{"id":13822,"date":"2024-10-21T10:16:25","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T06:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/?post_type=documentaire&#038;p=13822"},"modified":"2026-04-09T10:45:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T06:45:18","slug":"the-slave-trade-in-the-western-indian-ocean-during-the-second-half-of-the-19th-century","status":"publish","type":"documentaire","link":"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/en\/documentaires\/the-slave-trade\/the-slave-trade-in-the-indian-ocean-2\/the-slave-trade-in-the-western-indian-ocean-during-the-second-half-of-the-19th-century\/","title":{"rendered":"The slave trade in the western Indian Ocean during the second half of the 19th century"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls poster=\"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/poster-cheriau-1.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Raphael-Cheriau-720pAnglais.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1881, the \u2018<em>Djamila<\/em>\u2019, a dhow flying the French flag, was captured by the British Navy off the island of Zanzibar along the east coast of Africa with 94 slaves on board. The documents presented to Her Majesty\u2019s officers by the ship\u2019s captain were in order. The \u2018<em>Djamila<\/em>\u2019 was legally sailing under the French flag. The documents had been issued in Mayotte, a French territory since 1841. The vessel may have been headed for Reunion, the Comoros or Madagascar.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.1325086855193467\" aria-label=\"Consul Ansley to Earl Granville, 30th November 1880, in House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (HCPP) 1882 (C3160), inclosure in N\u00b035, p. 144.\">&nbsp;<\/span> The captain and the ship-owner were in fact from Mayotte and Nossi-B\u00e9. In application of confidential Franco-British agreements signed in 1867 pertaining to visiting rights concerning vessels involved in the slave trade, the ship, its crew and the slaves were very quickly entrusted to the captain of the vessel \u2018<em>Laclocheterie<\/em>\u2019. The latter, one of the ships of the French Indian Ocean Naval squadron, was, amongst its other missions, tasked with repressing the slave-trade. The owner and captain of the \u2018<em>Djamila<\/em>\u2019 were then taken to Reunion, where the criminal court of Saint-Denis sentenced them to two years in prison and a 50-franc fine. The dhow was set alight and the slaves were \u201cfreed\u201d. They were possibly taken in by a religious mission or recruited as \u2018indentured labourers\u2019 on one of the of the island\u2019s plantations.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.7234334283385908\" aria-label=\"\u2018Indentured labourers\u2019 or workers \u2018under contract\u2019 would sign a contract to work for a specific period (generally 3, 5 or 7 years), in exchange for a salary. This was actually a new form of slavery. See Mich\u00e8le Marimoutou-Oberl\u00e9, \u201cL'engagisme \u00e0 La R\u00e9union\u201d (Indentured labourers in Reunion) https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/documentaires\/abolition-de-l-esclavage\/apres-l-abolition\/engagisme\/\">&nbsp;<\/span> The mystery remains buried deep within the silences of archives\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69e0cac924105&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"818\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/FRANOM32_44PA123_V049-b.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13897\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/FRANOM32_44PA123_V049-b.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/FRANOM32_44PA123_V049-b-300x205.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/FRANOM32_44PA123_V049-b-1024x698.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/FRANOM32_44PA123_V049-b-768x524.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\taria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Morondava. Indian dhow at anchor. General Gallieni on tour from Tananarive to Majunga and along the west coast, 1898. <br>Military staff of Gallieni (geographical department). 1898. Photograph, baryta paper glued on cardboard. <br>ANOM collection, inv. FR ANOM 44PA123\/93<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Far from being an isolated anecdotal event, the incident, revealed by British parliamentary sources, reflects the thriving character of the trade in the western Indian Ocean during the second half of the 19th century and demonstrates the important role played by French dhows in the continuing slave-trade, a role far from exclusive, however, despite the image put across by London. It also highlights the attempts \u2013 at times successful \u2013 made by both the French and the British authorities to combat the trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The western Indian Ocean: a major venue for a little\u2011known trade<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to the work carried out by historians, we can today estimate that between the 15th and 19th&nbsp;centuries, the Atlantic slave-trade involved the deportation of 12 million human beings.