Slavery and African Life: Occidental, Oriental, and African Slave Trades (African Studies, Series Number 67) - Hardcover

Manning, Patrick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521343968 ISBN 13: 9780521343961

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1990

Synopsis

This interpretation of the impact of slavery on African life emphasizes the importance of external demand for slaves - from Occidental and Oriental purchasers - in developing an active trade in slaves within Africa. The book summarizes a wide range of recent literature on slavery for all of tropical Africa. It analyzes the demography, economics, social structure, and ideology of slavery in Africa from the beginning of large-scale exports in the seventeenth century to the gradual elimination of slavery in the twentieth century. While the book is primarily a general survey, it presents interesting research and analysis, especially in the author's demographic model, computer simulation of the slave trade, and analysis of slave prices. The demographic, economic, and social analyses are carefully introduced, so that the book may serve not only as a general introduction to African slavery for an undergraduate audience, but as a primer on interdisciplinary application of social science methodology.

About this title

Review:

"When American scholars examine slavery, more often than not they focus on the Americas in the nineteenth century. Patrick Manning, to his credit, has taken a broader view of slavery, examining slavery and the slave trade in the Orient and Africa as well as in the Occident...This is a valuable yet provocative book. In a relatively small number of pages, the author makes many (often controversial) causal assertions." Journal of Economic History

"This bold and innovative short work seeks to demonstrate the impact of slavery on sub-Saharan Africa from the seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries." David Geggus, HAHR

"Manning provides his readers wth a well-written, broad-ranging, and interdisciplinary introduction to a very important subject. In additon to summarizing recent work in this field, he is provocative, insightful, and refreshingly sensitive to the complexties and nuances of this topic....These qualities will make this book a good introduction to African slavery for both undergraduate students and the non-specialist scholar." Richard B. Allen, African Studies Review

Book Description:

This book summarizes a wide range of recent literature on slavery for all of tropical Africa. It analyzes the demography, economics, social structure, and ideology of slavery in Africa from the beginning of large-scale exports in the seventeenth century to the gradual elimination of slavery in the twentieth century.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0521343968
• ISBN 13: 9780521343961
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 248