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Up the River: International Slave Trades and the Transformations of Slavery in Africa

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  • Whatley, Warren C.

    (African Economic History Network)

Abstract

According to western observers, slavery was almost universal in Africa by the end of the slave trade era. I investigate the extent to which the international slave trades transformed the institutions of slavery in Africa. I use newly-developed data on travel time to estimate the inland reach of international slave demand. I find that societies in decentralized catchment zones adopted slavery to defend against further enslavement. More generally, I find that the international slave trades incentivized the evolution of aristocratic slave regimes characterized by slavery as a property system, polygyny as a family organization, inheritance of property within the nuclear family and hereditary succession in local politics. I discuss the implications for literatures on long-term legacies in African development.

Suggested Citation

  • Whatley, Warren C., 2021. "Up the River: International Slave Trades and the Transformations of Slavery in Africa," African Economic History Working Paper 51/2019, African Economic History Network.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:afekhi:2019_051
    DOI: https://www.aehnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AEHN-WP-51.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Slavery; Slave Trade; Slave Regimes; Institutions; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J47 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Coercive Labor Markets
    • N17 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Africa; Oceania
    • N37 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Africa; Oceania
    • N47 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Africa; Oceania

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