Colonialism vs. Slavery - There was no better evil
This piece is a primer on the international slave trade, and will be the first of a series of articles to explore the legacy of slavery and colonialism on identity, history and culture in Africa and the Black diaspora.
Photo: "The Ancestor Project" created by Ghanaian sculptor and cultural activist Kwame "Kabe" Akoto-Bamfo. Image by Ghanaian photographer Nii Odzenma. Learn more: ancestorprojectgh.com
Written by Mwende Mutuli Musau
Black people have suffered detriment and catastrophe for centuries: The sin of slavery and the abomination of colonialism have plagued the shape of our racial heritage, traditions, culture, values and identity for generations.
These ideals have sunk their roots deep into the hearts, minds and souls of both victims and perpetrators, forming a modern society ingrained with the trials and tribulations of racism, injustice, bigotry, negative stereotypes and cultural appropriation.
There is no better evil between slavery and colonialism. Unequivocally, Africans have been exploited economically, physically and mentally throughout history.
Africa has been colonized by powerful empires for centuries. Greek Emperor Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in his conquest to rule the world (570 BC – 526 BC). He established the trading city of Alexandria (356 - 323 BC).
Phoenicians, a group of traders and merchants, established several colonies in Africa including Carthage, modern-day Tunisia in the 4th century. After, the Roman Empire got involved in North Africa and, in the 7th century, and Muslim Arabs took control of North Africa.
a map depicting the origins and destinations of the international slave trade.
The earliest practices of chattel slavery in Africa originated during the Roman Empire’s occupation of Northern Africa from 145 BC to 695 AD.
Chattel slavery – what we call slavery today – is defined as, “the enslaving and owning of human beings and their offspring as property, able to be bought, sold and forced to work without wages.” Most enslaved Africans came from regions in the north, east, central and west parts of the African continent.
The Trans-Saharan slave trade enslaved over 3 million Africans from 13 countries – with Romans transporting Sub-Saharan Africans through the desert into north Africa for a forced life of servitude. Pirates would raid villages, capturing and enslaving people and selling them up north.
After the fall of the Roman Empire fell in 430 AD, slavery persisted in North Africa within Christian communities. It spread into Islamic regions starting in the 7th century when Islamic expansion in the Sahara created an assimilative form of slavery that spread its tentacles into east, central and west Africa.
READ MORE: Slavery before the Trans-Atlantic Trade
From the 16th century, forced labor in East Africa flourished with the arrival of the Portuguese. Zanzibar was the main port of the Indian Ocean slave trade (1600-1750). Over 1 million Africans from 15 countries were gathered from the heart of Central Africa, ferried through Zanzibar and transported to the Middle East.
In central and west Africa, vanquished communities were enslaved to kingdoms and viewed as outsiders. They became prisoners of war who were used in a variety of ways; expanding their kingdom/kinship, labor, spirituality and ethnic gain.
The largest and most famous iteration of the slave trade began in the 15th century when Europeans began to imprison and enslave Africans in the Transatlantic slave trade, which enslaved over 12 million Africans from 34 countries.
READ MORE: Historical Context: Facts about the Slave Trade and Slavery
Slavers ferried people across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas and Caribbean. Africans were used for free labor on agricultural plantations in European colonies to cultivate crops including cotton, sugar, tobacco, rice and corn.
The Berlin Conference in 1885 sealed Africa’s fate. European powers were eager to expand Western influence on Africa, grow their wealth and spread their ideologies – and thus, the Scramble for Africa was born.
READ MORE: The Berlin Conference
This led to the establishment of three types of colonies: existing centralized state colonies (Ethiopia, Ghana, Swaziland), white settler colonies (Kenya, South Africa, Namibia) and societies that had a mixture of centralized and non-centralized societies (Nigeria, Congo-Brazzaville, Zimbabwe).
READ MORE: Colonial Exploration and conquest in Africa
Vintage engraving of Palaver on the central Congo. Meeting in the Congo between native africans and europeans.
