Slavery in Somaliland
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Slavery in Somalia existed as a part of the
East African slave trade The Indian Ocean slave trade, sometimes known as the East African slave trade or Arab slave trade, was multi-directional slave trade and has changed over time. Africans were sent as slaves to the Middle East, to Indian Ocean islands (including Ma ...
. To meet the demand for menial labor,
Bantus The Bantu peoples, or Bantu, are an ethnolinguistic grouping of approximately 400 distinct ethnic groups who speak Bantu languages. They are native to 24 countries spread over a vast area from Central Africa to Southeast Africa and into Southern A ...
from
southeastern Africa Southeast Africa or Southeastern Africa is an African region that is intermediate between East Africa and Southern Africa. It comprises the countries Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanz ...
slaves were exported from the Zanzibar and were sold in cumulatively large numbers over the centuries to customers in
East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...
and other areas in Northeast Africa and Asia.Gwyn Campbell, ''The Structure of Slavery in Indian Ocean Africa and Asia'', 1 edition, (Routledge: 2003), p.ix People captured locally during wars and raids were also sometimes captured by Somalis and Ethiopians (mostly of
Shanqella Shanqella (Amharic: ሻንቅላ ''šanqəlla'' sometimes spelled Shankella, Shangella, Shánkala, Shankalla or Shangalla) is an exonym for a number of ethnic groups that today reside primarily in the westernmost part of Ethiopia near South Sudan ( ...
), Oromo, Amhara and Nilotic origin.Bridget Anderson, ''World Directory of Minorities'', (Minority Rights Group International: 1997), p. 456. However, the perception, capture, treatment and duties of both groups of slaves differed markedly,Catherine Lowe Besteman, ''Unraveling Somalia: Race, Class, and the Legacy of Slavery'', (University of Pennsylvania Press: 1999), p. 116. with Oromo favored because Oromo subjects were not viewed as linguistically and culturally different by their Somali owners.


History


Origin

Between 2500–3000 years ago, speakers of the original proto-
Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...
language group began a millennia-long series of migrations eastward from their original homeland in the general Cameroon area of Central Africa. This
Bantu expansion The Bantu expansion is a hypothesis about the history of the major series of migrations of the original Proto-Bantu-speaking group, which spread from an original nucleus around Central Africa across much of sub-Saharan Africa. In the process, t ...
first introduced Bantu peoples to
southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...
and
southeastern Africa Southeast Africa or Southeastern Africa is an African region that is intermediate between East Africa and Southern Africa. It comprises the countries Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanz ...
.Toyin Falola, Aribidesi Adisa Usman, ''Movements, borders, and identities in Africa'', (University Rochester Press: 2009), p.4. The Bantus inhabiting Somalia are descended from Bantu groups that had settled in Southeast Africa after the initial expansion from Cameroon, and whose members were later captured and sold into the East African slave trade. Bantus are ethnically, physically, and culturally distinct from Somalis and Ethiopians they have remained marginalized ever since their arrival in the Horn of Africa. All in all, the number of Bantu inhabitants in Somalia before the civil war is thought to have been about 80,000 (1970 estimate), with most concentrated between the Juba and Shabelle rivers in the south.Encyclopædia Britannica, ''Encyclopædia Britannica, v.20'', (Encyclopædia Britannica, inc.: 1970), p.897 Recent estimates, however, place the figure as high as 900,000 persons.


East African slave trade

The Indian Ocean slave trade was multi-directional and changed over time. To meet the demand for menial labor, Bantu slaves were captured by Tanzania slave traders from southeastern Africa were sold in cumulatively large numbers over the centuries to customers in Egypt, Arabia, the Persian Gulf, India, the Far East, the
Indian Ocean islands The islands of the Indian Ocean are part of either the eastern, western, or southern areas. Some prominently large islands include Madagascar, Sri Lanka, and the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java. Eastern Indian Ocean * Andaman Islands (I ...
, Ethiopia and Somalia. From 1800 to 1890, between 25,000 and 50,000 Bantu slaves are thought to have been sold from the slave market of Zanzibar alone to the Somali coast by Tanzanian slave traders. Most of the slaves were from the Majindo,
Makua Makua may refer to: * Makua (person), an alaafin of the Oyo Empire * Makua people, an ethnic group in Mozambique and Tanzania * Makhuwa language, a Bantu language spoken in Mozambique * Makua languages, a branch of Bantu languages * Makua Rothman ...
, Nyasa, Yao, Zalama,
Zaramo The Zaramo people, also referred to as Dzalamo or Saramo, are a Bantu ethnic group native to the central coast of Tanzania, particularly Dar es Salaam Region and Pwani Region. They are the largest ethnic group in and around Dar es Salaam, the for ...
and Zigua ethnic groups of Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi. Collectively, these Bantu groups are known as ''Mushunguli'', which is a term taken from ''Mzigula'', the Zigua tribe's word for "people" (the word holds multiple implied meanings including "worker", "foreigner", and "servant").Refugee Reports, November 2002, Volume 23, Number 8


