-lasting of these slave-supplying regions. Whichever clan gained a temporary upper hand was always willing to sell its captured rivals in exchange for the goods of the Mediterranean world in the markets of the ancient Romanized city of Ragusa—that is present-day Dubrovnik. From there, Slavs were shipped as slaves by Venetian merchants to supply new markets in the Islamic world.
Thus, for the Islamic world, Clark further reveals, Slavs provided the major source of slaves in the 250 or so years between the defeat at the Battle of Poitiers in AD 732—that forced the consolidation of their dramatic conquests across North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, cutting back the flow of war captives—and the expansion of the import of black Africans across the Sahara from around AD 1000. The number of people enslaved by Muslims has been a hotly debated topic, especially when the millions of Africans forced from their homelands are considered. With full control of a great part of Africa, the Arabs began to capture young boys and girls and took them to Egypt where they were sold into slavery within Africa or taken across the Indian Ocean to Indonesia, China, Southwest Asia, and India.
By the 10th Century, the demand for slaves from Africa to work as plantation hands, sex slaves, domestic maids, and slave warriors had increased greatly, so much so that an estimated number of 5,000 slaves were shipped out of Africa a year. The historian Paul Lovejoy estimates that some 9.85 million Africans were shipped out as slaves to Arabia and, in small numbers, to the Indian subcontinent. Lovejoy breaks his figures down as follows: between AD 650 and 1600, an average of 5,000 Africans were shipped out per annum by the Arabs. This makes a rough total of 7.25 million. Then, between 1600 and 1800, another 1.4 million Africans were shipped out by the Arabs. The 19th century represented the highest point of the Arabian trade, as 12,000 Africans were vehemently shipped out per annum. The total figure for the 19th century alone was 1.2 million slaves to Arabia.
Some other historians estimate altogether that between AD 650 and 1900, 10 million to 20 million people were enslaved by Arab slave traders. Others believe that over 20 million enslaved Africans alone had been delivered through the Trans-Saharan route alone to the Islamic world. Dr. John Allen Bella Azuma estimates in his 2001 book, The Legacy of Arab Islam in Africa, that over 80 million more black people died over that route. The Arab slave trade was so intense, bloody, and merciless, to say the least. The cruelty on African captives by the Arabs was beyond telling. Similar to the transatlantic slave trade, captured slaves were beaten to be weakened and chained together. However, captured victims in the sub-Saharan slave trade had to endure several weeks of walking through the desert carrying loads for their new masters from West or East Africa to where they were eventually sold in the slave markets: Cairo, Baghdad, Istanbul, Mecca, and other centers.
These slaves played various roles in the economy of the Muslim world. They were used as servants, harem keepers, laborers in fields, mines, and hydraulic yards, and as cannon fodder in armies. In several of his detailed books about the slave trade, British explorer Henry Hamilton Johnston explains how several slaves died in the desert, while others who fell sick or were badly bruised and could not make it were brutally killed by their masters. David Livingstone, the British missionary, traveler, and explorer, was so upset by the way the Arabs treated their African slaves that he wrote back home in the year 1870. These were his words:
“In less than I take to talk about it these unfortunate creatures 84 of them wended their way into the village where we were some of them the eldest were women from 20 to 22 years of age and there were youths from 18 to 19 years but the large majority was made up of boys and girls from 7 years to 14 or 15 years of age a more terrible scene than these men women and children I do not think I ever came across to say that they were emaciated would not give you an idea of what human beings can undergo under certain circumstances each of them had his neck in a large forked stick weighing from 30 to 40 pounds and five or six feet long cut with a fork at the end of it where the branches of a tree spread out the women were tethered with bark thongs which are of all things the most cruel to be tied with of course the bark thongs are soft and supple when first stripped off the trees but a few hours in the sun would make them about as hard as the iron round packing cases the little children were fastened by thongs to their mothers as we passed along the path through which these slaves had traveled I was shown a spot in the bushes where a poor woman the day before unable to keep up with the march and most likely to hinder it was cut down by the acts of one of these slave drivers we went on further and was shown a place where a child lay it had been recently born and its mother was unable to carry it from debility and exhaustion so the slave trader had taken this little infant by its feet and dashed its brains out against one of the trees and thrown it in there.”