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.051418034029319326\" aria-label=\"https:\/\/www.slavevoyages.org\/. \u201cSlave Voyages\u201d aims to gather together and list in an accessible digital database historical data concerning all the voyages involving the slave trade in the Atlantic, as well as on the American continent. The project was launched by the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship of the University of California, and by the University of California.\">&nbsp;<\/span> The trade continued to prosper throughout the 19th&nbsp;century, in spite of being abolished by the British (1807), the Americans (1808), and the French (1817). 3.9 million persons are estimated to have been victims of the trade between 1800 and 1866.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.12713677774843424\" aria-label=\"https:\/\/www.slavevoyages.org\/assessment\/estimates.\">&nbsp;<\/span> The trade, exceptional in the history of humanity both regarding its character and scale, did, however, progressively die out after the American Civil War (1861\u20111865) and following the abolition of slavery in Brazil (1888). Yet, though the trade was definitely in decline, in the western Indian Ocean, it was at its peak between 1860 and 1890.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.14004481513324119\" aria-label=\"Matthew S. Hopper, \u00ab East Africa and the End of the Indian Ocean Slave Trade \u00bb, Journal of African Development, vol. 13, n\u00b0 1, 2011, p. 41.\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite its importance, for many years little was known about the activity. This absence of information has gradually been offset through research carried out by historians worldwide during the past forty years.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.6992840395864017\" aria-label=\"Matthew S. Hopper, Slaves of One Master: Globalization and Slavery in Arabia in the Age of Empire, Yale University Press, 2015; Henri M\u00e9dard et alii (dir.), Traites et esclavages en Afrique orientale et dans l\u2019oc\u00e9an Indien, Karthala 2013; Hideaki Suzuki, Slave Trade Profiteers in the Western Indian Ocean: Suppression and Resistance in the Nineteenth Century, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.\">&nbsp;<\/span> The lack of information is partly due to the largely incomplete character of the archives left behind. Contrary to the Atlantic trade, for the western Indian Ocean, it is virtually impossible to assess precisely the number of men, women and children who were its victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, researchers now consider that we can have an idea of numbers by focussing on three major centres on the east coast of the continent: the Horn of Africa, East Africa and Mozambique. For East Africa, the best-known of the three regions, it is estimated that 100,000 persons were victims of the trade in the 17th century, then close to 400,000 in the 18th century.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.009889193966814203\" aria-label=\"test de note\">&nbsp;<\/span> Between 800,000 and over 2,000,000 men, women, and children were traded in the 19th century.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.7603376447977608\" aria-label=\"Gwyn Campbell, \u201cServitude and the Changing Face of the Demand for Labor in the Indian Ocean World c. 1800-1900\u201d in Robert Harms et alii (dir.), Indian Ocean Slavery in the Age of Abolition, Yale University Press, 2013, p.34.\">&nbsp;<\/span> During the latter period, close to half of them were deported solely along the coast of East Africa, while the remaining number suffered the terrible shipments to the Red Sea, Arabia, the Persian Gulf, the west coast of India, as well as to the Comoros, Madagascar, Reunion, Mauritius and the Seychelles. It is estimated that between 1500 and 1850, European traders, for whom we have more precise records in the archives, seized between 950,000 and 1.2 million persons from East Africa.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.3492587326400156\" aria-label=\"Richard B. Allen, European Slave Trading in the Indian Ocean, 1500\u20111850, Ohio University Press, 2015 p.38.\">&nbsp;<\/span> From the late 1850s until 1873, about 15,000 to 20,000 Africans were captured on the continent each year, then taken to Zanzibar to be sold by traders who were mainly Swahilis, or from Arabia or Persia.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.06515354448097233\" aria-label=\"Thomas Vernet \u201cLa splendeur des cit\u00e9s Swahili\u201d (The Splendour of Swahili cities) in l\u2019Histoire, N\u00b0 284, 2004: \u201cThe Swahilis formed a homogenous society, established along the coastal fringes of East Africa, between Mogadiscio and the south of Mozambique (\u2026), in the Comoros archipelago, and the north west of Madagascar (\u2026) where an urban and maritime culture based on the Islamic religion was flourishing, truly African but steeped in Arabian and Indian influence\u201d.