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he history of the nineteenth-century "southern" East African slave trade, comprising the coast and its hinterland from Kilwa southwards, has hitherto been given scant attention. This stems partly from the nature of source material, which, like the British Blue Books, tends to concentrate on the "northern" complex supplying slaves from the Swahili coast to the Muslim markets of the north, and partly from the traditional assumption by historians that the Mozambique slave export trade to non-Muslim regions largely died out in the 1860s following the closure of the Brazilian and Cuban markets. In summarizing the debate to date, Austen points out that whereas slave exports from southeast Africa remained vibrant throughout the nineteenth century, there has been no satisfactory explanation as to what generated the demand for those slaves from the 1860s. He surmises that, as the mark

the economy of which Mutibwa has described as "dependent largely on the use of slave labour." Thus there was a vigorous slave trade until the imposition of French colonial rule over Madagascar at the end of the nineteenth century. It is important to note, however, that slave labour on Madagascar did not serve only the domestic economy of the island. The Hova hierarchy was deeply

When the Portuguese first made contact with Africa in the fifteenth century, they were in search of four things. Number one, they were in search of a sea route to the spice trade in the Far East because Muslims controlled the land route through the Levant and the breadbasket in the Maghrib. Second, the Portuguese wanted to participate in the lucrative Trans-Saharan gold trade. Third, they initiated the "Reconquista" project to recover Iberian lands from the Muslims. Finally, they sought to reconnect with the mythical Christian empire of Prester John (/people/history/african-history-biographies/prester-john) for the conversion of the heathens.

The gospel bearers enslaved prospective converts. In the next century, abolitionism and evangelical revival catalyzed the revamping of old missionary structures and the rise of a new voluntarist movement. Spiritual awakenings emphasized the Bible, the event of the cross, conversion experience, and a proactive expression of faith. Evangelicals mobilized philanthropists, churches, and politicians against the slave trade, to be replaced by treaties with the chiefs, legitimate trade, a new administrative structure, and Christianity as a civilizing agent.

F or the past 37 years, David Hedges’ cattle trade theory has dominated the historical analysis of state formation in southern Africa during the 19th century.

his trade has been a key element in the dominant explanations offered for accelerated processes of political centralisation in northern Kwazulu-Natal, which culminated in the rise of the Zulu kingdom

The characteristic feature of trade during most of the 18th century was its sporadic nature, maintained ever since the establishment of the Portuguese ivory trade in the 16th century. This situation changed during the English and Austrian periods of trade, when ivory was supplied on a far more regular basis because of the involvement of the country trade – a coastal trade in Asia, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and, occasionally, the east coast of Africa, conducted by privately owned merchant vessels.Footnote1515 For discussion of the Bombay country trade, see A. Bulley, Bombay Country Ships 1790–1833 (Richmond, Curzon Press, 2000).View all notes The country trade was a special feature of the English East India Company (EEIC) that allowed either servants or ex-servants of the company to import quantities of certain goods on their own accounts.Footnote1616 Ibid., p. vii.View all notes This practice permitted legitimate private transactions, which generated an income in silver, a strength that the Company exploited. As country ships came to dominate English maritime trade, their business became invaluable to the Company that used the ready cash to pay for its annual tea order from China. And because the EEIC formally permitted their servants to conduct private trade, merchants became stakeholders in the company as a whole.Footnote1717 Ibid.View all notes Trade flourished in the Indian Ocean because traders were given the freedom to explore coasts and take advantage of trade within the terms of their licences.Footnote1818 Ibid., p. 3.View all notes It was under these favourable circumstances that Edward Chandler and his experienced crew made their way to Delagoa Bay with an official licence to exploit the ivory market from 1756. The importance of Chandler’s country trade was his access to capital with which to maintain a supply of a large quantity of trade goods, in particular the brass items that were in high demand in the southern hinterland of Delagoa Bay (see Table 1). Besides the limited political interference displayed by Europeans at this time, the greater level of ivory supply to the coast can be attributed to the ample supply of brass

The demand for ivory at Delagoa Bay was nothing new and was the reason for the Portuguese trade initiative in 1545. The Dutch, throughout their stay (1721–1730), did everything in their power to stimulate and expand the trade, and yet the supply stayed relatively low and dwindled to nothing when the desired trade goods ran out. The type of trade goods on offer decided the source and volume of the ivory supply. During the Dutch era, ivory traders from the north-west interior in search of dark blue glass beads approached the coast to trade, but because these beads were always in short supply, the ivory trade faltered. Judging by the Austrian inventories, the ivory supply came predominantly from the Nkomati and Maputo rivers.

By the late 18th century, then, Delagoa Bay had become primarily a refreshment station. It remained so well into the 19th century.Footnote8383 BdJ.L.M.L. Zimba, ‘Overseas Trade, Regional Politics and Gender Roles: Southern Mozambique, c.1720 to c.1830’, PhD thesis, University of Michigan, 1999, Chapter 3, pp. 161–73.View all notes The Tembe had provisioned ships from the 16th century through to the 18th century, and were naturally the group to maintain and expand this dominance over the food trade when whalers started to frequent the Bay.Footnote8484 Chewins, ‘Trade at Delagoa Bay’, p. 127.View all notes The Mfumo, situated on the northern shore, were known for a lack of cultivation (owing to the sandy soil found there), and their reliance on meat, even the ‘gedroogte spiere van hun vijande’, for sustenance.Footnote8585 CA C406 f. 117, ‘the dried flesh of their enemies’, a cynical observation of a disillusioned employee of the VOC, visiting the trading post in 1721.View all notes Cultivation on the northern bank, apart from the Dutch effort to establish a Company garden, was an activity that the Mfumo consistently avoided throughout the 18th century.Footnote8686 The Dutch pointed out the lack of non-cultivation in 1720, see CA C406 f. 117; the observation is repeated in White, Journal of a Voyage, p. 52.View all notes The Tembe side of Delagoa Bay was well suited to agriculture, having dark fertile soil and a higher rainfall than the opposite bank

Like Arab sources, European documents rarely refer to slaves and the slave trade during the sixteenth and seventeenth century. However, one German traveler, who accompanied Francisco d'Almeida to Mombasa and Kilwa, observed in Kilwa "more black slaves than white Moors" and in Mombasa all the 500 archers were "negro slaves of the white Moors" (Freeman-Grenville, 1965, p. 107, 109). Tom? Pires, the Portuguese ambassador to China described the Indian Ocean trade in the early sixteenth century. From the ports of Zeila and Berbera, he noted, Arabs obtained gold, ivory, and slaves (Freeman-Greenville, 1962, p. 125). A Franciscan Friar, who visited Mombasa in 1606, mentioned a boat arriving from Zanzibar with some slaves (Freeman-Grenville, 1962, p. 155). An English trading captain noted that the governor of Mombasa, Johan Santa Coba, would send small boats to Kilwa, Pemba, Zanzibar, and Mozambique to obtain gold, ambergris, elephant teeth, and slaves, apparently for himself (Freeman-Grenville, 1962, p. 190). Even when slaves are mentioned as part of cargo, their importance relative to ivory, gold, and iron was minimal.

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Therefore, to understand a landscape, we must go beyond what is visually apparent and look at the meanings and values that people have assigned to that landscape.