RANSOMING POLICIES AND PRACTICES IN THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL BILAD AL-SUDAN cl800-1910

JENNIFER LOFKRANTZ

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

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The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission.

In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these.

While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada ABSTRACT

Ransoming, or the returning to freedom of a captive in exchange for payment, has been practised in many cultures and time periods throughout the world. In Africa,

Muslim jurists and intellectuals had discussed the issue of ransoming from the medieval period, as reflected in the writings of Muhammad al-Maghll! and Ahmad

Baba al-Tinbuktl, and in the nineteenth century, as demonstrated in the work of

'Uthman ibn FudT, 'Abdullahi ibn FudI and 'Umar al-FutL It is argued in this

dissertation that the system of ransoming was integral to the institution of slavery as it

operated in Islamic areas of West Africa, in particular the western and central bilad

al-sudan, especially in the nineteenth century when it appears that ransoming was practised extensively.

The nineteenth century was a period of intense insecurity and warfare in the

western and central bilad al-sudan, which led to considerable enslavement.

Enslavement was undertaken for political reasons, and was fundamental to the social

and economic structure of the societies of the Muslim regions of the western and

central bilad al-sudan. Warfare, even the jihads that were perpetrated in the hopes

that Islamic unity would usher in a better political world, generated slaves and in

regions of enslavement, there was a corresponding level of insecurity and instability.

This allowed space for kidnapping and raiding that were not particularly motivated by

ideology or politics but simply for the private and economic reasons of the captors.

iv Ransoming served as a safety net for Muslims captured in war, or otherwise seized and threatened with sale into slavery. Hence, the prevalence of ransoming exposes the tensions between personal security and the Islamic state and religious institutions.

The prevalence of ransoming demonstrates that the fragile political systems could not protect individuals from enslavement that was defined in Muslim terms as

"wrongful".

The practice of ransoming helped to shape the institution of slavery since ransom prices were usually about twice the amount of slave prices. This had implications for the functioning of the market in slaves. In addition to ransoming at the time of enslavement, or shortly thereafter, two related practices, which were also widespread and sanctioned by Islamic law, were third-party redemption and self- redemption. However, while ransoming and redemption shared many commonalities, the practices differed in that while the goal of ransoming was to return a captive to his or her previous social status after a short time in captivity, a redeemed slave remained in a inferior position to his or her previous owners and indeed to all free-born free members of the community.

Ransoming was an option for dealing with prisoners of war. In this way, ransoming did not undermine slavery in the Islamic context but was a means to protect certain individuals from enslavement. Ransoming provided an outlet to free those who should not have been enslaved, according to Islamic legal interpretations and customary rights, and also provided the opportunity for those individuals whose status allowed his or her family and friends the means to ransom. Third-party v redemption and self-redemption, were so central to the practice of slavery in the western and central bilad al-sudan that both the French and British colonial regimes used the institutions as a means to end the practice of slavery in their respective territories. With the end of legal enslavement and captivity came the end of the legal ransoming although the practice continued into the first decade of colonial rule as long as illegal enslavement continued. Just as precolonial Islamic states and officials used ransoming to shape slavery, colonial regimes used redemption to reshape the institution of slavery, only this time with a goal of a gradual end to slavery. Colonial reform of the practice of redemption transformed the institution. Both the French and the British took the power to allow for self-redemption from the owners and put it into the hands of the slaves. While it was still difficult for slaves to raise the self- redemption fees, and many, especially in the western bilad al-sudan, left, by setting redemption prices, in the case of the French, and giving the jurisdiction to set the redemption price to the Islamic courts if an owner and an enslaved individual could not agree on a price in the case of the British, and putting the onus to self-redeem in the hands of slaves, colonial officials changed the practice of third-party ransoming and self-redemption.

VI In memory of my grandparents,

Willard and Corrina Stillman

Vll ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In "Meditation 17," John Donne wrote, "no man [or woman] is an island entire of itself." This sentiment can be applied to the writing of a dissertation. I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to all those who helped me complete this dissertation. First, I want to thank my supervisor, Paul E Lovejoy, for his advice and guidance, for providing access to his archival collections and publications, and for providing financial support through the Harriet Tubman

Research Institute on the Global Migrations of African Peoples and the Canada

Research Chair in African Diaspora History. I would also like to express my

appreciation to members of both my dissertation and examination committees Sydney

Kanya-Forstner, Thabit Abdullah, Martin Klein, Jose Curto, Amin Alhassan, and

Marcel Martel, for their comments and advice.

Over the course of my Ph.D studies, Sydney Kanya-Forstner, Martin Klein,

Jose Curto, David Trotman, Michele Johnson, and Thabit Abdullah have all given me useful comments and thoughts to ponder for which I thank them. I offer my

appreciation to my fellow graduate students at the Tubman Institute and in the

History Department at York University. Together we created a rich and stimulating

intellectual environment where we were able to share our work and discuss and

debate our ideas. I would especially like to thank Yacine Daddi Addoun and Ismael

Montana for their help with Arabic documents and Thor Burnham, Uttam Bajwa,

viii Ismael Montana, and Mohammed Bashir Salau who read and commented on various drafts of this dissertation and upon whom I tested out arguments. I further want to acknowledge my colleagues at the Faculty of Arts, Centre for Academic Writing at

York University, my teaching unit at York University, for their various insights and discussions on the writing process.

In Mali, I would like to acknowledge Timothey Saye and Alyadjidi Almouctar at the Archives Nationales du Mali, Koulouba who made my archival research there especially fruitful. At the Institut de Recherches en Sciences Humaines (IRSH),

Universite Abdou Moumouni, Niamey, I want to express my appreciation for Seyni

Moumouni of the Departement des Manuscrits Arabe et Ajami, and Abdoulaye Maga, the Director of IRSH for their friendship and for facilitating my research in Niger. I want to thank Yansambali Idrissa Maiga and Ousmane Mama of the Archives

Nationales du Niger, Niamey for their friendship and for making my time in the archives very productive. In Agadez I want to thank Ibrahim Amouren, Director of the Archives d'Agadez and Sama Boulhou of CECI-PADENF for their hospitality and our informative discussions. I also wish to express my appreciation to Richard,

Norma, and Amina whose friendship made my stay in Niamey incredibly enjoyable.

In Nigeria, I want to thank Umar Adamu of the Kano State History and Cultural

Bureau and Mustapha Gwadabbe at Arewa House, Kaduna for their kindness, generosity, and assistance in their respective archives. I am also appreciative for the friendship of Raj i Mumin Kayode and Mohammed Jibrin who facilitated my stay in

Kano.

ix I was privileged to have access to both Martin Klein's and Sydney Kanya-

Forstner's collections from the Archives Nationales du Senegal. The staff of Scott

Library Resource Sharing Department at York University tracked down numerous books and articles for me. Moreover without the technical help, which sometimes bordered on technical wizardry, of Eugene Onutan, former head of Information

Technology at the Tubman Institute, this dissertation would surely not have been completed. Thank you all.

Further, I want to acknowledge the financial support that I have received for research and conferences from the Faculty of Graduate Studies at York University, the Canadian Association of African Studies, the Graduate Students Association at

York University, and the Canadian Union of Public Employees, local 3903. My time in Nigeria in 2007 was funded through the British Library Endangered Archives

Programme pilot project "Northern Nigeria: Precolonial Documents Preservation

Scheme". Thank you.

I also want to acknowledge David Ross and Philip Stigger who first sparked my interest in African history as an undergraduate at Simon Fraser University. I want to express my appreciation for David Eltis, my M.A supervisor at Queen's

University, and Bob Shenton and Alan Jeeves with whom I did M.A coursework, who encouraged me to continue with graduate studies.

I reserve my final thank you for my parents, Eric and Dawne Lofkrantz, without whose ongoing moral support, and at times, financial support, this dissertation would certainly not have been completed. Thank you.

x TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract iv Dedication vii Acknowledgements viii Table of Contents xi Note on Translation, Transliteration, and Spelling xiv List of Tables and Maps xv

Introduction Organization of Dissertation 4 Ransoming in the Scholarly Literature 8 Sources 16 Methodology 24

Chapter One: Ransoming in the Legal Tradition of West Africa Introduction 27 Scholarship in the Bilad al-Sudan 28 Muhammad al-MaghnTs Opinion 32 Ahmad Baba al-Tinbuktl's Opinion 35 'Uthman and 'Abdullahi ibn Fudl's Opinions 39 Conclusion 43

Chapter Two: The Practice of Ransoming in the Maghrib and the Sahara Introduction 44 Ransoming in the Mediterranean World 45 Conclusion 56

Chapter Three: Ransoming Policies in the Nineteenth Century: The Case of the Sokoto Caliphate Introduction 60 The Enslavement of Muslims 61 Response of Muslim Leaders to the Enslavement Problem 63 The Sokoto Caliphate's Policy towards Enslavement 66 Abuse in the Distribution of Booty 69 Shifts in Ransoming Policies 73 Conclusion 79

xi Chapter Four: Patterns in Ransom Negotiations Introduction 83 Motives to Ransom from the Captives' Side 83 Motives to Ransom from the Captors' Side 87 Factors in Successful Ransom Negotiations 89 Conclusion 100

Chapter Five: The Relationship between Ransom, Slave, and Redemption Prices Introduction 101 Slave Prices 102 Ransom Prices 104 Redemption Prices 112 Conclusion 114

Chapter Six: Redemption Practices and Ransoming Introduction 116 The Theoretical and Legal Basis for Redemption 117 Permission for Redemption 121 Raising Redemption Fees 126 Status of Ransomed Captives and Redeemed Slaves 136 Conclusion 138

Chapter Seven: Ransoming in Non-Muslim Areas of West Africa Introduction 139 Eighteenth Century Practices along the West African Coast 140 Ransoming in Nineteenth Century West Africa 146 Prices 154 Conclusion 158

Chapter Eight: Ransoming under Colonial Rule Introduction 161 British and French Policies towards Slavery 162 Effects of British and French Policies 178 Conclusion 186

Conclusion 189

Appendices Appendix A: Nineteenth Century Ransom Prices in the Western and Central Bilad al-Sudan 194 Appendix B: Nineteenth Century Slave Prices in the Western and Central Bilad al-Sudan 197

xn Appendix C: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Redemption Prices in the Western and Central Bilad al-Sudan 201

Bibliography Primary Source Material 207 National Archives and Documentation Centres 207 Published Arabic Source Material 217 Published Oral and Biographical Material 219 Voyage and Travel Literature, Official Reports 220 Secondary Literature: Books, Articles, Dissertations, and Papers 224

Xlll NOTE ON TRANSLATION, TRANSLITERATION, AND SPELLING

This dissertation is mainly based on the use of English, French, and Arabic sources. Since York University is a bilingual (English and French) institution, I have left direct quotations in French in the original language. Arabic direct quotations have been translated into English. Whenever possible all Arabic words have been rendered in the transliteration system outlined in the JM Cowan edited The Hans Wehr A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition (Ithaca New York, 1994). Most non- English and non-French words are either in Arabic, Hausa, Songhay or Yoruba. Upon first use these words are italicized but not in subsequent use. Names of places have been spelt according to location and context except where the English spelling is overwhelming well known and predominant in English usage; hence "Timbuktu" instead of "Tombouctou" but "Segou" instead of "Segu".

xiv LIST OF TABLES AND MAPS

TABLES

Table 5.1: Comparison of Slave, Ransom, and Redemption Prices 108 Table 6.1: Sample of Redemption Practices in the Western and Central Sudan 122 Table 7.1: Sample of Ransom Prices in Non-Muslim West Africa 157

MAPS

Map 2.1: The Maghrib c 1750 58 Map 2.2: The Mediterranean c 1750 59 Map 3.1: 19th Century West Africa 81 Map 3.2: 19th Century West African Islamic States 82 Map 7.1:18th Century European Forts and Trading Posts on the West African Coast 159 Map 7.2: 19th Century Yoruba States 160 Map 8.1: European Conquest of West Africa c 1906 188

xv INTRODUCTION

The ransoming of prisoners has been a global and widespread practice.1 In the western and central bilad al-sudan, the possibility of ransoming was an important feature of slavery. Ransoming refers to the practice of paying for the release of a captive at the time of capture or soon afterwards. Ransoming is distinguishable from redemption in that a ransomed captive returns to his or her previous status in their own society whereas a redeemed slave remains in a subservient status in his or her former owner's society. Muslim jurists and intellectuals have discussed the issue of ransoming in this region since at least the medieval period. This suggests that the practice was very old. It is argued here that the system of ransoming was integral to the institution of slavery as it operated in the western and central Sudan, especially in the nineteenth century when it appears that ransoming was practised extensively.

Ransoming served as a safety net for Muslims captured in war, or otherwise seized

1 For a discussion of ransoming in the early Islamic period see Seth Ward, " Muhammad Said: 'You are Only a Jew from the Jews of Sephoris': Allegations of the Jewish Ancestry of Some Umayyads," Journal of Near Eastern Studies 60:1 (2001): 31-42, for medieval Palestine see Hassan S. Khalilieh, "The Ribat System and its Role in Coastal Navigation," Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 42:2 (1999): 212-225, for Nasrid Granada see Manuela Marin and Rachid El Nour, "Captives, Children and Conversion: A Case from Late Nasrid Spain," Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 41:4 (1998): 453-473, for present-day Burma/Myanmar and Thailand see Andrew Turon, "Violent Capture of People for Exchange on Karen-Tai Borders in the 1830s," Slavery and Abolition 24:2 (Aug., 2003): 69-82, for colonial New Mexico see James F. Brooks, '"This Evil Extends Especially...to the Feminine Sex': Negotiating Captivity in the New Mexico Borderlands," Feminist Studies 22:2 (1996): 279-309, for the northern Tanzanian coast in the late nineteenth century see Jonathan Glassman, "The Bondsman's New Clothes: The Contradictory Consciousness of Slave Resistance on the Swahili Coast," Journal of African History 32 91991: 277- 312, for German East Africa where slaves could arrange for German planters to pay their ransom and whereby they then owed their labour until the debt was repaid see Thaddeus Sunseri, "Slave Ransoming in German East Africa, 1885-1992," The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 26:3 (1993): 481-511.

1 and threatened with sale into slavery. The possibility of achieving freedom through payment of a ransom price tempered the institution of slavery in the region, thereby revealing a system of slavery that was shaped by Islamic law and religious expectations.

The nineteenth century jihads that were waged to promote Islamic unity led to a period of intense insecurity and warfare in the western and central Sudan, which resulted in considerable enslavement. Enslavement occurred for political reasons, and was fundamental to the social and economic structure of the societies of the

Muslim regions of West Africa. Kidnapping and banditry, however, were also common, which resulted in holding people for ransom, with sale into slavery, even of

Muslims whose sale were forbidden, the usual fate if relatives and friends were not forthcoming with the necessary money. The prevalence of ransoming exposes the tensions between personal security and the Islamic state and religious institutions.

The pervasiveness of ransoming reveals that the fragile political systems could not protect individuals from enslavement that was defined in Muslim terms as

"wrongful".

2 For histories on the various political movements in the nineteenth century western and central Sudan see Richard Roberts, Warriors, Merchants, and Slaves (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1987), R.A Adeleye, Power and Diplomacy in Northern Nigeria, 1804-1906: The Sokoto Caliphate and its Enemies (New York: Humanities Press, 1971), Yves Person, Samori: Une Revolution Dyula (IFAN: Dakar, 1968), David Robinson, The Holy War ofUmar Tal (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985), Martin Klein, Islam and Imperialism in Senegal (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1968), Mervyn Hiskett, The Sword of Truth, The Life and Times of the Shehu Usman Dan Fodio (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973) Murray Last, "Reform in West Africa: the Jihad Movements of the Nineteenth Century," in History of West Africa, ed. JFA Ajayi and Michael Crowder, (London: Longman Group, 1974), 2: 1-29. 2 Ransoming was an option for dealing with prisoners of war and indirectly assisted in the control of the enslaved population. In its operation, ransoming was a means to protect certain individuals from enslavement or to otherwise secure their release if captured, while generally not benefiting the population that was already enslaved. Ransoming provided an outlet to free from captivity those who, according to Islamic legal interpretations and customary rights, should not be enslaved such as free-born Muslims, and also provided the opportunity for those individuals whose status allowed their family and friends the means to obtain the release of captured kin to do so. Just as Islamic states and officials used ransoming to shape slavery, colonial regimes later used practices of redemption to reshape the institution of slavery, only this time with the goal of gradually ending the institution of slavery.3 Legal ransoming practices came to an end with the end of the legal slave trade and enslavement. Colonial reform of the practices of redemption, in both French and

British spheres, took the power to allow for redemption away from the owners and put it into the hands of the slaves. By setting redemption prices, in the case of the

French, and by giving the Islamic courts the jurisdiction to set the redemption price if an owner and an enslaved individual could not agree on a price in the case of the

British, colonial officials changed the practice of redemption by the putting the onus

3 See Richard Dusgate, The Conquest of Northern Nigeria (London: Frank Cass, 1985) on the British conquest of the Sokoto Caliphate. See A.S Kanya-Forstner, The Conquest of the Western Sudan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969) on the French conquest of the western Sudan. See Martin A Klein, Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998) on French slavery and emancipation policies. See Paul E Lovejoy and Jan S Hogendorn, Slow Death for Slavery: The course of abolition in Northern Nigeria, 1897-1936 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993) for British slavery and emancipation policies. 3 to self-redeem in the hands of slaves and effectively eliminated ransoming through the ban on enslavement. Even so, it remained difficult for slaves and relatives to raise redemption fees. Instead, many fled their masters instead of purchasing their freedom.4

Organization of Dissertation

This dissertation will show that ransoming was a significant feature of slavery in the nineteenth century western and central Sudan. Ransoming was an important topic of discussion among legal theorists and jihad leaders, and it was practised throughout the region as an alternative to enslavement and as a mechanism for negotiating financial compensation. The legal and religious underpinnings of Islamic society in the western and central Sudan encouraged the institution of ransoming, which it is argued here, was a central feature of slavery in this region.

In Chapter One it will be shown that the tradition of ransoming was ancient and encoded in law and customary practice and was discussed in the region from at least the fifteenth century. A review of the Islamic literature concerning ransoming demonstrates that jurists perceived of ransoming as a means of protecting free-born

Muslims from enslavement. This suggests that the problem of distinguishing who could be enslaved and who should not be were subjects of debate well before the

4 For examples of slaves leaving see Martin Klein and Richard Roberts, "The Banamba Slave Exodus of 1905 and the Decline in Slavery in the Western Sudan," Journal of African History 21 (1980): 376-394. 4 nineteenth century. In particular the views of Muhammad al-MaghllT, Ahmad Baba al-Tinbuktl, 'Uthman ibn Fudl, and 'Abdullahi ibn Fudi will be discussed.

In Chapter Two, it will be demonstrated that ransoming was a long-standing practice in the northern part of western Africa and in the Mediterranean world, in relations between Christian Europe and the Maghrib. It will be argued that while the

Maghrib and the western and central sudan shared a common foundation in Islamic law and Malikr law in particular, ransoming practices, nevertheless, differed. In both regions, ransoming was used to free free-born Muslims in captivity but in the

Maghrib the economic benefits of ransoming back non-Muslims was also emphasized.

In Chapter Three, it will be argued that ransoming was an important policy of the Sokoto Caliphate for ensuring the freedom of free-born Muslims. One of the main reasons for the Sokoto jihad was the problem of the illegal enslavement of free-born

Muslims. It will be demonstrated that while the jihad were launched in large part to protect the rights of free-born Muslims, that due to the importance of booty collection in warfare, the jihad led to personal insecurity and to the captivity and enslavement of individuals whose capture was deemed "wrongful". While the Islamic state could not prevent the illegal captivity of free-born Muslims, it encouraged ransoming as a practical means for rescuing free-born Muslims from potential enslavement.

Chapters Four and Five will focus on the individual level rather than the state

level. They will examine the motives for ransoming for the individual, and the

importance of communication links, social status, and the use of mediators in

5 successful ransom negotiations. It will be shown that ransoming at the time of capture was related to the process of enslavement and that ransom and slave prices were therefore connected. Significantly, the practice of ransoming may have affected the price of slaves, especially of males. It will be argued that while the gain from selling a person on the slave market was the market value of that individual alone, a proportion of an individual's ransom price was based on what his or her friends were willing to pay for the return of that person in addition to the market value as a slave.

In general, the ransom price was equivalent to twice the slave price value. It is clear from an analysis of the cost of ransoming and the price of slaves that the system of slavery in the western and central bilad al-sfidan capitalized on the fact that people valued freedom, especially of relatives, and, in order to achieve freedom, were willing to pay more than the actual cost of a slave. Ransoming prices will be compared to both slave and redemption prices.

Chapter Six will examine the related practices of self-redemption and third- party redemption of people who were held in captivity for some time, and while they could still be sold, were usually no longer threatened with imminent sale on the market. It will be argued that these related institutions shared commonalities in that they all required the permission of the society for its practice, and the cooperation of the owner. As with ransoming of a new captive, a main impetus for slave owners to permit their slaves to redeem themselves or to be redeemed by others was profit.

Whether through self-redemption or third-party redemption, the slave gained his or her freedom, while the slave-owner gained both the labour of the slave and the profit

6 from the redemption price. Furthermore, like the ransoming of a captive soon after capture, permission and the price for the two systems of redemption were at the behest of the owner.

Chapter Seven will examine the parallel practice of ransoming in non-Muslim areas of West Africa to show that ransoming was not unique to Muslim practice. It will be shown that the practice of ransoming was also common in non-Muslim areas, but that Islamic legal justifications were not a factor in justifying the practice in these regions. In this chapter, ransoming in non-Muslim regions will be compared to practices in Muslim societies.

Chapter Eight will discuss the effects of British and French colonial policy in promoting, albeit hesitantly, the abolition of slavery. It will be argued that both

French and British officials justified the take-over of African territory, in part, as a means to end slavery and the slave trade. With the ending of legal enslavement, ransoming was no longer viable, although under the guise of third-party redemption, the practice of ransoming continued for several years into colonial rule, and indeed as long as enslavement continued. Officials in West Africa required the cooperation of the local slave-owning elites in order to govern and therefore reached an accommodation on a process of slow emancipation with slaves compensating their owners for the loss of their labour. In the western and central Sudan, officials found the pre-existing allowance for redemption to be a useful tool in their emancipation policies. However, by co-opting the existing traditions and reshaping them as a

7 means to the gradual end of the institution of slavery, French and British officials altered the dynamics between owner and slave in regards to redemption.

Ransoming in the Scholarly Literature

This study on ransoming policies and practices in the western and central bilad al-sudan fits into both the historiography of ransoming within West and North-

West Africa and in the intellectual history of the debates surrounding legal and illegal enslavement in the western and central bilad al-sudan. Ransoming was widely practised in the Mediterranean world from at least the Middle Ages and into the nineteenth century. While both "Christians" and "Muslims" held each other's co­ religionists as captives and slaves, most of the literature has been focused on the holding of Christian captives and slaves in Muslims lands, especially in the Maghrib, and the means with which to free them. This is reflected in both the early discussions of European captives, as demonstrated by the publication of captivity narratives throughout the time period, and in the scholarship up to the mid 1990s. Both Stephen

Clissold and Ellen Friedman for example, concentrate on the conditions under which

European captives were kept in the Maghrib and the negotiations for their release while James Brodman, focuses on the role of religious orders in organizing ransoms.

Michel Fontenay and Taoufik Bachrouch contributed to the study of ransoming by

5 Ellen G Friedman, Spanish Captives in North Africa in the Early Modern Age (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1983), Stephen Clissold, The Barhary Slaves (Totowa NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1977), and James Brodman, Ransoming Captives in Crusader Spain (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986). 8 concentrating on the business aspect of ransom negotiations in the Maghrib and the divisions of ransom costs.6 Robert C Davis demonstrates that counting the number of enslaved and captive Europeans held in the Maghrib and of Muslims that were held in

Europe is problematic. Davis offers a tentative number of between a million and a million and a quarter European slaves held in the Maghrib between 1530 and 1780.

Similar work on the number of Muslims held in Europe has yet to be done. At the time Davis attributed the lack of interest in the number of enslaved and captive

Europeans and Muslims in the Mediterranean world to the "supposition that

Mediterranean-based slaving was a pretty minor affair."7 Yet, as reflected in the work of Salvator Bono, in his article on Turkish slaves labouring in Italian galleys, Muslim slaves and captives held by Christian powers has not been ignored. The more recent literature has included both sides of the Mediterranean and has focused on ransoming as an important means of interaction across political and religious boundaries and as a way to explore the ideas of patronage, social discipline, and spiritual salvation in early modern Christian and Muslim societies. For instance, E Natalie Rothman has

6 Taoufik Bachrouch, "Rachat et liberation des esclaves Chretiens a Tunis au XVIIe siecle," Revue Tunisienne de Sciences Sociales 12 (1975): 121-162, and Michel Fontenay, "Le Maghreb barbaresque et Pesclavage mediterranean aux XVIe - XVIIe siecles," Les Cahiers de Tunisie (1991): 7-44. 7 Robert C Davis, "Counting European Slaves on the Barbary Coast," Past and Present 172 (2001): 87-124. 8 Salvatore Bono, "Achat d'esclaves turcs pour les galeres pontificales (XVIe -XVIIIe siecle), Revue de I 'Occident Musulman et de la Mediterranee 39:1 (1985): 79-92. 9 See for example, E Natalie Rothman, "Becoming Venetian: Conversion and Transformation in the Seventeenth Century Mediterranean," Mediterranean Historical Review 21: 1 (2006): 39-75, Gillian Weiss, "Back from Barbary: Captivity, Redemption and French Identity in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Mediterranean," (Ph.D diss., Stanford University, 2002), and Pal Fodor, "Piracy, Ransom, Slavery and Trade: French Participation in the Liberation of Ottoman Slaves from Malta during the 1620s," Turcica 33: 119-134. 9 used matrimonial examination records in her study of North African and

Mediterranean island captives and slaves held in Venice.

For West Africa, ransoming in the scholarly literature has most often been

discussed in the context of the slave trade and the commercial motive for the practice.

Olga Linares points out that ransoming was profitable among the Jola, who would

frequently kidnap and hold for ransom individuals in return for cattle. She argues that

the Jola's willingness to ransom captives in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth

centuries, instead of simply killing them, was a precursor practice to their

participation in the slave trade in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

She states that "the second stage in the unfolding of the Jola slaving practices

involved capturing other peoples, including Europeans, Manding and probably other

Jola, for the sole purpose of extracting a ransom."11 Andrew Hubbell, in discussing

the slave trade in nineteenth century Souroudougou, argues that bandits would seize

people illegally and either sell or ransom them for profit. Hubbell sees the practice of

ransoming as a result of illegal activity. He states that the "scale of banditry practiced

during this period knew few boundaries. For example, informants related that bandits

would kidnap a child from their own village and either hold it for ransom or sell it to

merchants."

10 E Natalie Rothman, "Examina Matrimonium and the Study of Slave Itineraries in Venice," unpublished paper presented at the Panel on Mediterranean Slavery, Sawyer Seminar on Globalizing the Americas: World Economies and Local Communities, University of Toronto, October 2006. 11 Olga F Linares, "Deferring to Trade in Slaves: The Jola of Casamance, Senegal in Historical Perspective," History in Africa 14 (1987): 118. 12 Andrew Hubbell "A View of the Slave Trade from the Margin: Soroudougou in the Late Nineteenth-Century Slave Trade of the Niger Bend," Journal of African History 42 (2001): 39. 10 Both Marc Piault and Jean Bazin demonstrate the importance of status and wealth in a captive's chances of being ransomed. According to Piault "en realite la rancon d'un prisonnier n'est versee que lorsqu'il s'agit d'un noble ou d'un personnage important dont la famille peut engager le processus de liberation," whereas Bazin notes that in warfare between Segou and Kaarta "un horon capture a quelque chance de voir sa famille tenter de le recuperer en versant une rancon."14

Sylvianne Diouf focuses on ransoming directly and shows the importance of ransoming relationships between European slave traders and Africans.15 She concentrates on ransoming as an important part of the trading relationships involving slaves. She frames the issue of ransoming in the context of relations between

European slave traders and Africans on the West African coast. She argues that on the African side, ransoming was a form of resistance to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, while for European slave traders ransoming was a commercial exchange with the intent of gathering more money or slaves with the exchange of a specific person.

Diouf argues that while the price of ransoming was often the exchange of two actual people or more for the return of one person, ransoming was nevertheless still a strategy of resistance since it was a way for families and friends to remove particular individuals from the trans-Atlantic slave trade and to limit the effects of the trade on their specific family or group.

13 Marc Henri Piault, "Captifs du pouvoir et pouvoir des captifs," in L'esclavage en Afrique precoloniale, ed. Claude Meillassoux (Paris: Francois Maspero, 1975), 324. 14 Jean Bazin, "Guerre et servitude a Segou," in L'esclavage en Afrique precoloniale, ed. Claude Meillassoux (Paris: Francois Maspero, 1975), 144. 15 See Sylviane A Diouf, "The Last Resort, Redeeming Family and Friends," in Fighting the Slave Trade, West African Strategies, ed. Sylviane A Diouf (Athens Ohio, 2003). 11 Paul Lovejoy, in his study of women in the slave trade, demonstrates the effect of ransoming on slave prices.16 He argues that the reason why more female slaves from the western and central Sudan were not sold into the Atlantic trade was not because there was not a market for more women at the coast but that for political and ideological reasons Muslim West African states were unwilling to sell women into the Atlantic trade. In making this argument, Lovejoy argues that the apparent price differential between male and female slaves in the Muslim interior is misleading. Instead of the price differential reflecting a preference for female slaves,

Lovejoy argues that the appearance of lower prices for men was due to the prevalence of ransoming, which freed male captives at a higher cost than the recorded market prices. The recorded market prices for slaves may, therefore, have been reflective of the "quality" of the unransomed male slaves rather than for a preference for females.

There has been more work on the redemption of slaves in the colonial period.

This work has focused on third-party redemption and self-redemption as a part of colonial emancipation policies. In his study of the Tirailleurs Senegalais, Myron

Echenberg argues that the French recruitment policy of rachat was a means to buy slaves from African owners for the colonial army.17 Lovejoy and Hogendorn in their study of the abolition of slavery in the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria concentrate on self-redemption and third-party redemption as a means of compensating owners

16 Paul E Lovejoy, "Internal Markets or an Atlantic-Sahara Divide? How Women Fit into the Slave Trade of West Africa," in Women and Slavery, eds. Gwyn Campbell, Suzanne Miers and Joseph C Miller (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2006). Myron Echenberg, Colonial Conscripts: The Tirailleurs Senegalais in French West Africa, 1857-1960 (Portsmouth NH: Heinemann Educational Books, Inc, 1991). The army paid the redemption price to the owner and the redeemed slave immediately joined the army. 12 for the loss of slave labour.18 They show how Frederick Lugard used a combination of existing practices and new laws to gradually turn slaves into wage-labourers, tenant farmers and small land-holders. Lugard used murgu, fansa, and fansar kai practices to force slaves to compensate their owners for the loss of their labour while

encouraging slave-owners to enter into murgu contracts with their slaves by not taxing income derived from murgu payments. Lugard buttressed his reforms with

laws on vagrancy and breach of contract designed to punish slaves who left their masters without paying compensation.

Similarly, Martin Klein has focused, among other topics, on redemption in the

context of slave resistance. He discusses self-redemption in French colonial policy as

part of the inherent contradiction of French officials managing the system of slaves

buying their freedom, in a period when slavery had been declared technically

illegal.19 He argues that colonial officers on the ground initially supported the

institution of slavery for imperial and commercial interests, but that eventually

towards the end of the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century, as

slaves began asserting their own freedom colonial sanction for slavery was

withdrawn. He argues that while French colonial officials tried to control the labour

of slaves and the emancipation process, it was the enslaved individuals who largely

emancipated themselves. Ransoming disappeared as an institution with the ending of

enslavement.

Lovejoy and Hogendorn. 19 Martin Klein, "Slave Resistance and Slave Emancipation in Coastal Guinea," in The End of Slavery in Africa, eds. Suzanne Miers and Richard Roberts (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988), 209-211 See also Klein, Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa, 13 Since the 1960s the practice of slavery in West Africa, and in particular in

Islamic regions of West Africa, has generated a great deal of scholarly interest. In terms of ransoming, of particular relevance has been the work done on the debates and policies concerning slavery in Islamic West African states. As Scott Reese has stated in reference to the Muslim communities of Africa, it is "within the pages of religious discourse where the issues troubling wider society are played out."20

Understanding the debates surrounding enslavement is key to understanding ransoming policy since ransoming was a remedy for illegal captivity and a preventative to illegal enslavement.