\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69e0cac924d5f&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1193\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ME-2017-1-51.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13745\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ME-2017-1-51.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ME-2017-1-51-300x298.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ME-2017-1-51-1024x1018.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ME-2017-1-51-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ME-2017-1-51-768x764.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ME-2017-1-51-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\taria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Slavery in Africa. The slave market in Zanzibar. Drawing by Gustave Janet; engraver: Hippolyte Dutheil. 1877. <br>Etching. In <em>Le Monde Illustr\u00e9<\/em>, 20th October 1877, p. 244. <br>Collection of Vill\u00e8le historical museum. Michel Pol\u00e9nyk donation, inv. ME.2017.1.51<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>85 % of these slaves were sent to the plantations in the Mascarene archipelago or along the coast, while the remaining 15 % were shipped to the Persian Gulf or Arabia.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.7945775530369317\" aria-label=\"Abdul Sheriff, Slaves, Spices and Ivory in Zanzibar, Currey, 1987, p.231.\">&nbsp;<\/span> Elsewhere, in the Mozambique channel, 437 200 slaves are considered to have been transported to Madagascar between 1800 and 1865.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.6346926896039924\" aria-label=\"Henri M\u00e9dard \u00ab La plus ancienne et la plus r\u00e9cente des traites \u00bb (The oldest and most recent trade) in Traites et esclavages en Afrique orientale, op.cit., p. 65-118.\">&nbsp;<\/span> In the Horn of Africa, the slave trade reached a \u2018peak\u2019 between 1825 and 1850 (150,000 to 175,000) for a total of 500,000 persons over the whole of the century. In the Mascarene islands, it is estimated that a total of 200,000 human beings were traded over the whole of the 19th century.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.43547821343579884\" aria-label=\"Ibid.\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, we can emphasise that \u201cin total, taking into consideration the other regions [India and south east Asia] and slaves other than Africans, the cumulated number of human beings exchanged within the Indian Ocean space throughout the centuries [from Antiquity to the 19th century] was way over the 10 to 12 million slaves shipped to the Americas.\u201d<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.39048381846511093\" aria-label=\"Campbell, op. cit., p.32\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u201cThe Indian Ocean is not the Atlantic\u201d<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.7225141173614018\" aria-label=\"Hubert Gerbeau, \u201cL\u2019oc\u00e9an Indien n\u2019est pas l\u2019Atlantique. La traite ill\u00e9gale \u00e0 Bourbon au XIXe si\u00e8cle\u201d, Outre-Mers, no. 336\u2013337 (2002) : 79\u2013108.\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Atlantic and the Indian Ocean slave trades were two distinct phenomena. First of all, for the latter, the trade goes back to Antiquity.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.47631414371384184\" aria-label=\"Thomas Vernet, \u201cSlave Trade and Urban Slavery on the Swahili Coast from Medieval Times to Abolition\u201d https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/acrefore\/9780190277734.013.887, Oxford Research Encyclopedias, 17 April 2024. \">&nbsp;<\/span> Also, for the second half of the 19th century, the trade in slaves was not an exclusive activity, meaning that the vessels were not specifically equipped for the slave trade, as was the case for the Atlantic. This is one of the reasons why, once the British and French navies were committed to abolishing the trade, they found it so difficult. It was, indeed, very often far from easy to identify persons involved in the slave trade. Very few vessels transported large numbers of slaves. An average of 25 could be counted on board the dhows sailing along the coasts of East Africa in the 1860s and 1870s.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.6680486696355559\" aria-label=\"Rapha\u00ebl Cheriau, Intervention d\u2019humanit\u00e9, CNRS \u00e9ditions, 2023, p.352.\">&nbsp;<\/span> In this respect, the case of the ship the <em>Djamila <\/em>is somewhat of an exception. It was difficult to differentiate between the slaves and the other members of the crew, since, in general, the slaves were not chained up in the hull of the ship, contrary to the images that were presented in Europe during that period. If such cases existed, these were exceptional.