The white man came to the Motherland with a gun and a bible, it was either his way or the highway. He plundered and pillaged our lands, people and possessions, culture and ideas relentlessly.
Slavery and colonialism both originate from the idea that Africans are a second-class race and are lesser beings, closer to animals. According to the white man’s warped way of thinking, slave owners and colonialists believed that Africans were savages and simple-minded. Enslaved and colonized subjects had to have been owned by fair-skinned masters. Due to their subservient nature, they were destined to live a life of subjugation.
In a half-hearted attempt to bring civilization and salvation to the continent, Africans began to embody a Western identity in all aspects of life to survive. Colonial subjects and enslaved Africans had to change all aspects of their life by mirroring themselves in the white man’s image.
Conversely, their original beliefs were demonized and looked down upon by Western society. Anything that was foreign to the white man’s beliefs was satanic and, as a result, outlawed. Africans were indoctrinated to believe that all their beliefs and rituals were evil and that all that was Western was good.
People converted religions, spoke foreign languages, began to incorporate capitalism and used Western law, incorporated Western dressing and adapted to a foreign education system, technological innovations and military techniques. Mentally, Africans were enslaved to the white man’s societal norms, values, mores and beliefs.
As possessions of the white man, Black men were also conscripted to fight wars: For example, Black men were forcefully conscripted to be Confederate soldiers in the American Civil War while Africans were conscripted to defend their Colonial Empires in the First and Second World Wars.
In Africa, colonizers wrongfully evicted African tribes from their lands. They took all the fertile agricultural lands for themselves and displaced Africans into zones in the wilderness. These zones were called reserves.
The colonialists only urbanized their living areas, leaving the rural areas to desolation and degradation. Consequently, the white man enriched only himself, leaving communities to rot in poverty. Worse, he forced Africans to work on “his” lands, subjugating them into serfdom.
Black people were stolen from Africa to work on plantations. Slave owners reaped the glory from their sweat. They didn’t receive a dime for their hard work, while the slave owner continued to enrich himself and his family.
The impacts of slavery and colonialism are very similar but still have their differences.
Enslaved Africans were forcibly transported to the Americas and Caribbean. They formed the Black diaspora while Africans were left in Africa. As a result, an eternal cord was cut between Black people in the diaspora and the Motherland. Africans retained a clear idea of their lineage and can trace down their family tree for many generations while Black people can trace down their lineage but cannot go beyond slavery. The waters of lineage between Black people and Africans remain murky.
In addition, when the colonizers came, they stole Africa's land and possessions while enslaved Africans themselves were stolen. Africans retained their sense of identity while those in the diaspora had been stripped of their cultures and sense of self, being forced to start anew.
Overall, slavery and colonialism have contributed to a harsh and unjust society for Black people across the globe. Despite slavery being abolished and African countries gaining independence, Black people and Africans feel neglected and ignored by the Western world.
Today, Black people are subject to racism, negative stereotypes, bigotry, police brutality, cultural appropriation, wrongful conviction and indoctrination. We constantly have to prove ourselves and our worth. As a race, we have to work twice as hard to prove and establish ourselves.
There have been no reparations on either front. African Americans were promised 40 acres and a mule that has not borne fruit. Similarly, European countries haven’t given reparations to Africa for their colonial crimes. These promises fall short of justice and fulfillment.
Many of us who are millennials and Gen Z must be the foundation of our own generational wealth because the white man created systems that discriminated against us. Slavery and colonialism may be stains in our dark history, yet showcase powerful attributes of our race such as grit, valor, ambition and determination to succeed and make a better society for ourselves and future generations.
Mwende Mutuli Musau (she/her) is a freelance writer from Kenya. She covers travel, culture and food for an array of international publications. Mwende is an ardent African traveler who began exploring the world in her early childhood. She is proudly a polyglot who is fluent in English, Swahili and French. During her leisure time, she's a content creator and fitness fanatic.