John Hunwick, Lovejoy, and Humphrey Fisher have addressed these debates concerning enslavement and their impact on policy. As well as providing important translations of Arabic texts, in his studies of the lives and judgements of the fifteenth century jurist Muhammad al-Maghfll and the sixteenth century scholar Ahmad Baba al-Tinbuktl, and his work on Songhay, Hunwick has shown that West African scholars were engaged with the events of their times and that their judgements and advice addressed key policy issues of the societies in which they lived and engaged.21

Lovejoy, in his articles on Ahmad Baba's opinions and Muhammad Bello's policies concerning slavery has demonstrated the complexity and ramifications of policy

20 Scott S. Reese, "Islam in Africa: Challenging the Perceived Wisdom," in The Transmission of Learning in Islamic Africa, ed. Scott S Reese, (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 3. 21 See John Hunwick, ed. and trans., Shari'a in Songhay: The Replies of al-Maghili to the Questions ofAskia al-hajj Muhammed (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), John Hunwick, "Al- MaghilT and the Jews of Tuwat: The Demise of a Community," Studia Islmaica 61 (1985): 155-183, John Hunwick and Fatima Harrak trans., Mi'raj al-Su 'ud, Ahmad Baba's Replies on Slavery (Rabat: University Mohammed V Souissi Institute of African Studies 2000), John Hunwick, "Secular Power and Religious Authority in Muslim Society: The Case of Songhay," The Journal of African History 37:2(1996): 175-194. 14 debates within the Muslim states of the western and central bilad al-sudan. As he states, "the work of Ahmad Baba specifically addresses issues relating to the significance of racial and ethnic categories as factors in the justification of enslavement," and that "the debate influenced the flow of trade."22

Indeed the impact of intellectual debates surrounding legal and illegal enslavement on policy can be seen on the motivations for the Sokoto jihad, as demonstrated by Fisher, and in the influential yet never-ratified, 1824 anti-slave trade accord negotiated by Muhammad Bello and Hugh Clapperton, as shown by

Lovejoy.23 Fisher argues that the enslavement of free-born Muslims was "so heinous as to be a major grievance stimulating the Sokoto jihad."24 Lovejoy points out that in the early nineteenth century, slavery was no less debated in the Sokoto Caliphate than it was in Britain but that "whereas European abolition was directed at the transatlantic trade, the Islamic debate concentrated on the emancipation and protection of

Muslims." Lovejoy makes the important point that the debates surrounding the issue of slavery in the Muslim regions of West Africa centred on religious identity; in other words on social and cultural categories rather than "race" as in Europe and European-

Paul Lovejoy, "The Context of Enslavement in West Africa: Ahmad Baba and the Ethics of Slavery," in Slaves, Subjects and Subversives: Blacks in Colonial Latin America, eds. Jane Landers and Barry Robinson, (Alberquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2006), 10. 23 Humphrey J Fisher, "A Muslim William Wilberforce? The Sokoto Jihad as Anti-Slavery Crusade: An Enquiry into Historical Causes," in De la traite a I'esclavage du VXIIIe au XlVeme siecle: Actes du Colloque International su la traite des Noirs, Nantes 1985, vol 2, (Paris: L'Harmattan, 1988), Paul E Lovejoy, "The Bello-Clapperton Exchange: The Sokoto Jihad and the Transatlantic Slave Trade," in The Desert Shore: Literatures of the Sahel ed. Christopher Wise, (Boulder CO: Lynne Reinner Publishers, 2001). 24 Fisher, "A Muslim William Wilberforce?" 551. 25 Lovejoy, "The Bello-Clapperton Exchange," 201. 15 derived societies. Similarly the debates surrounding ransoming also centred on religious identity.

Sources

This dissertation is based on archival documents, published traveller accounts,

Arabic texts, and oral sources including biographical material. Archival documents from the Nigerian National Archives, Kaduna (NAK), the Kano State History and

Cultural Bureau (KSHCB), the Archives Nationales du Senegal, (ANS), the Archives

Nationales du Mali, (ANM), the Archives Nationales du Niger (ANN) and the

97 _ _ _ Archives d'Agadez were used. For the central bilad al-sudan, I relied on archival material from the Nigerian National Archives, Kaduna, and in particular from the files of the Secretariat, Northern Province (SNP), the Kano State History and Cultural

Bureau, the Archives Nationales du Niger and the Archives d'Agadez. Documents in the Nigerian National Archives, Kaduna, and the Kano State History and Cultural

Bureau date from the British occupation of Northern Nigeria at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. In the early years of colonial rule, British officials, with the intent of gathering information that would be useful in making and executing colonial policy, collected oral traditions and other information on local languages, mythology and social, political, religious and economic customs 26 Lovejoy, "The Bello-Clapperton Exchange." 27 Copies of Nigerian National Archives, Kaduna, Secretariat, Northern Province (SNP) are held at the Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples, York University. I would like to thank Martin Klein and Sydney Kanya-Forstner for access to their documents from the Archives Nationales du Senegal (ANS). 16 including practices of ransoming. This information is contained in various types of documents such as ethnographic monographs, assessment reports, intelligence reports, and judicial reports. The Zaria slave registers from 1905 and 1906 were especially useful.

Documents at the ANN also date from the French colonial occupation of the region. This archive contains political and economic reports, military and ethnographic monographs, as well as correspondence between various French military and civilian officials and between Africans. In studying ransoming, I found the political reports, contained in the 1E1, 1E2, 1E3, 1E4, 1E5, and 1E6 series to be the most useful. Documents from the Archives d'Agadez were used to a limited extent. Unfortunately this archive was burnt to the ground during the Tuareg

Rebellion of 1916-1917. Only one smoke-damaged and slightly burnt dossier from

1914 survived and therefore this archive dates mostly from 1916. Like the ANN, this archive contains political and economic reports, military and ethnographic monographs, as well as correspondence between various French military and civilian officials and between Africans. However, unlike the ANN, documents in the Archives d'Agadez have yet to be catalogued. To a lesser degree material from the Nigeria

Gazette and the Church Missionary Gleaner were also used for the central Sudan.

For the western bilad al-sudan I relied on both the ANS and the ANM. The

ANS contains correspondence between different levels of the colonial hierarchy as

Copies of the Nigeria Gazette and the Church Missionary Gleaner, are held at the Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples, York University. 17 well as correspondence between French colonial officials and Africans. Furthermore, the ANS contains weekly, monthly and yearly political and economic reports for all regions of French West Africa, as well as monographs written by military and civilian colonial officials. The documents from the ANS that I found most useful in analyzing ransoming were the 1894 and 1904 slavery reports produced for French West Africa in the K series particularly K14, K16, K18, K19, K20, K21 and K22. In both 1894 and 1904, Cercle Commanders were responsible for writing reports on slavery in their cercles. The quality of these reports varied widely, with some cercle commanders putting a great deal of effort into answering the questions while others did not.

However, most contained useful information on ransom prices and on local ransoming and redemption practices such as whether or not ransoming, third-party redemption and self-redemption were permitted.

The ANM Fond Anciens consists of several thousand files of dispatches, letters, newspapers, memoranda, monographs and judicial records dating from the early colonial period. This archive contains correspondence between French colonial officials at all levels, correspondence between colonial officials and Africans, political and economic reports, and military and ethnographic monographs. However, while the ANS, being the main repository for the colonial government of French West

Africa, contains documents that provide the "big picture", the ANM, being the main repository of documents for territories in modern-day Mali, was a richer source for qualitative data and individual stories on ransoming for this region. Accounts of ransoming were found in many types of ANM documents including political reports,

18 general correspondence, judicial correspondence, judicial registers, reports on exterior relations and monographs written by local French officials. Of particular interest in regard to ransoming were the 2M series, which consists of cercle judicial records and correspondence, the IE series, which is comprised of cercle political reports and reports on the slave trade, and the ID series, which is composed of political monographs of various regions and cities such as Segou and Timbuktu.

For my comparative chapter on ransoming practices in non-Muslim societies in West Africa, I relied, in part, on documents from the CMS Yoruba Mission.

These papers contain mission books, and official and unofficial correspondence between missionaries in Yorubaland and the Church Missionary Society headquarters in Great Britain, as well as the letters, journals and papers of individual missionaries.

Of particular use to the study of ransoming were the letters of James Maser, Arthur

Harrison, and Nathanial Ogbonaye, as well as Maser's journal. In their letters and in

Maser's journal, these men discuss instances of ransoming and redemption. In this regard, the official publication of the Church Missionary Society, The Church

Missionary Gleaner, was also useful.

While the colonial archival documents provided source material on ransoming practices for the late nineteenth century, I relied more heavily upon European traveller accounts for the early part of the nineteenth century. Though, perhaps they did not fully understand the intricacies of what they saw, many Europeans witnessed ransom negotiations and practices. Both Mungo Park and Gustav Nachtigal, among

19 others, commented on ransom prices and on how ransoms were negotiated. Also very useful were the published official reports and articles written by colonial officials such as Frederick Lugard, Ernest Roume and Georges Derherme where they outlined the role of third-party and self-redemption in their emancipation policies.30

Arabic texts were used to analyze ransoming as an issue of law and as an issue of policy. Issues of enslavement, especially of wrongful enslavement and remedies for wrongful enslavement, as well as treatment of prisoners taken during a jihad, were important topics of discussion among Muslim West African scholars from at least the medieval period. As a dimension of slavery and as a remedy for illegal enslavement, ransoming was often discussed in conjunction with enslavement and jihad. Arabic texts, therefore, were valuable in understanding Islamic law and practice in regards to ransoming in the western and central bilad al-sudan. These include Muhammad ibn

Abl Zayd al-Qayrawanl's Risala, Ahmad Baba's Mi'raj al-Su'ud, Muhammad al-

Maghllfs Wasiyyat al-maghilT ila Abi Abdullah Muhammad b. Ya'ub, 'Uthman ibn

Fudl's, also known as Usman Dan Fodio, Bay an wujub al-hijra 'aid 'l-'ibdd, Nur al- albab, Kitab al-farq, and TanbTh al-ikwdn, 'Umar al-FutT's, also known as al-haj

For example see Gustav Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan vol 2 trans. Allan B Fisher and Humphrey J Fisher (London, 1980), and Mungo Park, Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa, ed. Kate Ferguson Marsters, (Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2000). 30 For example see Lord Lugard, "Slavery in all its Forms," Africa: Journal of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures 6:1 (1933): 1-14, E Roume, "Rapport au Ministre des Colonies," in Slavery and its Abolition in French West Africa: The Official Reports ofG Poulet, E Roume, and G Deherme, eds. Paul E Lovejoy and A.S Kanya-Forstner, (Madison Wisconsin: African Studies Program University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1994) and G Deherme, "L'EscIavage en Afrique Occidentale Francaise: Etude Historique, Critique et Positive," in Slavery and its Abolition in French West Africa: The Official Reports of G Poulet, E Roume, and G Deherme, eds. Paul E Lovejoy and A.S Kanya-Forstner, (Madison Wisconsin: African Studies Program University of Wisconsin- Madison, 1994). 20 'Umar Tal, Bayan ma waqa 'a, Abdullahi ibn FudT TazyTn al-waraqat and Diya' al- hukkam, and Muhammad Bello's Infaq al-Maysur fiTarikh bilad al-Takrur as well as a collection of letters written by Sokoto and Gobir officials found by Boubou Hama and stored in his journals at the ANN.31 Also useful in analyzing how ransoming was practised in the medieval to nineteenth century period are the Tarikh al-Fattash and the Tarikh al-Sudan?2 To a limited extent Arabic documents from the Bibliotheque

Commemorative Mama Haidara (MHT) and the Institut des Hauts Etudes et de la

Recherche Islamique - Ahmed Baba (IHERIAB), formerly the Centre de

Documentation et de Recherches Ahmed Baba (CEDRAB), were also used. The

MHT contains numerous documents relating to slavery in nineteenth century and early twentieth century Timbuktu, including redemption and manumission records.

IHERIAB has a rich collection of local documents from Timbuktu and the surrounding area, including religious treatises, chronicles, letters, and commercial and legal documents. Some of these discuss ransoming.

31 Muhammad ibn Abl Zayd al-Qayrawam, Risdlah, trans. Leon Bercher, 3rd ed, (Algiers: Editions Jules Carbonel, 1949), Hunwick and Harrak, Hunwick, Shan 'a in Songhay, 'Uthman ibn FudT, Bayan wujub al-hijra 'ala 7 - 'ibad, 'Uthman ibn FudT, Nur al- albab, trans. Ismail Hamet, Revue Africaine, XVL (1897): 297-320, 'Uthman ibn FudT, Tanbih al-ikwan, ed. and trans. H.R Palmer, "An Early Fulani Conception of Islam," Journal of the Royal African Society 13:52 (July 1914): 407-414, "An Early Fulani Conception of Islam (Continued)," Journal of the Royal African Society 14:53 (Oct 1914): 53-59, "An Early Fulani Conception of Islam (Continued)" Journal of the Royal African Society, 14:54 (Jan 1915): 185-192, 'Umar al-FutT, Bayan ma waqa'a, ed. and trans. Sidi Mohamed Mahibou and Jean-Louis Triaud, (Paris: Paris: Editions du centre national de la recherche scientifique, 1983), Muhammad Bello, Infaq al-Maysur fi Tarikh bilad al Takrur, Abdullahi ibn FudT TazyTn al-waraqat ed. and trans. M Hiskett (Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1983), Abdullahi ibn FudT, Diya" al-hukkam, in Shehu Yamusa, "The Political Ideas of the Jihad Leaders: Being Translation, Edition and Analysis of (1) Usal al-svavasa by Muhammad Bello and (2) Diva' al-Hukkam by Abdallhah B. Fodio," (M.A thesis, Bayero University Kano, 1975). 32 Mahmud Kati, Tarikh al-Fattash, ed and trans. O Ffoudas and M. Delafosse (Paris: Librairie d'Amerique et D'Orient Adrien-Masinneuve, 1964), 'Abd al-Rahman al-S'adi, Tarikh al- Sudan trans. O Houdas, (Paris: Librairie d'Amerique et d'Orient Adrien-Masonneuve, 1964). 21 In addition to the ANS, ANM, ANN, SNP, KSHCB, and Archives d'Agadez archival materials, Arabic texts and European traveller accounts, information from oral interviews from the Economic History Project, and from testimony at the British

House of Commons Enquiry into the Slave Trade, 1794 were used. The oral history interviews for the Economic History Project on the economic history of the Sokoto

Caliphate were carried out by Paul Lovejoy, Jan Hogendorn and Yusufu Yunusa in the 1970s. Testimonies on which I relied include those of Dan Rimin Kano and Alhaji

Yunusa Mikail.33

Testimony from the 1794 British enquiry on the slave trade was useful in ascertaining information on early practices of ransoming in West Africa. While the purpose of the enquiry was to investigate the slave trade, witnesses such as John

Barnes, Governor of Senegal 1763-1766, Jerome Barnard Weuves, who was the governor of various Gold Coast forts in the 1760s and 1770s, William Littleton who was a slave trader on the Gambia River, and Henry Hew Dalrymple a British lieutenant station at Goree in 1779 provided information on local ransoming practices and on their own participation in ransoming. Also very useful were published biographical accounts and published oral traditions. For example an important published contemporary account is Baba of Karo's autobiography, which provides invaluable information on raiding for captives, on ransom prices, on locating captives, the importance of mediators and of status in ransom negotiations in late nineteenth

33 A copy of the interviews from the Economic History Project is held at the Harriet Tubman Centre on the African Diaspora, York University. For a discussion of the Economic History Project, see Lovejoy and Hogendorn article on same. 22 century southern Kano Emirate. The Songhay oral traditions collected by Jean-

Pierre Olivier de Sardan and the oral traditions collected by Alfa Ibrahim Sow in

Fouta Jallon and by Boubou Hama in Niger also provide invaluable information on ransoming practices. 5

In order to demonstrate the importance of ransoming in nineteenth century western and central bilad al-sudan I have relied on both qualitative and quantitative data. The ANM and European traveller accounts were a rich source of individual stories that, taken together, give a good picture of the practices of ransoming.

Documents from the ANS provided ransom and redemption prices for French West

Africa, while data from the SNP provided lists of prices on the gender and age of those being redeemed, the gender of those doing the redeeming and the relationships between the person being redeemed and the person paying the redemption. This information provided the basis for quantitative analysis, for example, for ransom and self-redemption prices. Quantitative analysis was used to provide a framework to understand trends in ransoming practices while individual case studies from throughout the western and central bilad al-sudan were used to illustrate how ransoming was practised. One of the problems in studying ransoming through

European sources is that European observers were more concerned with enslavement, the trade in slaves, and slavery than with methods with which captives could regain

Mary F Smith, ed., Baba of Karo, A Woman of the Muslim Hausa. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981). Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan, ed and trans., Quand nos peres etaient captifs... Recits paysans du Niger (Paris: Nubia, 1976), Alfa Ibrahim Sow ed. and trans., Chroniques et recits du Fouta Djalon, (Paris: Librairie C Klinksieck, 1968). 23 their freedom. The focus of many reports was on the practices of enslavement, slave life, and the slave trade. However, since ransoming was an important dimension of slavery in the western and central bilad al-sudan and therefore could not be ignored, mention of ransoming can be found throughout the colonial record for the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Arabic texts helped provide the local and religious context for ransoming practices.

Methodology

My analysis of ransoming practices starts with a discussion of ransoming in

Islamic law and theory. All of the Islamic states of the Maghrib and the western and central bilad al-sudan had Islamic law, and in particular the MalikI school of law, in common. Since ransoming practices in these Muslim regions were rooted in law, a discussion of MalikI law regarding ransoming provides a base for analyzing the differences between ransoming in theory and how ransoming was actually practised.

The discussion of ransoming in Malik! law and the policies were based on the law as outlined in KhalTl ibn Ishaq, Mukhtasar, on the interpretation of that law by important

Muslim thinkers in western Africa such as Muhammad al-Maghlli Ahmad Baba,

'Uthman ibn Fudl, and 'Abdullahi ibn Fudl, and also on the secondary works of experts on Islamic law such as Joseph Schacht.

See Hunwick and Harrak, Uthman ibn Fudi, Bayan wujub al-hijra 'ala 7 - 'ibad, 'Abdullahi ibn Fudl, Diya' al-hukkam and Joseph Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964). 24 In order to analyze the practice of ransoming, a database of ransoming, redemption, and self-redemption incidents was constructed. This database contains fields for name, age, date, region, profession, and gender on all those involved in the ransom - captive, captor and payer as well as fields for the relationship between the captive and payer and the price of ransom. Information on ransoming is of two types: accounts of individual ransoms and general descriptions of ransom practices in a specific area. An example of an individual account of ransoming is the reference in the judicial correspondence for Bougouni Cercle of a woman who had to pay three slaves and four guns for her husband's ransom in 1900.37 I consider as general descriptions of ransoming observations such as that of the Kayes Cercle commander who noted that the usual ransom price at the end of the nineteenth century was two

-JO slaves. Accounts of individual ransoms came from a wide-variety of sources including European travellers, Arabic sources, colonial general correspondence, colonial judicial registers and correspondence, colonial political reports, and oral testimony. General information on the practice of ransoming in specific areas came from European traveller accounts, Arabic sources, oral testimony, and colonial political and ethnographic reports. Overall, I have compiled 125 accounts of individual ransoms and redemptions, with general accounts covering sub-regions of the western and central Sudan.

37 ANM FA 2M-7 Justice Indigene Correspondance Cercle de Bougouni 1896-1920, Bougouni, le 22 mai 1900. 38 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle de Kayes. ANS 16 Enquete sur la captivite en A.O.F 1903-1904. Rapport sur l'etat de la captivite dans le cercle de Kayes 1904. 25 Data were analyzed on a qualitative and comparative basis that emphasized patterns. Information from individual accounts of ransoming was correlated with general accounts. Obviously since general statements are a synthesis of the person's observations, there is a wider variance of information from individual accounts especially on ransom prices. However, with very few exceptions the individual accounts of ransoming supported the general observations. The quality of observations and the information provided in the individual accounts was good, although some provided more detail than others. For example, Baba of Karo's account was very descriptive on how her relatives were captured, who was holding them, how ransom negotiations were conducted, on ransom prices, and on the return of her relatives. Nachtigal also provided a descriptive account of ransoming procedures. In contrast, the account by the Kita Cercle commander of the ransoming of members of a caravan taken during a raid in 1889 near Kita, while useful, left out pertinent information such as a description of the ransom negotiations, the price of the ransoms, and the status of those who were ransomed.41

39 Smith, 66-73. 40 Nachtiga, 2:377-378. 4IANM FA IE 47 Rapport sur la situation politique du Cercle, Kita, lel5 octobre 1889. 26 CHAPTER ONE

RANSOMING IN THE LEGAL TRADITION OF WEST AFRICA

Introduction

The tradition of ransoming was encoded in Islamic law and practice. While jurists argued that free Muslims should never be enslaved and that Muslims who came into possession of wrongly enslaved Muslims should release them, they acknowledged that ransoming was a useful tool for Muslims to regain their freedom and encouraged the ransoming of Muslims held by non-Muslims. As the famed 15th century Maghriban jurist Muhammad al-MaghllT (d.1504) stated in Taj al-Din yajib

'ala-muluk, it was the responsibility of Muslim leaders to maintain a fund with which to ransom captive free-born Muslims.1 In this way jurists perceived ransoming as a means to protect free-born Muslims from enslavement. This suggests that the problem of distinguishing who could be enslaved and who should not was a subject of debate well before the nineteenth century. The discussion of issues of captivity, enslavement, and ransoming were entwined since one became enslaved as a result of being taken captive. Ransoming was regarded as a means of re-attaining the freedom of captives and as an alternative and a preventative to enslavement. In order to show how ransoming was analyzed in the context of Islamic law, in particular by scholars

1 Muhammad al- Maghflr, Taj al-Din yajib 'ala-muluk, trans. T.H Baldwin, (Beyrouth-Liban: Impremerie Catholique, 1932), 21. Al- Maghflr most likely wrote this treatise for Muhammad Rumfa, Amir of Kano, 1463-1499. 27 trained in the MalikI school of law, I will concentrate on four key intellectual figures, al-Maghlll, Ahmad Baba al-Tinbuktl, 'Uthman ibn FudT, and 'Abdullahi ibn FudT, after briefly discussing the role of education and scholarship in pre-nineteenth century western and central Sudan,

Scholarship in the Bilad al-Sudan

Governance throughout the dar al-islam can be characterized as a balance between rulers who wanted to govern unhindered by religious authority and in accordance to local politics, and scholars who insisted that no one, not even the ruler,

— 9 — was above the shari 'a. In the pre-nineteenth century western and central bilad al- sudan, scholars sought to meet this challenge by advising the ruling elite on questions of law and policy. This was the role that both al-Maghlll and Ahmad Baba carved out for themselves and the role which 'Uthman initially tried to fulfill in Gobir before initiating his jihad. For al-Maghlll and Ahmad Baba this advisee role can be seen in their career trajectories and the nature of their writings that were often in response to pressing issues raised by members of the political and trading elite.

The vast majority of scholars in Islamic West and North-West Africa including al-Maghill, Ahmad Baba, 'Abdullahi ibn FudT and 'Uthman ibn FudT were trained in MalikT law. Malik b. Anas' (d. 795) interpretation of law was promulgated

See Hunwick, Shan'a in Songhay, 113. 3 See for example, Hunwick, SharT'a in Songhay, al- Maghlli, Taj al-Din yajib 'ala-muluk, Hunwick, "Al-Maghlli and the Jews of Tuwat, " 155-183, Hunwick andHarrak, Lovejoy, "The Context of Enslavement in West Africa: Ahmad Baba and the Ethics of Slavery." 28 through the religious and legal education system in the region. The importance of

Malik to the understanding and implementation of law in western Africa is exemplified by the minimum education requirements of the western bilad al-sudan's

Dyula karamoko or 'ulama". These minimum requirements included a thorough understanding of Malik's Muwatta', which was his comprehensive corpus of his interpretation of all aspects of Islamic civil and criminal law.4 Comparatively, while the education requirements in Timbuktu were more flexible than that of Dyula karamoko, they shared a common base, and as al-Sa'dl noted in the TarTkh al-Suddn, his own education in Timbuktu included not only a thorough study of Malik's

Muwatta' but also of his Tas 'Ml.

Throughout the region, religious and legal education was based on a system of individual or small group tutorship where students learned from one or perhaps a maximum of four teachers. In Timbuktu scholars usually had no more than three or four teachers, whereas Dyula scholars were educated through the isnad {sanad sing) system, where a student learned through a particular chain of authority through his teacher who had been taught by a scholar before him and which formed an unbroken chain of scholarship into the past and preferably back to the Prophet Muhammad. In many ways this system led to a decentralized educational process since teachers were

4 See Ivor Wilks, "The Transmission of Islamic Learning in the Western Sudan," in Literacy in Traditional Societies, ed. Jack Goody, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968), 162-197, and Nehemia Levitzion, "The Eighteenth Century Background to the Islamic Revolutions in West Africa," in Eighteenth Century Renewal and Reform in Islam, eds. Nehemia Levitzion and John O Voll, (Syracuse NY: Syracuse University Press, 1987). It was Malik's students who founded the MalikT school of law that is followed throughout West and North-West Africa.For more on the transmission of learning in the Islamic World see articles in same volume. John Hunwick, Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-S'adT's Ta'rTkh al-sudan down to 1613 and other Contemporary Documents (Leiden: Brill, 1999), 65-66. 29 free to develop their curricula as they saw fit according to what they believed was important. Yet, the system was also integrative since the most prestigious teachers shared a common educational background where the more advanced students moved on to the larger educational centres. In West Africa the vast majority of these isnad chains, certainly the most prestigious chains, trace back to Malik and through him to the Prophet Muhammad. Moreover, the vast majority of members of the Qadiriyya fariqa, of whom Baba was a member, traced their isnad back to either Sidl al-

Mukhtar or to STdl al-Mukhfar's teacher, SldT 'Ali b. al-Najib.6

In the major urban centre of Timbuktu, chains of learning, silsilas, were also liable to outside influences, both local and foreign, through contact with the Maghrib and Egypt. It was always possible for local Timbuktu silsilas to be overshadowed or usurped by newer or more prestigious outside ones. These chains of scholarship, however, linked scholars closely to their predecessors and provided a common basis of knowledge over wide geographic regions. Indeed, as Elias Saad states in reference to Timbuktu, "the lines of transmission [of learning] from one generation to another did not branch out in mutually exclusive directions, but rather crossed each other in complex patterns." Moreover, as exemplified by both al-Maghfli and Baba, top scholars travelled throughout the region, teaching a number of students, and there was

6 Elias N. Saad, Social History of Timbuktu: The Role of Muslim Scholars and Notables 1400-1900(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 73. 7 Saad, 60. For more on education systems in the western and central Sudan see Wilks, "The Transmission of Islamic Learning in the Western Sudan," Hunwick, "Secular Power and Religious Authority in Muslim Society," 175-194, and Hiskett. For more on intellectual and information exchange see the articles in Christopher Wise ed. The Desert Shore: Literatures of the Sahel, (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001). 30 a constant exchange of views and scholarship. Furthermore, while tanqa affiliation was important, whether it was the dominant Qadiriyya or the smaller Tijaniyya, their influence on the education process was limited to the addition of their respective texts to the corpus of study, and did not alter the shared foundation in MalikT law, nor did it exclude the study of works produced by members of other tanqa.8

Throughout the western and central Sudan, it was a common training in

MalikT law through isnad and silsila that bound together scholars of different ethnic and educational backgrounds. Whether they were trained locally or had moved on to regional centres such as Walata or Katsina, or the major centres of Djenne and

Timbuktu, the practice of MalikT law, and the common association through the

Qadiriyya or Tijaniyya tanqa, provided a basic foundation of intellectual analysis, a shared sense of important works and authors, and a common intellectual background for debate.9 Along with KhalTl b. Ishaq's Mukhtasar, by the late eighteenth century the writings of al-Maghlll and Baba were included in the curriculum that both

'Abdullahi ibn FudT, and 'Uthman ibn FudI followed.

Indeed, Baba's treatise on slavery was widely taught in schools throughout the western and central bilad al-sudan and the Maghrib in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 'Uthman and 'Abdullahi's most influential teacher, the Tuareg scholar,

Jibril b. 'Umar, relied upon Baba's analysis and the analyses upon whom Baba based

8 Saad, 73. 9 Hunwick, "Secular Power and Religious Authority," 180-181. As the close relationship and shared common concerns between 'Umar al-FutT, and Muhammad Bello demonstrates, members of the Tijaniyya and Qadiriyya tanqa also shared a similar interpretation and knowledge base. See'Umar al- FutT, Bayan ma waqa'a for 'Umar's intellectual influences. 31 his interpretations, to challenge the infringement of the rights of free-born Muslims to protection against enslavement. It is therefore not surprising that due to the system of education and due to the political and judicial interests of 'Uthman and his relatives that references to both al-MaghilT and Baba as well as to the corpus of Malik! jurisprudence can be found throughout the writings of both 'Uthman and 'Abdullahi' and that these two scholars were influenced by their thought processes.10 It is therefore important, in discussing ransoming in the legal tradition of the western and central bilad al-sudan to highlight the opinions of al-Maghffi and Baba before discussing those of 'Uthman and Abdullahi'.

Muhammad al-Maghffi's Opinion

Al-MaghflT was born in the central Magrhiban city of Tilimsan (Tlemcen), travelled extensively throughout the Maghrib, Sahara and the western and central

Sudan and advised a number of political leaders including the Askia al-hajj

Muhammad of Songhay, the Amir Muhammad Rumfa of Kano and the political elite of Tuwat.1' Al-Maghlll was heavily influenced by the political events in the dar al- islam of the late fifteenth century, especially the loss of al-Andalus and the expulsion of Muslims and Jews from now Catholic Spain. Due to these events, he took a particularly rigid view of the rights and obligations of dhimmi living in Muslim

10 See for example Uthman ibn FudI, Nur albab, Kitab al-farq, WathTqat ahl al-sudan, and Tanbih al-ikwan, Abdullahi ibn FudT TazyTn al-waraqat and Diya' al-hukkam, and Paul Lovejoy, "The Context of Enslavement in West Africa: Ahmad Baba and the Ethics of Slavery," 21. 1' al-Maghill, Taj al-Din yajib 'ala-muluk, Hunwick, Shari 'a in Songhay, and Hunwick, "Al- MaghTlT and the Jews of Tuwat,"155-183. 32 territories and viewed the protection of free-born Muslims as paramount. His time

south of the Sahara left an indelible mark on the scholarship of the region. Even

though the adoption of Islam and Islamic law in the region was a complex process, al-

MaghilT has traditionally been credited with bringing Islamic law, in the form of the

Malik! school of law, to Hausaland, further indicating his importance in the

intellectual tradition of the region.

Al-Maghrlfs legal opinions and advice, like those of the jurists who followed

him, were grounded in the fundamental principle of Islamic jurisprudence that the

natural condition, and hence the default status of an individual, is that of freedom.

Therefore, theoretically, a person is supposed to be presumed to be free unless he or

she is proven to be a slave. In theory, a person could only be enslaved if he or she

were born to slave parents or if he or she was captured during a jihad. Jihads could

only be waged against those who were not considered Muslims. Even so, most

Islamic schools of law agree, including the Malikl school of law, that enslavement is

only one option for dealing with prisoners of war, the others being execution, ransom,

exchange against Muslim prisoners, taxation (applicable to the ahl al-kitab) and free

release.12 The Qu'ran forbade enslavement for the punishment of a crime or as

12 Allan GB Fisher and Humphrey J Fisher, Slavery and Muslim Society in Africa, (London: C Hurst & Company, 1970), 18. Further, the decision on what to do with one's share of captives rested fully with the owner. For example after one battle during the Moroccan invasion of Mali, the qadl 'Ali ben Abdallah chose to free his captives whereas the qadT al-Mustafa brought his to Timbuktu and sold them. See al-S'adi, Tarikh al-Siidan, 275-276. The ahl al-kitab or People of the Book include those who believe in the monotheistic religions that preceded Islam: Zoroastrianism (subject of debate), Judaism, and Christianity. 33 payment for a debt, and it was forbidden for a free person to sell him or herself or his or her children into slavery.13

By the time that was he advising the Amir Muhammad Rumfa of Kano and had written Taj al-Din yajib 'ala-muluk, al-Maghfli was already known for his harsh interpretations of KhalTFs Mukhtasar, which laid out the MalikI view of proper relations between Muslims and non-Muslims.14 Due to the loss of al-Andalus and the expulsion of the Muslim population into the Maghrib, it is not surprising that al-

Maghlll emphasized the responsibility of the state in freeing captive Muslims. He advised in Taj al-Din yajib 'ala-muluk, that "if wealth abounds he [the prince] will preserve a surplus in the treasury for possible emergencies, for building mosques, ransoming captives, discharging debts, marrying women, aiding pilgrims and other necessities."15 Here, he was not just answering a specific inquiry about a point of law but advising on the duties of a Muslim political leader. In terms of ransoming, al-

Maghflr's opinions, which had consistently fallen within accepted bounds of Malik! interpretation, illustrate the point that jurists argued that it was incumbent upon

Muslim leaders to ransom their followers.