Such was the brutality meted out to the Africans by the Arabs. Looking at all this in a very factually honest manner, the totality of the unthinkable, horrid practices beset upon a certain group of people, historians agree that it is a mistake to equate the bare survival of Africa with cultural, social, or economic stagnation, for the slave trade visited such a panoply of tragically interconnected disasters into the lives of every African for centuries, so that they have worked their way into the very racial memory of the continent and its people—particularly females—that only with time and kindness can it be expunged from the psyche of Africa.
The Arabs’ treatment of black Africans can aptly be termed an African genocide. Arabs killed more Africans in transit, especially when crossing the Sahara Desert, than Europeans and Americans combined, and over more centuries, both before and after the years of the Atlantic slave trade. Arab Muslims began extracting millions of black African slaves centuries before Christian nations did. Arab slave traders removed slaves from Africa for about 13 centuries compared to the three centuries of the Atlantic slave trade. African slaves transported by Arabs across the Sahara Desert died more often than slaves making the Middle Passage to the New World by ship. Slaves invariably died within five years if they worked in the Ottoman Empire’s Sahara salt mines.
Black Africans did not enjoy immunity to many of the diseases found in the Arab world, which also resulted in high death rates. In West Africa, the Arab slave trade encompassed a vast region from the Niger Valley to the Gulf of Guinea. This traffic followed the Trans-Saharan roads. The crossing could last up to three months with a high mortality rate due to the dire conditions of the trip. Here is the testimony of the German explorer Gustav Nachtigal:
“The poor children of the black country seemed to meet death here at the last stage of a long hopeless and painful journey. The long journey accomplished with insufficient food and scarce water. The contrast between the rich natural resources and the humid atmosphere of their homeland and the dry and anemic air of the desert. The fatigue and the privations imposed by their masters and by the circumstances in which they find themselves all this has gradually ruined their young strengths. The memory of their homeland that has disappeared along the way. Their fear of an unknown future. The endless journey under the blows hunger thirst and deadly exhaustion have paralyzed their last faculties of resistance. If the poor creatures lack strength to get up and walk again they are simply abandoned and their minds slowly fade under the destructive effect of the rays of the sun hunger and thirst.”
According to the work of some historians, the Arab slave trade has affected more than 17 million people in the Saharan region alone; more than 9 million African captives were deported and 2 million died on the roads. This despicable phenomenon was legitimized by Islam, as Christianity would later condone the transatlantic slave trade. For example, the Tunisian Arab historian Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) wrote:
“The only peoples to accept slavery are the Negroes because of their lower degree of humanity their place being closer to the animal stage.”
Another one, the Algerian Arab theologian Ahmed al-Wancharisi (1430–1508), offered legal and religious recommendations:
“I have been asked about slaves from the land of Abyssinia who profess monotheism and accept the rules of the Holy law. Is it legal or not to buy and sell them? If their conversion to Islam comes after the establishment of a property right on these slaves then Islam does not demand liberation because slavery was caused by unbelief. The state of servitude persists after the disappearance of unbelief because of its existence in the past.”
The Arab slave trade was characterized by appalling violence, rape, and, worst of all, castration of black male slaves. While African women and girls were targeted, captured, and deported by Arab slavers for use as sex slaves, the male captives were, on the other hand, pitilessly castrated to prevent them from reproducing and becoming a stock. Castration of male slaves became a habit among slave traders due to the fact that they were in higher demand, stronger, noted to work faster and more efficiently, and were not a threat to slave masters and owners who feared that their wives, concubines, and female slaves would have affairs with them.
The suffering inflicted on the victims of castration was profound, encompassing physical and psychological trauma. Castration was done to boys between the ages of 9 and 12, as it was believed that they survived the process more than an adult or adolescent, although very many did not survive the process as they often died during or after the harrowing operation. Whites died more, so slavers concentrated more on blacks. This was the darkest chapter in history that highlights the extent to which humans were dehumanized and exploited for gain.
Here is a more detailed insight into this practice:
One: Economic factors. One of the primary reasons for castrating male captives was economic. The exporting countries had good economic incentives to castrate male slaves before they were shipped off. In the medieval slaving industry that was designed for exporting Slavic prisoners of war to the Arab world, castrating the slaves was an integral part of the process. Castration was then performed in the famous castration houses in Venice. Eunuchs, or castrated male slaves, were highly sought after due to their perceived trustworthiness and reliability. Eunuchs were considered valuable commodities in Arab societies, thus fetching much higher prices in slave markets compared to non-castrated slaves. Their lack of reproductive capability meant that they could serve in positions of trust and authority without posing a threat to the owner’s hereditary wealth and power.