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69e0cac92587c&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1013\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2003_6_22.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13749\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2003_6_22.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2003_6_22-300x253.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2003_6_22-1024x864.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2003_6_22-768x648.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\taria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Dhow or rowboat of Arab slave-trader, theoretical cross-section, showing how the miserable slaves were <br>piled up crouching and hidden between the wooden decks. <br>Etching. In <em>La traite des n\u00e8gres et la croisade africaine<\/em>, Alexis Gochet, 1889, p. 131. <br>Collection of Vill\u00e8le historical museum, inv. 2003-6_22<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>In addition, during the first half of the 19th century, while the trade in the western Indian Ocean was dominated by European, in fact mainly French vessels and sailors, during the second half of the century we can note a preponderance of dhows sailing with Swahili crews and having their ship-owners in Zanzibar, Oman, Arabia, the Persian Gulf and the west of India. Very often, these traders sailed with no flag flying and no official documents on board, thus further complicating the task of the abolitionists of the period, as well as that of today\u2019s historians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the period of expansion of the European empires, dhows \u2013 sailing ships with long hulls and equipped with one or two triangular sails \u2013 symbolised, in the Western imagination, the trade of African slaves in the Indian Ocean. The word dhow, \u2018boutre\u2019 in French, is, however, a term referring to over 80 different types of sailing ship, not necessarily linked to the slave trade. However, as from the 1870s, the European press presented these vessels as being the incarnation of \u201cthe last slave\u2011trade\u201d to be eliminated. Through these vessels were stigmatised \u2018Arabs\u2019, \u2018Muslims\u2019 or the Islam religion, even though this global trade, as well as the trans-Atlantic activity, was far from limited to a single religion or group.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.17146127686259205\" aria-label=\"Frederick Cooper, Plantation Slavery on the East Coast of Africa, Heinemann, 1997, p.23.\">&nbsp;<\/span> This is what is represented by the engraving published in the <em>Illustrated London News<\/em> in 1889, depicting \u2018Arab\u2019 slave traders.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69e0cac9262b1&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"884\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ME-2009-01-85.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13753\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ME-2009-01-85.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ME-2009-01-85-300x221.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ME-2009-01-85-1024x754.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ME-2009-01-85-768x566.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\taria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Arab slave-traders throwing slaves overboard to avoid capture. Etching. <br>In <em>The Illustrated London News<\/em>, 4th May 1889, p. 571. <br>Collection of Vill\u00e8le historical museum. Michel Pol\u00e9nyk dontation, inv. ME.2009.01.85<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>It was too easily forgotten that the slave trade had been dominated by Europeans during the first part of the century, and that during the later part of the century, many of the \u2018slave trading\u2019 dhows that sailed would be flying European flags and manned by Swahili crews and captains from all corners of the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While not exclusive, the slave trade in the western Indian Ocean went hand-in-hand with transport of goods representing the trade in general within this maritime space, consisting, notably, of spices, coffee, ivory, pearls, dates, copal, dried fish and weapons. Combined with trading of human beings, these goods would be transported, for example on board dhows sailing between the east coast of Africa (Lamu, Mombasa, Zanzibar or Kilwa), along the Red Sea (Aden, Mukulla and Mocha), the Gulf of Oman (Mascat and Sour), the Persian Gulf (Bandar Abbas, Bushire and Basra), as well as the west coast of India (Diu, Surat, Bombay, Calicut and Cochin).