13 See Bernard Lewis, Race and Slavery in the Middle East (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), 3-12. 14 Hunwick, "Al-MaghllT and the Jews of Tuwat," 155-183. His attitude towards dhimm! was not helped when his son was murdered in Tuwat, allegedly by members of the Jewish community. See also Hunwick, Shari 'a in Songhay, 31-39, 15 al- MaghllT, 21. My emphasis. 34 Ahmad Baba al-Tinbukti's Opinion

Similar to al-Maghili, Baba's scholarship of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, which was based on his training in MalikI law, was also heavily influenced by the events surrounding him and his personal experiences. It was after the fall of Songhay in 1591 and his subsequent enslavement in Morocco that his legal opinions on the questions lawful and unlawful enslavement and remedies for unlawful enslavement became especially influential. His Mi'raj al-Su'ud (1615), which was a series of responses to questions posed to him about slavery, became the most famous and most important work on slavery in the western and central Sudan and the Maghrib in the pre-nineteenth century period. This treatise not only revealed the thinking and interpretation of one of the most learned and respected scholars of

Timbuktu but also exposed the internal debates about enslavement within the early seventeenth century intellectual and ruling elite in the region. Baba not only situated his judgements within the general corpus of Malik! law but actively engaged the scholarship of those who came before him. This can be seen in his references to important scholars such as Mahmud b. 'Umar b. Muhammad Aqlt and most importantly his discussion of Makhluf b.'AU b Salhi al-Balbalfs (d. 1533-1534) fatwa on legal and illegal enslavement. This indicates not only the context that Baba was working within but also the long tradition of debate on issues surrounding illegal

enslavement and their remedies.

16 For more on his personal history see Paul Lovejoy, "The Context of Enslavement in West Africa: Ahmad Baba and the Ethics of Slavery," and "Introduction" in Hunwick and Harrak. 35 In Mi'raj al-Su'ud, Baba's main concern was the unlawful enslavement of free-born Muslims. One of the disagreements among Islamic jurists, and Baba discusses the opposing opinions, was whether the onus to prove an enslaved person's original status was on the slave or on the owner. Showing the importance of the chain of scholarship, Baba quotes the opinions of Abu'l - Asbagh b.Sahl Muhammad b.

Yahya ibn Zurb, and Aqlt. Both these scholars argued that it was the responsibility of the owner to prove that a slave who claimed free status was not actually free.17 Baba also cited the opinion of al-BalbalT. Essentially al-Balball argued that people from sub-Saharan Muslim states, including Borno, Songhay, and the Hausa cities, should not be enslaved, and if individuals from these states were found to be in a state of enslavement, they should be freed. In his fatwa he stated that,

slavery is rooted in unbelief. The unbelievers of the Sudan are like the Christians, except that they are Majus. The Muslims among them, like the people of Kano, Katsina, Bornu, Gobir, and all of Songhay, are Muslims whom it is not permissible to own. However, some of then attack others, raiding them unjustly, like the Arabs who attack free Muslims and sell them unjustly. None of them may be lawfully possessed. Whoever is known to be from those lands which are known for their Islam, and states that he is from those lands, should be let go and adjudged to be free, as ruled the jurists of al-Andalus like ibn 'Attab and others. They were only opposed by ibn Lubaba. The judges of Fez ruled in like manner as did Sidi Mahmud qadi of Timbuktu. He would accept their word without requiring them to prove that they were from those lands. I8

17 For an overview of medieval Sudanese Islamic scholars and their intellectual and family relationships to each other see HT Norris, "Sanhajah Scholars of Timbuktoo," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 30: 3 (1967): 634-640. Aqlt was the qadi of Timbuktu between 1498 and 1548 and was a relative of Baba. 18 as quoted in Hunwick and Harrack, 28-29. al-Balbalr died in 1533-1534 and had taught in Kano, Katsina, Timbuktu, and Marrakesh. 36 Baba agreed with al-BalbalT, since at the end of his quotation of al-Balbah he stated that, "the reply to your question as to whether the slave's word is to be accepted or not is apparent from this."1

However in a text that most likely pre-dates the Mi 'raj al-Su 'ud, he added an important caveat to al-BalbalFs assessment by acknowledging that not all people coming from known Islamic states were Muslims nor would all people claiming to be

Muslim actually be free-born Muslims.20 In a reply to a question on the lawful enslavement of individuals from certain states posed by a Moroccan, Yusuf b.

Ibrahim al-'lsl, he stated that,

what I think regarding your question is that you ought to know first that some of these groups (asnaf) are mixed together. Those whom we have ascertained to be Muslim are all of the people of Songhay and its kingdom [stretching for a distance of] some two months in length. Similarly all of Kano are Muslims since ancient times, likewise, Katsina and Zakzak and Gobir [?]. However, close to them are unbelieving people whom the Muslims may raid because of their extreme proximity, so we have heard, and they bring them to their place as unbelievers and slaves. As regards these people, if it is established among you that a slave woman or man is from these unbelievers and was merely raised in the city of Kano or Katsina or Zakzak or Kabi, and subsequently converted to Islam, then there is no harm in buying him, since he was taken captive while an unbeliever. Similarly, all the people of Bornu are Muslims, but close to them also are unbelievers whom the people of Bornu raid. The ruling is as before.21

19 Hunwick and Harrack, 29. 20 Hunwick and Harrack, 9. 21 Hunwick and Harrack, 43-44. 37 He also reiterated his point that free-born Muslims were not enslaveable under any circumstances and only non-believers at the time of their capture were enslaveable. While Baba. did not address the question of ransoming directly, it is possible to infer from his replies that he favoured free-born Muslims re-attaining their freedom through free release. He believed that Muslims who could be proven to be free-born Muslims should not to be enslaved under any circumstances and should be freed immediately upon their free origin being verified. In his reply to a question posed by Sa'Id b. Ibrahim al-Jirarl of Tuwat on the issue of unknown origins and enslavement, Baba stated,

whoever is enslaved in a state of unbelief may rightly be owned, whoever he is, as opposed to those of all groups who converted to Islam of their own free will, such as the people of Bornu, Kano, Songhay, Katsina, Gobir, and Mali and some of [the people of] Zakzak. They are free Muslims who may not be enslaved under any circumstance.22

Further, he advised not to purchase a slave whose status was uncertain. He counselled al -'Isi, to only purchase slaves whose status was clear and not to buy a slave whose origin or status was in doubt. It is clear that Baba believed unbelief was the only reason for enslavement and that it was incumbent upon Muslims to ensure the freedom of captive free-born Muslims.

Hunwick and Harrack, 27. See also John Hunwick, "Islamic Law and Polemics over Race and Slavery in North and West Africa (16th-19th Century)," in Slavery in the Islamic Middle East ed. Shaun E Marmon, (Princeton NJ: Markus Weiner Publishers, 1999) for a discussion of al-Jirarl's questions and Baba's replies. 23 Hunwick and Harrack, 53. See also 21. 38 'Uthman and 'Abdullahi ibn Fudl's Opinions

In their education, both 'Uthman and 'Abdullahi inherited the collective

assessment of the debates surrounding issues of enslavement and remedies for

wrongful captivity as discussed by scholars trained in the MalikI school of law and

who belonged to the Qadiriyya tarlqa as they themselves became experts in jurisprudence. 'Uthman accepted that it was incumbent upon Muslims to free wrongly

enslaved Muslims and that ransoming was a practical means for removing free-born

Muslims from captivity. His main concern about ransoming was the organization of

ransoms for Muslims and assigning responsibility for the payment of ransoms.

In his discussion of ransoming, in Bayan wujub al-hijra 'ala 7 - 'ibad,

'Uthman paraphrased both ibn Juzayy's QawanTn and Khalfl ibn Ishaq's Mukhtasar.

The Mukhtasar, a fourteenth century compendium of Malik! law, which can be

thought of as an abridged version of Malik's Muwatta", was especially influential

amongst scholars in Hausaland. Indeed in the Mukhtasar, Khalfl devotes almost as

much attention to the law regarding the ransoming of war prisoners as he does to the

enslavement of captives.24

Ibn Juzayy and Khalfl shared similar views on the obligation of Muslims to

ransom fellow Muslims but differed slightly on who was responsible for paying the

ransom. 'Uthman interpreted ibn Juzayy as arguing that the payment of a ransom was

first the responsibility of the captive. If the captive was unable to raise the ransom

24 KhalTl ibn Ishaq, Mukhtasar, ed. and trans. Georges Henri Bousquet, (Paris, 1962) 1: 207- 218. 39 fee then the imam became responsible for paying the ransom and should access the necessary funds first out of the State Treasury, second by raising the money from the

Muslim community and third by compelling non-Muslims to pay the fee. In referring to ibn Juzayy, 'Uthman stated that

the redemption of Muslim captives is obligatory. Ibn Juzayy said in Qawamn: 'They have to be rescued from the unbelievers by fighting. If the Muslims are unable to do that, they have to pay ransom for them. The rich captive should ransom himself and the imam should pay the ransom of the poor from the State Treasury: if this is insufficient, the amount should be raised from the Muslim community at large. The imam can compel non- Muslim chiefs to [help to] ransom Muslims and then later pay them the price'.

In contrast, according to 'Uthman, KhalTl argued that the ransom fee should first be raised from the fay', second from among the Muslim community and lastly from the captive's own assets. In quoting KhalTl, 'Uthman stated that,

[the Muslim captive] is to be ransomed from [the collected] fay' then [if that is not possible] from the wealth of the Muslims, then from his own wealth'. Al-KharashI said on this: 'That means the Muslim captive must be ransomed'.26

According to 'Uthman, KhalTl's reasoned that it was primarily the responsibility for the state and Muslims at large to pay the ransoms of Muslims because the ransom of an individual Muslim and his return to the community benefited the community more than the individual captive Muslim and further that it was usually easier for the

'Uthman ibn Fudi, Bayan wujiib al-hijra 'ala 7-'ibad, 123. 26 'Uthman ibn FudT, Bayan wujub al-hijra 'ala 'l-'ibad, 123. Originally/ay' referred to war booty and then the revenue raised from territory conquered by force. It also refers generally to the revenue collected by the Islamic state from non-Muslim sources. See Hunwick, Shan'a in Songhay, 74 ff. 40 community to raise the ransom fee than an individual. 'Uthman did not indicate in the Bayan wujub al-hijra 'aid 7 - 'ibad, what he believed should be the order of responsibility for paying ransom fees.

According to 'Uthman, ibn Juzayy and Khalll also differed on the matter of compensation for individuals who paid the ransoms of Muslims. Ibn Juzayy asserted that an individual who paid the ransom of another Muslim with the captive's consent could claim the amount from the freed captive. If the Muslim captive had not consented to being ransomed, the payer could still claim the ransom price from the freed captive if the captive was rich, or from the State Treasury if he was poor.

However, if the person being ransomed was the spouse, father, mother, son, grandfather, paternal or maternal uncle, brother, sister or nephew of the ransom payer, then the ransom payer could not claim compensation unless it had been agreed before the ransom had been paid. According to Khalll, the ransom payer could have claimed compensation from the freed captive regardless of whether he or she was rich or poor unless the payment of ransom was intended to be an act of charity or if the person being ransomed was within the prohibited degrees of marriage.28

'Uthman did not indicate in the Bayan wujub al-hijra 'aid 7 - 'ibad which system he preferred. However, one can conclude from his discussion of ibn Juzayy's

Qawdnin and Khalll's Mukhtasar that he favoured the ransoming of Muslims and that there were recourses for compensation for fees paid. The ransoming of free-born

27 'Uthman ibn FudI, Bayan wujub al-hijra 'ala 'I —'ibad, 123. 28 'Uthman ibn FudI, Bayan wujub al-hijra 'ala 7 -'ibad, 123. 41 Muslims benefited religious authorities who had ethical and religious objections to the enslavement of free-born Muslims, state officials who could not prevent illegal enslavement, the holders of wrongly enslaved free-born Muslims who were compensated for the loss of their investment, and the captive free-born Muslim facing enslavement who regained his or her freedom.

'Abdullahi demonstrates in the Diya' al-hukkam that it was his understanding, and considering his status as the brother and close confidant of 'Uthman, the understanding of the Sokoto leadership, that the ransoming of prisoners held by one's own forces was a practice rooted in law. Concerning male prisoners he wrote that,

first, male infidels with regard to whom the imam may follow one of five ways, in accordance with public interest, first he may put to death those he is permitted to kill. The value of the victim shall be deducted from the capital stock of the spoil. Second, he may grant freedom to a worthless person; and his value shall be deducted from the legal fifth (khums). Third he may take ransom for their freedom and the ransom money would be paid into the booty. If, however, the ransom was inform of muslimprisoners of war then the value of the ransom must be deducted from the imam's fifth. Fourth, he may impose jizya on those who are eligible for the payment of jizya. The value of the person to pay jizya shall be deducted for (the imam's) fifth. Fifth, he may put to slavery those who should be enslaved; and their price shall be divided along with the main booty.

Likewise for women and children, 'Abdullahi wrote that "the Imam may either release [women and children] unconditionally, or ask for their ransom, or put to slavery, as stated in al-Qawanin."30 Here, 'Abdullahi is discussing ransoming in the

'Abdullah ibn Fudi, Diya' al-hukkam , 1-2. My emphasis. 'Abdullah ibn Fudi, Diya' al-hukkam, 2. 42 context of the legitimate options for dealing with prisoners of war and not as a remedy for wrongful capture and possibility of enslavement of free-born Muslims.

His concern was for the proper distribution of "profit" or "booty" if the option of ransoming or that of prisoner exchange was utilized. The freeing of captive free-born

Muslims by members of the Muslim community either through force, ransom, or exchange was viewed as obligatory. The ransoming of individuals not recognized as free-born Muslims held by one's own forces, however, was viewed as only one of the many options to be utilized as the captor saw fit as long as the proceeds were distributed in accordance to rules regarding booty.

Conclusion

From al-MaghTH onwards there was a canon of legal opinions on the issues of lawful and unlawful enslavement and remedies, such as ransoming, for unlawful enslavement in the region. 'Uthman drew upon this large body of discussion to develop his policies concerning ransoming. The main consensus pertaining to ransoming was that it was the responsibility of Muslims, whether as individuals or as a community, to ransom captive free-born Muslims. The following chapter will discuss the practice of ransoming in the Mediterranean World of the Maghrib and the

Sahara; a region that shared the same legal tradition of the MalikI school of law with the western and central bilad al-sudan.

43 CHAPTER 2

THE PRACTICE OF RANSOMING IN THE MAGHRIB AND THE SAHARA

Introduction

The practice of ransoming throughout West Africa and the Maghrib reflected the fact that people valued freedom, as indeed elsewhere in the Muslim world and beyond.1 Ransoming practices in the Maghrib and the Sahara shared a common foundation in MalikI law with ransoming practices in the western and central Sudan.

The same legal principles applied, yet while in the western and central bilad al-sudan the emphasis was on the usefulness of ransoming as a way to rescue free-born

Muslims, which will discussed in the following chapters, in the Maghrib ransoming was also utilized as a means for dealing with, and benefiting from, Christian captives.

In the Maghrib, both the principle that Muslims should ransom free-born Muslims and the legality of ransoming back captives held by Muslims was followed. This will be shown by examining the motives, government sanction, and the role of foreign and internal relations in the ransoming practices of the Mediterranean world of the

Maghrib, and of the Sahara. The purpose here is to establish the importance of ransoming in the traditions and practices of West Africa as a point of comparison for understanding the role of ransoming elsewhere.

1 See for example, Ward, "Muhammad Said: 'You are Only a Jew from the Jews of Sephoris': Allegations of the Jewish Ancestry of Some Umayyads," Khalilieh, "The Ribat System and its Role in Coastal Navigation," Marin and El Nour, "Captives, Children and Conversion: A Case from Late Nasrid Spain." 44 Ransoming in the Mediterranean World

From at least the Middle Ages, the ransoming of prisoners between Christians and Muslims in the Mediterranean world was a central feature of Christian/Muslim relations.2 Moreover, since at least the fall of Constantinople in 1452 and especially since the sixteenth century, Muslims from Morocco, the Regencies of Algiers and

Tunis, and from other parts of the Ottoman Empire, and Christians from Europe participated in the capturing and enslaving of individuals with various degrees of governmental support. While European ships operated in the western Mediterranean, corsairs from the Maghrib ventured throughout the Mediterranean and along the

Atlantic coast into the British Isles and as far north as Iceland.

Nabil Matar argues that for the Maghrib, privateering and captive-taking was a response to declining trade as European trade with the Americas gradually reduced the amount of trade with the Maghrib. Privateering and captive-taking was a means for Morocco and the Regencies of Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis to gain hard currency and political leverage and to play a role in inter-European Mediterranean rivalry.

Privateeering and captive-taking forced consuls and ambassadors into a weaker position as they sought to ransom captives, secure trade monopolies and exclusive

2 Marcel A Boisard argues that European practices of ransoming may, in large part, be based upon the Arab-Muslim tradition of ransoming. See Marcel A Boisard, "On the Probable Influence of Islam on Western Public and International Law," International Journal of Middle East Studies 11:4 (July 1980): 443. For specific case studies see for example Debra Blumenthal, "Implements of Labor, Instruments of Honor: Muslim, Eastern and Black African Slaves in Fifteenth-Century Valencia" (Ph.D diss., University of Toronto, 2000), and Marin and El Nour. 45 access to ports, and gain access to munitions and other supplies during times of war.3

By the seventeenth century, Algiers had overtaken Constantinople as the most important centre for Christian captives taken in the western Mediterranean.4 Robert C

Davis tentatively estimates that between 1530 and 1780 there were between a million and a million and a quarter European Christians enslaved in the Maghrib.5 There is no equivalent estimate for the number of Muslim captives and slaves in Europe; however throughout the sixteenth century there were most likely thousands of North

Africans held in Spanish and Portuguese prisons and presidios with thousands of others held in French, Italian and Maltese galleys.6

For European captives held in the Maghrib, there were four realistic options for freedom: escape, conversion to Islam, exchange against Muslim captives in

Europe, and ransoming. The last three options were encouraged by Malik! law.

Indeed one of the reasons for enslavement was to introduce Islam to non-believers.

The release of captives who converted to Islam was encouraged. Escape was difficult but sometimes possible by stealing a boat, stowing away on a departing ship or heading overland. While conversion to Islam did not always guarantee freedom, it did

3 Nabil Matar, "Introduction: England and Mediterranean Captivity, 1577-1704" in Piracy, Slavery and Redemption, Barbary Captivity Narratives from Early Modern England, ed. Daniel J Vitkus, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), 12. 4 Wipertus H. Rudt de Collenberg, Esclavage et rancons des Chretiens en Mediterranee (1570-1600), (Paris: Editions le leopard d'or, 1997), 29. Prior to 1600 Constantinople was the most important city from where European captives were ransomed. This is based on his study of hortatoriae letters. Between 1570 and 1600 the Roman Catholic Church attempted to ransom 1017 individuals held throughout the Ottoman Empire. Of this 312, or 30.7% were ransomed from Constantinople. The next largest city from where captives were ransomed was Algiers with 127, or 12.5%. See 32. 5 Davis, "Counting European Slaves on the Barbary Coast," 115. 6 Matar, 9. 46 usually guarantee a release from the more onerous work such as rowing. Estimates of the renegade population vary from between 30% and 80% of the captive population.

Europeans could also regain their freedom through exchange against Turkish and North African captives in Europe. Exchange was encouraged as a lawful means for regaining the freedom of free-born Muslims. This is exemplified by the 1642 case of Emmanuel D'Aranda, Renier Saldens, and Jean Baptise Caloen. After two years in

Algiers, they were freed in exchange for three Turks and one Algerian held in

Flanders. This exchange was organized through a complicated set of transactions arranged by the Flemish families and the mother and grandmother of the captive

Algerian, Mustafa Inglis.8

In the seventeenth century, ransoming was viewed as a benefit to both the

European captives held in Morocco and the Regencies and to their captors; both state agents and private captive and slave owners. European captives regained their freedom whereas captors gained financial compensation. According to Ellen G

Friedman and Stephen Clissold, Algerian rulers actively courted ransom negotiators and offered them passports and certificates of safe conduct in order to travel to

Algiers to conduct ransom negotiations.9 Furthermore, while Algerian captors tried to maximize the labour output of their captives, they also tried to keep their captives

7 Davis, 113-115. 8 Emmanuel D'Aranda, Les captifs d'Alger, ed. Latifa Z'Rari, (Paris: Jean-Paul Rocher, 1997). Ellen G Friedman, "Christian Captives at 'Hard Labor' in Algiers, 16th to 18th Centuries," The International Journal of African Historical Studies 13:6 (1980): 629. See also Clissold, The Barbary Slaves, 102-129. 47 alive and healthy so that they could be ransomed. Individuals who could command the highest ransoms were sometimes not made to work.10

Reflecting the legality of ransoming, the ransoming of captives in the Maghrib had government sanction and involved the government bureaucracy. This is exemplified by the division of ransoming costs. In seventeenth century Algiers and

Tunis, ransoming costs involved not just the actual price of ransom but also payments to the government and agents, legal documents, and taxes." In Morocco ransoming also had government sanction. Before 1682, although ransoms were treated as a private matter between those holding the individual for ransom and those who wanted to ransom, all captured goods and people were subject to a 10% tax. In 1682, ransoming officially became government business when Mawlay Isma'Tl decreed that that all goods and people captured on the sea should be remitted to him.12

The Maghriban sphere of ransoming Europeans back to Europe stretched into the Sahara and included shipwrecked Europeans captured along the Saharan coast. In the eighteenth century, sailors and passengers shipwrecked off Cape Juby, Cape

Bajador, and Cape Blanc were often traded northwards towards Wad Nun and the Sus where arrangements were made to either to sell their captives to the Moroccan Sultan

10 Friedman, "Christian Captives at 'Hard Labor' in Algiers, 16th to 18th Centuries," 618, 628. See also Fontenay, 17. This is obviously in regards to European slaves where there was a good chance of a ransom offer. According to Davis only three to four percent of European captives and slaves managed to either escape or to be ransomed or redeemed. See Davis, 115. " Fontenay 26-27. Claude Larquie puts the average price of ransom at 2,104.96 reaux in Morocco and 2,032.52 reaux in Algeria. See Claude Larquie, "La Mediterrannee, l'Espagne et le Maghreb au XVIIe. siecle: le rachat des Chretiens et le commerce des hommes," Les Cahiers de Tunisie (1991): 82, Bachrouch, 131. 12 Olivier Vergniot, "De la distance en histoire: Maroc - Sahara occidental: Les captifs du hasard (XVIIe - XXe siecles)," Revue du Monde Musulman el de la Mediterranee 48:1 (1988): 99. 48 or to negotiate a ransom with a European consul.13 Except for the fact that shipwrecked sailors had to be conveyed northwards, the ransoming of sailors shipwrecked off of the Sahara coast differed little from the ransoming of European

Christians in the northern Maghrib.

In the Maghrib, the emphasis on ransoming back free-born Muslims and allowing the ransoms of Christians is exemplified through the actions of Sultan

Sayyidi Muhammad ibn Abdallah, also known as Sidi Muhammad. His policies regarding ransoming were not only grounded in the same legal traditions regarding enslavement and ransoming as in the western and central bilad al-sudan, but also in the relationships between not only the Maghrib and European states but with

Morocco's relationships with Wad Nun and the Sus. Sidr Muhammad's pursuit of freeing free-born Muslims either through exchange or ransoming is exemplified by the diplomatic missions he sent to negotiate and pay for ransoms. For example in

1766 he organized the ransoms of 300 Muslims being held in Spain. In 1769 he arranged the ransoms 37 Muslims held on Malta. In 1788, his diplomats negotiated the ransoms of another 600 Muslims held on the same island. SldT Muhammad's interest was not only the ransom of Moroccans but of free-born Muslims in general.

For instance, of the 37 ransoms he organized on Malta in 1769, only 20 of the individuals were from Morocco. Likewise, many of the 600 Muslims he ransomed in

13 Norman Robert Bennett, "Christian and Negro Slavery in Eighteenth Century North Africa," Journal of African History 1:1 (1960): 72. 49 Malta in 1788 were not Moroccans. He arranged not only for their ransoms but also their transport back to their home countries.

By the mid-eighteenth century, the treatment of European captives and especially of shipwrecked sailors had become an important political issue for

Moroccan sultans in both their relationships with European states and with Wad Nun and the Sus. The period between 1727, the death of Mawlay Isma'Il, and 1757, the date of Sldl Muhammad's accession to the throne, was a period of political instability in Morocco and also a period when most of the European captives remaining in

Morocco were ransomed and released in a bid to normalize relationships between

Morocco and European states. Throughout the 1760s, 1770s and 1780s Sldr

Muhammad negotiated a series of commercial and peace treaties with England,

France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Venice, Tuscany, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sicily,

Austria, and the United States.15 While for the European states and the United States an important issue was the treatment of European and American captives in Morocco, who by this time were mostly sailors and passengers shipwrecked off Cape Juby,

Cape Bajador, and Cape Blanc, for Sldl Muhammad, the ransoming of Muslim captives was key.16 Indeed, the exchange, freeing, and ransoming of Muslim captives were important components of his 1777 and 1778 treaties with the Netherlands,

14 Thomas Freller, '"The Shining of the Moon' - The Mediterranean Tour of Muhammad ibn Uthman, Envoy of Morocco, in 1782," Journal of Mediterranean Studies 12:2 (2002): 307-326. See the appendix in Jacques Caille, Les accords internationaux du Sultan Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah (1757-1790) (Tangiers: Faculte de droit du Maroc, 1960) for copies of the treaties. 16 See Vergniot, 99, and Caille, for more of Sidi Muhammad's diplomacy. 50 Sweden and Tuscany while the treatment of shipwrecked individuals and prisoners were prominent in the treaties with England (1760) and Spain (1767).I7

For Sldl Muhammad, ransoming was not only an issue in regards to his obligation as a Muslim to free free-born Muslims but was also a political issue in the context of his relationship with Wad Nun and the Sus. For him, gaining control of shipwrecked sailors and being the one to return them to the European consuls was not only important in his relations with Europe but was also an indication of his authority over Wad Nun and the Sus. Sldl Muhammad usually used Jewish emissaries and the

Governor of Taroudant to gain custody of shipwrecked sailors and very rarely sent officers into Wad Nun directly. After his release, Follie, a French marine officer who had been shipwrecked in 1784, complained that in Morocco, Sldl Muhammad tried to maintain a monopoly on ransom negotiations and persecuted those who bypassed him in organizing ransoms. For Sldl Muhammad, private ransom negotiations between captors in Wad Nun and European consuls in al-Sawira demonstrated his less-than- complete authority over the region.

During the reign of Mawlay Sulayman (1792-1822), ransom procedures changed slightly in Wad Nun and the Sus with the rise of the House of Illigh and of

17 See Caille, 166, 184, 218, 220, 224. 18 According to Follie, after he was released and brought to al-Sawfra, the two Europeans, Cabannes and Despars and the Bidan, Bentahar, who were involved in negotiating his ransom were ordered to be arrested. They escaped before being arrested. M Follie, Voyage dans les deserts du Sahara (Paris, 1792), 65-70. al-Sawira is known as "Mogador" in European sources. The name of the town is also now commonly spelled as "Essaouira". The Bidan are usually identified as Maures/Moors by European observers and are of Arab and Berber origin. Generally, they can be divided into groups: the hasani, the people of the sword, and the zwaya, the people of the book. The French tended to call the zwaya "marabouts". 51 Shaykh Bayruk. Shaykh Bayruk was a Tikna chief who controlled a significant portion of the trade through Wad Nun and had extensive trading connections with

West Africa. Bayruk and his family, in particular, became important as intermediaries in ransom negotiations and appear to have collected European captives for ransom.

The ransoming of Europeans especially illustrates the disagreements and power

struggles between the Sultans of Morocco and the de facto rulers of Wad Nun and the

Sus; the High and the Bayruk families. During the reign of Mawlay Sulayman,

Bayruk and the Sultan often disagreed on the price at which the Europeans should be ransomed, and Bayruk would often refuse to give up his captive Europeans. In order

to ransom European captives, the European consuls developed a system whereby the

Sultan nominally ransomed the captives in order to save face but the actual

negotiations were between the European consuls and the High or the Bayruk

families.19

The capture and ransom of James Irving, Follie, Saugnier, Robert Adams, and

James Riley are good examples of how the ransoming of shipwrecked sailors worked.

Irving was shipwecked in 1789, Follie and Saugnier in the mid-1780s, Adams in

1810, and Riley in 1815. All five men were captured soon after their ships foundered.

All were subjected to harsh treatment and threatened with death; but they were also

19 For a detailed discussion on ransom procedures under different Moroccan Sultans see Vergniot, 96-125. For the importance of the Tikna trading network see Ghislaine Lydon, "On Trans- Saharan Trails: Trading Networks and Cross-Cultural Exchange in Western Africa. 1840s - 1930s," (Ph.D diss., Michigan State University, 2000).

52 aware that they were valued as captives who could be exchanged for ransom. Irving wrote in his journal entry of June 2nd 1789 that

in the evening we were made to understand that I, the chief mate and my relation were now left alone.... should be taken to the Emperor of Morocco and sold, that if they could not obtain a hundred dollars a head for us they would cut our throats. This information, horrid as it may appear, considerably eased our minds and excited a hope of still obtaining our liberty and a sight of our dear native country. Our hope was founded on a probability of an ambassador being at the court of the Emperor of Morocco, and that when he heard his countrymen were on sale he would certainly for so trifling a sum, redeem us and 20 return us to our country.

After being shipwrecked Riley wrote that it was the 10l of September. I awakened my companions and told them we must now go forward and shew [sic] ourselves to the natives - that I expected they would seize upon us as slaves but had strong hopes that some of us would escape with our lives. I also mentioned to them the name of the American Consul General at Tangier, and that if it ever was in their power, they must write to him, inform him of the fate of our vessel and her crew: to write, if possible to any Christian merchant in Mogadore, Gibaltrar or elsewhere or to the Consul at Algiers, Tunis or Tripoli, if they should hear those places mentioned.

This demonstrated that Riley expected that he and his captive crewmates would be able to communicate with Europeans and Americans in North Africa who could arrange for their ransom.

20 Susanne Schwarz ed. Slave Captain: The Career of James Irving in the Liverpool Slave Trade (Weexham Wales: Bridge Books, 1995), 88. 21 James Riley, Loss of the American Brig Commerce. Wrecked on the Western Coast of Africa in the month of August 1815 with an account of Tombuctoo.... (London, 1817), 71. 53 All four men were sold numerous times, at increasing prices, as they were moved up the coast towards al-SawTra. For example, while Follie was traded twice and had three sets of captors, he was only held captive for four months before his ransom was arranged by the French Vice-Consul in al-SawIra.22 Before being ransomed Saugnier had at least seven sets of captors and it appears that his third and fourth captors both "flipped" him. His third captor held him for only a few days while his fourth captor traded him the day after he got him. This fit the treatment and exchange pattern of shipwrecked Europeans as outlined by Olivier Vergniot. He found that usually fishers were the ones to first discover and hold shipwrecked

Europeans. Sometimes the captives were forcibly removed from the custody of the fishers but often the captive would be exchanged either for three goats, two camels, some cloth, flour or a bar of iron. After being exchanged numerous times, the captive would have made his way northwards where he would eventually be bought by someone who had the interest and ability to trade him for ransom.24

Adams' ransom was organized by the English Consul in al-SawIra when he was brought to Wad Nun.25 It was only after being traded to STdl Hamit that Riley was able to make contact, through an exchange of letters, with the English Consul,

William Willshire, in al-SawIra who arranged for his ransom and where he was

22 Follie, 52-56. 23 M Saugnier, "Recit du naufrage du Moghreb," in Dans les fers du Moghreb, ed. Albert Savine (Paris: Societes des Editions Louis Michaud, 1912), 140-144. 24 Vergniot, 105. Robert Adams, The Narrative of Robert Adams, a sailor, who was wrecked on the western coast of Africa, in the year 1810, (London, 1816). 54 brought and released. Whereas it was when Irving was sold to "Shaykh Brahim" in

"Telling" that Irving was ordered to make contact with the British Vice-Consul; an order with which Irving was happy to comply. On June 24, 1789 Irving wrote in his journal that was told by one of the Jewish men who was under the protection of his master that he must,

write to Mr. Hutchinson, the British Vice-Consul at Mogodore [sic], informing him of my misfortune and situation as he (the Jew) had occasion to dispatch a courier for that place distant only about six day's journey. The Jew also assured me that the Vice-Consul would send and purchase me, and that myself and crew (if alive) would be returned to our native country.2

Eventually, it was arranged for Irving to be sold to Sldl Muhammad, who at the time was trying to maintain a monopoly on the ransoming of Europeans, and after some delay due to Sldl Muhammad's death in April 1790, Irving and surviving crew members were ransomed by the British Vice-Consul.28

The ransoming of Muslims in Europe ended with the abolition of slavery in that region. For Morocco, the abolition of slavery in Malta by Napoleon in 1798 was of special importance. However, the holding of Europeans for ransom and the organizing of ransoms through Morocco continued into the nineteenth century. In the last half of the nineteenth century the Bayruk family continued to hold Europeans for ransom in Wad Nun. For instance, when he was in Wad Nun in the mid-nineteenth

26 Riley, 346. SidTHamit was of the Walad Bu Sba, and was also related to the Bayruk family. He was given the responsibility of buying up shipwrecked Europeans. 27 Schwarz, 95. "Telling" is about 30 kilometres northeast of Gulmfm. 28 Schwarz, 96-102. 55 century, as part of his overland trip between Senegal and al-Sawira, Leopold Panet overheard plans to kidnap him and demand a ransom for him from the French Consul in al-SawIra.29 In another case, an Englishman, W Butler was held in Wad Nun for eight years, from 1866 to 1874.30

Conclusion

In conclusion, from at least the fifteenth century ransoming was widely practised throughout Islamic western Africa on both sides of the Sahara. This chapter focused on ransoming practices in the Mediterranean world of the Maghrib and

Sahara which shared the same legal traditions, based on the Malikl school of law, and the same legal scholars such as Muhammad al-Maghlll and Ahmad Baba, with the western and central bilad al-sudan. Ransoming practices in the Maghrib and Sahara reflected both the legality of ransoming and the onus upon Muslims to free captive free-born Muslims. In the Maghrib, not only did governments allow for the ransoming of non-Muslims but, as shown by the actions of STdl Muhammad, actively pursued the freedom of captive free-born Muslims through prisoner exchange and

Leopold Panet, "Relations d'un Voyage du Senegal a Souiera (Mogador)," Revue Coloniale Novembre (1850): 168. Panet was a Metis orphan born on Goree Island. He was educated at a French school and became involved in the gum trade along the Senegal River. After participating in Colonel Raffanel's expedition to Kaarta, he became, in 1850, the third "Christian" to cross the western Sahara, albeit disguised as a Muslim, when he volunteered to go overland between Senegal and Morocco. According to EF Gautier, Europeans who shipwrecked or crashed along the Atlantic coast of the Sahara were still being held for ransom as recent as the 1930s. In discussing the Toulouse to Dakar flight route he states, "there are occasional crashes, in which case the aviator is made prisoner by the Moors and while neither killed nor tortured is held for ransom." EF Gautier, Sahara. The Great Desert, trans. Dorothy Ford Mayhew (London: Frank Cass & Co Ltd, 1970), 230. See also Vergniot on Moroccan ransoming practices in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, 114-124. Oskar Lenz, Timbouctou Voyage an Maroc, au Sahara et au Soudan, trans. Pierre Lehautcourt, (Paris: Librairie Hachette et C 1886), 1: 274, 360. 56 ransoming. As will be shown in the following chapters ransoming of free-born

Muslims by other Muslims had also been a long-established practice in the western and central Sudan. The next chapter will discuss the ransoming policies of the Sokoto

Caliphate; the largest of the nineteenth century reform states of the western and central bilad al-sudan.

