This research will focus on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade from its inception in the fifteen century, to the nineteenth century when it ended. While contemporary society views slavery as an abhorrent institution, it is the hypothesis of this research that Africans and Europeans of this earlier period did not believe slavery was evil, because all people at that time experienced some form of ownership over them. A European wife was owned by her husband, an African was owned by his lineage, and some slaves in Africa were more powerful than free men--becoming rich and owning slaves themselves (Miers 3-11).
Slavery is as old as mankind. There was never a time recorded when the institution of slavery did not exist (The Journal 3). The securing of slaves by force, whether in war or peace, was a common practice in past eras. Even the tribal warfare, where captives, if not killed, were kept for servitude, is not unknown. Slavery in Africa did not begin with the Europeans. While Europeans favored execution for criminals, Africans favored slavery (Webster 68). Africans enslaved other Africans by buying orphans who would otherwise have died. These orphans were then brought up by their rescuers to render them lifelong service. Similarly, children and even sometimes adults were bartered for grain in times of famine to save the rest of the group--a common practice among the Margi, Sena, and Kerebe tribes (Miers 12). Strangers also would voluntarily place themselves in positions of dependence when forced to leave their own people because of disagreements, threats, hunger, hope of a better life, or because they had committed some crime. Of course, others were enslaved because they were unredeemed hostages or pawns during warfare. In addition, compensation for homicides and other crimes was commonly paid in people--usually children from the offending kin group and not the actual aggressor. Criminals, sometimes falsely accused, were s...