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trading in human beings in the Indian Ocean was mainly aimed at providing a servile workforce for the clove and coconut plantations developed along the east coast of Africa by the Sultanate of Zanzibar as from the 1840s. It also developed in response to the need for labourers working on date plantations and irrigation works on the Arabian peninsula, as well as fleets involved in fishing for pearls in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. In Madagascar, slaves were used to develop agriculture and industry. In addition, the slave trade provided persons for the domestic slave market, to be used by the wealthy classes over the entire region, as well as caravans of porters used to transport ivory towards the coast.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69e0cac926e8e&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1170\" height=\"1200\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2003_6_18.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13757\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2003_6_18.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2003_6_18-293x300.jpg 293w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2003_6_18-998x1024.jpg 998w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2003_6_18-768x788.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\taria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The ivory trade along the coast of Mozambique. Slave porters. <br>Etching. In <em>La traite des n\u00e8gres et la croisade africaine<\/em>, Alexis Gochet, 1889, p. 111. <br>Collection of Vill\u00e8le historical museum, inv. 2003-6_18<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>As regards France, despite the abolition of the slave trade in 1817, then slavery itself in 1848, the illegal trade continued to provide slaves, and \u2018indentured labourers\u2019 for the French colonial plantations in the Indian Ocean, as reflected in the case of the <em>Djamila<\/em>. The trade gave rise to a new form of commerce between East Africa, the Comoros, Madagascar and Reunion. During second half of the 19th century, approximately 50,000 \u2018indentured labourers\u2019 were thus \u2018recruited\u2019 by estate owners on these islands.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.7435928940061709\" aria-label=\"Allen, op. cit., chap. 5.\">&nbsp;<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69e0cac92786e&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"805\" height=\"1200\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/les-grands-axes-de-la-traite-en-afrique-orientale-au-xixe-siecle.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13881\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/les-grands-axes-de-la-traite-en-afrique-orientale-au-xixe-siecle.jpg 805w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/les-grands-axes-de-la-traite-en-afrique-orientale-au-xixe-siecle-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/les-grands-axes-de-la-traite-en-afrique-orientale-au-xixe-siecle-687x1024.jpg 687w, https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/les-grands-axes-de-la-traite-en-afrique-orientale-au-xixe-siecle-768x1145.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\taria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Les grands axes de la traite en Afrique orientale au XIX\u00e8me si\u00e8cle. Alexandre Nicolas, cartographe. <br>In Intervention d&#8217;humanit\u00e9 : la r\u00e9pression de la traite \u00e0 Zanzibar, Rapha\u00ebl Cheriau, CNRS \u00e9ditions, 2023, p. 16<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A very long-term trade<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>While the European powers, at the time fully expanding their colonies, attempted to abolish the slave-trade during its peak, it only truly declined very late on. Abolition and colonisation only resulted in a significant decrease, without totally eliminating the activity. Historians have shown that the trade only came to a complete stop after World War I, when the trade in dates and pearls from Arabia declined through globalisation. We can note that the activity continued in a residual manner at least until the 1950s. Indeed, the British admiral Lord West, evoking his first years of service in the western Indian Ocean during this period, recorded arraignment of a vessel transporting slaves off the coast of Oman. The slaves were young women from Zanzibar, captured to be sold somewhere in the Persian Gulf, where slavery was not abolished until late on: notably in Qatar in 1952 and in Oman in 1970.<span class=\"NOTE_MARKER\" rel=\"0.23695560015012318\" aria-label=\"Admiral Lord West, Britain at Sea, Episode 3: Decolonisation\u201d, BBC Radio 4. http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/b046j8zm \">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13782,"parent":13885,"menu_order":2,"template":"","class_list":["post-13822","documentaire","type-documentaire","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/documentaire\/13822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/documentaire"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/documentaire"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/documentaire\/13885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portail-esclavage-reunion.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}