57 Map 2.1: The Maghrib c 1750

%\. 1$L Boone

~>__^»*_ _^s , gAVUK Q,; C0NSWMT1NE Qayrawsn S»V ffi W^jete'-rtimsan HTWRE »aS-A$hwst REGENCY Of ALGIERS 0 /sl-Suwaym o. ^ fearsMa /(MopxM 0*?^ TRITOIITANIA QAHAMN LI *Aw}tfa c^' Gulmfm Wad Nun Murzuk

Adapted from Jamil Abn-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 152.

58 Map 2.2: The Mediterranean c 1750

Source: Stephen Clissold, The Barbary Slaves (London: Elek Books Limited, 1977), viii.

59 CHAPTER THREE

RANSOMING POLICIES IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: THE CASE OF THE SOKOTO CALIPHATE

Introduction

This chapter will focus on the problem of what was perceived by many

Muslims as illegal enslavement in the central Sudan and the extent to which ransoming was perceived as a remedy for illegal captivity. The focus is specifically on the Sokoto Caliphate. One of the main reasons for the launching of the Sokoto jihad was the concern of Muslim intellectuals in Hausaland, including 'Uthman ibn

Fudi, that free-born Muslims were being enslaved. Indeed, ' Uthman's teachers had commented on the ethical issues stemming from the slave trade, especially to the non-

Muslim areas to the south. Moreover, captive-taking, as part of the collection of booty, was a well established practice in warfare in the western and central bilad al- sudan that continued during the fighting involved in the early years of the Sokoto jihad, when success was not guaranteed, and after the new regime had been established. In light of the captive-taking that was synonymous with warfare, policies were developed in regards to ransoming. These policies changed as the regime became more established. This chapter will discuss the issue of the enslavement of

Muslims prior to the launch of the Sokoto jihad, the response of Muslim intellectuals

60 to this threat, Sokoto's policy towards enslavement and to the distribution of booty, and finally Sokoto's policies concerning ransoming.

The Enslavement of Muslims

In the Muslim societies of the central Sudan, the issue of the enslavement of free-born Muslims was compounded by the growing rift, apparent by the eighteenth century, between the political and religious leaders of the various states, on the role of

Islam in the political, economic, and legal life of the state. Politically, the region that became the centre of the Sokoto Caliphate was divided into many city-states of which the most important included Katsina, Kano, Zaria, Gobir, and Rano. By the end of the seventeenth century, not only was Islam the religion of most of the Hausa royal courts, but there were a growing number of adherents amongst the general population.

By this time, Islam had stopped being the exclusive domain of the political elite and of foreign intellectuals and merchants and its teaching had been taken over by local adherents and intellectuals trained in its precepts. It had especially become popular amongst the rural Fulani of the region. The growth of Islamic education throughout the eighteenth century led to a questioning of the traditional religions, values, and customs upon which the structure of the eighteenth century states were based and a desire to re-organize society according to sharf'a law. This was in direct contrast to the interests of the political leadership of the pre-jihadist states, who, while considering themselves to be Muslims, based their power, leadership and

61 governorship on pre-Islamic traditional values. As the rift grew throughout the eighteenth century between Muslim adherents and members of the royal courts, various leaders were accused of enacting unislamic laws and practising unislamic behaviour. For example, Hausa Sarkins were accused of either practising or condoning polytheism while the Sarkin Kano Kumbari, for instance, was accused of imposing "illegal" taxes on the Kano market as well as charging Muslim intellectuals thejizya.

One of the most important complaints of the Muslim community towards the pre-jihadist states was their inability or their unwillingness to protect free-born

Muslims from enslavement. For the central Sudan, the eighteenth century was a period of warfare between the Hausa states as each tried to assert dominance and control over the east-west and south-north trade routes. Yet, despite the series of wars, none of the Hausa states were capable of defeating and conquering the others.

The most that was ever achieved were border adjustments.2 However, the cost or benefit, depending on one's point of view, of these wars was the production, through battles and raids, of slaves who were sold towards the north as well as the south.

Moreover, to the great consternation of Muslim leaders, many of the captured enslaved individuals were free-born Muslims.

The enslavement of free-born Muslims became especially alarming for

Muslim scholars towards the end of the eighteenth century in the years leading up to

1 F. H el-Masri, "A Critical Edition of Dan Fodio's Bayan wujub al-hijra 'ala i-'ibad; with introduction, English translation and Commentary," (Ph.D diss., University of Ibadan, 1968), 521-2. 2 R.A Adeleye, "Hausaland and Borno 1600-1800," in History of West Africa, 3rd ed. eds. J. A Ajayi and Michael Crowder, (London: Longman, 1985), 1: 616. 62 the Sokoto jihad. Religious leaders, such as 'Uthman ibn Fudl, were particularly concerned about the welfare of Muslims who were caught up in the warfare.3 There is evidence of significant numbers of Hausa and Muslim slaves not only being sold northwards but also being sold southwards towards Yorubaland and Asante. For instance, by 1817 the number of Hausa slaves in Oyo had so increased that they constituted an important component of that year's rebellion in Ilorin against Afonja.

This suggests an increase in enslavement of Hausa at the end of the eighteenth century. Similarly, large numbers of Muslims were held in Asante. This was

alarming to free-born Muslims living in the western and central bilad al-sudan

concerned with their own safety and to Muslim intellectuals and leaders concerned with issues surrounding legal and illegal enslavement.4

The Response of Muslim Leaders to the Enslavement Problem

The enslavement of free-born Muslims was a significant issue of concern for

Muslim scholars, intellectuals, and leaders in West Africa since at least the fifteenth

century. The response of Muslim intellectuals to the illegal enslavement of

recognized free-born Muslims was to condemn and act against it. In the early 1670s

Nasir al-Dln's movement, based in Mauritania, was founded in large part to stop the

enslavement of free-born Muslims and their sale into the Trans-Atlantic slave trade as

well as to demand the enforcement of Qu'ranic law and to encourage conversion to

Lovejoy, "The Bello-Clapperton Exchange," 205. 4 Fisher, "A Muslim William Wilberforce?" 543-548. 63 Islam. While ultimately unsuccessful, al-DIn's movement briefly unified Muslims on both sides of the Senegal River and provided a precedent and inspiration for future resistance against the enslavement of free-born Muslims. Indeed, the first Muslim success in Senegambia was in Futa Toro, a territory that was briefly ruled by al-Dln, when Muslim clerics overthrew the denianke ruler and established a theocratic state.

The importance of this movement was reinforced in the mid-nineteenth century when

Futa Toro provided a significant number of recruits for 'Umar al-Futfs jihad in the western Sudan and immigrants to the 'Umarian state of Kaarta.5

In the central Sudan, in the years leading up to the Sokoto jihad and throughout the nineteenth century, various leaders repeated the injunction against enslaving free-born Muslims, forbade the enslavement of Fulani in a bid to prevent wrongful enslavement, and made some attempts to free captive free-born Muslims.

'Uthman's teacher, al-Hajj Jibrll b.'Umar, who died before the start of 'Uthman's jihad, equated the selling of free men, with adultery, drinking of wine, and manslaughter.6 In his manifesto justifying the jihad, WathTqat ahl al-Sudan, 'Uthman reiterated the injunction against enslaving free-born Muslims.7 In his poem

For an overview of the reform movements in Senegambia see Martin Klein, "Social and Economic Factors in the Muslim Revolution in Senegambia," The Journal of African History 13:3 (1972): 419-441, and Klein, Islam and Imperialism in Senegal. For the impact of al-Dih movement on Bundu see Michael Gomez, Pragmatism in the Age of Jihad (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). For 'Umar al-Futl's movement and immigration to Kaarta see David Robinson, The Holy War of Umar Tal, and John H Hanson, "Islam, Migration and the Political Economy of Meaning: Fergo Nioro from the Senegal River Valley, 1862-1890," The Journal of African History 35:1 (1994): 37-60. 6 See ADH Bivar and M Hiskett, "The Arabic Literature of Nigeria to 1804: A Provisional Account," in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London, 25 (1962): 143. 7 A.D.H Bivar, "The Wathiqat ahl al-Sudan: A Manifesto of the Fulani Jihad," The Journal of African History, 2:2 (1961): 240-241. 64 "Busuraa'u", which he wrote as a teaching tool on Islam and the goals of the jihad,

'Uthman's friend, Muhammad Tukur stated that there are five categories of unbelievers: those who do not know the Qu'ran, those who mock the Sunna, those who practise false religions, those who do not pray, and those who sell free individuals without a just reason.8 In 1813, 'Uthman's brother, 'Abdullahi ibn FudI, in TazyTn al-Waraqdt, described some of his fellow Fulani Muslims as being sellers of free men.9 In the 1830s 'Umar al-Futl, who at the time was a close friend of

Muhammad Bello and had married his daughter Mariam, and who later led his own jihad in the western Sudan in the 1850s, wrote in Risalat sahwa al-habib ila ibrdhim al-labib that "no one can be more ignorant and arrogant than sinful and criminal people who legalize enslavement of free people by an act of fatwa".10

'Uthman's jihad was, in large part, a response to what the Muslim community perceived to be injustices being committed against them and as an attempt to protect their freedom from potential enslavement. According to 'Uthman in his Tanbih al ikhwan aid ard al-sudan, he embarked upon jihad against Gobir in defence of the

Muslim community. He stated that, "self-defence and defence of dependants and possessions is a righteous act, according to received opinion. We went to meet those who were harrying us - horsemen of evil purpose."1' This concern for the welfare of free-born Muslims was echoed in later jihads. Like its predecessors, the Sokoto jihad

8 Muhammad Tukur, "Busuraa'u" in J. Haafkens, Chants Musulmans en Peul (Leiden: Brill, 1983), verse 8-15. 9 'Abdullahi ibn FudI, TazyTn al-waraqat, 142. 1 al-Futl, Risalat sahwa al-habib ila ibrahim al-labib, 239. " 'Uthman ibn FudI, Tanbih al ikhwan ala ard al-sudan, 191. For an early account of jihad see Muhammad Salih, Takyid 'Akhbar, trans. I.U.A Musa and Abdullahi Mahadi, unpublished. 65 and the later nineteenth century jihads, were underpinned by a concern to protect and preserve the rights of free-born Muslims against state structures, whether self- defining as Muslim as not, who were perceived as threatening. The crisis in societies of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Sudan about the nature of society, the role of Islamic law in the official life of state, and the rights of free-born Muslims was met by reformers by overthrowing the pre-existing state structures and establishing new states based on shari'a law.

The Sokoto Caliphate's Policy towards Enslavement

In its attempt to prevent the enslavement of free-born Muslims the Sokoto leadership adopted the viewpoint that it was better to allow a non-Muslim to go free than to wrongly enslave a free-born Muslim. This can be seen in their policies concerning the enslavement of Fulani. In 1802, 'Uthman found it necessary in

Masa 'il muhimma, to forbid the sale of any Fulani on the basis that the Fulani had long been recognized as Muslims.12 Bello, his son, repeated the injunction against enslaving Fulani in Miftah al-Sadad, despite the fact that he did not consider all

Fulani to be Muslims.13

Yet, while the Sokoto leadership placed great emphasis on protecting free- born Muslims, they also narrowed their definition of who they considered a Muslim and hence a free-born Muslim. Indeed Ahmad Baba's classification of Muslim and

12 Hiskett, The Sword of Truth, 77. 13 See Lovejoy, "The Bello-Clapperton Exchange," 205 66 non-Muslim ethnic groups was a subject of debate amongst the early leadership of the

Sokoto Caliphate. Muhammad Bello, for example, stated in lnfaq al-Maysur ji

Tarikh bilad al-Takrur that many of the ethnic groups that Baba had classified as being Muslim were not in actual fact Muslim. He argued that either Baba had been mistaken or that by the nineteenth century these groups were no longer Muslim.15

In Nur-al-albab, 'Uthman divided the population of the Sudan into three categories. The first group consisted of people who followed "pure" Islamic law.

The second category included individuals who followed a mixture of orthodox

Islamic practices and pagan practices while the third group consisted of people who have never accepted the "truth" of Islam. He stated that it was fully permissible to enslave members of the last two groups along with their children, and to confiscate their property. In Wathiqat ahl al-Sudan, 'Uthman argued that it was obligatory to make war on any king who was an apostate and on any backsliding Muslims.

Furthermore, while he reiterated that it was unlawful to enslave free-born Muslims, he stated, without giving direction on which opinion to follow, that there were two views regarding the enslavement of apostates. The first opinion was that the enslavement of apostates was prohibited, and the second was that it was lawful as long as the person doing the enslaving was following an authority who asserted its

14 Hunwick and Harrak, Bello, lnfaq al-Maysur, 298-299. 15 Bello, lnfaq al-Maysur, 298-299. 16 'Uthman ibn FudI, Nur-al-albab, 300-303. 67 lawfulness.17 This of course, had left open the possibility of enslaving individuals who self-identified as free-born Muslims.

The importance that the jihad leadership placed on protecting the rights of recognized free-born Muslims, can be seen through the attempts that the Sokoto

Caliphate made throughout the nineteenth century to stop the export as slaves of free- born Muslims. For example, in the 1830s, there were efforts to inspect northbound caravans for enslaved recognized free-born Muslims and searches were also conducted in Katsina, Agadez, Tassaoua, and Damergou. Caravans found to be exporting illegal slaves were subject to the loss of all of their merchandise.18

Attempts were also made to place similar restrictions on the southern slave trade. One of the justifications for enslavement was to encourage the conversion of non-Muslims to Islam. Selling slaves, especially slaves who had converted to Islam, or worse yet, illegally enslaved free-born Muslims, was considered wrongful and was highly discouraged by the Sokoto leadership. It was against Sokoto Caliphate law to sell slaves to Christians and indeed in lnfaq al-maysur, Bello condemned Oyo for selling slaves to Christians on the Atlantic coast.19 Later, 'Umar also adopted this injunction against selling slaves to Christians. In Risalat sahwa al-habib ila ibrahim al-labib, he stated that "to sell Muslim slaves to the Europeans or others is totally prohibited."20 Yet, despite the injunctions and the searches, the enslavement of

17 Bivar, "The Wathiqat ahl al-Sudan," 240-241. 18 Lovejoy, "The Bello-Clapperton Exchange," 219-220. 19 Lovejoy, "The Bello-Clapperton Exchange," 211. 20 al-Futl, Risalat sahwa al-habib ila ibrahim al-labib, 239. 68 recognized free-born Muslims continued to be a problem throughout the nineteenth century. A good illustration of this problem is that during the Kano civil wars of the late nineteenth century, free-born Muslims were often taken captive, their status disregarded, and sold as slaves. Hence the need and sanction for ransoming in order to free captive recognized free-born Muslims taken prisoner through warfare and raiding.

Abuse in the Distribution of Booty

In terms of enslavement, one of the problems faced by the leaders of the jihads was balancing the desire for booty on the part of their soldiers with the duty to prevent the enslavement of free-born Muslims. While according to the Histoire de

Sokoto, Bello freed prisoners whom he captured during campaign who could prove that they were free-born Muslims, this was apparently not enforced on other soldiers.22 The collection and distribution of booty played an important role in warfare in the western and central bilad al-sudan and the warfare associated with the jihads was no different. Indeed according to the Tadhkirat al-nisydn, raiding and the collection of booty was an important component of warfare in the region from at least the Moroccan invasion of Songhay in 1591.23 A common military technique in the establishment of the Sokoto Caliphate was to raid a particular village or town, taking

21 Allan Christelow ed., Thus Ruled Emir Abbas: Selected Cases from the Records of the Emir of Kano's Judicial Council, (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1994), 118, 124, 127. 22 Akbar Muluk es-Soudan, "Histoire de Sokoto," in Tadhkirat al-Nisyan, trans. O Houdas (Paris: Librairie d'Amerique et d'Orient, 1966), 313. 23 Akbar Muluk es-Soudan, Tadhkirat al-Nisyan trans. O Houdas (Paris: Librairie d'Amerique et d'Orient, 1966). 69 captive whoever was not killed in the fighting. In describing the first attack on

Gobir, 'Uthman stated that, "we met them and put them to flight, and burnt their houses. We killed their males, and took their women and children. They scattered."25

In an indication of the importance of booty in Caliphate warfare, in Tanbih al ikhwan aid ard al-sudan, 'Uthman disagrees with the ninth century jurist ibn 'Arafa's qualification of who could be considered a mujdhid. This is significant since the

Sokoto leadership regularly relied upon ibn 'Arafa opinions in forming their policies. The disagreement about who could be considered a mujahid had ramifications for the taking of booty, including captives and the profits to be made from prisoners. According to 'Arafa, a person who fights for the sake of booty or to show his bravery can not be considered a mujahid, whereas 'Uthman argues that

"aiming to get booty should not be counted against a man if he has fought to make

God's law supreme."27 In making this statement 'Uthman was acknowledging the reality of the situation in that while the Muslim community was willing to fight to establish what they perceived to be a society in accordance with God's will, in order to fight they also needed the extra motivation of being able to collect booty.

Booty in terms of captives was a main motivator for Bello's troops. After one expedition in Gobir his troops were ready to desert if they did not receive what they

es-Soudan, "Histoire de Sokoto." 25 'Uthman ibn FudI, Tanbih al ikhwan ala ard al-sudan, 191. 26 See M Hiskett, "An Islamic Tradition of Reform in the Western Sudan from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century," in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 25:1/3 (1962): 592. 27 'Uthman ibn FudI, Tanbih al ikhwan ala ard al-sudan, 180. 70 perceived to be a more equitable share of the captives. In the mid-1850s as a consequence of Bello's war with Borno and with other Hausa states, the Lander brothers noted that,

many thousands of his [Bello's] men, fearing no law, and having no ostensible employment, are scattered over the whole face of the country. They commit all sorts of crimes; they plunder, they burn, they destroy, and even murder, and are not amenable to any earthly tribunal for their actions.29

This type of raiding involved taking captive, individuals who were recognized by the newly established states as free-born Muslims.

Furthermore, 'Uthman also recognized the importance of booty as a source of income and as a means to finance the jihad and the establishment of the Sokoto

Caliphate. In Kitdb al-farq, 'Uthman stated that booty was one of the seven income sources for the public treasury; the others being the fifth, the land tax, the poll tax, the tithe, inheritance, and property with a missing or no owner. Towards the end of the century, in an undated letter, most likely from the 1890s, the Amir of Katsina showed that the collection of booty was still important to the Caliphate decades later. He wrote to the Sarkin Musulmi in Sokoto that "Allah granted the power to go to the country of Maradi and I myself went with my army to a village called Ungwar Mata,

m es-Soudan, "Histoire de Sokoto," 306-307 29 Richard and John Lander, Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Course and Termination of the Niger (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1858), 1: 282 30 See M Hiskett, "Kitab-al-farq: 'A Work on the Habe Kingdoms Attributed to 'Uthman dan fodio", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 23:3 (1960): 571. 71 which we sacked and burnt, and in which we found much booty by Allah's will and your blessing."

The enslavement of free-born Muslims as part of booty, despite the best efforts of the state to prevent it, continued to be problematic throughout the nineteenth century. For example, both HalTma and Khadija were free women from

Kano who were captured during the Kano civil war in the early 1890s and sold as slaves; HalTma in Wadal. Similarly Salih, also a free-born Muslim, was captured in a raid by the army from Madaka in about 1891 and was sold northwards.32

Baba of Karo recounts that when she was a child in the 1890s and early years of the twentieth century, Ibrahim Nagwamase, also known as Mai Sudan, ruler of

Kontagora, who continuously raided the Katsina-Zaria region, also sent raiding parties into her region of southern Kano. While, according to Baba, the actual raiders always transferred their captives, like the original captors of captive Europeans in the

Sahara, it was possible to trace the sales and ransom kidnapped individuals.33

The senior leadership of the Sokoto Caliphate tried to actively discourage the enslavement of recognized free-born Muslims, and called those who engaged in the practice "unbelievers". Yet, there was not much the state could do to prevent it.

Instead of simply releasing free-born Muslims taken captive and facing enslavement,

31 Abukar, 7th Emir of Katsina to the Sultan of Sokoto, the Sarkin Musulmi Abderrahman, undated, The Occupation of Hausaland 1900-1904, ed. HF Backwell, (London: Frank Cass & Co Ltd, 1969), 34. 32 Christelow, 118, 124, 127. Madaka is a mountainous region in the centre of present-day Niger Republic. 33 Smith, Baba of Karo, 67-75. 72 the Sokoto Caliphate condoned having them attain their freedom through ransoming by their families and friends.

Shifts in Ransoming Policies

Ransoming was crucial in the conduct of the jihads as a means for rescuing free-born Muslims from captivity and as a preventative to their enslavement. In his discussion of ransoming in Bayan wujub al-hijra 'aid 7- 'ibad, 'Uthman outlined his support for the ransoming of his followers.34 As has been stated, one of his foci during the jihad and the establishment of the Sokoto Caliphate was the return of wrongly enslaved Muslims and of his captured followers to a state of freedom while converting those whom he did not consider true Muslims. Like his father, Bello also strongly emphasized the importance of freeing free-born Muslims from captivity and slavery. This can be seen in his discussion of ransoming in Risdla ild ahl al- haramayn al-sharifayn wa ild ahl al-mashriq. In this text, Bello stated that it was incumbent upon Muslims to free wrongly enslaved fellow Muslims.35

Yet, while all of the jihadist leaders agreed on the use of ransoming as a means for freeing recognized free-born Muslims held by their enemies, there was debate, especially in the early years of the Sokoto jihad, on the efficacy of ransoming prisoners held by jihadist forces. Ransoming was one of the lawful means for dealing

'Uthman bin Fudi, Bayan wujub al-hijra 'aid 'I — 'ibad, 123. 35 Muhammad Bello, Risdla ild ahl al-haramayn al-sharifayn wa ild ahl al-mashriq, in 'Umar al-Naqar, The Pilgrimage Tradition in West Africa, (Khartoum: Khartoum University Press, 1972), 142. Ransoming as a tool for freeing captive free-born Muslims was later used by both 'Umar and Samori. 73 with prisoners, yet freeing one's enemies, even on payment of a large ransom, especially when one is trying to establish a new state, may not have always been viewed as militarily strategic. Muhammad Tukur, the scholar and close friend of

'Uthman, for example, instructed in his circa 1789 admonitory poem "Busuraa'u" that prisoners could be kept as slaves, sold for horses, or made to pay tribute. He did not mention that prisoners could be ransomed.36 In the early years of the jihad ransoming was a useful pathway for rescuing individuals from enslavement and captivity whereas enslavement or the establishment of tribute payments were useful tools in establishing the rule of Muslim law and governance.

Bello shared this opinion. He discussed his stance on ransoming prisoners held by the Sokoto Caliphate in an undated letter sent to Yakubu Bzymin Bauchi, the founder of the Bauchi Emirate. Bauchi was seeking advice on what do with war prisoners captured by his forces. In this letter Bello retold the story of the victory over

Tabuk and the discussion over the fate of the prisoners. According to Bello, the

Prophet Muhammad told his Companions that in regard to the captives, there were three possible choices that were acceptable in the interests of Islam. First, they could allow the prisoners to be ransomed. Second, they could enslave the captives. Third, they could kill them. According to Bello the Prophet Muhammad initially favoured allowing the prisoners to be ransomed. However, 'Umar argued that the prisoners

should be killed. 'Umar reasoned that the prisoners did not deserve to be either ransomed or enslaved and that they should be killed so that they would no longer be a

6 Tukur, "Busuraa'u" verse 759-761. 74 threat to Islam. In Bello's retelling of the story, after a vigorous debate of the issue amongst the Companions, Allah descended a Qu'ranic verse that said to kill all the prisoners. In advising Bauchi on what to do with the prisoners in his custody, Bello counselled that his decision must be based upon the will of Allah, and the interests of

Islam and of justice.37 From this it can be inferred that Bello had advised Yakubu

Bauchi to kill his prisoners instead of ransoming them.

Nevertheless, in the early years of the Sokoto jihad a minority opinion existed in favour of occasionally ransoming war prisoners held by Sokoto forces. Indeed, the ransoming of war prisoners may have taken place in the first two decades of the

Sokoto jihad. For example in the Tazyin al-waraqdt, 'Abdullahi ibn FudI stated that after one attack on Nupe in c 1813, that the army seized many fortresses, killed many people, took many others prisoner and "gave safe-conduct to some of the unbelievers

TO if they asked for it." While 'Abdullahi does not say why certain "unbelievers" were given safe-conduct while others were not and were kept prisoner, it seems unlikely that all prisoners who asked for safe-conduct would have been given it. It is probable that there were criteria for deciding who would be allowed safe-conduct and it seems reasonable that this would have been based on trustworthiness and the willingness to

17 Muhammad Bello to Yakubu Bauchi, undated, in Boubou Hama "Journal novembre 1964 a mars 1965," 397-400. The story of the battle of Tabuk is important in the oral tradition of the central bilad al-sudan. See Dalhatu Muhammad, "The Tabuka Epic (?) in Hausa: An Exercise in Narratology," in Studies in Hausa Language, Literature and Culture: Proceeding of the Second Hausa International Conference, eds. Ibrahim Yaro Yahaha, Abba RufaT and Al-Amin Abu-Manga ( Kano: Centre for the Study of Nigerian Languages, Bayero University, Kano, 1982), 397-415. 38 'Abdullahi ibn Fudi, Tazyin al-waraqdt, 130. 75 pay their own ransom and to return with the ransoms of relatives or friends kept behind.

This minority opinion in the Sokoto Caliphate was exemplified by

'Abdullahi's writings. In the Tazyin al-waraqat, he wrote that prisoners should be allowed to pay ransom and that the ransom money should be included in the booty.39

He further supported this position in Diya' al-hukkam, a treatise on law that he wrote for new rulers circa 1817, where he discussed the division of booty and the fate of prisoners. Nevertheless, 'Abdullahi acknowledged the controversy in implementing ransoming by stating that "Abu Hanifa is of the opinion that ransoms should not be paid with money. Some say that there is only one judgement with regard to the male prisoners of war; they are to be put to death."40

Both those who supported the ransoming of prisoners held by jihadist forces and those who were against it had solid foundations in Malik! law. According to the law, ransoming was only one legitimate option for dealing with war prisoners.

Choosing not to use it, or forming policies that forbade its use, did not go against the law. However, both those who supported the ransoming of prisoners held by Sokoto forces and those who did not must have been aware that in the Mukhtasar KhalTl emphasized that ransoming should only take place during an official or unofficial truce thereby suggesting that one should only ransom back captives from a position of

'Abdullahi ibn FudT, Tazyin al-waraqat, 122-130. He further explores this issue in Diya' al- sultan wa ghayrihi min al-ikhwan. See Lovejoy, "The Bello-Clapperton Exchange," 209. 40 'Abdullahi ibn FudT, Diya' al-hukkam, 1-2. 76 strength.41 While this was not made explicit in either the writings of 'Uthman nor

'Abdullahi, considering the prominence of the Mukhtasar, this must have formed a subtext of debate between supporters of both sides. Assessments concerning lulls in the fighting and relative strength were open to interpretation. Obviously, those like

'Abdullahi, wanting to be able to utilize all legitimate options, evidently believed that often the potential ransom money gained from returning a male captive outweighed the potential risks of releasing him. The question in the early years of the jihad was not about the legitimacy of ransoming captives held by one's forces, but whether or not it was prudent.

Nevertheless, in the Sokoto Caliphate, it appears that the ransoming of non-

Muslims and enemies became more popular towards the end of the nineteenth century. This is due to the changing political conditions. By 1820 the ideological phase of the jihad was over, there was no more danger that the jihad would not succeed and the leadership was onto the consolidation period of their rule. Raids continued to be conducted throughout the rest of the nineteenth century on the frontiers of the Sokoto Caliphate and individual emirates as a means to expand territorially and to gather slave labour.42 In the latter half of the nineteenth century,

41 KhalTl ibn Ishaq, Mukhtasar, trans and ed. Georges Henri Bousquet (Paris, 1962) 1: 217- 218. 42 Paul Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 198, Umaru, 4th Emir of Bauchi to Sultan Sarkin Musulmi 'Abd al-Rahman, undated, and Abubakr, 7th Emir of Katsina to the Sultan Sarkin Musulmi Muhammadu Attahiru, undated, Backwell, 22-23, 35, ANN 1E1.21 1903 Residence de Tessaoua Rapports Politiques mensuels 1903 Mois de Mars 1903 Richardson, Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa 1850-51, 2: 221, AF Mockler- Ferryman, Up the Niger (London: George Philip & Son, 1892), 99, 169, Paul Staudinger, In the Heart of the Hausa States trans. Johanna E Moody (Athens Ohio, Ohio University Center for International Studies Monographs in International Studies), 2: 26. 77 the Sokoto Caliphate was firmly established, and therefore prudence was no longer a factor in justifying a blanket policy against ransoming back "enemies" of the regime.

According to one of Ann O'Hear's informants, Magaji Yaba, in mid-nineteenth century Uorin, slaves who wanted to become Muslims would often refuse to be ransomed.43 This suggests that at this time Ilorin was willing to ransom non-

Muslims. In the late nineteenth century JF Schon observed that the captors of high- status non-Muslim captive children looked forward to the opportunity to negotiate ransoms with their captives' relatives.44

The emphasis on ransoming as a tool to prevent the illegal enslavement of free-born Muslims in the Sokoto Caliphate at the state level instead of a means to further enrich captors can been seen in the fact that at the end of nineteenth century, throughout the Sokoto Caliphate, it was still easier to ransom back free-born Muslim captives than to ransom back non-Muslims. According to Dan Rimin Kano, in mid to late-nineteenth century Kano, while many prisoners brought to the city were executed at the various city gates, Muslim captives were, for the most part, ransomed.45 In another case, at the close of the century, in an undated letter written between 1891 and 1897, Umaru Bakatara, the Amir of Gwandu informed the Sarkin Musulmi 'Abd al-Rahman, that he had captured some men who had "joined the heathen in a rebellion" and while he was keeping the slaves and captured goods, he was sending

Ann O'Hear, Power Relations in Nigeria, Ilorin Slaves and their Successors (Rochester: Rochester University Press, 1997), 39 44 JF Schon, Magana Hausa: Native Literature in the Hausa Language (London: 1885), 164- 165. 45 Economic History Project Interview with Dan Rimin Kano, Kano, December 12 and 30, 1975. 78 the captured Muslim men to Sokoto. There was no mention of the fate of the captured free men but ransoming was a possibility. According to Baba of Karo towards the end of the nineteenth century, if one was captured by someone from

Maradi, in other words by Muslims, it was possible to be ransomed.47

Conclusion

Ransoming was crucial during Sokoto jihad. Policies concerning ransoming stemmed from the issue of the enslavement of free-born Muslims. Indeed, lawful and unlawful enslavement and the remedies for unlawful enslavement had been debated in the western and central bilad al-sudan since at least the fifteenth century. In the central Sudan, the issue of unlawful enslavement came to a head at the beginning of the nineteenth century with the launch of the Sokoto jihad that was, in large part, a response to the enslavement of free-born Muslims. Amidst the strife caused by the jihad, ransoming was a crucial means for protecting the rights of free-born Muslims who had been taken captive. While as a matter of policy all the jihad leaders agreed on the importance of ransoming free-born Muslims, they differed on their opinions concerning the ransoming of "non-Muslim" prisoners held by their forces. It appears that amongst the early jihad leaders of the Sokoto Caliphate, while ransoming was a legitimate option for dealing with prisoners, only a minority favoured its practice. Yet the Sokoto policy changed throughout the nineteenth century as the state became

46 Umaru Bakatara, 10"' Emir of Gwandu to Sarkin Musulmi Abderrahman, ll"1 Sarkin Musulmi of Sokoto, undated, Backwell, 16. 47 Smith, 47. 79 more established. By the end of the nineteenth century while ransoming was still viewed primarily as a practical means of protecting free-born Muslims from enslavement, the ransoming of non-Muslims was also permitted. The following chapter will examine the motives to ransom on the individual level and the factors necessary for successful ransom negotiations.

