Africa has a very rich and interesting history that many people are not aware of. A very important part of Africa's history is slavery. Believe it or not one of the most significant aspects of Africa was slavery. When you hear slavery you instantly imagine the series of events that occurred in the early stages of New world but the concept slavery was different in in certain aspects and much less severe. After reading it will be acknowledged that slavery was already a part of Africa's society before European influence, the importance of slaves in African societies, how Europeans became a part of the slave trade and the involvement of middle men in all slave trades. It is all quite interesting.
Something many people may not know about the history of Africa is that there was intra-African slavery dating back way before the Atlantic slave trade; However it is not known when exactly "slavery" began in Africa, but its past indicates it has been a cornerstone of the continents development. Although slavery in Africa differed from the oriental slavery held in the western part of the world that does not mean it was void of exploitation of slaves, but still A man named Paul Lovejoy noted " the idea of slaves om African societies were absolute property or chattel of their owners or that they were denied their sexual rights, was foreign to the continent" ( Bah 74-75). .
The way that Africans came about becoming slaves in Africa was much different that of the slavery in the west. The recruiting of slaves on the continent was predominantly by warfare among states, towns, and villages. In which people would be prisoners of war. Most of the wars ended by taking immensely large numbers of prisoners assimilating them into their territory and became enslaved by the wining states.