African people in his profound past was free, with the advent of slavery
he known an upheaval in his habits, morals and customs. Slavery can be defined
like the state or condition of being held in involuntary servitude as the
property of somebody else or the practice of, or a system based on using the
enforced labour of other people. During near two centuries, Africa known this
system. Therefore, the consequence which arises is that his population was
reduced considerably. The question is that what about its property during these
two centuries? In order to clarify that question, we must firstly present
briefly Africa before slavery and secondly Africa during the slavery in the aim
to analyze if he had property or not.
1-
Africa
before slavery
Africa’s history did not begin in slavery,
and despite the peculiarity, horror and duration of enslavement of Africans,
slavery occupies a minor time frame. Some of the notable civilizations in human
history come out of Africa. It has been a key continent in the development of
the modern and historical world. Africa, as a free people, produced a plethora
of advanced civilizations; the most notable of these is the Nile valley
civilization founded in the first dynasty. This was followed by the great civilization
of Axum and D’mt, and later by the great Islamic civilization of the Sahel
composed of Mali, Songhai and Sokoto. In the religious and intellectual aspect,
Christianity existed in Ethiopia long before there was the church of England,
Islam existed in Africa it even reached outside of what is today the hinterland
of Saudi Arabia. Libraries and universities existed in Islamic cities such as
Timbuktu and the Nile valley, where advance mathematics and astrology were
studied. The proof is that many ancient philosophers have studied in Egypt. The
most important is the origin of the word “Africa”. However, the word has Berber
Tunisian “A sunny place” – “Ifriqiya.” In addition, Egypt of the pharaohs is
best known for its great monuments and feats of engineering such as the
pyramids. Egyptians produced early forms of paper and a written script. All
these realizations are the proof that Africa before slavery was free and had
many own properties. Will be it the same case during the slavery?
2-
Africa and
its property during the slavery
2-1 African does not belongs to himself as slave
The
principle characteristics of slavery are the work or services by the means of
the force, and the fact that the physical person is consider like the property
of another person, his proprietor and can have him at one’s disposal and
subjugates him at his services. During that period, most of societies consider
the slaves like a part of heritage or material or functional instrument of some
person. In that context, they could be for sale, buy, negotiate, offer like a
gift or put in gage for pay a debt of their proprietor without asking their
point of view and legal or personal objection. In regard of the previous
report, we can say that African not belongs to himself as slave during the
slavery period. As far as concern the fact that African does not belong to
himself, Schoelcher in his article entitled on
the black trade asserts that: “that regime has robed to someone all about
human being. Advices, pains, good treatment, privation of all species,
punishment. They are private of food, exhaust of needs or teared by cruel whip”[1]
If African does not belongs to himself during the slavery period, if African
was the property of someone during this period, the logical consequence if that
theirs properties were not for themselves.
2-2
African’s
properties do not belong to themselves during the slavery
As the
human person, worthy and of integrity, African was not considered like that
during the slavery. He was not free, does not belong to himself and was the
property of somebody. How is it possible for someone with these characteristics
to have his own properties? During the slavery period, African world was
destroyed, turned upside dawn, overturned and robed by the link of strength.
The slave trade reduced the adult male population by about 20 percent,
dramatically altering the ratio of working adults to dependents and of adult
men to adult women. The Atlantic slave trade carried about two to three men for
every woman. The strength of work of the African family was robed during that
period. They had only their farms and their shelters.
In the end,
about Africa and its property during the slavery period, we must note that
before the slavery, Africa, as a free people,
produced a plethora of advanced civilizations. During the slavery, Africa lost
its autonomy and African was the property of some person; he did not had his
property for himself because he was not belongs to himself, he was not free
like in the past. All his important productions were robed certain were burned
like the most big library of that period in Egypt.
Bibliography: Schoelcher (Victor), in Review of Paris, n° 2, 1830.
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