80 »th Map 3.1: 19l" Century West Africa

Adapted from Michael A Gomez, Exchanging our Country Marks (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1998), 32-33.

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•oa O H O »-) o West African Islamic empires. o 3 =? o aO. oo CHAPTER FOUR

PATTERNS IN RANSOM NEGOTIATIONS

Introduction

The previous chapters discussed ransoming in its legal context in the western and central bilad al-sudan and the policy at the state level of using ransoming as a means of protecting free-born Muslims from unlawful enslavement. As has been demonstrated, not only was ransoming viewed as a moral and legal obligation, which became especially important during the Sokoto jihad, but policies permitting the ransoming of Muslims varied over time. This chapter will focus on patterns of ransoming. Specifically this will entail an examination of the motives for ransoming on the individual level instead of the state level, and the importance of communication links, social status, and the use of mediators in successful ransom negotiations.

Motives to Ransom from the Captives' Side

The ransoming of Muslims in the western and central bilad al-sudan was a long-standing practice, pre-dating the social upheaval of the nineteenth century.

According to Songhay oral tradition dating from the sixteenth century, for example,

83 common fates for prisoners of war included death, enslavement, and ransoming.1

Individuals were willing pay for ransoms due to their sense of religious piety, and their personal attachments to captives.

Europeans on the coast of West Africa noted the practice of Muslims ransoming other free-born Muslims. In the 1780s, one of Carl Wadstrom's informants told him that the Mandingo usually went to great efforts to organize ransoms.2 In referring to the massive capture of Muslims during the Gyaman/Kong revolt against

Asante in c 1797, J Dupuis wrote in the 1820s, from the recollections of Muslim informants, that

among the latter [captives] were upwards of five thousand Moslems, who were distributed among the provinces and in the capital. In no instance were these people subject to the penalty of death, as many of the heathens were, neither were they sold into slavery. Some, according to their inclinations or capacity, were suffered to redeem themselves from captivity by paying a ransom; some were ransomed by the pious Moslems of their own country, or of Dagomba.3

The practice of Muslims ransoming Muslims continued throughout the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century. According to oral tradition in the Ader only war prisoners who were not ransomed by their families were sold as slaves.4 In

Boubou Hama ed., Histoire Traditionnelle d'un village Songhay: Foneko (Editions Presence Africaine, 1970), 30-31. 2 Carl Wadstrom, An Essay on Colonization Particularly Applied to the Western Coast of Africa with some Thoughts on Cultivation and Commerce, 1794 (London: August M Kelly Publishers, 1968) 2: 113-114. See 2:17 for an example of a zwaya, or marabout, offered to pay a ransom of two or more slaves for his brother on Goree island c 1783. 3 J Dupuis, Journal of a residence in Ashantee (1824, reprint London, 1966). Nicole Echard, L 'experience du passe: Histoire de la societe paysanne Hausa de I'Ader (Niamey: Niamey: Institut de Recherches en Sciences Humaines, 1975), 184. 84 another example, in 1898 Ingldu b.Fundu stated reasons for ransoming his niece

Na'Ima in Timbuktu was "for the sake of Allah the Great and his abundant pardon, and because of the blood ties."5

Payers of ransom were also motivated by their sense of honour and their personal attachments to the captive. For instance, Tuareg slave owners often ransomed their slaves taken during a raid, not because of personal attachments to the individual slaves but as a matter of personal honour. Indicating personal attachments,

Gustav Nachtigal provides an example of the desperation to raise a ransom.

According to him, about 1862, in Tibesti, an unidentified man stole a well-guarded double-barrelled gun, from Nachtigal and his party, to use as part of a ransom payment for his brother who was being held in Kanem by the 'Awlad Sulayman.7 In a

1900 example, a Tuareg father followed the 2nd Senegalese regiment in its march to

Zinder in order to ransom back his child who was taken by some of the French

o troops.

According to French officials, among the Mossi, at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century ransoming of an individual by a

5IHERJAB, ms 3851/9 6 personal communication with Ibrahim Amouren, Director of the Archives d'Agadez, March 2007. 7 See Humphrey J Fisher, Slavery in the History of Muslim Black Africa (New York: New York University Press, 2001), 77. 8 ANN 1E1.3 1900 Rapport de Lieutenant JI Galidon Commandant le 2eme Senegalais en marche sur Zinder-Tchad. 85 family member or a friend was also common. The Kankan Cercle Commander wrote in his 1894 report that "nous ne considerons pas comme captif celui qui reduit momentanement en esclavage par suite des hasards de la guerre aurait recouvre ensuite sa liberie."10 Likewise, in Sikasso, at the end of the nineteenth century, ransoming of prisoners was also wide spread.11 In the first few years of the twentieth century, survivors of Samori's raids spent years raising funds to ransom back their captive relatives. According to Jean Delteil, Bougouni Cercle Commander, in early

1904, numerous ransoms were made in the aftermath of Samori's raids but because their families were unable to raise the fee, not all of the people who could have been ransomed were ransomed. Lieutenant Jean noted in his 1904 reconnaissance report on Air that there had been a series of ransoms throughout the region in the previous year. The individual motivation for paying a person's ransom, therefore, was often a complicated mixture of personal and kinship ties and understanding of religious duty and obligation.

9 ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie-Niger 1904. Residence du Mossi, Poste de Fenkodogo Rapport sur la captivite, le 25 fevrier 1904, ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie-Niger 1904. Residence du Mossi Ouagaoudou, le 4 mars 1904 10 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan, 1894. Cercle de Kankan. Rapport sur la captivite dans le Cercle. 11 ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie-Niger 1904. Cercle de Sikasso. Rapport sur la captivite. 12 ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie-Niger 1904. Cercle de Bougouni. Rapport de l'adjoint de A.J Delteil, Commandant le Cercle en reponse de Monsieur le Gouverneur General de l'A.O.F a Kayes,l 8 Janvier 1904. 13 ANN 1E1.32 1904 Poste d'Agadez: rapport en fin de reconnaissance de Lieutenant Jean sur l'escorte de la caravane et la reconnaissance dans l'A'ir. 86 Motives to Ransom from the Captor's Side

From the captor's point of view, ransoming prisoners was a means of making a profit. Captors were often motivated to ransom because they wanted to gain the market price plus the amount that the captive's family and friends were willing to pay for the individual's return. Ransom prices will be discussed in the following chapter.

For example, in his 1885 volume Schon reported that, "on some occasions the children of chiefs are caught. When they capture these they [captors] always rejoice exceedingly, because they know that their relatives will come to ransom them: they charge them heavily."14 The Tuareg Kel Gress, in their late nineteenth century raids against the Argungu in Kabbi, the Menaka, the Goberawa, and Zarma villages routinely held the people they captured in the general area to see whether or not they could ransom them back.15

The profit motive for captor's is especially apparent in examining ransoming that stemmed from illegal activity rather than the ransoming or selling of prisoners captured through state-sanctioned warfare. Brigandage was technically illegal under

Islamic law. Indeed, AbT Zayd al-QayrawanT, in his Risala, advocated stiff penalties for brigands (muharibun) especially if a person was killed during a raid, yet its practice was widespread throughout the western and central Sudan and the Sahara.16

In the nineteenth century brigandage flourished for two reasons. First, the

14 Schon, 164-165. 15 See Pierre Bonte, "Esclavage et relations de dependence chez les Touaregs Kel Gress," in L'esclavage en Afriqueprecoloniale, ed. Claude Meillassoux, (Paris: Francois, 1975), 1 al-QayrawanT, Risdlah, 263. 87 establishment and expansion of the new states involved continuous warfare and the gathering of captives on the peripheries. This caused general insecurity and sometimes swept up individuals who should not have taken captive. Second, the newly established states were not strong enough to prevent the non-officially sanctioned raiding and capture of free-born Muslims in these regions.

Throughout the mid to late nineteenth century there was continuous raiding on villages of the western and central Sudan. For captors', holding individuals for ransom was not only a means for making a profit but also to attain necessary goods.

For example, from Nachtigal's description of the living conditions of the nomads living in Egei, Bodele and Borku in the 1860s, one can deduce that the continual raiding and then ransoming of individuals on the part of the inhabitants of Wadai and

Bideyat in the mid-nineteenth century was a means of extracting goods, animals, and foodstuffs. Nachtigal states that,

I knew people there who year in and year out worked and stole, stole and worked, without ever having any immediate enjoyment from even the smallest part of their gains. Everything went to their enemies' country to ransom wives and children, and scarcely was one member of the family restored when another 1 7 was seized.

Besides the raiding of villages, the raiding of caravans was common. In his correspondence, Bello acknowledged the problem of the pillaging of caravans to the

17 Nachtigal, 2: 418. 88 north of the Sokoto Caliphate especially by the Tuareg Kel Gress.18 In the 1850s, the roads in and out of Zinder were notorious for attacks on small caravans.19 While near the Niger-Benue confluence, in the late 1850s the Lander brothers were warned about the danger posed by pillagers to intra-city travellers. At one point they wrote,

as at Egga, we are here earnestly solicited by the mallams to stop two or three days, to give the market-people an opportunity of accompanying us to Bocqua, every one warning us that we shall be in jeopardy of our lives, unless we take this precaution. The manners of the people all along the banks of the Niger hence they also represent to us as being in the highest degree dangerous. They are said to be public robbers, without laws or regulations of any kind; that they live under no king and acknowledge no human authority - in a word, that they are a community of ferocious outlaws.

Factors in Successful Ransom Negotiations

Second to the importance of individual motivations and the first requirement for successful ransom negotiations in the western and central bilad al-sudan was communication. Where practices of enslavement and ransoming differ is that while

See Muhammad Bello to Wachar, undated, in Boubou Hama, "Journal de 2 mars 1968 au 6 mai 1969," 282-283 and Muhammad Bello to STdl Mahmud, undated, in Boubou Hama, "Journal de 2 mars 1968 au 6 mai 1969," 284. In his study of the Arabian Bedouin, Anthony Toth argues that raiding and pillaging was a means of wealth redistribution in a harsh environment and that there were rules and conventions that regulated pillaging, such as not raiding allied tribes nor those who had paid a khuwa (brotherhood) fee. See Anthony Toth, "Economic Change in the Bedouin Domain: Case Studies in the Era Before Oil, 1830-1950," (Ph.D diss., Oxford University, 2000), 2-3. This reasoning for the pillaging of caravans by Tuareg in the Sahara is supported by Ibrahim Amouren, Director, Archives d'Agadez, personal communication with author, March 14 2007. For more on raiding of caravans especially in the Sahara see Lydon, "On Trans-Saharan Trails: Trading Networks and Cross-Cultural Exchange in Western Africa.l840s-1850s," 153-157. 19 James Richardson, Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa 1850-51 (London: Chapman and Hall, 1853), 2:225. 2 Lander, Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Course and Termination of the Niger, 2: 130 89 individuals marked for enslavement were quickly moved away from the location of their capture and communication between the captive and his or her family and friends was suppressed, contact between captor and the friends and families of those being held for ransom was required.

An individual's value as a slave increased the farther away he or she was taken from the origin of capture. This is because the farther away captives were taken, the less likely that they would be located and rescued, and the less likely they would be able to encounter people they knew or to re-establish contact with their family and friends. The opposite, however, was true for those being held for ransom.

Successful ransom negotiations were dependent on the captives being located by those willing to pay for their ransoms and on communication between the captive and the payer of ransom. One of Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan's Songhay informants,

Mounkeila Langey noted this difference when he stated that,

a l'epoque ils s'agissait souvent de Bella (esclaves touaregs), qui cherchaient une bonne fortune en brousse. Ils s'approchent doucement, et les enlevent; comme ce sont des enfants, ils les prennent facilement, et les emportent au loin. Ces enfants-la auraient beau etre des nobles, jusqu'a etre meme les propres enfants du chef de Dessa, les voila devenus esclaves; la ou on conduira ils no seront plus que des esclaves. Certains sont emmenes fort loin, dans des contrees inconnues, nul n'aura de

21 Not all enslaved individuals were moved over large distances as has been shown in Paul E Lovejoy, "Biographies of Enslaved Muslims from the Central Sudan in the Nineteenth Century," in The Sokoto Caliphate: History and Legacies, 1804-2004, vol 1. ed. A.M Yakubu, (Kaduna: Arewa House, 2006) where he shows that many slaves were settled within 100km of the place of their enslavement. 90 leurs nouvelles, et done personne ne pourra verser une rancon pour eux.

The ransoming of prisoners was possible because of mechanisms that allowed for the exchange of information about taken individuals. Trade routes, and the establishment of information networks along those routes, were vital to this process. J

Vansina defines three types of trade: local trade, regional trade, and long-distance trade. All three were useful as information links.23 For regional and long-distance trade to take place communication links must be maintained even during times of warfare. As Richard Roberts states, "no matter what the state did or did not do, people produced, traded, and consumed."24 It was possible for people looking for taken individuals to tap into the communication links of traders in order to locate individuals.

In West Africa, long-distance trade, and therefore communication links, had long been dominated by trading networks based on ethnic and religious identity.25

Due to the tendency for traders to form trade associations with members of their own

Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan, Les societes Songhay-Zarma (Niger-Mali) Chefs, guerriers, esclaves, paysans (Paris: Editions Karthala, 1894), 31. 23 J Vansina, "Long-Distance Trade Routes in Central Africa," Journal of African History 3:3 (1962): 375-390. Vansina defines local trade as the exchange of locally produced products using a locally recognized currency. Regional trade is defined as a trade that is conducted over larger distances and in market places close to borders or in capital cities and under the authority of political authorities of the market where the trade is taking place. He defines long-distance trade as direct trade over long- distances. Roberts, Warriors and Merchants, 13. 25 For in-depth discussions of African trading networks see Lydon, Paul Lovejoy, Caravans of Kola: The Hausa Kola Trade 1700-1900 (Zaria: Ahmadu Bello University Press, 1980). Paul Lovejoy, Salt of the Desert Sun (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), Edward Alpers, "Trade, State and Society among the Yao in the Nineteenth Century," Journal of African History 10:3 (1969): 405- 420. Marie Perinbam, "The Julas in Western Sudanese History: Long-Distance Traders and Developers of Resources," in West African Cultural Dynamics: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives,, eds. B.K Swartz and R Dumet, (The Hague: Mouton Publishers, 1980). 91 ethnic group, they formed unique groups within their host communities based on their status as strangers. Forming a "trading diaspora" based on ethnicity helped to overcome such basic trading issues as obtaining credit and business information, working within political and religious milieus, and sustaining cultural distinctiveness.26 Furthermore, as Philip Curtin has shown, forming such "trading diasporas" promoted trust and communication since this was "far easier between people who share values, language, legal system, kinship ties, and other sources of solidarity."27 These trading networks facilitated commercial, cultural, and information exchange. Moreover these expatriate communities were ultimately helpful in identifying captives for ransom.

From the beginning of the seventeenth century to the end of the nineteenth century, Muslim traders dominated long-distance trade within West Africa;

Senegambia and throughout the savannah, sahel, and desert regions. Muslims were also important traders along the trade routes, of the upper Guinea coast and Sierra

Leone. In the western Sudan, long-distance trade was dominated by a trading network known as the Dyula among the Malinke of the Upper Niger valley, Marka or Maraka by the Bambara, and as Wangara in Arabic sources, which interacted with both

TO

Europeans on the Atlantic coast and with Saharans in the Saharan "ports." The

Hausa dominated long-distance trade in the central Sudan. Even in non-Muslim 26 For the original development of the idea of 'trading diasporas' see Abner Cohen "Cultural Strategies in the Organization of Trading Diaspora," in The Development of Indigenous Trade and Markets in West Africa, ed. Claude Meillassoux, (London: Oxford University Press, 1971), 273-277. Philip Curtin, Economic Change in Precolonial Africa: Senegambia in the Era of the Slave Trade (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1975), 60. 28 Kati, TarTkh al-Fattash. 92 regions of West Africa such as Asante, the Bight of Benin, Dahomey, and Oyo, where political authorities often placed restrictions on their trading activities, Muslim merchants were essential to long-distance trade.29 Muslim trading networks also operated across the Sahara and into North Africa, and with the development of

European posts on the Atlantic Coast linked the Maghrib with Europeans on the West

African coast.30 While long-distance trade networks intersected and exchanged goods at major port cities such as Timbuktu, where Saharan and West African networks met, and at coastal cities such as Calabar, where European and West African networks intersected, there were trade networks, such as the Tikna and the Awlad Bu

Sba, who travelled, traded, and linked such cities as Ndar (Saint-Louis), Timbuktu,

Marrakesh, and al-SawIra. ' These trading networks allowed for the flow of information including information on taken individuals.

People often sought information from travellers. This system worked because of the exchange of information among travellers. While some of the requests made to

Europeans travellers were recorded, it is even more likely that requests for information or help in locating taken individuals were made on a frequent and consistent basis of long-distance traders. For example, Mungo Park recounted that when he was leaving Wawra for Segou, a group of women asked him to inquire about

29 Paul E Lovejoy, "Islam, Slavery and Political Transformation in West Africa: Constraints on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade," Outre-Mers: Revue d'histoire 89 (2002): 247-282. 30 See, for example A Adu Boahen, "The Caravan Trade in the Nineteenth Century," Journal of African History 3:2 (1962): 349-359, and Edward Bovill, The Golden Trade of the Moors (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1958). 31 See Lydon, "On Trans-Saharan Trails: Trading Networks and Cross-Cultural Exchange in Western Africa. 1840s - 1930s," for a very comprehensive study on the Tikna and the Awlad Bu Sba trading networks. 93 the fate of their children who had been taken in raids and which they thought had ended up in Segou. He stated that

one woman, in particular, told me that her son's name was Mamadee; that he was no Heathen, but prayed to God morning and evening, and had been taken from her about three years ago, by Mansong's army; since which she had never heard of him. She said, she often dreamed about him; and begged me, if I should see him, either in Bambara, or in my own country, to tell him, that his mother and sister were still alive.32

While these women had a good idea where their children may have been taken, they also suspected that they might not have been kept within Segou. This was a reasonable assumption. Once an individual entered the slave trade in the western and central Sudan, he or she could be sent north into the Sahara or the Maghrib, kept within the western or central Sudan or traded closer to the coast. Even if one knew the identity of the slave trader who held one's loved one, it could still be difficult to trace where the individual had gone. For example, Paul Soleillet met a typical trader who sent some of his slaves to Bakel and others to the coast. Soleillet stated that,

ce chef a nom Maka, il est ne a Segala, pres de Kouniakay, habite Segou et jouit de la confiance du Sultan Ahmadou...Interroge sur la destination de ses esclaves, il dit que les uns restent a Bakel et en repartiront dans quelques jours pour Segou; que d'autres descendront le fleuve jusqu'a Podor et meme jusqu'a Saint-Louis et qu'il en conduira, par le Bondou a Saint-Marie de Bathurst, le plus grand nombre.33

Mungo Park, Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa (New York: Arna Press, 1971), 186. 33 Paul Soleillet, Voyage a Segou, 1878-1879, ed. Gabriel Gravier, (Paris: Challamel aine Librairie Editeur), 97. 94 Selling slaves purchased together in one location at different markets was a common practice.

Captors facilitated the search efforts of captives' relatives. In the Sokoto

Caliphate it was possible to travel to politically sanctioned markets to inquire about the whereabouts of missing relatives and, at times, to find and ransom them.34 The

Tuareg Kel Gress usually waited a few weeks in the general area of their raids to see

or if anyone would send an emissary to conduct ransom negotiations. Similarly during

Samori's wars, in the upper Niger region, villagers taken in combat, after undergoing rituals of submission, were often held to see whether or not their surviving and free relatives and friends would be willing and able to ransom them back.36

The third factor affecting whether or not a person would be ransomed was social status. In areas where ransoming was permitted, even though all free-born

Muslims should be ransomed if that was the most convenient method of ensuring their freedom, the social standing of a captive was a key consideration for whether or not he or she would be ransomed back to his or her family. This is because only high- status families had the means to make expensive ransom payments. According to oral traditions, Kado nobles from Anzourou, northwest of present-day Niamey, when 'in captured by Tuareg raiders were always returned upon payment of a ransom.

Likewise according to Zinder oral tradition, important individuals and people of 34 Paul E Lovejoy, "The Sahara-Atlantic Divide. Or how Women Fit into the SlaveTrade." 35 Bonte, 56. 36 Person, Samori, 2: 927. 37 Olivier de Sardan, Quand nos peres etaient captifs, 32-34. Anzourou is located near Tillabery, north-west of present-day Niamey. 95 "good birth" taken prisoner were also always offered for ransom. This is not unique to this region. In his world-wide study of slavery, in the few pages where he discusses ransoming, Orlando Patterson observes that upper-class captives were usually ransomed and that higher ranked captives usually commanded greater ransoms.39

Status was a factor in determining the ransom price. For example, in the central Sudan, among the Songhay, ransom prices were tied to status. The ransom of a koy-ize, a free man, was much higher than that of a borcin, a manumitted individual, which was yet higher than that of a horso, or house-slave, if ransomed at all.40

Similarly among the Tuareg of Air, "white" Tuaregs were always ransomed and their families were willing to pay any price for their return, while the ransom prices of individuals of bellah identity were lower.41 Ransom prices will be discussed further in the following chapter.

The ransom case of Barayi Zaki, a grandson of the Sarkin Musulmi 'Abd al-

Rahman (1891-1902), through one of his daughters, further exemplifies the importance of status. Barayi Zaki was captured by French troops during a botched raid. He had accompanied his uncle, Mahe, the Sarkin Mafari, son of 'Abd al-

Rahman on a mission to capture Jan Tullu. While the mission was initially successful,

38 Andre Salifou, "Colonisation et societes indigenes au Niger de la fin du XIXe siecle au debut de la deuxieme guerre mondiale," (Ph.D diss., Universite de Toulouse-Le Mirail, 1977), 249- 250. 39 Orlando Patterson, Slavery and Social Death (Cambridge Mass, Harvard University Press, 1982), 107. 40 Kimba Idrissa, "Guerres et societes: Les populations du "Niger" Occidental au XIX siecle et leurs reactions face a la colonization 1896-1906". (Ph.D diss., Universite de Paris VII, 1979), 55. 41 personal communication with Ibrahim Amouren, Director of the Archives d'Agadez, March 2007. 96 as Jan Tullu was captured, Mahe's party was pursued by the Sarkin Doso Na Mailaya and some French troops. They rescued Jan Tullu and captured Barayi Zaki. In a letter addressed to 'Abd al-Rahman, the Sarkin Bayaro Abdullahi informed him that,

your son [grandson Barayi Zaki] is in Dosso and the Christians have put a heavy ransom on him. They have stipulated for twenty pairs of trousers - (Tsamiya) - twenty black Kano cloths Kore), forty cloths (wawa), and twenty cloths (Kudi da Kudi) - in all a hundred also three youths and two girls. This is the ransom which they have imposed, for your information.42

It is unclear whether the French troops holding Barayi Zaki for ransom in Dosso were

African or European officers. It is also uncertain if the ransom was ever paid.

However, Barayi Zaki did eventually regain his freedom since by 1927 he was living in Denge District in Northern Nigeria.43 Those holding Barayi Zaki for ransom, though, most likely believed that they could ask such a high ransom price for him because he was a grandson of the Sarkin Musulmi. It was Barayi Zaki's status that allowed for the possibility of him being ransomed and also for his high ransom price.

The raiding of caravans also provided opportunities to kidnap people for ransom. Caravans were composed of people of various status. Caravan workers

included slaves, trade slaves, porters, and teamsters as well of merchants of varying

degrees of wealth.44 One of the inherent risks of being a part of a caravan was the

Sarkin Bayaro Abdullahi to the Sarkin Musulmi 'Abd al-Rahman, Backwell, 23-24. 43 Backwell, 23. 44 See MB Duffill and Paul E Lovejoy, "Merchants, Porters, and Teamsters in the Nineteenth- Century Central Sudan," in The Workers of African Trade, eds. Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch and Paul E Lovejoy (Beverley Hills California: Sage Publications Inc, 1985), 150. See also E. Ann McDougall, "Camel Caravans of the Saharan Salt Trade," in The Workers of African Trade, eds. 97 prospect of being raided. In the late nineteenth century Sahara, caravan chiefs, whose

families were more likely to have the money to ransom them back were targeted for kidnapping and ransoming.45 In another example, in October 1898, Modi Couloubaly of Segueni near Sikasso reported that his brother's caravan had been pillaged and two

free men and two slaves, along with two loads of kolas, had been taken.46 While a

wealthy merchant had a good chance of being ransomed, free porters and teamsters

were less likely to be, while slaves and trade slaves would not have been.

Once a person had been located and his or her availability to be ransomed was

ascertained, it was necessary for the captor and those who wanted to pay the ransom

to conduct ransom negotiations. In Islamic West Africa, this usually entailed the use

of a mediator or broker. When Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua was enslaved for the

first time, around 1820 in northern Asante, his brother used a broker to arrange his

ransom.47 In Muslim regions, there appears to be a tendency to use political or

government officials as brokers, hence indicating official sanction for ransoming. For

example, Gustav Nachtigal witnessed the procedures for negotiations between the

Jagada and the Arinda Dirkonma. He states that

Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch and Paul E Lovejoy (Beverley Hills California: Sage Publications Inc, 1985), 99-121. 45 ANM FA IE 16 Note sur les rezzous Marocains Tombouctou 1906 and 1D-59-10 Notes sur les rezzous Marocains, 1906. Region de Tombouctou. ANM FA IE 47 Rapports politiques et rapports de tournees, Cercle de Kita 1883-1905. Rapport sur la situation politique du Cercle, Kita 15 octobre 1889. 46 ANM FA IE 113 Renseignement politiques, Cercle de Segou 1890-1904. 4ieme trimestre 1898. 47 Robin Law and Paul E Lovejoy ed., The Biography of Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua, (Princeton: Markus, Weiner Publishers, 2001), 131. 98 a few days later the surviving members of the expedition returned, and confirmed the melancholy nightmare. On the very same day a near relations of Adama, the chief of the Jagada, who was the most loyal supporter of the Arabs in Borku, was sent to Ennedi, both to get reliable news about the fate of each individual, and also to conduct negotiations for ransoming the prisoners...A fortnight later, about the middle of July, there appeared an emissary from the Bidyat Gordoi from the tribe of the Arinda Dirkoma, and therefore a Teda man, many of whom lived in the western valleys of Ennedi to present the conditions for releasing the prisoners, while our envoy remained behind as a hostage.

Mediators were also used to conduct ransom negotiations in ransoms involving Sokoto Caliphate officials in the early to mid nineteenth century. In a response to a letter from the scholar SldT Mahmud concerning ongoing ransom negotiations of some captive Muslims, Abubakar Atiku, 'Uthman ibn Fudi's son, and the third Sarkin Musulmi of the Sokoto Caliphate wrote that he too was very concerned about the prisoners, that he too wanted them to be ransomed and that he was waiting for the return of the mediator in order to conclude the affair.49 According to Baba of Karo, ransom negotiations for the return of her uncle's wife and children involved both the Sarkin Zarewa and the Amir of Katsina as mediators.50

4S Nachtigal, 2: 377-378. 49 Abubakar Atiku to Sldi Mahmud, undated in Boubou Hama, "Journal de 2 mars 1968 a 6 mai 1969," 279. 50 Smith, 69. 99 Conclusion

In conclusion, south of the Sahara, as indicated by oral tradition and outside observance, ransoming of free-born Muslims by other Muslims had long been established, and from at least the fifteenth century ransoming was widely practised throughout Islamic western Africa on both sides of the Sahara. These practices reflected both the legality of ransoming and the onus upon Muslims to free captive free-born Muslims. On the state level ransoming was viewed as a useful preventative to the enslavement of free-born Muslims which was illegal. On the individual level, however, captors were often motivated to ransom their captives for profit whereas captives' kin engaged in ransoming not only because of religious reasons but also because they valued freedom. In the western and central bilad al-sudan, according to

Muslim law, all free-born Muslims ought to have been ransomed or freed from captivity by another method, in practice it was high-status individuals who would most likely be held for ransom by their captors and successfully ransomed. Ransom negotiations usually required good communication links between captors and those willing to pay ransoms and the use of mediators. The next chapter will discuss ransom prices in relation to slave and redemption prices that will explain more fully why profit was a motivator in ransoming for captors.

100 CHAPTER FIVE

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RANSOM, SLAVE, AND REDEMPTION PRICES

Introduction

The previous chapters demonstrated that the legal context of the western and central bilad al-sudan assured that ransoming was a practice governed by law and that the policies relating to ransoming were a means to protect free-born Muslims from unlawful enslavement. As has been shown, the factors inherent to successful ransom negotiations reinforced a pattern whereby ransoming and enslavement were closely interrelated. This chapter will focus on the price of ransoming. Ransom prices included a recognition that people valued freedom and were willing to pay to regain it. The gain for selling a person on the slave market was the market value of that individual alone. A proportion of an individual's ransom price, however, was based on what his or her friends were willing to pay for the return of that person in addition to the market value as a slave. In general, the ransom price was equivalent to at least twice the slave price value (see table 5.1). This was similar to redemption prices and stems from the shared value placed on freedom and a shared context in the ideology of captivity and enslavement and the legitimate means to escape it. In order to demonstrate the relatedness of these prices, prices will be discussed in the order of slaves, ransoms, and redemptions.

101 Slave Prices

While slave prices changed over time and had slight variations depending on region, in the western and central bilad al-sudan and along the coast, the pattern confirms Paul Lovejoy and David Richardson's findings that "slave prices tended to move in tandem across broad regions."1 The price of a slave was variable and was dependent on a number of factors such as gender, age, health, and attractiveness. As

Paul Staudinger stated during his trip to the Sokoto Caliphate in the 1880s, "the value of a slave is very variable. A vigorous youth costs ten times as much as a weak elderly man."2 Price was also dependent on slave demand, slave availability, and region. For instance, in times of famine, when there was greater slave availability, slave prices were lower. An example of this is that at the end of the nineteenth century in Koury Cercle, a slave could cost as much as 50 000 - 70 000 cowries during harvest time and as little as 10 000 - 15 000 during a famine.4 Furthermore, during times of intense warfare, such as during the height of 'Umar's campaigns in the late 1850s and early 1860s when slaves were flooding the markets to the north, it was commonly believed in the region that slaves could be bought for as little as a

1 Paul Lovejoy and David Richardson, "Competing Markets for Male and Female Slaves: Prices in the Interior of West Africa 1780-1850," The International Journal of African Historical Studies 28:2 (1995): 262. 2 Staudinger, In the Heart of the Hausa States, 2: 34. 3 For more on factors determining prices of slaves see also Emmanuel Terray, "Reflexions sur la formation du prix des esclaves a l'interieur de PAfrique de 1'Ouest Precoloniale," Journal des Africanistes 52 (1982): 119-144, Paul E Lovejoy and David Richardson, "Anglo-Rfik Relations and Protection against Illegal Enslavement at Old Calabar, 1740-1807," in Fighting the SlaveTrade, West African Strategies, ed. Sylviane A Diouf (Athens Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2003). 4 Hubbell, "A View of the Slave Trade from the Margin: Soroudougou in the Late Nineteenth- Century Slave Trade of the Niger Bend,"43-44. 102 piece of salt the size of the slave's foot.5 In comparison, in Podor, before 'Umar's campaigns inundated the market with slaves, a person was considered wealthy if he owned one or two slaves.6 Also, the price of a slave increased the farther he or she was taken from the place of capture.

The 1894 French cercle reports on slavery also give a good indication of slave prices towards the end of the nineteenth century and how they varied within the western Sudan (see table 5.1). There was also a marked increase in prices from a decade earlier. Young women and adolescent girls were the most expensive, followed by adult men, with young children being the cheapest. It is also interesting to note that in Bandiagara Cercle there was a marked ethnic preference for women. A

Bambara woman was valued at 300 to 400 francs while Samoko and Bobo women were valued only between 80 and 100 francs. This was much less than either children,

200-300 francs, or healthy men, 250-300 francs.7 This is the only mention in the

1894 slave reports that suggests an ethnic preference for women in the region.

