page_title: Slavery in Africa
section_title: Slavery practices throughout Africa
hierarchical_section_title: Slavery in Africa / Slavery practices throughout Africa
caption_attribution_description: English: Engraving depicting Queen Ranavalona I of Madagascar traveling on her filanzana (palanquin), accompanied by her son Radama II and a party of slaves. Français&#160;: Gravure de la reine Ranavalona I de Madagascar en voyage avec son fils, le prince Radama II, accompagnes par leurs esclaves.
context_page_description: Slavery has historically been widespread in Africa, and still continues today in some African countries.
  Systems of servitude and slavery were common in parts of Africa in ancient times, as they were in much of the rest of the ancient world. When the Arab slave trade and Atlantic slave trade began, many of the pre-existing local African slave systems began supplying captives for slave markets outside Africa.
  Slavery in historical Africa was practiced in many different forms: Debt slavery, enslavement of war captives, military slavery, slavery for prostitution, and criminal slavery were all practiced in various parts of Africa. Slavery for domestic and court purposes was widespread throughout Africa. Plantation slavery also occurred, primarily on the eastern coast of Africa and in parts of West Africa. The importance of domestic plantation slavery increased during the 19th century, due to the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade. Many African states dependent on the international slave trade reoriented their economies towards legitimate commerce worked by slave labor.
context_section_description: Like most other regions of the world, slavery and forced labor existed in many kingdoms and societies of Africa for hundreds of years. According to Ugo Kwokeji, early European reports of slavery throughout Africa in the 1600s are unreliable because they often conflated various forms of servitude as equal to chattel slavery.
  The best evidence of slave practices in Africa come from the major kingdoms, particularly along the coast, and there is little evidence of widespread slavery practices in stateless societies. Slave trading was mostly secondary to other trade relationships; however, there is evidence of a trans-Saharan slave trade route from Roman times which persisted in the area after the fall of the Roman Empire. However, kinship structures and rights provided to slaves (except those captured in war) appears to have limited the scope of slave trading before the start of the Arab slave trade and the Atlantic slave trade.
caption: Malagasy slaves (Andevo) carrying Queen Ranavalona I of Madagascar
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