16th to 20th centuries

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...
and Oromo adult and children slaves (referred to collectively as ''jareer'' by their Somali and Ethiopian handlers.Catherine Lowe Besteman, ''Unraveling Somalia: Race, Class, and the Legacy of Slavery'', (University of Pennsylvania Press: 1999), pp. 83-84) were purchased in the slave market exclusively to do undesirable work on plantation with oversight from the
Arabian peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...
. They were made to work in plantation exclusively owned by Italian government (Eno & Leahman, 2003) along the southern
Shebelle The Shebelle River ( so, Webi Shabeelle, ar, نهر شبيلي, am, እደላ) begins in the highlands of Ethiopia, and then flows southeast into Somalia towards Mogadishu. Near Mogadishu, it turns sharply southwest, where it follows the coast. ...
and
Jubba Thawb ( ar, ثَوْب "garment"), also spelled thobe or tobe and known by various other names in different regions, is an ankle-length robe, usually with long sleeves. It is commonly worn in the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East, North Afri ...
rivers, harvesting lucrative cash crops such as grain and cotton.Henry Louis Gates, ''Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience'', (Oxford University Press: 1999), p.1746 Bantu slaves toiled under the control of the Italian government. The Bantus were conscripted to forced labor on Italian-owned plantations since the Somalis themselves were averse to what they deemed menial labor,Laitin, p.64. and because the Italians viewed the Somalis as racially superior to the Bantu.Catherine Lowe Besteman, ''Unraveling Somalia: Race, Class, and the Legacy of Slavery'', (University of Pennsylvania Press: 1999), p. 120 The Italian colonial administration abolished slavery in Somalia at the turn of the 20th century. However, some Somali clans notably the Biimal clan opposed this idea. The Bimaals fought Italians to keep their slaves. Although the Italians freed some Bantus, some Bantu groups, remained enslaved well until the 1930s, and continued to be despised and discriminated against by large parts of Somali society.


Nilotic slaves

In the late 19th century, Tanzanians also captured other ''jareer'' peoples from the coastal regions of Kenya to work for them as slaves and clients. Referred to as the Kore, these
Nilo-Saharan The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of African languages spoken by some 50–60 million people, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of the Nile meet. T ...
Maa-speaking Nilotes were later emancipated by British colonial troops. They subsequently resettled on the
Lamu Lamu or Lamu Town is a small town on Lamu Island, which in turn is a part of the Lamu Archipelago in Kenya. Situated by road northeast of Mombasa that ends at Mokowe Jetty, from where the sea channel has to be crossed to reach Lamu Island. ...
seaboard as fishermen and cultivators. Like many Bantus, the Kore reportedly now speak the
Afro-Asiatic The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic su ...
Somali language Somali (Latin script: ; Wadaad writing, Wadaad: ; Osmanya: 𐒖𐒍 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘 ) is an Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic languages, Cushitic branch. It is spoken as a mother tongue by Somalis in ...
on account of their time in servitude.


Other slaves

In addition to Bantu plantation slaves, Somalis sometimes enslaved peoples of Oromo pastoral background that were captured during wars and raids on Oromo settlements. However, there were marked differences in terms of the perception, capture, treatment and duties of the Oromo pastoral slaves versus the Bantu plantation slaves. On an individual basis, Oromo subjects were not viewed as racially ''jareer'' by their Somali captors. The Oromo captives also mostly consisted of young children and women, both of whom were taken into the families of their abductors; men were usually killed during the raids. Oromo boys and girls were adopted by their Somali patrons as their own children. Prized for their beauty and viewed as legitimate sexual partners, many Oromo women became either wives or concubines of their Somali captors, while others became domestic servants. In some cases, entire Oromo clans were assimilated on a client basis into the Somali clan system. Neither captured Oromo children nor women were ever required to do plantation work, and they typically worked side-by-side with the Somali pastoralists. After an Oromo concubine gave birth to her Somali patron's child, she and the child were emancipated and the Oromo concubine acquired equal status to her abductor's other Somali wives. According to the Somali Studies pioneer Enrico Cerulli, in terms of
diya Diya may refer to: * ''Diya (film)'', 2018 Tamil- and Telugu-language film * Diya (Islam), Islamic term for monetary compensation for bodily harm or property damage * Diya (lamp), ghee- or oil-based candle often used in South Asian religious ceremo ...
(
blood money Blood money may refer to: * Blood money (restitution), money paid to the family of a murder victim Films * ''Blood Money'' (1917 film), a film starring Harry Carey * ''Blood Money'' (1921 film), a British-Dutch film * ''Blood Money'' (1933 ...
) payments in the Somali
customary law A legal custom is the established pattern of behavior that can be objectively verified within a particular social setting. A claim can be carried out in defense of "what has always been done and accepted by law". Customary law (also, consuetudina ...
( Xeer), the life of an Oromo slave was also equal in value to that of an ordinary ethnic Somali.Catherine Lowe Besteman, ''Unraveling Somalia: Race, Class, and the Legacy of Slavery'', (University of Pennsylvania Press: 1999), p. 82. Freedom for Oromo slaves was obtained through manumission and was typically accompanied by presents such as a spouse and livestock. During abolition, former Oromo slaves, who generally maintained intimate relations with the Somali pastoralists, were also spared the harsh treatment reserved for the Bantu and Nilotic plantation slaves.


References

{{Human rights in Somalia Slavery by country Society of Somalia History of Somalia by topic History of slavery Slavery in Africa Human rights abuses in Somalia Islam and slavery