Slave prices from a few years later appear to be similar to the 1894 prices. In

January 1895 a Bidan trader bought approximately 20 slaves in Banamba with 6000 bars of salt. This works out to an average price of 300 bars for each slave but since there was probably a mix of age, gender, and health amongst these 20 individuals,

5 James Webb, Shifting Sands: An Economic History of the Mauritanian Sahara 1500-1850, (Ph.D diss., John Hopkins University, 1983), 161. 6 ANS K18 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles d'administration directe du Senegal 1904. Rapport sur la captivite dans le Cercle de Podor. 7 ANM FA IE 23 Rapport sur la captivite dans les Etats d'Aguibou Bandiagara le 18 aout 1894. 103 most likely they all had different prices. In Kayes in 1899 slave prices were slightly higher than the 1894 prices as indicated by the purchase price of one young girl for

400 francs.9 In Timbuktu in 1899 a female slave of marriagable age was bought for what appears to be 10 mithqals while in 1902 two prepubescent girls were bought for

200 francs each.10 In 1903 and 1904 respectivly in Lobi Cercle in the western bilad al-sudan, a woman was sold for 230 francs and a boy was sold by his kidnapper for

150 francs.11

Ransom Prices

Ransom prices were connected to slave prices in that the two prices fluctuated in tandem. The price of at least two slaves or more for the return of one individual remained stable throughout the nineteenth century and across the broad region of the western and central bilad al-sudan (see table 5.1). Park relates, from a conversation he had with the Damman Jama of Kaarta, that the going ransom that the Segou

Bambara were willing to accept, in the early 1800s, was two slaves for the return of one captive. Park states "when a freeman is taken prisoner, his friends will sometimes

8 ANM FA 1E 156 Rapport sur la repression de la traite des esclaves en Haut-Senegal-Niger. Cercles de Bamako, Bandiagra, Bougouni, Djenne, Kayes, Medine, Nioro, Segou, Sokolo 1894-1904. Cercle de Bamako, Rapport sur la captivite de traite pendant le Mois de Fevrier 1895. 9 ANM FA 2M 16 Justice Indigene Correspondance Cercle de Kayes, 1882-1920. Kayes le 20 mars 1905. 10 MHT ms 76. The part of the document that states the currency is missing so the price is 10 of something. Most likely it was 10 mithqals considering the number and considering the currencies of the region in this time period. See John Hunwick, "Back to West African Zanj Again: A Document of Sale from Timbuktu," Sudanic Africa 7 (1991): 59 ftl5. 11 ANM FA 2M 21 Justice Indigene Correspondance, Cercle de Koutiala 1903-1919. Gaoua le 25 novembre 1903, ANM FA 2M 21 Justice Indigene Correspondance, Cercle de Koutiala 1903-1919. Lobi, 18juillet 1904. 104 ransom him by giving two slaves in exchange; but when a slave is taken, he has no hopes of such redemption."12 The ransom price was often more than twice the slave price. This is indicated by the mid-nineteenth century ransom price of an 18 year old

Futa Jallon woman from an elite family which was ten slaves when in the same time period the usual cost of ransom in the Casamance, for both men and women were six cows, and the usual demand by the 'Awlad Sulayman was ten camels for the release of one man. According to Captain Binger, in the late nineteenth century, the price of ransom in the western bilad al-sudan was often 20, 30, or 50 slaves although this seems abnormally high.

In the central Sudan, among the Songhay, ransom prices were tied to status.

According to Kimba Idrissa's informants in the nineteenth century, ransom prices rose according to status. Therefore the ransom of a koy-ize, a free man, was much higher than that of a borcin, an enfranchised individual, which was yet higher than that of a horso, or house-slave, if ransomed at all. While Idrissa's informants did not give a ransom price for a koy-ize, the ransom price of a borcin was generally two slaves, or a horse, or two slaves and 10 000 cowries, whereas the ransom price of a

12 Park, ed. Marsters, 257-258. 13 Theophilus Conneau, A Slaver's Log Book; or Twenty Years' Residence in West Africa. (reprint Prentice-Hall, 1976),144-147, Linares, 126,Nachtigal, 2: 378. 14 Louis-Gustave Binger, Du Niger au Golfe de Guinee (1997-1889) (Paris: Societe d'editions Scientifiques 1892), 1: 467. Throughout the nineteenth century in the Zinder region, for example, a horse cost a minimum of ten slaves while in some places a horse could cost 20 slaves and depending on availability the value of an individual slave may be low. Andre Salifou, Le Damagram ou Sultanat de Zinder au XIXe siecle,(Niamey: Centre Nigerien de Recherches en Sciences Humaines, 1971), 177 and see Robin Law, The Horse in West African History, (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1980), See also James Webb Jr. Desert Frontier Ecological and Economic Change along the Western Sahel, (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1995), 69-70 for an argument in favour of the 'war complex' connection between horses and slaves. 105 horso was one slave. Idrissa's informant also stated that the offer of ransom was never refused.15 If the ransom price of a borcin was at least the equivalent of two slaves, then most likely that in this region the ransom price for a koy-ize, who was of higher status, would have been more than two slaves. Yet, one has to question the motivation for exchanging a horso for another captive. While the motivation to ransom on the part of the horso's kin and owner is understandable as a question of honour and emotional ties, one has to wonder what the advantage would have been

for the captor of the horso to exchange one captive for another of equal value.

During the 1850s and 1860s Ningi raids on villages in Kano Emirate the usual ransom price that the Ningi demanded was 10 bags of cowries, a total of 200 000

cowries, per person. Oral history describes the Gabo village area of Rano in Kano

Emirate as

being defenceless hamlet the Ningis raided it on one occasion killing some and capturing some women and children. Later some prisoners were freed by relatives who travelled to Ningi and paid a ransom of about ten bags of cauries a hed [sic]. Many however, being Fulani, had already died of chagrin.1

In the 1890s Baba of Karo reported that her uncle paid ransoms of 400,000 cowries

for his wife, 400,000 for his three children, and 400,000 for his unborn child.17 In the

case of Barayi Zaki, the grandson of Sarkin Musulmi 'Abd al-Rahman, which was

discussed in the previous chapter, the ransom price demanded by the French troops

15 Kimba Idrissa, "Guerres et societes: Les populations du "Niger" Occidental au XIX siecle et leurs reactions face a la colonizations 1896-1906," (Ph.D diss., Universite de Paris VII, 1979), 55. 16 KSHCB KAN PRO 1/11/7 Rano 1955-59, 19. 17 Smith, 69. 106 that were holding him was twenty black kore cloths, forty wawa cloths, twenty kudi da kudi cloths, three youths, and two girls.18

At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, the usual ransom price in Kayes was two slaves, in Bakel and Sumpi it was double the selling price and in Segou, Sokolo, and Timbuktu it was at the discretion of the owner.19 Yet prices varied. In an 1890 Medine case, a father had to pay 14 oxen, six guns and two pieces of guinea cloth in ransom for his son.20 In an 1896 instance, one of Babemba's sofas demanded ten cows in ransom for the return of a trader that he had kidnapped.21 At the turn of the twentieth century there were cases in Bamako and Bougouni of ransom prices being set at two slaves, and three slaves plus four guns respectively.22 The latter case especially demonstrates the connection between emotional ties and ransom prices since this was the ransom price that was being demanded of a wife for the return of her old and sick husband. Since old men, especially old sick men, did not command much on the market, the people holding this man captive obviously got a much better price for him from his wife than they would have if they had tried to sell him as a slave.

18 Sarkin Bayaro Abdullahi to the Sarkin Musulmi 'Abd al-Rahman, Blackwell, 23-24. 19 See reports on slavery in ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894, ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie-Niger 1904, and ANM FA IE 156 Rapports sur la repression de la traite des esclaves en Haut-Senegal-Niger. Cercles de Bamako, Bandiagra, Bougouni, Djenne, Kayes, Medine, Nioro, Segou, Sokolo 1894-1904. 20 ANM FA 2M 22 Justice Indigene Correspondance Cercle de Medine 1887-1905. Medine le 28 aout 1890. One gros is equal to 1 drachma, which is equal to 1/8 ounce. So 2 gros d'or is equal to a % ounce of gold. 21 ANM FA IE 113 Renseignments politiques, Cercle de Segou 1890-1904. 22 Paul Vigne d'Octon, La gloire du sabre (Diffusion Ulysse Distribution Distique: 1984), 96. ANM FA 2M 7 Justice Indigene Correspondance Cercle de Bougouni 1896-1920. Bougouni, le 22 mai 1900. 107 Table 5.1: Comparison of Slave, Ransom, and Redemption Prices

Date Location Slave Price Ransom Price Redemption Price Early Segou2J 2 slaves 2 slaves 19,h century Mid Kano24 Woman: 30 000 - 40 10 bags of cowries 200 000 cowries or 19th 000 cowries ($12- (200 000 cowries) more century $20) Late Kayes25 Girl: 250-300f 2 slaves Up to 2 slaves 19* Youth: 200-250f century Man: 200f Late Bakel26 Approx 150-200f Twice the selling Double the 19th price purchase price century Late Sumpi27 Twice the selling Double the 19th price purchase price century Late Bamako28 Girl: 150-300f 2 slaves 19,h Youth:200-250f century Woman: 150-200f Late Bougouni29 Woman: 200 f 3 slaves

Park, ed. Marsters, 257-258, ANM FA IE 156 Rapport sur la repression de la traite des esclaves en Haut-Senegal-Niger. Cercles de Bamako, Bandiagra, Bougouni, Djenne, Kayes, Medine, Nioro, Segou, Sokolo 1894-1904. 24David C Tambo, "The Sokoto Caliphate Slave Trade in the Nineteenth Century," The International Journal of Historical Studies 9:2 (1976): 211, KSHCB KAN PRO 1/11/7 Rano 1955-59, 19, Economic History Project, Interview with Aihaji Yunusa Mikail. August 2, 1975. 25 ANM FA IE 156 Rapport sur la repression de la traite des esclaves en Haut-Senegal-Niger. Cercles de Bamako, Bandiagra, Bougouni, Djenne, Kayes, Medine, Nioro, Segou, Sokolo 1894-1904, ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Cercle de Kayes Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle. 26 ANM FA IE 156 Rapport sur la repression de la traite des esclaves en Haut-Senegal-Niger. Cercles de Bamako, Bandiagra, Bougouni, Djenne, Kayes, Medine, Nioro, Segou, Sokolo 1894-1904, ANS K18 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans le cercles d'administration directe du Senegal 1904. Bakel. Questionnaire au sujet de la captivite Slave prices in Bakel were similar to slave prices in Medine. Often in the 1890s when slave merchants could not sell their slaves in Medine they sold them in Bakel, Kayes and Futa Toro for a similar price. See ANM FA IE 74 Cercle de Medine Corrspondances et rapports sure les villages et captifs liberes 1885-1895 and Andrew F Clark, "Slavery and its Demise in the Upper Senegal Valley, West Africa, 1890-1922," Slavery and Abolition 15:1 (1994), 59. 27 ANM FA 1E 156 Rapport sur la repression de la traite des esclaves en Haut-Senegal-Niger. Cercles de Bamako, Bandiagra, Bougouni, Djenne, Kayes, Medine, Nioro, Segou, Sokolo 1894-1904, ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie-Niger 1904. Cercle de Sumpi. Rapport sur l'etat de captivite dans le cercle. 28 ANM FA IE 156 Rapport sur la repression de la traite des esclaves en Haut-Senegal-Niger. Cercles de Bamako, Bandiagra, Bougouni, Djenne, Kayes, Medine, Nioro, Segou, Sokolo 1894-1904 108 19m Girl: 150-175 f Century Boy: 120-150 f Man: 80 f

The practice of ransoming may have also affected the price of male slaves. In the western and central Sudan, female slaves were more expensive than male slaves of the same approximate age and health. There have been a number of arguments put forth to explain the discrepancy between male and female slave prices. MS Balde has argued that female slaves were more valuable because they were easier to assimilate.30 Suzanne Miers and Igor Kopytoff have emphasized the reproductive abilities of women, while Claude Meillassoux has argued that women were valued as slaves because of their productive value.31 Martin Klein argues that the importance of a female slave's reproductive capacities vis-a-vis her work capacity was dependent on the slave system to which she belonged. Klein asserts that two slave systems operated within the western Sudan. In a household mode of production where slaves made up a small percentage of the population and lived and worked along side the free members of the household, a female slave's reproductive capacity was more important than her work capacity. However, in a slave mode of production system

ANM FA IE 156 Rapport sur la repression de la traite des esclaves en Haut-Senegal-Niger. Cercles de Bamako, Bandiagra, Bougouni, Djenne, Kayes, Medine, Nioro, Segou, Sokolo 1894-1904, ANM FA 2M 7 Justice Indigene Correspondance Cercle de Bougouni 1896-1920. Bougouni, le 22 mai 1900, Martin A Klein, "The Slave Trade in the Western Sudan during the Nineteenth Century," in The Human Commodity, ed. E Savage (Routledge: 1992), 40, 30 M.S Balde, "L'esclavage et la guerre au Fuuta-Jalon," in L'esclavage en Afrique precoloniale, ed. Claude Meillassoux, (Paris, 1975). 31 Suzanne Miers and Igor Kopytoff "Introduction," in Slavery in Africa, eds. Suzanne Miers and Igor Kopytoff ((Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1977) 3-84, Claude Meillassoux, "Female Slavery," in Women and Slavery in Africa, eds. Claire Robertson and Martin A Klein, (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983), 49-66. 109 where the slave population was high, slaves lived apart from their owners and their labour sustained the ruling class, the work capacity of a female slave was more important than her reproductive capacity. To Klein, this became especially apparent towards the end of the nineteenth century when the price differential between male and female slaves was decreasing as commodity production using slave labour was increasing along with greater work loads, more exploitation and lower birth rates.32

Lovejoy offers an alternative explanation for the price differential between male and female slaves in Muslim regions of West Africa. He argues that because of ransoming, the price differential between male and female slaves was more apparent than real. He suggests that the price for male slaves was lower because those were the individuals who could not be ransomed and they were therefore discounted accordingly.33 While women were ransomed, the vast majority of people who were ransomed were high status men who were captured during warfare or in economically motivated raids. In comparing the male ransom prices to the male slave prices and the female slave prices of the same region and time period, one can see that the ransom prices of men, who constituted the majority of people ransomed, were approximately the same or one and a half times the slave prices for women who made up the vast majority of the enslaved population of the western and central bilad al- sudan. The practice of ransoming of men may therefore help to explain the price differential between male and female slaves.

3 Martin Klein, "Women in Slavery in the Western Sudan," in Women and Slavery in Africa, eds. Claire Robertson and Martin A Klein, ( Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983) 67-72. 33 Lovejoy, "Internal Markets or an Atlantic-Sahara Divide?" 110 This can be seen by looking at the example of the 1900 case of the woman who had to pay three slaves and four guns in ransom for her old and sick husband.34

In 1894, the last time French officials recorded slave prices, officials noted that the slave price for a woman was 200 francs, for a man it was 80 francs, for a boy between

120 and 150 francs, and for a girl between 150 and 175 francs.35 While we do not know the gender and age of the three slaves that formed part of the ransom for the woman's husband, if we assumed, since the captive being held for ransom was male, that the slaves were men, their approximate worth was 240 francs which is 40 francs more than the slave female price. In other words the ransom for the old and sick husband may have been set at just over the slave price for women.

Likewise, using 1894 prices, in the 1899 case of the ransom of a Sikasso notable being held in Bamako, the ransom price of an adult male slave and a young girl slave was approximately 250-500 francs whereas the slave price of a young woman was between 150 and 300 francs, and an adult woman between 150 and 200 francs. While prices may have changed in six years, it is a safe assumption that the ratios would have remained approximately the same. Similarly in Kayes and Bakel where the ransom price was the equivalent of two replacement slaves this would put the male ransom price at approximately one and a half times that of a female slave.

If high status and productive male captives were being ransomed at prices equivalent

34ANM FA 2M 7 Justice Indigene Correspondance Cercle de Bougouni 1896-1920. Bougouni, le 22 mai 1900. 35 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan, 1894. 36 d'Octon, 96. The man's ransom price was two slaves. 37 See reports on slavery in ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan, 1894, and ANS K16 Enquete sur la captivite en A.O.F 1903-1904. Ill to the slave prices of women, this may have had a downward effect on the slave prices of the leftover male captives.

Redemption Prices

Ransom prices were similar to redemption prices (see table 5.1). This is logical since the main differences between a captive and a slave was the length of captivity/enslavement and the status, which the individual gained upon payment of the price. Furthermore at the level of the ideology of enslavement where the enslavement of unbelievers was justified as a repayment for Muslim deaths during a jihad, the prices of both ransoming and redemption were another means of repaying this debt. This similarity is reflected in the prices for both ransoming and redemption. The price of redemption was generally equivalent to two slaves or double the slave's purchase price. The similarity between the two prices also stems from the fact that owners were motivated to permit the redemption of their slaves for the same reasons captors were willing to ransom their captives. Furthermore, slaves, similarly to captives, valued freedom. As one French official in Bakel wrote "tout captif peut se racheter moyennant le versement a son maitre d'un somme fixee, d'apres les coutumes au double du prix d'achat." Through redemption, owners were able to get not only the labour of their slave but the assets with which to buy two

38 John Ralph Willis, "Jihad and the Ideology of Enslavement," in Slaves and Slavery in Muslim Africa, ed. John Ralph Willis, (London: Frank Cass Ltd: 1985). 39 ANS K18 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles d'administration directe du Senegal 1904. Bakel. Questionnaire au sujet de la captivite. 112 replacement slaves. Moreover, as Lovejoy has shown, it often took at least 17 years for an individual slave to raise his or her own redemption price.40 By permitting older slaves to redeem themselves, not only did the owner benefit from many years of the slave's labour but he did not have to sustain the slave in his or her old age while at the same time he gathered the money to purchase younger replacements.

In the late nineteenth century Kayes, the price of redemption was the equivalent to between one and two slaves.41 In Kayes, the Cercle Commander noted in 1894 that, "le captif qui par son travail s'en amasse quelque economie, peut traiter de son rachat avec son maitre. Le prix de ce rachat est generalement eleve et varie de un a deux captifs." In the same time period in Sumpi, traditionally the price of redemption was the price of two slaves, usually between 280-300 francs for a man and between 380 and 400 francs for a woman.43 In Segou in the 1890s the price was set at whatever the master decided was the value of the particular slave.44 In Say

French officials believed that traditionally a man had to pay between 100 and 200 francs, a young woman between 200 and 500 francs and an older woman between 50 and 100 francs in redemption. Furthermore the more valuable the slave, like the more

Paul Lovejoy, "Murgu: The Wages of Slavery in the Sokoto Caliphate," Slavery and Abolition 14(1993):178. 41 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Cercle de Kayes Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle. 42 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Cercle de Kayes Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle. 43 ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie-Niger 1904. Cercle de Sumpi. Rapport sur l'etat de captivite dans le cercle. 44 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle, Segou. 113 valuable the captive, the higher the set redemption price. In Djenne, the price was whatever the master demanded plus all of the slave's assets.46 In Timbuktu, French officials believed that the redemption price was set at whatever the owner demanded.

In the Sokoto Caliphate the redemption price was set at whatever the master decided.47 In Kano, according to Alhaji Yunusa Mikail, towards the end of the nineteenth century the price of self-redemption was often 200 000 cowries or more.48

Conclusion

In conclusion, slave, ransom and redemption prices were connected since the ratio of both ransom and redemption prices to slave prices remained the same throughout the nineteenth century regardless of the fluctuations in slave prices due to preference and availability. Generally both ransom and redemption prices were twice the slave price but they could be higher depending on the status of the captive or the value of the slave. Ransom prices may have also affected the price of male slaves since the ransom prices of male captives, who formed the majority of individuals ransomed, was about equal to that of female slaves, who composed the vast majority

ANS K22 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans Ies cercles du Dahomey 1904. Cercle de Say, Rapport sur la captivite. 46ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Cercle de Djenne. Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle. It is interesting to note that in the same report the Cercle Commander reasoned that the reason rich slaves, even slaves who were richer than their masters, never redeemed themselves was because of the mildness of their servitude. He did not take into consideration that if they were to redeem themselves they would lose everything they had, and potentially go into debt. 47 Lovejoy and Hogendorn, 108-109. 48 Economic History Project, Interview with Alhaji Yunusa Mikail. August 2, 1975. 114 of enslaved individuals. The following chapter will examine the related practices of self-redemption and third-party redemption.

115 CHAPTER SIX

REDEMPTION PRACTICES AND RANSOMING

Introduction

This chapter will examine the practices of self-redemption and third-party redemption of people who have been held in captivity for some time, and while they could still be sold, were usually no longer threatened with imminent sale on the market. In the Muslim societies of West Africa the redemption of slaves was widely practised and should be compared with ransoming practices since both ransoming and redemption were based on the same belief that the natural state of a human being is that of freedom. However, the redemption of a slave who had been held in captivity

for a long period of time or had been born into captivity acknowledged that unlike the ransomed captive, it is unlikely that a redeemed slave has an original home to which

it would be practical for him to return even if he so desired, and hence he remained in

his owner's society in an ameliorated but subservient social position. It will be argued

that both self-redemption and third-party redemption were in theory, law, and practice

closely related to ransoming practices and that they shared commonalities in that they

all required the permission of the society for their practice and the cooperation of the

owner. This chapter will first discuss the theoretical and legal basis for redemption

and second the factors affecting a slave's ability to be redeemed.

116 The Theoretical and Legal Basis for Redemption

In his discussion of the ideology of enslavement in Islam, John Willis uses the analogy of the debtor-creditor relationship. He demonstrates that on a theoretical and philosophical level enslavement was the means through which unbelievers compensated the Muslim community for the loss of Muslim lives through warfare. In his use of analogy in describing the relationship between jihad, enslavement, and eventually redemption and manumission, he states

in summary, it can be said that the jihad, in its effort to banish the humiliation of kufr, inflicted the shame of servility, and set in tandem a series of legal relations which fixed the bond between master and slave. Slavery became a means of extinguishing the guilt of kufr - an expiation for the blood of Muslims spilt in jihad. Moreover, slavery was a grave debt as well as a deep humiliation, and it was only upon atonement of the debt that the humiliation could be removed. Thus the master was cast in the role of creditor, and the slave or dhimmi assumed the guise of debtor.1

From this perspective, the jizya, the tax levied on Christians, Jews and other dhimmi, can be seen as a form of compensation for them not being killed or in Willis' words

"a form of ransom for their failure to convert to Islam."2 From this theoretical viewpoint the price paid in the ransoming of captives can be viewed as the immediate repayment of the debt incurred in the loss of members of the captor's community

during warfare, while the redemption of a slave can be viewed as paying off the debt

after a significant period, and manumission can be seen as the cancellation of the

1 Willis, "Jihad and the Ideology of Enslavement," 23. 2 Willis, 23. 117 debt.3 In this way, redemption, the cost of a slaves' freedom, and ransoming the cost of captive's freedom, can be viewed as related.

As a matter of law the Qu'ran recognizes the fundamental inequality between a master and a slave and the rights that owners have over their slaves; but it also recognizes a basic equality between Muslims in religious matters. Slaves could become lawfully free if they were manumitted, which is recommended as a means to amend for committed sins and as an act of benevolence; if he or she is permitted by his or her master to buy his or her freedom; if an owner pledges to free the slave at a later date or after the owner's death; or if a qadT orders an owner to free a slave who has been mistreated. Manumission of slaves was seen as an act of benevolence and many pious owners manumitted slaves for that reason. For example in an 1881 manumission document from Timbuktu, Sldl Muhammad bin Hamda was recorded as having manumitted his female slave Anyala and his male slave Barka as an act of piety while in a 1889 Timbuktu case, Baba bin Habll freed his female slave, Fanayya bint Boukhayr as an act of justice.4

Furthermore, a concubine who gives birth to her owner's child and thereby acquires the title of umm walad, mother of children, gains certain legal rights that will

3 From this perspective a comparison can be made between redemption of slaves and pawnship. The labour of the pawn is the interest paid on the money loaned. Therefore if one views ransoming as the immediate repayment of a debt, the price of redemption as the payment of the debt after a period of time, then the labour of the slave between becoming enslaved and being redeemed can be seen as the interest on the debt. 4MHT ms76,MHT ms 156. 118 eventually lead to her freedom.5 Additionally a slave who subsequently converts to

Islam and is owned by a dhimml must be freed or sold by his or her owner since a non-Muslim is forbidden to own a Muslim, although a Muslim is permitted to continue to own an enslaved individual who converts to Islam. The Qu'ran also, and importantly for a discussion on redemption, recommends the liberation of a slave either through purchase, in other words redemption by a third-party, or through self- redemption. However, permission for both forms of redemption was up to the owner.6

While theoretically slaves could not own property and everything that they earned belonged to their owners, masters could grant their slaves certain rights of ownership. In practice this could allow slaves the resources with which to earn enough money to pay their self-redemption fee. In MalikT law, and Muslim law in general, there are three ways for slaves to redeem themselves. First, slaves could buy themselves. In this case the slave must pay his or her master the full demanded purchase price at the time of sale and is freed immediately. Second, slaves could gain self-redemption through a mukataba or afansar kai contract with their master. In this instance slaves buy their freedom through installments. During this process, until the slave has paid his or her full purchase price, while the slave is not free, there are limits placed on the control of the master. For example, the owner would not be able to sell the slave nor force him or her into a marriage. The third form of self-

5 Willis also argues that the relationship between an owner and concubine can be seen from the perspective of the creditor-debtor relationship. A woman's enslavement is the price paid for the "spilling of Muslim blood" whereas the sexual relationship between the birth of an infant and the death of the master serves as the amortization of that debt. See Willis, 23. 6 See Lewis, Race and Slavery in the Middle East, 3-12. 119 redemption is when there is an "imperfect expectancy of manumission". In this case a slave is given the option of gaining his freedom through work. An example of an

"imperfect expectancy of manumission" is when two masters jointly own a slave and one owner manumits his or her share.7

The owner controls the first two means of self-redemption. A slave could only redeem him or herself with the cooperation of the owner and at the price set by the owner. With a mukataba contract, the owner is in complete control in deciding the purchase price, the method of payment and any attached conditions. While a slave may have the right to ask for a mukataba contract, the owner has the option of putting the purchase price or conditions so high that a slave could never gain his or her freedom in that manner.8 Furthermore, if an enslaved individual missed an agreed upon payment under the mukataba contract then he or she forfeited the payments already made and was returned to his or her previous status. With the third option, however, the right to redemption rested fully with the slave. In the western and central bilad al-sudan, the third option was either uncommon or not practised. Most slaves redeemed themselves by either purchasing themselves outright or through a mukataba or a fansar kai contract.

Joseph Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law, 129. 8 L.O Sanneh, "Slavery, Islam and the Jakhanke People of West Africa," Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 46:1 (1976): 91. 9 al-Qayrawanl, 222-225. 120 Permission for Redemption

The key prerequisite for redemption, therefore, was the willingness or unwillingness of the society to permit redemption and more importantly the willingness of the owner to allow his or slave to be redeemed or to self-redeem.

Malik! law encouraged owners to permit the redemption of their slaves but did not

require it. Further governing a slave's opportunities for redemption was the ability of

the slave or his or her relations to raise the redemption fee. Redemption, therefore,

before the French and British imposed their policies on the institution, shared two

very important similarities with ransoming that further demonstrates the close

relationship with redemption practices. First, it was the owner's decision whether or

not to permit redemption just as it was the captor's decision to ransom his captive.

French officials observed this. One Cercle Commander stated in 1894 that a master

was never forced to allow self-redemption while the Boundoukou Cercle Commander

wrote in 1904 that among the Dyula in the region that "le rachat par le captif n'est jamais accepte et le rachat par les parents n'est pas obligatoirement accepte."10

Second the price of redemption was similar to that of ransoming in that both were

approximately twice the slave price. This latter point was discussed in the previous

chapter.

The most important prerequisite for an enslaved individual to be able to buy

his or her own freedom was the permission of the owner. The Sokoto Caliphate

10 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan,1894. Cercle de Segou. Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle. ANS K21 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Cote d'lvoire 1904. Rapport sur la captivite dans le Cercle de Bondoukou. 121 allowed for redemption. According to the French reports on slavery (see table 6.1), in most areas, but not all, in the western and central bilad al-sudan, there was a tradition for permitting redemption. Whether or not redemption would be permitted was dependent on a combination of religious and traditional views of slavery and of local conditions. For example Tuareg slave-owners in both the cercles of Goundam and

Ras-el-Ma did not permit redemption. This may be related to the form of slavery that they practised where slave-owners were nomadic while their slaves were settled in agricultural villages.''

Table 6.1: Sample of Redemption Practices in the Western and Central Sudan

Cercle Self-Redemption Third-Party Redemption

Bakel yes n/a

Segou yes n/a

Bafoulabe yes n/a

Kayes yes n/a

Tombouctou yes n/a

Ouagadou no yes

11 ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie-Niger 1904. Rapport sur la captivite dans le territoire de Ras-el-Ma. ANS 14 Captivite au Soudan, 1894. Cercle de Goundam. Rapport sur la captivite Cercle de Goundam. 12 See 1894 and 1904 reports on slavery in ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan, 1894, ANS K18 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans le cercles d'administration directe du Senegal 1904, ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie- Niger 1904, ANS K20 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Guinee, K21 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Cote d'lvoire 1904, ANS K22 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles du Dahomey, 1904 and ANM FA IE 156 Rapport sur la repression de la traite des esclaves en Haut-Senegal-Niger. Cercles de Bamako, Bandiagra, Bougouni, Djenne, Kayes, Medine, Nioro, Segou, Sokolo 1894-1904. Cercle de Segou Rapport sur la captivite. 122 Koutiala no yes

Ras-el-Ma no no

Kerouane yes n/a

Djenne yes n/a

Goundam no no

Say yes n/a

Sokolo yes no

Sumpi yes n/a

Sikasso n/a yes

Medine yes n/a

Bougouni n/a yes

Thies yes yes

Labe yes n/a

Leo no no

Boundoukou no yes

As one can see from the above table, not all the reports gave information concerning third-party redemption practices. More importantly, however, while according to the slavery reports in some regions self-redemption was permitted while third-party redemption was not and vice versa, only in a minority of cercles was redemption of slaves not permitted at all; most notably Ras-el-Ma and Goundam.

In Muslim regions, permission for self-redemption was governed by the interaction between these two principles and how they were applied in specific areas.

First was the permission for slaves to own property and to gather assets.

123 Technically, a slave's property belonged to his master. Al-Qayrawani reinforced this point in his Risala. He stated that when one sold a slave, the slave's personal effects remained with the seller unless the buyer had also bought the belongings.13

Furthermore, owners enforced their right to inherit their slaves' property upon their deaths.14 Yet, it was a common and widespread practice throughout the dar al-islam to permit slaves to own property. In speaking specifically about the practice in the

Sokoto Caliphate Lovejoy argues that while "technically, anything slaves might gain belonged to their owners, in fact there were layers of property rights. The masters

owned the slaves, but the slaves could obtain the wherewithal to live independently

and even to buy themselves." The vehicle for accumulation by slaves in the Sokoto

Caliphate was murgu. The practice of slaves being able to own property of their own was also noted by French officials. One such official, the Sumpi Cercle Commander,

wrote in 1904 that,

en principe le captif du musulman ne peut acquerir, ni posseder, ni tester. Dans la pratique tous les captifs de case, une fois leur tribut souhait paye, jouissent les fruits des produits de leur travail et s'attachent ainsi de plein gre au sol et a leurs maitres.1

The second principle involved in the permission to self-purchase was the

Muslim tradition and encouragement of self-redemption. While a slave, with the

permission of the owner, could purchase his freedom outright in a written agreement

13 al- QayrawanT, 213. 14 R Brunschwig, '"Abd" Encyclopedia of Islam 1: 24-40 (Leiden: Brill, 1960), Fisher, Slavery in the History of Muslim Black Africa, 59, Frederick Cooper, Plantation Slavery on the East Coast of Africa (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977), 233. 15 Lovejoy, "Murgu: The wages of Slavery in the Sokoto Caliphate," 168. 16 ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie-Niger 1904. Cercle de Sumpi. Rapport sur Fetat de captivite dans le cercle. 124 with his master in exchange for a fixed sum, this was rarely possible. Usually a slave, with the permission of his owner, entered into a mukataba or a fansar kai contract to

earn his freedom whereby he paid for his freedom in installments. During the course

of the agreement while the owner could not sell the slave, neither was he responsible

for the slave's upkeep. According to the Kitab al-tarsil, a compendium of stylistic

samples for letters and legal documents, possibly written by Abu Bakr b Idrls, a

mukataba contract was usually formulated as:

On the one contract to freedom. Whoever comes across this document, let him know that so-and-so sold his slave so-and-so to himself for such-and-such [a price in] dirhams and granted him such-and-such number of years in which to pay him annually. If he completes [payment of] the amount at the due date or before it, then his freedom is complete and his master has no claim upon him. At that time, through his purchase of himself, he is one of the free Muslims. If he is unable to pay all of it or part of it when the due date arrives {he becomes a slave again, and what was taken from him becomes the lawful [for the master to retain]. This was drawn up at such-and-such a time and the due date is such-and-such.} This date is such-and-such 1 7 and so-and-so, the one contracted to freedom consented to it.

