In the 1800’s, spices weren’t Zanzibar’s only major export.
Zanzibar was home to East Africa’s slave market.
Islam was spreading and the Koran forbids the enslavement of
Muslims. So the growing Muslim population in the Arabian Peninsula, Persia, and
Indonesia needed non-Muslim slaves. (Slaves bound for the Americas were
primarily sold out of West Africa) Accordingly, the slave market flourished in
East Africa. Sadly, by the mid-19th century, as many as 50,000
slaves were being sold in the markets of Zanzibar per year.
Many missionaries fought to end the slave trade in Zanzibar.
The most famous of these was David Livingstone who spoke before Parliament in
Britain and campaigned for the abolition of slavery. His death, in 1873 brought
much publicity to his cause and on June 6, 1873, the world’s last open slave
market was finally shut down. Sadly, the Sultan ruling in Zanzibar continued to
secretly sell slaves out of a cave on the north side of the island. In 1907,
the British used force to finally end human trafficking in East Africa.
The Zanzibar slave market has since been destroyed but some remnants
of the slave trade remain.
The two rooms of the slave chamber still exist. These rooms
were used to house 125 slaves while waiting for auction. All of the slaves were
chained together and left in these rooms for several days without food and
water and with sewage flowing on the floor. Sadly, many of the slaves died of suffocation
or starvation here before ever reaching the auction block.
While marching from the interior of Africa and while in the slave
chambers, each of the slaves was chained together. Care was taken to ensure
that slaves were only next to those of other tribes. The slave owners didn’t
want them to be able to communicate and potentially rebel.
Today, an Anglican Church sits on the site of the infamous
Zanzibar slave market. Inside the church is a very meaningful crucifix. When
David Livingstone died (in Zambia), he asked that his heart always remain in
Africa. So his heart was buried under the tree he was sitting under when he
died. (The rest of his body was returned to England and buried in Westminster
Abbey). In honor of Livingstone’s tireless efforts to close the market in
Zanzibar (which he didn’t live to see), a crucifix was carved from the wood of
that tree. This crucifix hangs in the church at the site of the slave market he
was instrumental in closing.
I went to the Slave Museum in Cape Town, South Africa and
now the slave monument in Zanzibar. As I learn more about the slave trade, I can't help but be saddened by the cruelty humans have the ability to inflict on those they see as different. But I am hopeful that as the world grows "smaller" through technology and travel, people will learn that our similarities far exceed our differences.
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