Eunuchs were often employed in sensitive positions such as harem guards, administrative posts, and as servants in elite households. They served in influential positions in the Abbasid Caliphate’s administration, with some even rising to the rank of vizier. The economic incentives gained by slave traders from exporting black eunuchs to the Arab nations encouraged the practice of castration. In some cases, such as the Zanj rebellion in the 9th-century Iraq, castrated slaves were sought after to work in dangerous and demanding environments like salt mines. This practice had persisted for centuries in the Arab slave trade. As late as 1903, there were still 194 African eunuchs in service to the Ottoman ruling family.
Two: Control and domination. Castration was employed by Arab slavers as a means of exerting control and dominance over their male captives. By removing their ability to procreate, the slavers aimed to eliminate any potential threats of rebellion or the establishment of rival lineages. Additionally, castration was intended to ensure that these slaves would remain solely devoted to their master’s demands without the distractions of family or personal attachments.
Three: Social dislocation. Enslaved males who were castrated were forcibly removed from their communities and families. This social dislocation had far-reaching consequences as it disrupted the social fabric of African societies and led to balanced gender ratios. In regions where castration was prevalent, such as East Africa and the Sudan, entire villages were affected as young men were captured and subjected to this brutal practice. Many eunuchs who served in the harem of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul remained in servitude for life, isolated from their African roots. Their roles as loyal servants or guards sometimes meant they were isolated from their own cultural backgrounds and communities for life. Young boys were captured and castrated so that when they grew up they could serve as eunuchs in harems.
This slave ship was photographed in 1896. This large group of young boys may have been destined for castration to serve as eunuchs. The slaves in the photograph were headed to a Muslim country well after the American Civil War. In fact, slavery in the United States was a good bit more humane than slavery in the Arab world; it was bloody for Africans, bloody beyond words. In some cases, African societies would engage in castration as a preemptive measure to protect their youth from being captured and castrated by Arab slave traders. This reflects the deep fear and trauma associated with this practice.
Four: Psychological and physical trauma. Castration was itself a traumatic experience, both physically and psychologically, for those subjected to it. The surgery itself was often performed without anesthesia under crude and unhygienic conditions, leading to excruciating pain and a high risk of infection. Many African boys did not survive their castration surgery; six out of every 10 people who were mutilated died from their wounds in castration centers. This is a prime reason why there are not many communities of blacks living in the non-African Muslim world today, despite the millions of black African slaves who were sold into the Muslim world. Castration led to hormonal imbalances on survivors, affecting the physical development and health of victims. Without testosterone, eunuchs often suffered from various health issues such as decreased muscle mass, fatigue, obesity, osteoporosis, and a lack of secondary sexual characteristics.
Five: Cultural and religious beliefs. Some societies believed that castrated individuals were spiritually purer and more suitable for certain religious duties. For instance, in some Islamic societies, eunuchs were considered more appropriate for guarding holy sites. The guardianship of the Holy Kaaba in Mecca included the use of African eunuchs. Some men were castrated to be eunuchs in domestic service, and the practice of neutering male slaves was not limited to only black males. The Khalifa in Baghdad at the beginning of the 10th century had 7,000 black eunuchs and 4,000 white eunuchs in his palace, writes author Ronald Segal in his 2002 book, Islam’s Black Slaves: The Other Black Diaspora in the Arab World.
Demand for castrated slaves was so high that even with the appalling death rate from the procedure, it was still profitable, which explains why there is no large African diaspora community in Arab countries; castrated men do not father children. The Arab slave trade had a tragic impact on the evolution of African societies. Some areas were completely devastated and depopulated. Welsh explorer Henry Morton Stanley (1841–1904) was a horrified witness of this traffic. He wrote that after the depredations of the Arab traffickers, the black blood flows toward the north.
“The Equator smells corpses.”
As one commentator puts it, could it be true that the corrosive effects of four centuries of commerce in humans, with its temptation, its inbuilt opportunism, its reduction of humans to a cash value, its cycles of revenge, and its inevitable physical brutality, have built lasting flaws into the African pattern of thought and action?
The United Nations has made March 23 the International Day for the Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and UNESCO has made August 23 the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. When will there be an international day to commemorate the victims of the Arab Muslim slave trade? When will an international research program address this subject? When will a project be implemented to identify, restore, and publicize the sites and monuments linked to this Arab trade like the existing projects concerning the transatlantic trade? When will educational material be produced and cultural and artistic programs conducted to raise awareness of this criminal activity? When will a museum on the Arab Muslim slave trade be established?