In both the cases of slaves purchasing themselves outright or through a

contract, until French and British reform of the practice, the owner had the right to set

the purchase price as high or as low as he or she wanted. According to the 1894 report

on slavery in Sokolo, for example, for outright purchase, a slave would pay his master

the agreed upon price in front of witnesses and was then declared free. With a

17 John Hunwick, "Falkeiana III: The Kitab al-tarsil, an Anonymous Manual of Epistolatory and Notary Style," Sudanic Africa 5 (1994): 183-184. {} denotes addition in margin of original document. 18 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan, 1894. Cercle de Sokolo. Etude sur la captivite au Soudan. 125 mukataba contract, the owner was in complete control of deciding the purchase price, the method of payment and any attached conditions. While a slave may have had the right to ask for a mukataba contract, the owner had the option of putting the purchase price or conditions so high that a slave could never have gained his freedom in that manner.19 In 1894, the Djenne Cercle Commander in describing the fulfillment of the mukataba contract stated that,

le rachat ne peut avoir lieu qu'avec l'assentiment du maitre et est subordonne au debout d'une certaine somme que le captif doit payer dans un temps plus ou moins long, tout ce qu'il possede, au moment de sa demande de rachat, done la propriete du maitre.20

Raising Redemption Fees

The second important prerequisite for self-redemption was the individual's ability to raise his or her redemption fee. The ability to raise one's redemption fee was dependent on the type of work an individual slave performed and his or her ability to earn and save money. The combination of the two prerequisites for self- redemption determined an individual's ability to gain freedom in this manner.

The type of work and the amount of work a slave was expected to perform was dependent on whether he or she was a trade or a house slave and the type of slave society to which he or she belonged. In the western and central Sudan, distinctions were made between slaves depending on whether they were enslaved during their own lifetime or were born into slavery. This distinction was important for the ability

19Sanneh, 91. 20 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan, 1894. Cercle de Djenne Rapport sur la captivite. 126 to self-redeem.21 The distinction between the status of trade and house slaves were made throughout the western and central Sudan, which were also noted by French officials.22 For example, komo (Soninke) maccube (Fulbe) and banniya (Songhay) all refer to slaves who were enslaved in their own lifetime while woloso (Bambara-

Malinke) woroso (Soninke), rimaibe (Fulbe) and horso (Songhay) refer to slaves who were either born in the community or came into it at a young age.23

Trade slaves and house slaves were treated differently from each other. In general trade slaves were more closely watched, performed harder and less desirable work, were the first to be sold, and had very little ability to earn extra money and hence to redeem him or herself. House slaves on the other-hand, shared cultural values with their masters, were less likely to be sold, were given the more desirable tasks, generally had more freedom of movement and hence had a better chance than a trade slave to raise self-redemption fees.24 For example in late nineteenth century

Sokolo, trade slaves worked for their masters until four in the afternoon for six days a week while house slaves worked until two in the afternoon for five days a week.25

The work regimen provided house slaves a better chance than trade slaves to rest, to

21 See 1894 and 1904 reports on slavery in ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan, 1894, ANS K18 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans le cercles d'administration directe du Senegal 1904, ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie- Niger 1904. 22 See 1894 and 1904 reports on slavery in ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan, 1894, ANS K18 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans le cercles d'administration directe du Senegal 1904, ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie- Nigerl904. For African terms see Klein, Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa, 5. 24 See ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Cercle de Kerouane, Rapport du Lieutenant Noton Commandant le Cercle sur la captivite. 25 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Cercle de Sokolo, Etude sur la captivite. 127 look after their own needs, and to gather assets that could be used to make their lives more comfortable or to buy themselves out of slavery. Likewise, in his March 1904 observation of slave work in Nassarawa Province, G.W Webster noted that the farm slave "has two days a week always for himself and is practically always free by 3 o'clock on the remaining five days."26 This work schedule allowed some time for enslaved individuals to acquire their own assets. In the same report Webster described household slavers as being

really only a retainer. If there is any work to be done his master calls on him but generally it is very light-trading, and hawking goods in the market, unless his master is building for himself, or called on to assist the sariko in some work, otherwise the household slave has no regular work. Many are craftsmen and in this case they pay a fixed sum per week from 6d to 1/- and they are liable for no other work.27

These work schedules allowed a little, but not a lot, of time for slaves to either work on their own plots or to engage in their own trading or craft activities in order to add to their own subsistence and that of their families and to perhaps save for redemption

fees.

In addition to an enslaved person's status as a house or a trade slave, the type

of slavery and work under which an enslaved individual laboured was important in

determining that person's ability to buy his her or freedom. In discussing the western

and central Sudan a useful paradigm is Martin Klein's synthesis of the analytical

26 NAK SNP 15/1 Ace 59 Province of Nassarawa Report #3 for March 1904 by Resident G.W Webster. One must always be careful in accepting colonial descriptions of the working conditions of slaves since they were motivated to minimize the harshness of slavery. 27 NAK SNP 15/1 Ace 59 Province of Nassarawa Report #3 for March 1904 by Resident G.W Webster. 128 divide between low and high-density systems and Claude Meillassoux' and Jean-

Louis Boutillier's division of the type of slave work into slave-holding sectors.28

Klein defines three types of slavery and the work that goes with them: the high- density merchant system, the high-density aristocratic systems and the low-density systems in which he includes decentralized societies and traditional farming communities. This could also affect a slave's ability to self-redeem.

In the late nineteenth century high and low density systems differed in terms of where slaves and masters lived in relation to each other, in demographic structure, in the degree of economic rationality and most importantly in the number of slaves.

There was a much closer relationship between owner and slave in low-density systems than in high-density systems. In a low-density system, slaves were the minority of the population and owner and slave often lived in the same household, worked together, ate the same food, and participated in the same culture. In contrast, in high-density systems slaves formed the majority of the population, lived apart from their owners often in separate villages, had very little contact with their master, and worked while their owner supervised. Furthermore, in low-density systems, slaves often assimilated within three generations, such as in Miers and Kopytoff s model,

Klein, Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa, 3-5. Boutillier discusses three slave-holding sectors: the warrior, the merchant and the traditional farming communities, whereas Claude Meillassoux only includes two: the warrior/aristocratic and the merchant sectors. See Jean- Louis Boutillier, "Les trois esclaves de Bouna," in L 'esclavage en Afrique precoloniale, ed. Claude Meillassoux, (Paris: 1975), 253-280, and Claude Meillassoux, The Anthropology of Slavery, The Womb of Iron and Gold, trans. Alide Dasnois, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1991). 129 while in high-density systems a child usually had the exact same status as his or her

slave parents.29

Often throughout the western and central Sudan, high-density and low-density

systems overlapped each other, differing on issues of ethnicity and culture of the

slave-holding group. As the Timbuktu Cercle Commander wrote in 1894

la population du Cercle de Tombouktou se compose de sedentaires et de nomades possedent tous des esclaves mais la diversite des races qui composent cette population - Arabes, Maures, Touaregs et Noirs - fait que les esclaves ne sont pas traites d'une meme facon.

In another example, in mid-nineteenth century Segou there was a warrior-based

Tukolor-controlled political structure where slaves were utilized as soldiers; a

Maraka-controlled merchant town structure where slaves were used in production and

trade; Somono fishing villages and Bambara farming communities where slaves were

engaged in the subsistence requirements of their owners; and the more higher- density

Fulbe system where slaves lived in separate villages from their masters. In yet

another region, Bandiagara, high and low density systems also co-existed. There, one

French official estimated in 1894 that among the Fulbe there were at least two slaves

for every free man whereas in the same region, among the Bambara the ratio was one

to one and among the Tukolor there was one slave for every two free men. This Fulbe

system functioned as a classic high-density system. The captifs de case, or "house

29 Klein, Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa, 3-5. For an interesting discussion on master-slave relationships on small and large slave holdings in the United States see Philip Morgan, Slave Counterpoint (University of North Carolina Press, 1998). 30 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Cercle de Tombouctou. Rapport sur la captivite. Klein, Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa, 3-5. 130 slaves" of the Fulbe of Bandiagara lived in separate villages from their masters worked their fields and had very little contact with their Fulbe owners, whereas, the

Bambara and Tukolor organization of slaves could be classified as low-density systems. There, French officials described slaves and owners as working and living together.32

As in other regions of West Africa, slaves in mid-nineteenth century western and central Sudan performed a variety of tasks. Furthermore, similar to other regions,

Women made up the majority of the slave population. The work performed by an individual slave was dependent on gender, on the region where the slave lived, the amount of time the master had owned the slave, whether the slave was a house slave or a trade slave and on the occupation and wealth of the owner. These factors, combined with the relationship between master and slave and the owner's will, were vital in whether or not an individual enslaved person would be able to buy his or her freedom.

Slaves were soldiers, porters, field workers, miners, domestic servants, traders, cattle-raisers, and concubines. Slaves within the warrior/aristocratic sector tended to be employed as soldiers and farmers while within the merchant sector, slaves performed tasks in support of their owner's trading activities such as producing food and trade goods. For example the slave-holding, urban-dwelling Songhay of

Djenne employed their slaves in a diverse number of positions such as blacksmiths,

32 ANM FA IE 23 Rapports politiques et rapports de tournees, Cercle de Bandiagara, 1893- 1920. Rapport sur la Captivite dans les Etats d'Aguibou, Bandiagara le 18 aout 1894. 131 weavers, cobblers, and traders. Both the warrior/aristocratic and merchant sectors also employed slaves as concubines and as servants. An important use of male slaves was as soldiers. For instance Segou-Bambara, Segou-Tukolor, Samori's state, and the Sokoto Caliphate made liberal use of slave soldiers.34

Most slaves in West Africa, including the western and central bilad al-sudan, were employed in agricultural production.35 Meillassoux divides these slaves into two types: esclaves manses and esclaves cases.36 According to Meillassoux' definition, esclaves manses worked in their master's fields five to six days a week, were fed one meal on the days that they worked, and in their free time could work on their own plots. Esclaves cases on the other hand had more daily freedom than esclaves manses. While still dependent and obligated to their owners, they worked their own plots but owed their owners a fixed annual payment of grain. This is similar to the murgu system of the Sokoto Caliphate. Both of these systems allowed a little, but not a lot, of room for slaves to earn their own wealth for buying cattle or tools or to save for self-redemption if so desired. However, under both systems, most of the earnings from their own time went into subsistence.37 In some regions there was a mixture of esclaves manses and esclaves cases systems while in others either one or

ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Cercle de Djenne Rapport sur la captivite. 34 ANM FA ID 55 Monographie de cercle de Segou 1884-1907, Organisation du royaume de Segou 1896. 35 See 1894 and 1904 reports on slavery in ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan, 1894, ANS K18 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans le cercles d'administration directe du Senegal 1904, ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie- Niger 1904. 36 Meillassoux, The Anthropology of Slavery, 117-118. The issue of murgu requires further study in the western bilad al-sudan. See also Klein, Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa, 5-7. 132 the other arrangement dominated. In all slave-holding systems, however, the system was organized to serve the needs of the slave-owners. For example, the Tuareg slave- holding approach would be classified as an esclaves cases system. They settled their slaves in farming villages while they travelled with their herds. Their slaves paid them tribute in agricultural produce. For instance, in 1904 in Sumpi a man owed 180 kilograms of millet and a woman 78 kilograms of millet in yearly tribute.38 Fulbe slave-owners also kept their slaves in separate villages and demanded yearly tributes. Whereas in Koutiala it was an esclaves cases system where not only did slaves work their master's fields but they lived with their owners.40

In the Sokoto Caliphate, the murgu and wuri systems allowed for the possibility for slaves to save for self-redemption or fansar kai. Murgu and wuri were similar in that they both permitted slaves to work on their own in return for payment to their masters but differed in that murgu was a fixed payment, usually in cash but sometimes in kind, whereas wuri was a proportional payment usually one-tenth of a day's earnings. Murgu was much more common than wuri. It was the master's decision whether or not to permit slaves to work under the murgu system. Usually murgu payments were fixed and they were required to be paid regularly on a daily, weekly, monthly or annual basis. For example, according to Muhammadu Rabi'u, a

38 ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie-Niger 1904. Cercle de Sumpi Rapport sur l'etat de captivite dans le cercle. 39ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan. Cercle de Djenne. Rapport sur la captivite. ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie-Niger 1904. Cercle de Sumpi Rapport sur l'etat de captivite dans le cercle. 40 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan. Poste de Koutiala. Reponses au questionnaire sur la captivite, 1894. 133 master could demand that each Friday his slave give him seven hundred or eight hundred cowries as his murgu payments.41 Owners benefited from the murgu system.

They were not taxed on murgu payments and were not responsible for the upkeep of slaves on the murgu system. It was pure profit for them. While murgu costs varied, it was usually more than the cost of subsistence. Therefore in order to maintain themselves, slaves on the murgu system had to earn twice what they needed to survive before they could consider saving for self-redemption. Only slaves who were skilled craftsmen or who were very good traders, the individuals who would also probably be making higher murgu payments and whose redemption price would have also been set high, could have afforded to redeem themselves. Even then it probably took them between five and 17 years.42

Similarly to people who organized and paid for the ransoms of captives, slaves who were redeemed by others were usually redeemed by family or friends who valued the freedom of the particular enslaved individual. Often, one individual will pay for his or her own self-redemption and once free start saving to redeem his or her still enslaved family members. The Cercle Commander for Bobo-Dioulasso noted that a slave being redeemed by a third party was redeemed by either a parent or a

41 Economic History Project, Interview with Muhammadu Rabi'u, Fanisau, July 13, 1975. 42 Lovejoy, "Murgu: The wages of Slavery in the Sokoto Caliphate," 168-185. 134 friend. The Bougouni Cercle commander noted in 1904 that people would often save to redeem a father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister or another relative.44

The Zaria slave registers for 1905 and 1906, while dealing with redemptions in the early colonial period, give a good indication of the types of relationships between the redeemer and the person being redeemed that was probably not very different from the previous ten or twenty years. Discounting redemptions that took place of women who subsequently married their male redeemers or where children were subsequently adopted by their redeemers, out of 14 cases, nine involved fathers redeeming their children who were between the ages of 12 and 20, one involved a son redeeming his father, one involved a son redeeming his mother, one concerned a brother redeeming a sister, one entailed a daughter redeeming her mother, and one involved an adult woman being redeemed by unspecified relatives. Out of the 13 cases where the redeemer was specified, 12 of the redeemers were men. This made sense. Men were more likely to be skilled tradesmen and therefore more able to gather the resources to first redeem themselves if they had been enslaved, and second to redeem family members.

ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie-Niger 1904. Cercle de Bobo-Dioulasso Rapport sur la captivite. 44ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie-Niger 1904. Cercle de Bougouni, le 18 Janvier 1904. 45 NAK SNP 15/1 Ace 90 Register of Freed Slaves Zaria Province. 135 Status of Ransomed Captives and Redeemed Slaves

An important difference between the ransoming of prisoners and the redemption of slaves, besides the length of time of captivity, is that while the ransomed prisoner returned to his previous status and was completely free, the redeemed slave remained in a subservient relationship with his or her former owner and family. In the nineteenth century, prior to the British and French conquest of the western and central bilad al-sudan, it was very difficult for redeemed slaves to leave the villages and cities of their former masters. Even for first-generation slaves who remembered their homes, it would have been difficult to return home, if it still existed, because of the distances involved and because the possibility of re- enslavement was high. In the words of one former slave, Griga, born around 1847-

1848, and who was held in the Saharan oasis of Gouram in southern Algeria, "a freed

[slave] is only free in his own village."46

Meillassoux makes an important distinction between manumission and enfranchisement. He argues that the "enfranchisement" offered under Islam was, in reality, only manumission. According to him, enfranchisement meant that a freed slave acquires all of the prerogatives of the free-born including honours, and the stigma of slave birth or capture is removed. Enfranchised slaves, usually families, had the right to leave their former masters and settle on new land and enjoy all of the

FJG Mercadier, L 'esclave de Timimoun, trans. John Hunwick and Eve Trout Powell in The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam (Princeton: Markus Weiner Publishers, 2002), 213. 136 privileges of the free-born. There was a pre-Islamic Arabic term for full emancipation, sa'ibah, which means to "to flow away", whose use and practice disappeared with the advent of Islam.48 Using, Meillassoux' terminology most redeemed slaves in nineteenth century western and central Sudan were manumitted

slaves. The position of the manumitted slave contrasts drastically with the position of the enfranchised slave. A manumitted slave, even though free, was usually viewed as

a junior member of his former master's family and was expected to perform certain

duties towards his former master and give him gifts on certain occasions.

Furthermore, a master still held a great deal of control over his former slave. For

example, in Gumbu, a manumitted slave had to live in his master's village and could

not move away without his permission; did not have access to free-born women; had

to go to war on behalf of his master and his share of the booty belonged to his master

unless returned to him; did not have access to hereditary elective power except by

proxy; and his former owner could sell or pawn his children if he had not yet bought

their freedom.49 Therefore, while redemption shares commonalities with ransoming,

the status of a redeemed individual and a ransomed person differed.

Meillassoux, The Anthropology of Slavery, 121-123. 48 Mohamed Ennaji, "Sur la repudiation (divorce) qui montre le statut de la femme etait lie a l'esclavage" Tubman Seminar, York University, September 25, 2006. 49 Meillassoux, The Anthropology of Slavery, 119.

137 Conclusion

According to Islamic law, the natural condition of a human being is freedom.

Islam therefore encouraged the ransoming of captives and the redemption of slaves.

From an examination of the ideology of enslavement, redemption and ransoming can be viewed as being related. From a practical, real-world comparison of ransoming and redemption practices, they can also be viewed as being related. As with ransoming of a new captive, while religious and personal issues were sometimes a factor, a main impetus for slave-owners to allow their slaves to redeem themselves or to be redeemed by others was profit. Whether through self-redemption or third-party redemption, the slave gained his or her freedom, while the slave-owner gained both the labour of the slave and the profit from the redemption price. Further, like the ransoming of a captive soon after capture, permission for and the price for the two systems of redemption were at the behest of the owner. Yet the resulting status of a captive and slave differed in ransoming and redemption. While former captives returned to their previous status in their own societies, redeemed slaves remained subservient to their former owners in the society of their former owners.

138 CHAPTER SEVEN

RANSOMING IN NON-MUSLIM AREAS OF WEST AFRICA

Introduction

In the previous chapters, ransoming in Muslim areas of West and North-West

Africa was discussed. Specifically, the law regarding ransoming and how this law was used to help safe-guard the rights of free-born Muslims, the relationship between redemption and ransoming practices as well as the cost of ransoming compared to slave and redemption prices were examined. This chapter will examine the parallel practice of ransoming in non-Muslim areas of West Africa to show that ransoming was not unique to Muslim practice. Indeed in order for Muslims to ransom back free- born Muslims held captive by non-Muslims they had to rely on the ransoming traditions of these non-Muslim societies. Therefore it is important to show that the practice of ransoming was also common in non-Muslim areas, but that Islamic law was not a factor in justifying the practice in these regions. While many non-Muslim societies permitted ransoming, in many cases the permission to ransom captives did not develop out of written law but out of common law and changing practices.

Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries ransoming was practised in the non-Muslim coastal regions especially in Asante, Sierra Leone, Senegambia and in

139 non-Muslim Yorubaland. As in Muslim regions, ransoming was a viable option for those holding captives since captors knew family and friends were willing to go to great lengths to raise ransoms for captured individuals and to pay more than the person would fetch if sold as a slave. This can be observed by examining eighteenth century ransoming practices along the coast of West Africa that involved Europeans both as observers and participants, and by examining ransoming practices in nineteenth century Yorubaland.

Eighteenth Century Ransoming Practices along the West African Coast

Similar to West African Muslim societies, in non-Muslim regions of West

Africa the ransoming of captives was permitted and desired by both the captors and by the captives and their families and friends. As in Muslim regions, ransoming was a valid option for dealing with prisoners of war. According to John Barnes (Governor of Senegal, 1763-1766) in the mid-eighteenth century both Bambara and Manding ransomed prisoners of war.2 Throughout the mid to late eighteenth century ransoming of war prisoners was also frequent in regions closer to the coast in Senegambia.

Indeed as discussed in chapter five, Muslims ransomed fellow Muslims from non-

1 Sheila Lambert, ed., 1975. House of Commons Sessional Papers of the Eighteenth Century, vol 68: 218 Testimony of Jerome Barnard Weuves, 68: 120, 124, 126, Testimony of Richard Miles, 68: 286 Testimony of William Littleton, 73: 12-13, Nicholas Owen, Journal of a Slave-Dealer, ed. Eveline Martin (London, George Routledge and Sons, Ltd, 1930), 48. John Newton, The Journal of a Slave Trader (John Newton) 1750-1754 with Newton's Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade, eds. Bernard Martin and Mark Spurrell (London: The Epworth Press, 1962), 108. 2 Lambert, 68: 75. Testimony of John Barnes. 140 Muslims in coastal regions during this time period. Henry Hew Dalrymple, who was a lieutenant in the British army and was stationed at Goree between May and

September 1779, observed that war prisoners were ransomed in the regions surrounding Goree and the Gambia.3 Thomas Wilson supported this observation when he testified at the 1794 British enquiry on the slave trade that in about 1783 at

Goree Island a zwaya, or marabout, offered to pay a ransom to free his brother from captivity.4

Similar to Muslim regions, sending out search parties was a means of locating taken individuals; a necessary prerequisite for negotiating ransoms. Anthony Pantaleo

How, a botanist, recounted that in one instance, which took place in either 1785 or

1786 on the Gold Coast, a group of captives were brought to the trading fort of

Sekondi. The next day, according to How, a group of men and women arrived demanding to be able to ransom their captive relatives. Some of the captives were ransomed and the rest were sent to Cape Coast Castle.5 In a case of luck combined with assets, a son of a Sherbro area trader was kidnapped and ended up in Freetown under the care of the Church Missionary Society. He was found there by friends who had been sent by his father to look for him.6

One of the important differences between West African Islamic and non-

Islamic practices of ransoming was the permissibility for criminals sentenced to slavery to be ransomed in non-Muslim societies. In Muslim regions the only

3 Lambert, 69: 26. Testimony of Henry Hew Dalrymple. 4 Lambert, 73: 12-13. Testimony of Thomas Wilson. 5 Lambert, 73: 223-224. Testimony of Anthony Panteleo How. 6 The Church Missionary Gleaner, (1857) 7: 112-113. 141 legitimate reason for enslavement was unbelief and therefore the sentencing of criminals to enslavement was illegal. However, in non-Muslim regions this type of sentence for a range of crimes was prevalent. In the eighteenth century, while practices differed along the coast, depending on the offence, it was possible to ransom criminals sentenced to slavery. At the 1789-1790 British House of Commons enquiry into the slave trade Jerome Barnard Weuves, who was Governor of various Gold

Coast forts during the 1760s and 1770s, testified that the ransoming of criminals condemned to slavery as punishment for their crimes, before they were actually enslaved, was common.7 Richard Miles who was also stationed on the Gold Coast gave similar testimony but noted that people found guilty of witchcraft or of adultery with the wife of a powerful man could not ransomed.8 William Littleton, who was a slave trader on the Gambia River, also observed that individuals condemned to slavery as punishment for adultery could ransom themselves with slaves.9

Ransoming was such a prevalent means for dealing with captives in coastal regions of eighteenth century West Africa that European traders were expected to participate in the practice. They were presumed to be willing to ransom back free- born captives whose status should have kept them out of the slave trade and to want to ransom back free-born individuals for the greater profits involved. Furthermore, in order to maintain good relations with African traders and rulers, European traders

7 Lambert, 68: 218. Testimony of Jerome Barnard Weuves. 8 Lambert, 68: 120,124,126. Testimony of Richard Miles. 9 Lambert, 68: 286. Testimony of William Littleton. 142 were expected to facilitate ransoms by helping local traders in their negotiations by temporarily holding captives and by acting as mediators.

The slave trader, Nicholas Owen, admitted that it was common practice for

European slave traders to ransom back free-born captives. In his May 27, 1757 journal entry, the slave trader Nicholas Owen wrote,

we have great rejoyceing in the country upon the return of some free people from on board a ship commanded by Willm. Morgan from the Danish West Indies who stopt these people on board his boat and put them in irons as slaves, takeing for their ransom eight prime slaves before he agreed to their discharge, [sic]10

At the 1794 British House of Commons enquiry into the slave trade, the slave-traders

James Penny and John Fountain, and the Commander of Cape Coast Castle in the mid to late eighteenth century, Richard Miles, testified to the frequency of the ransoming of individual Africans. In his testimony at the Parliamentary hearings, Penny stated that,

there are frequent Wars in this Country, particularly between the Mahometans and the Pagans, and the Prisoners made in these Wars are sold as Slaves; if they have been Freemen originally they are frequently redeemed [ransomed] from us by their Friends who give us other Slaves in return.

The use of the word "redeemed" instead of "ransomed" demonstrates confusion on the part of some Europeans about the difference between redeeming a slave and the ransoming of a captive who would be returned to his previous status. Yet it

Owen, Journal of a Slave-Dealer, 72. " Lambert, 69: 33. Testimony of James Penny. 143 demonstrates that just as European traders conformed to African trading norms so too did they participate in African practices of ransoming. Indeed while Fountain testified that slaves were frequently ransomed off ships, Miles stated that while ransoming was frequent he would not permit the ransom of individuals whose sellers requested that particular individuals not be ransomed.12

The ransoming off ships implies, first, that there was an expectation on the part of Africans to be able to ransom those taken captive. Second, it indicates the importance of being able to locate a particular person since it is easier to find

someone who has not been too far away. Third, it insinuates a willingness on the part of Europeans to take part in the ransoming process. Fourth, it suggests a readiness on the part of Europeans, often out of necessity and out of the desire to maintain good relations, to cooperate with local authorities on issues surrounding the eligibility of certain individuals to be ransomed.

In a further example of collaboration, African slave dealers, with the

cooperation of slave ship captains, sometimes used slave ships to hold captives whom they preferred to ransom but whom they would sell to the slave ship if a ransom price

could not be agreed upon. For example, one African slave-dealer, Fat Sam, who

operated around Accra towards the end of the eighteenth century kept captives, whom

he had not yet sold, on board British ships. In particular, Trotter, the ship surgeon,

12 Lambert, 68: 267. Testimony of John Fountain, Lambert, 68: 120, 124, 126 Testimony of Richard Miles. The Swedish explorer, CB Wadstrom, who by 1794 had become an anti-slavery advocate, in his 1794 study of Sierra Leone also indicated to the frequency of captives being ransomed off ships. He stated that those who were ransomed were usually taken from near the coast. See Wadstrom, An Essay on Colonization, 2: 81-82, 104-105. 144 recalled one incident where a young boy was carried off the ship by a man he assumed was his father, uncle or another close male relative.13 Likewise, Europeans would hold on to high-status captives and delay sending them to the Americas with the hope that they would be ransomed for a higher price than the individual was worth as a slave. In one case, a British slave-factor who had bought some captured free sailors, including one who was a son of the King of Saalum, on discovering their identities decided not to ship them out but to hold on to them "so that their friends might redeem [ransom] them with other slaves when they saw fit."14 Ludewig Romer recounted a story of ransoming in his memoir written in 1760. He stated that

"Corrantryn", a powerful Ga trader, once kidnapped two of his own townspeople and sold them to a slave ship. The friends of the two kidnapped men caught up with the ship at Accra and managed to negotiate their ransom.15

A further similarity between ransoming practices in the western and central bilad al-sudan and eighteenth century West African coastal regions was the importance of the use of mediators. However, while in Muslim regions mediators were government officials, in non-Muslim regions mediators could be government officials but also non-government actors who were respected by both sides and able to act as go-betweens. In eighteenth-century coastal regions these potential mediators included Europeans. Indeed the fact that Europeans were acting as mediators in

13 Lambert, 3: 84, Testimony of Dr. Thomas Trotter. 14 Wadstrom, 2:81. 1 Ludewig Ferdinand Romer, A Reliable Account of the Coast of Guinea (1760), ed. and trans. Selena Axelrod Winsnes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 178. Romer worked for the Danish West India and Guinea Company in the 1740s on the Gold Coast, first as an assistant clerk and then as a merchant. 145 ransoming negotiations between Africans not only demonstrates the prevalence of ransoming but also, since it was such an accepted practice in the trade in persons, that

European traders were expected to participate fully in it. According to John Marshall, after one battle between Asante and Fante a Mr Brew mediated ransom negotiations between the two sides.16 In another incident in February 1793 in Sierra Leone a man tried to use the Governor of Sierra Leone as a mediator in ransom negotiations with the slave-ship captain who was holding his daughter. The Governor helped to negotiate the price of ransom from two slaves down to one prime slave but the ship sailed before the father could return with the ransom.17 Europeans on the West

African coast were not only observers of local ransoming practices but were also active participants in the process as intermediaries, sources of information, and as captors.

Ransoming in Nineteenth Century West Africa

Ransoming of captives continued to be prevalent in non-Muslim regions of

West Africa in the nineteenth century. This is exemplified by the ransoming practices in Yorubaland; a region heavily affected by warfare throughout the nineteenth century. Ransoming continued to be a viable option for dealing with captives since captors and owners knew family and friends were willing to go to great lengths to raise ransoms and redemptions for captured and enslaved individuals and to pay more

16 Lambert, 73: 384, Testimony of John Marshall. 17 Wadstrom, 2: 80. 146 than the person would fetch if sold as a slave. Samuel Crowther observed in the 1840s that families in Yorubaland ransomed "as many as they had the means of redeeming

[ransoming]."18 In the 1850s JA Maser, a CMS missionary who was stationed mostly in Ibadan, also observed that people ransomed their relatives whenever possible.19

For example, in once instance from the 1850s a woman, Afebi, travelled from

Abeokuta to Porto-Novo to negotiate and pay her husband's ransom. He had been taken during a raid on his caravan. The husband's freedom was only regained because his wife was able to locate him and pay his ransom.

Throughout West Africa in Muslim and non-Muslim regions alike, the opportunity to capture and enslave or to capture and ransom rose out of the insecurity of the era. Just as the nineteenth century was a period of insecurity and warfare for the Muslim western and central bilad al-sudan, so too was it for nineteenth century

Yorubaland. The main causes of Yoruba warfare in the mid to late nineteenth century were imperialist ambitions, political alliances, defence of commercial alliances, and desire on the part of individual soldiers for booty, honour, and followers. As elsewhere raiding was a common military technique among the Yoruba. The CMS missionary wife Anna Hinderer described the war strategies employed by both sides in the Ibadan-Ijaye war as being mostly a series of raids to plunder property and

18 Samuel Crowther, Journals of Rev. James Frederick Schon and Mr. Samuel Crowther (London: Hatchard and Son, 1842), 337. 19 CMS CA2/068 Journal of JA Maser, July 13 1859. 20 CMS CA2/068 Journal of JA Maser 1854. 21 Toyin Falola and GO Oguntomisin, Yoruba Warlords of the Nineteenth Century (Trenton NJ: Africa World Press, 2001), 8-9. 147 kidnap people with occasional large and small battles. The closing and re- opening of trade routes in order to control trade was a common military strategy especially utilized by the various Yoruba states in the last three decades of the nineteenth century.23 In the late 1850s the Lander brothers had also remarked on the effect of the pillaging of caravans by "war-boys" along the trade routes.24

Among the Yoruba, the fate of prisoners of war included death, enslavement, imprisonment, free release, and ransoming. Prisoners from mid-nineteenth century warfare in Yorubaland often ended up being sold in the coastal markets of Dahomey and the Lagos lagoon as well as in internal markets such as Ibadan.25 Throughout the wars of the mid-nineteenth century, it was common for prisoners to be brought to another city in order for them to be ransomed. For example, in 1851, after the

Dahomey-Egba war, the Egba brought their Dahomey captives to Ketu where they were ransomed. This is similar to Muslim practices in the western and central Sudan of bringing captives to be ransomed to certain centres or leaving clues to where they could be located.

