page_title: Slavery in Africa
section_title: Horn of Africa
hierarchical_section_title: Slavery in Africa / Slavery practices throughout Africa / Horn of Africa
caption_attribution_description: English: Servant/slave woman. Mogadishu • 1882-1883 (original description in French: «&#160;Servante-esclave. Moguedouchou&#160;» • 1882-1883) Deutsch: Dienerin/Sklavin in Mogadischu
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: In the Horn of Africa, the Christian kings of the Ethiopian Empire often exported pagan Nilotic slaves from their western borderlands, or from newly conquered or reconquered lowland territories. The Somali and Afar Muslim sultanates, such as the medieval Adal Sultanate, through their ports also traded Zanj (Bantu) slaves who were captured from the hinterland.
  Slavery, as practiced in Ethiopia, was essentially domestic and was geared more towards women; this was the trend for most of Africa as well. Women were transported across the Sahara, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean trade more than men. Enslaved people served in the houses of their masters or mistresses, and were not employed to any significant extent for productive purpose. The enslaved were regarded as second-class members of their owners' family. The first attempt to abolish slavery in Ethiopia was made by Emperor Tewodros II (r. 1855–68), although the slave trade was not abolished legally until 1923 with Ethiopia's ascension to the League of Nations. Anti-Slavery Society estimated there were 2 million slaves in the early 1930s, out of an estimated population of between 8 and 16 million. Slavery continued in Ethiopia until the Italian invasion in October 1935, when the institution was abolished by order of the Italian occupying forces. In response to pressure by Western Allies of World War II, Ethiopia officially abolished slavery and involuntary servitude after having regained its independence in 1942. On 26 August 1942, Haile Selassie issued a proclamation outlawing slavery.
  In Somali territories, slaves were purchased in the slave market exclusively to do work on plantation grounds. In terms of legal considerations, the customs regarding the treatment of Bantu slaves were established by the decree of Sultans and local administrative legates. Additionally, freedom for these plantation slaves was also often acquired through eventual emancipation, escape, and ransom.
caption: A 'servant-slave' woman in Mogadishu (1882–1883)
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