The Middle East has a long history of slavery. It spread to Africa under the muslims, with Africans enslaving other Africans to sell to muslim slave traders. A lot of these men were turned into eunuchs to guard harems. Having an exotic big strong ebony-skinned African man to guard your harem was the thing to do at the time, apparently. Of course they took white slaves from the North to fill those harems. The raids against Europe were as much about filling their harems as it was about conquering new territory. Arabs were the first to bring wholesale slavery (as we know it today) to Africa. It would be another 400 years before the Portuguese began dealing in this slave trade, which had already been well established on the coasts of Africa.
The castration of Black slaves by Arabs still continues to exist in a few parts of Africa. A man has escaped to the capital Niamey from northern Niger, saying his master was about to castrate him. According to statistics provided by a local human rights group, 20,000 people are still living under conditions of slavery in the Niger - some of them suffering from extreme forms of torture. Talking about his ordeal, Mr Mohamet explained that he was being whipped everyday because he was suspected of wanting to rebel against his master. He said he had recently been sold to a new owner, known for his cruelty towards his slaves. His new master accused him of rebellion and disobedience. Mr Mohamet said if he had not escaped, he would have been castrated this week. BBC NEWS | Africa | Niger 'slave' flees castration Slavery had been abolished when Niger was a French colony. But an independent Niger only abolished and criminalized it in 2003. One anti-slavery activist said this was only a "charm offensive to please westerners." Everything, apparently, stayed the same on the ground. Slave children also work in Niger’s gold mines. Boys are also sometimes castrated, an old Islamic practice. Slave masters are also reported to sometimes separate slave children from their parents at a young age to break the parent-child bond. Slavery Defeat In Niger | Frontpage Mag
Oh nonsense. Slavery had been practiced in Africa since even before the Egyptian Empire was founded. And it continued through the Roman Empire and beyond. Much of the wealth of the Carthaginians was based on their participation in the Slave Trade even before Rome became an Empire. So why you are posting this pile of garbage, I have no idea.
It was a different type of slavery though, less harsh, with more honorary cultural rules in place. It wasn't the same slavery that would come later.
Oh nonsense! I am not sure what kind of pseudo-history you are reading, but that is far from true. Slavery was practiced widely, and in many regions was even similar to that of the Incans. With massive human sacrifices, where hundreds and even thousands would be executed. And in addition, cannibalism was often part of the practices. The Arabs actually were one of the main groups that put an end to these practices in most of Africa (a practice that was also followed-up by the British in their mandates in Africa). A look into the Leopard and Lion Societies shows this to be true. Yea, I got it. You hate Arabs and Muslims, but this kind of thing you can not blame on them. And it still continues in many areas today, even though their influence in the continent largely ended over a century ago.
While its true that slavery existed in Africa in ancient times, the Muslim Arabs did greatly expand the practice in Africa. The country Sudan got its name from Arab slavers - Sudan means 'Land of the Blacks' in Arabic. It was so named by the Arabs because they considered it the best place to get their slaves. The British attempt to stamp out slavery in the 1880s was one of the main causes of the Mahdi's revolt. Slavery in Sudan was revived in the 1990s by Gen. Omar El Bashir. He required all subjects to follow sharia law, including animists and Christians who lived in the southern part of Sudan. When they refused he launched savage attacks on their villages, killing over one million over ten years. The Muslim Arabs who lived in the northern two-thirds of the country enslaved as many as 250,000 more blacks. The Christian and animist blacks refused to give-in, and today Southern Sudan is its own nation, albeit a war-torn and impoverished one.
The Arab slave trade was far longer and far worse if you can believe it The Arabs would kill them and never let them give birth