As in the western and central Sudan, while pillaging was used as a legitimate military technique, the Yoruba wars also provided the opportunity for independent

Anna Hinderer, Seventeen years in the Yoruba Country (London: The Religious Tract Society, 1872), 216-217. 23 Olatunji Ojo, Warfare, Slavery and the Transformation of Yorubaland, 1820-1900 (Ph.D diss., York University, 2004), 151-152. 24 Lander, 1: 145. 25 CMS CA 2/068 JA Maser to H Venn, Lagos, October 9 1860 states in part that "an Ijaye men [sic] who was sold at Lagos, having been taken captive by the Ibadans" and R Delaney, "Official Report of the Niger Valley Exploring Party," Search for a Place: Black Separation and Africa, 1860, (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1969), 86 and JE Ade Ajayi and Robert Smith, Yoruba Warfare in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964), 51-52, 91. 26 Ajayi and Smith, 52. 148 pillagers to operate. In his mid-1850s account of his travels through Yorubaland

William H Clarke noted on a number of occasions the insecurity of the trade routes and risks of caravans being pillaged. In 1855 in north-west Yorubaland, he wrote that,

fortunately we were now joined by a small caravan acquainted with the route, some of whom were on their return from Saki to Ilorin and were no doubt glad to avail themselves of my presence in as much as a part of the road was already infested by freebooters and kidnappers, and it was now a current report that it was but a short time since a caravan had been invaded and some of the number taken into slavery.27

The closing of trade routes often resulted in the capture of traders who could be enslaved or ransomed. Anna Hinderer, wife of the CMS missionary David Hinderer, observed in February 1860, just before the outbreak of official hostilities that "the roads to Ijaye have all been shut and Ibadan kidnappers have been catching everybody, man, woman, or child who ventured out in the Ijaye farms."28

Some pillagers formed gangs consisting of members from different districts, which gave them a larger number of bases and greater mobility. Some of the most notorious robbers included Ketew of Ijo, Ojo of Atigere and Onpentan of Igbobin.29

In August 1853, Maser noted that "in this time of war in Lagos the Egbas are robbing along the river"30 and in the following year he stated in a journal entry after visiting

Iberemodo that "the chief and people are much depressed by the constant danger from

William H Clarke, Travels and Explorations in Yorubaland, ed. J.A Atanda (Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1972), 65. See also 33. 28 Hinderer, 211-212. 29 Ojo, 151-155. 30 CMS CA2/068 Journal of JA Maser, August 29 1853. kidnapping expeditions undertaken by the Egbas, Ibadan-Ijaye and even Ilorin people."31 In an 1862 letter, Arthur A Harrison charged that in the Abeokuta area "the object of the plundering parties about the country just now is probably to catch and sell those who have escaped from the towns and villages destroyed by Dahomey."32

In an 1861 letter, Maser provided a detailed account of a pillaging, kidnapping and ransoming. In this account three men were taken captive on the road between

Ibadan and Lagos by 14 men headed by the Balugun of Igbesu, a small Ijebu village.

After being taken first to Ijesha, then Makun, and finally to Abeokuta, one of the men, Hollis, was eventually ransomed.33 In this case the Balugun of this particular village took advantage of the ongoing warfare and insecurity to partake in some economic pillaging and ransoming.

It was also common for individuals to be captured and ransomed more than once. William Moore's mother, for example, was taken captive three times. The first time her uncle and great-uncle ransomed her after a period of captivity, the second time she escaped, and after she was taken captive the third time she was ransomed by

Samuel Crowther. There is a history of repeated captivity and ransoming in

Crowther's own family. His mother, Afala, had been taken captive several times.

One of her ransoms was paid by her two daughters. After he was reunited with his family, Crowther's two sisters were taken captive along with their husbands and

31 CMS CA2/068 Journal of JA Maser, September 8 1854. 32 CMS CA2/045 Arthur A Harrison, April 26 1862. 33 CMS CA2/068 JA Maser, Lagos, May 10 1861. 34 M.A.S Barber, Oshielle or Village Life in the Yoruba Country (London: James Nisbet and Co, 1857),128-129. William Moore was also known as Odusina. 150 children. Crowther was able to ransom his sisters, their children, and one brother-in- law. The second brother-in-law died in captivity before ransom negotiations were concluded.35 In another case, Moses Anwo, who died in February 1874, was taken captive as a youth but was ransomed by his mother. As an adult, en route to Ibadan in

1868, he was again kidnapped and held for ransom in Oyo.36

As in Muslim regions of the western and central Sudan where trading networks and trading diasporas were used as information links, trading networks and diaspora communities were also key to negotiating ransoms in non-Muslim

Yorubaland. Furthermore, as in Muslim regions, trading networks, as a source of information, were important in locating individuals. For example, even though the

Egba and Ijebu were not at peace in 1853, Moore was able to trace and ransom his mother who was being held in Ijebu through Lagos traders who traded with Ijebu. In a letter he wrote to M.A.S Barber he stated that

hearing that the Lagos people had been trading with the Ijebbu people, at a place called Ikorodu, I sent to a friend at Lagos, to ask him to beg some of the traders at that place, to make enquiry among the Ijebbus for my mother, giving him at the same time her description, name, and tribe...Then there came one day a man to my sister with a message from my mother, to say she was still a slave in the Ijebbu country; the message was sent on to me, and I quickly sent back the money for her redemption.37

A mentioned, this was not the first time that Moore's mother had been taken captive. In 1824, as an 11 year old child, Moore and his mother, grandmother, sister

The Church Missionary Gleaner, (1878-1879), 5: 47. The Church Missionary Gleaner, (April 1875), 2: 16. Barber, 126-127. and brother were taken captive during an attack on his town. His captive relatives were found and ransomed by his uncle and his maternal great-uncle, he and his little brother were not. Moore's uncle and great-uncle pawned themselves and borrowed other money from friends in order to ransom Moore's mother, grandmother, and sister. They could have raised more money to ransom the two boys but could not find them. Here chance played a significant role. Moore ended up being sold towards to coast, which made him more difficult to trace and ransom whereas his ransomed family members were kept locally long enough for ransoms to be negotiated and raised.38

It was not only families and friends who tried to find people taken captive but captives also tried to send messages back to their family and friends. The 1866 case of Doherty is a prime example. He was taken captive in 1862 and brought to

Dahomey where he was held on the Ajagun estate near Abomey. In 1866, a woman named Ibisemi, also from Isaga, escaped from the same estate and made her way back to Isaga, where she relayed Doherty's message about his whereabouts. According to

Maser, Doherty told her "to tell the White man who placer [sic] him to Isaga that he was still alive as also another man of the Church a Sierra Leone man Jones or

Agujobi and he would not forget him."39 The CMS arranged his ransom.

As well as trading networks, diaspora communities were also important in ransoming. In one instance, a woman named Lubakeh from Oshielle near Abeokuta

38 Barber, 52, 128-129. 39 CMS CA2/068 JA Maser to H Venn, November 28, 1866 and CMS CA2/068 JA Maser to H Venn, December 1, 1866. 152 was kidnapped and taken to Ibadan. Traders from Abeokuta recognized her and paid her ransom.40 In another example, in 1860 after the Ijayi-Ibadan war, other Ijayi, most likely traders living in Ibadan, ransomed Ijayi captives who had been brought to

Ibadan by their captors.41 It is probable that one of the ways that the free Ijayi living in Ibadan were able to recognize their fellow captive Ijayi was through their markings. According to Lovejoy, "markings were important in relation to ransoming because it was relatively easy to locate people who had been enslaved if they were being held for ransom."42 Furthermore, scarification was usually a sign of free and sometimes elite status, indicating that there may be people willing and able to ransom a captive person with markings.43 Non-Muslim West African societies, including

Yoruba societies, were no exception to the general point that it was most likely those of high status, or whose families and friends had other means to raise the money who were the ones who were most likely to be ransomed and redeemed. For the Yoruba, as JF Ade Ajayi and Robert Smith state, it was the "fortunate" who were ransomed.44

In non-Muslim regions however, including nineteenth century Yorubaland, it appears that people used as brokers the good offices of whoever was capable and who was held in high enough esteem by all sides to conduct ransom negotiations. This differed from West African Muslim practice where the mediator in ransom

40 Barber,] 18. 41 Ajayi and Smith, 52 42 Paul E Lovejoy, "Scarification and the Loss of History in the African Diaspora" paper presented at York University, July 2005: 7, 14 Scarifications were also used by long-distance traders to identify members of the same trading diaspora and also in battle to distinguish sides. See Paul E Lovejoy, "Scarification and the Loss of History in the African Diaspora," 14, and Ajayi and Smith, 91. 44 See Ajayi and Smith, 52. 153 negotiations, with very few exceptions, was a government official. For example, as mentioned above, during the legitimate Atlantic slave trade, Europeans, including traders and fort governors, sometimes operated as mediators in ransom negotiations.45

In nineteenth century Yorubaland, European missionaries sometimes fulfilled this role. For example, missionaries from the CMS helped broker the 1856 ransoming of

JB Dasala who was held by in Dahomey and was eventually returned to Abeokuta.46

In the 1866 case of Doherty, the CMS missionary Maser thought it was best to offer a ransom through officials in Ouidah.47

It was also the case, however, that people were willing to enter into ransoming relationships with some people but not with everyone. For example, in Gyaman, in the nineteenth century if a new captive was of Mossi, Gurunsi, Kulango or Tagwana origin, the opportunity to be ransomed was extremely unlikely because of the high possibility that any emissary sent by their families to negotiate a ransom would be enslaved. However, if the captive was of Akan ethnicity, it was possible for families

48 to negotiate ransom payments.

Prices

In non-Muslim West Africa, especially among the Yoruba, there was often an overlap between a person's status as a captive who could be ransomed and a slave

45 Lambert, 73: 384. Testimony of John Marshall, Wadstrom, 2: 80. 46 CMS CA2/068 JA Maser, Abeokuta November 27, 1856. See also CMS CA2/068 Journal of JA Maser October 30 1856. 47 CMS CA2/068 JA Maser to H Venn, December 1, 1866. 48 Emmanuel Terray "La captivite dans le royaume abron du Gyaman," in L'esclavage en Afrique precoloniale ed. Claude Meillassoux, (Paris: Francois Maspero, 1975), 405-406. 154 who could be redeemed. Instead of being a clear cut distinction between the two status' there seem to be a grey area for captives who were held for a long period of time and slaves who were redeemed after a short period of time. The real difference in ransoming and redemption was the status gained by the individual after their freedom had been paid for. Ransomed individuals regained their status in their previous society whereas redeemed individuals remained in their former owner's society in an ameliorated by still subservient position. Furthermore ransom prices and redemption prices were similar. Therefore it is possible to discuss ransom and redemption prices in conjunction with each other.

Ransom and redemption prices in non-Muslim regions of West Africa were similar to ransom prices in the western and central Sudan in that they were usually at least twice the slave price value. Ransoms were paid in goods, cattle or slaves.49 For instance, according to Henry Hew Dalrymple, in the mid-eighteenth century the common ransom price in the coastal regions of Senegambia was cattle or two slaves.50 Romer observed that the ransom price around Accra in the mid-eighteenth century was about 2 slaves for the return of one individual.51 In the late eighteenth century Goree, the ransom price was often two slaves. This is exemplified by a 1783

49 Lambert, 68: 120, 124, 126. Testimony of Richard Miles, 68: 75. Testimony of John Barnes. 50 Lambert, 69: 26. Testimony of Henry Hew Dalrymple. 51 Romer, 178. 52 Lambert, 69: 26. Testimony of Henry Hew Dalrymple. 155 case at Goree Island where a zwaya offered to pay a ransom of two or more slaves for his brother.53

Demanding twice the value of a slave was also true for ransom and redemption among the nineteenth century Yoruba. While speaking specifically about

Ibadan, Samuel Johnson stated that a "wise [slave] who has captured one or two slaves in war, gives them back to his master in the presence of witnesses in lieu of himself, and thereby his ransom is paid."54 In 1856 the redemption price of a woman and her three children in Abeokuta was approximately 180 country dollars.55 At the

Niger-Benue confluence, in an 1858 case, two women were redeemed for 120 000 cowries each while Iluwo Amoyo was redeemed for 80 000 cowries in 1865. These three individuals had been held in Gbebe.56 In late 1866, Doherty, who had been the catechist at Isaga and had been held as a slave in Dahomey since 1864, sent a message to the CMS missionaries asking them to arrange for his redemption price of between £10 and £15.57

As can be seen from table 7.1, many ransom prices in non-Muslim areas were set even higher than the equivalent of two slaves. In Sierra Leone in 1794 one man

CO was ransomed for 22 slaves. This ransom price was probably set this high because those holding the man knew that he and his family were wealthy and could afford

53 Lambert, 73: 12-13 Testimony of Thomas Wilson. 54 Samuel Johnson, The History of the Yorubas (Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1966), 325. 55 CMS CA2/068 Journal of JA Maser, Abeokuta June 24 1856. 56 Femi Kolapo, "Missionaries and Traders' Reports and the Creation of a Slave Biographical Database for the Nigerian Hinterland: Challenges & Perspectives," Tubman Seminar, November 1, 1999. 57 CMS CA2/068 JA Maser to H Venn, Abeokuta December 1, 1866. 58 Wadstrom, 2: 17. 156 such a ransom. The motive for ransoming was to take advantage of the fact that family and friends valued the freedom of captives and were therefore willing to pay for it. More reasonable and more usual ransom prices towards the end of the eighteenth century on the coast of Sierra Leone included a demand for several slaves over four feet and four inches high, for two slaves for the return of one person, or for

£50 for the return of two men.59

Table 7.1: Sample of Ransom Prices in Non-Muslim West Africa

Time Place Cost mid-eighteenth Senegambia60 Cattle or 2 slaves century mid-eighteenth Accra61 2 slaves century 1783 Goree6' 2 or more slaves for a man

1794 Sierra Leone 22 slaves for one man end of 18* century Sierra Leone>4 2 slaves end of 18th century Sierra Leone65 Several slaves over 4 feet 4 inches end of 18th century Sierra Leone66 £50 for two men

1854 Yorubaland67 80 000 cowries per man

1856 Abeokuta68 180 country dollars for 1 woman and three children

59 Wadstrom, 2:77, 81,91. 60 Lambert, 69: 26. Testimony of Henry Hew Dalrymple. 61 R0mer, 178. 62 Lambert, 73: 12-13. Testimony of Thomas Wilson. 63 Wadstrom, 2: 17. 64 Wadstrom, 2: 77. 65 Wadstrom, 2: 81. 66 Wadstrom, 2: 91. 67 Samuel Crowther, Journal of an Expedition up the Niger and Tshadda Rivers, 2" ed. (London: Frank Cass & Co Ltd, 1970), 159. 68 CMS CA2/068 Journal of JA Maser, Abeokuta June 24 1856. 157 1858 Niger/Benue 120 000 cowries for a woman confluence69 1864 Dahomey £10- 15 for a man

1865 Niger/Benue 80 000 cowries for a man confluence71

Conclusion

In conclusion, ransoming of captives was not unique to Muslim states of West

and North-West Africa but was also practised by non-Muslim societies of the region,

especially by the coastal states of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. While in

Muslim societies ransoming was governed and justified by law, in non-Muslim regions it was justified through practice. This dissimilarity led to using different types of mediators in ransoming negotiations. Furthermore, the difference in law meant that individuals sentenced to slavery as punishment for a crime were eligible

for ransoming in non-Muslim regions such as Asante. This was not practised in either

the Maghrib nor in West African Muslim societies since enslavement was not a legal punishment for criminal behaviour under Islamic law. Similar to Muslim regions of

the western and central Sudan, permission for ransoming and the ability to set the

price lay with the captor. Moreover, like their Muslim captive-holding counterparts,

non-Muslims in West Africa were motivated to ransom their captives in large part in

order gather the greater profit from returning a person to a state of freedom than by

selling him or her as a slave.

69 Kolapo 70 CMS CA2/068 JA Maser to H Venn, Abeokuta December 1, 1866. 71 Kolapo. 158 »th Map 7.1: 18 Century European Forts and Trading Posts on the West African Coast

600 Br Bmndentmn$er p torn m DaPamk frrfetff) J'Atfrtdaff} f£«$M BalhmtttD <5^to (?) F (batch Bi3sm(Wr Sp Spanish

/brtaAtov(f.0) fratemrt) mm (FJ.PI in KM Gmnd'Laku (F)\

Axim (fffl% feymndefb (Spy\

mtM (F£f) SSoTome (P) fyfe (AHtcho)(P) !(MJ) '^ '<*.,

Source: AE Afigbo, EA Ayandele, RJ Gavin, J.D Omer-Cooper and R Palmer, The Making of Modern Africa, vol 1, (Essex: Longman Group Limited, 1986), 46.

159 Map 7.2: 19kt h Century Yoruba States

\ Sokoto «^\ Caliphate

i Jbadanu . .,' xv \

» ^jaye V'V-Ed,.! V Deere \ I \ V* /"Mesa < ' W2^

/ \ t - "r ~ « * * Ekiti / > »Egb#,_V Ife / T>/ Qebu Ode s , j

15 .i. U** ^ MaW • , Benin City » — J XBeni n / / //A\ \ , Warn / J \

N.O. - New Oyo \ / 0 lOOmi X. / I 1 i -~— 0 200km

Yoruba states in the nineteenth century.

Source: Toyin Faiola, Key Events in African History: A Reference Guide (Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 2002), 142.

160 CHAPTER EIGHT

RANSOMING UNDER COLONIAL RULE

Introduction

While both French and British officials justified the take-over of African territory as a means to end slavery and the slave trade, officials in West Africa, especially in the western and central bilad al-sudan, required the cooperation of the local slave-owning elites in order to govern. Therefore, both French and British officials reached an accommodation with the local elites on a process of slow emancipation with slaves compensating their owners for the loss of their labour.

Under colonial rule, the legal context of ransoming effectively ended as enslavement was made a criminal offence. Redemption, however, continued as it was found to be a useful tool in colonial emancipation policies. Yet, by co-opting the existing traditions and reshaping them as a means to gradually end the institution of slavery,

French and British officials altered the dynamics between owner and slave. This chapter will show how ransoming was effectively ended with colonialism, by first discussing British and French policies regarding slavery and second the effects of

British and French policies on the institutions of slavery, particularly in eliminating the legal basis for ransoming and altering the practice of redemption to enable individuals to claim the right to their redemption.

161 British and French Policies Towards Slavery

In regards to first the slave trade and then the end of slavery, both French and

British policies and actions, whether following the British-Indian model as in the

Gold Coast, or Frederick Lugard's model in the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria, were tugged in two different directions. In one direction, there were the priorities of the metropole, of French and British officials and politicians in Paris and London who were to some extent justifying the take-over of African territory as a means to end slavery and the slave trade. Pulling in the other direction were on-the-spot officials in

West Africa, who needed the cooperation of local elites, local slave-owning, slave- trading elites, in order to govern and expand French and British influence.1 By the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the ideals of the anti-slavery movement had long been digested and accepted by the British public at large. Moreover, while by the last quarter of the nineteenth century the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society was not as popular as it had been earlier in the century, it could still rally public support and was still an important pressure group. As Suzanne Miers states, the Anti-

Slavery Society could

be called upon, for instance to drum up support for policies and get money from Parliament for actions presented as anti-slavery measures, but desired for other reasons. It could be used to put pressure on reluctant foreign governments by publicizing their shortcomings. The Society became the joker - the wild card - in colonial policy and international relations. It could be used or resisted according to circumstances, but could rarely be ignored.

1 See CM Andrew and A.S Kanya-Forstner, "Centre and Periphery in the Making of the Second French Colonial Empire, 1815-1914," Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 16:3 (1988): 9-34. 162 Thus the British government, like foreign powers, learned to play what may be called the antislavery game.2

Therefore, while anti-slavery was a useful tool for justifying imperialist ambitions in

West Africa, there was an expectation on the part of European abolitionists and humanitarians that colonial officials would work towards ending slavery in their territories.3

From the mid-nineteenth century onwards, British policy and action towards slavery on the West African coast were inconsistent and confusing. Again, the main goal for officials "on the ground" was to create as little social dislocation as possible.

At first, the British were mainly concerned with ending the trade in slaves. To do this

Great Britain signed treaties with coastal powers abolishing the external slave trade across the Atlantic, while not interfering with "domestic trade," and establishing freed-slave settlements such as Freetown in Sierra Leone to settle recaptured slaves.

Even after establishing itself on the West African coast, Britain continued to try to maintain its policy of non-intervention. For example, while Britain occupied Lagos

2 Suzanne Miers, Slavery in the Twentieth Century (Walnut Creek CA: Altamira Press, 2003), 8-9. For a discussion on British and French imperialism in West Africa see, for example, CM Andrew and A.S Kanya-Forstner, "The French Colonial Party': Its Composition, Aims and Influence, 1885-1814," The Historical Journal 14:1 (1971): 79-106, CM Andrew, "The French Colonialist Movement during the Third Republic: The Unofficial Mind of Imperialism," Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 16 (1976), J Marseille, "The Phases of French Colonial Imperialism: Towards a New Periodisation," Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 13:3 (1985), Kanya-Forstner, The Conquest of the Western Sudan, Ronald Robinson and John Gallagher, Africa and the Victorians: The Official Mind of Imperialism, 2nd ed. (London: MacMillan Press Ltd, 1981), PJ Cain and AG Hopkins, British Imperialism, 2 vols (1993), JS Galbraith, "The Turbulent Frontier as a Factor in British Expansion," Comparative Studies in Society and History 2:1 (1960), DCM Piatt, "The National Economy and British Imperial Expansion before 1914," Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 2:1 (1974): 3-14. 163 in 1851 it did not give it the status of a colony until 1861, in part to avoid having to deal with the legality of slavery.

Unlike enslaved individuals who saw the presence of British officials as a chance to escape slavery, British officials in Africa did not favour a sudden end to slavery but instead envisioned its demise as a long-term goal. In the last few decades of the nineteenth century, strategies for dealing with slavery ranged from abolishing slave trading, to encouraging slaves to desert, to then discouraging slave flight.

Furthermore, individual colonial officers reacted differently when faced with runaway slaves. Some sent slaves back to their owners while others refused to return them. The favoured means for slaves to gain their freedom in coastal regions administered by

British officials was redemption. For example, while Yoruba slave owners were setting self-redemption fees between £6 10s and £12 in the 1870s and between £5 and

£15 in the 1890s, in 1898 British officials set the self-redemption price at £5 for adult slaves and £2 10s for children. After 1899 any slave could redeem him or herself for

£3 15s.4 In Sierra Leone, the Protectorate Ordinance of 1901 set the price of redemption at £4 for an adult and £2 for a child although the actual price varied in the late nineteenth century and was much higher for members of important families.5

4 Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery, 252-275, Suzanne Miers, Britain and the Ending of the Slave Trade (London: Longman, 1975), Ojo, 154-156, 237. 5 Ismail Rashid, "Do Daddy nor lef me Make dem Carry me: Slave Resistance and Emancipation in Sierra Leone, 1894-1928," in Slavery and Colonial Rule in Africa, eds. Suzanne Miers and Martin Klein, (London: Frank Cass, 1999), 216. Carol P MacCormack, "Wono: Institutionalized Dependency in Sherbro Descent Groups," in Slavery in Africa eds. Suzanne Miers and Igor Koytoff (Madison: University of Wisonsin Press), 196. 164 On becoming High Commissioner of Northern Nigeria in 1900, Frederick

Lugard inherited the conundrum of obeying British law concerning slavery while at the same time preventing slaves from leaving their owners. His predecessor in

Northern Nigeria, Sir George Goldie, was very much against emancipation. The

Royal Niger Company's 1886 Charter mentioned the abolition of slavery and indeed in 1889 Goldie was chastising his own employees for giving sanctuary to run-away slaves and for interfering with slave-raids and slavery in general. Yet even in 1896

Goldie was insistent that the Company could not abolish slavery without the backup of a large number of troops. In 1897, with the pending loss of the Royal Niger

Company Charter, Goldie declared that the "Legal Status of Slavery to be of non- effect." While Goldie had not intended to emancipate slaves with his 1897 proclamation, many of his officials had interpreted it as such and allowed for the wide-spread desertion of slaves in Company-held territory.6

Building on his experience in East Africa, Lugard was much more politically astute than Goldie in balancing the socio-political milieu of the conquered Sokoto

Caliphate with the public expectations of British politicians and populace. While he kept Goldie's "legal abolition of slavery" approach he added the policy of forcing slaves to redeem themselves and to compensate their owners for the loss of their labour. This second policy became especially important after 1904. In his March 31,

1901 Slavery Proclamation he forbade government compensation for loss of slaves,

6 For more on the Royal Niger Company and Sir George Goldie see John Flint, Sir George Goldie and the Making of Nigeria (London: Oxford University Press, 1960). 165 prohibited slave-raiding, declared that children born after the Proclamation were born free, and allowed for the simple sale of slaves but not the movement of slaves over large distances for sale, gift or transfer purposes. More importantly, however, was the section of the Slavery Proclamation where he declared it illegal for officials and all "non-natives" to possess slaves or to return run-away slaves to their masters.7

What showed Lugard's political astuteness was his issuance of secret instructions concerning slavery to his Residents. At the same time that he was publicly supporting his Slavery Proclamation and his public position of opposition to slavery and hence opposition to the legal return of runaway slaves to their owners, he had secretly instructed his Residents to quietly, but illegally, return slaves. Therefore, in his bid to maintain the status quo, Lugard protected himself but exposed his political officers to possible legal sanctions. Lugard and his officials used a variety of tactics to prevent slaves from leaving their owners such as Lugard's August 1902 memo forbidding amirs to permit fugitive slaves who crossed provincial boundaries to settle, by sending cases to the Islamic courts where most likely slaves would be returned, or dealing with run-away slaves as vagrants and sending them back to their masters because they were unable to support themselves. Between 1901 and 1903 there were at least eight proclamations on slavery and many secret instructions which

first abolished slave-raiding and then abolished slave trading between "provinces" and the "simple transfer" of slaves in 1903. Yet, at the same time, there were also provisions made for female slaves, slaves from "foreign" territories, vagrancy laws,

7 Northern Nigeria Gazette, 2: 2 (Feb 28, 1901). 166 ordinances for the employment of "servants" etc. which allowed slave-owners to remain in control of their slaves. The 1904 Slavery Proclamation, which differed little from the 1901 Proclamation except that all slave sales were made illegal, had a greater emphasis placed on self-purchase and third-party redemption.8 Slave-owners took advantage of colonial non-action on slavery in order to continue with their previous practices. For example, in a circa 1904 run-away slave case, the Sarkin

Mafara requested that the Sarkin Zamfara return to him four slaves whom he suspected were hiding in that region.9

In his 1905 article, "West Africa," Lugard more fully explained his strategy for dealing with slavery in Northern Nigeria. He explained that individual colonial officers were in the best position to deal with individual cases. He stated that if, in the officer's opinion, a slave ran away because of cruelty or recent enslavement, then the matter should be dealt with judicially, whereas if the slave was a "criminal" or a

"vagrant" then while his freedom must be recognized he should either be denied land on which to settle or the case should be sent to the native courts. He further stated that cases of runaway women should be handled as divorce cases and not as runaway slave cases. In this same 1905 article he reiterated the preferred option of self- redemption since it would serve

justice to the master for property legally acquired (at the time of acquisition) and because the slave will value the freedom which

8 See Jan Hogendorn and Paul Lovejoy, "The Development and Execution of Frederick Lugard's Policies Toward Slavery in Northern Nigeria," Slavery and Abolition 10:1 (1989): 1-43, and Paul E Lovejoy, "Commentary" in John Hunwick "Flakeiana II: A Letter from the Amir of Mafar to the Amir of Zamfara," Sudanic Africa 3(1992): 104-105. 9 Hunwick, Flakeiana II: A Letter from the Amir of Mafar to the Amir of Zamfara," 99-101. 167 he has himself earned, and which confers on him in native public opinion a status of freedom which the arbitrary law of the white man is powerless to confer.

In this way Lugard used the traditions of redemption and self-redemption to control the rate at which slaves left their owners and to limit the monetary loss that owners faced at the loss of their slaves while at the same time placating British abolitionists.

Captive-taking, enslavement, and slave-trading were made illegal, hence effectively outlawing ransoming since legally there were no captives to ransom, yet extending the practice of redemption as the favoured means for unfree individuals to gain freedom. Unless they could access a court and prove that they were recently captured, the only means for an unfree person, including a wrongly taken captive free-born

Muslim, to regain his freedom was through redemption.

The British anti-slavery movement also had an effect on French slavery policies in West Africa. Slavery was first abolished in French territories in 1792 as a result of the French Revolution but was re-established in 1802 after Napoleon

Bonaparte came to power. In 1818, France abolished the slave trade due to pressure from Britain. Unlike the British, however, and although France maintained a naval squadron off of the coast of West Africa to intercept slave traders, in the 1830s there was little enthusiasm among the French monarchy, the Catholic Church in France, nor the public to enforce the ban on slave-trading in the early decades of the nineteenth century. In 1848, France again abolished slavery in all her colonies and possessions.

10 Frederick Lugard, "West Africa," in The Empire and the Century (London: John Murray, 1905), 853-854. 168 This decree freed all slaves living in or who landed on French soil, and forbade

French citizens from possessing, buying or selling slaves inside or outside French territory.

In French territory, while abolition was applied somewhat successfully to the four communes of Senegal, with the military territorial expansion in the latter half of the nineteenth century there were increasing demands by abolitionists that it be applied in newly conquered territory. In 1878 the French occupied Cotonou, in 1882 they declared a protectorate over Porto Novo, in 1893 they formally declared as colonies Cote d'lvoire and French Guinea, and they had conquered Dahomey by

1894. While they were taking over territory along the coast, the French were also making inroads in the interior. By 1883, they had reached Bamako and conquered

Segou in 1890. In 1894 and 1896 respectively the French military had occupied

Timbuktu and Say. In 1898 the French military defeated Samori.11

Like Lugard, half a century later, Major Louis Faidherbe, upon becoming

Governor of Senegal in 1854, developed an ingenious solution to the problem of obeying the letter of the law while not actually eliminating the practice of slavery.

His solution set the tone for French policy for the rest of the nineteenth century.

Faidherbe distinguished between French "citizens" and French "subjects". While

1' Protectorates were political entities that agreed by treaty to enter into a relationship with a stronger state. The stronger state agreed to protect the new protectorate, diplomatically and militarily, in exchange for obligations. Theoretically the new protectorate lost part but not all sovereignty. In contrast, a colony remained under the political jurisdiction of the state and was directly controlled by that state. See Bernard Porter, The Lion's Share (New York.Pearson/Longman, 1975). For both British and French officials the establishment of protectorates instead of colonies permitted them greater flexibility in implementing, or not, law and policy that were applicable to the metropolitan regions. For example, see Trevor Getz, Slavery and Reform in West Africa (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2004), 146-148. 169 "citizens," such as people living in the four communes of Senegal, were required to obey French law, "subjects" were to continue to be governed by their own laws and customs. These, of course, allowed for slavery. People who were brought under

French rule after 1848 were deemed to be subjects and not citizens.12

Similar to their British counterparts, French officials used the language of anti-slavery in order to placate the politicians and public in Paris while trying to maintain the social order in their territories as much as possible by twisting the issue of slavery to favour themselves and their allies and to punish their enemies. Like their

British counterparts, French officials downplayed the harshness of slavery and even in the latter part of the nineteenth century started referring to slaves as "captifs,"

"non-libres" and "serviteurs" instead of as "esclaves." Like British officials, French officials outlawed captive-taking, enslavement and the slave trade, effectively ending the practice of ransoming captives, but did not outlaw slave-holding. Also like their

British counterparts various officials had different approaches and emphasized differently the goal of ending the slave trade and slavery. Louis Archinard, who was appointed Commandant-Superieur of the French Sudan in 1888, was not concerned with ending the slave trade nor with emancipating slaves but was instead very much concerned with expanding territorially and conquering the Sudan. In order to do so, he used slaves as soldiers and also allowed slaves to be distributed as war booty. In contrast, Albert Grodet, who replaced Archinard as a civilian Governor of the French

Sudan in late 1893, while recognizing the political difficulties of abolishing slavery,

12 Klein, Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa, 25. 170 attacked the slave trade. While he insisted on the return of runaway slaves except in cases of severe mistreatment, he instructed Cercle Commandants to free trade slaves and to close slave markets. He also extended the liberty village system.13

The main concern of Colonel L.E Trentinian, who became Lieutenant-

Governor of the French Sudan in 1895, and whose appointment marked the end of civilian experiment in the French Sudan, was military expansion, and the continued smooth running of the economy and society, which entailed a soft approach to the question of slavery.14 He backed off from Grodet's approach and was the one who suggested changing the terminology of slavery by calling slaves "captifs", "non- libres" and then "serviteurs" instead of as "esclaves." In an acknowledgement of the sensitivity of the slavery issue Trentinian preferred verbal to written communications on slave matters and saved his written reports for economic issues. Like his predecessors, Trentinian wanted to discourage slave flight and insisted on the return of runaway slaves where there was no proof of severe mistreatment while not acting against slavery and the slave trade.

Like Grodet, William Merlaud-Ponty who became the civilian Delegue

General of Haut Senegal et Moyen Niger in 1900, placed an emphasis on stopping the slave trade. 5 Like his other predecessors, Ponty did not want to endanger the

13 Klein, Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa, 12. 14 In June 1895, the colonies of Senegal, Sudan, Guinea and Cote d'lvoire were grouped together in the federation of French West Africa under the administration of a Governor-General. 15 In 1899, Albert Decrais, the Minister of Colonies, reorganized the French territories of the Sudan and with sections under military or civilian control. The first and second military territories were centred on Ouagadougou and Timbuktu and in 1900, a third military territory was established centred first on Zinder and later Niamey. The largest part of the French Sudan was placed under 171 institution of slavery itself, which he referred to as domestic servitude. However, he did attack slavery indirectly by removing any official acknowledgement of its existence, such as different tax roles for free and enslaved, with the hope that without the backing of the state that slavery would slowly disappear. Non-Recognition became a central policy of Ponty's anti-slavery strategy as he moved cautiously towards ending slavery while keeping political and economic concerns paramount.16

In 1903, bowing to political and popular pressure in France, Governor-

General Roume abolished the legal status of slavery throughout French West Africa.

This marked a differentiation between British and French policies, which until this point had been similar. Roume's new policy abolished the legal status of slavery in both the European administered tribunaux de cercle and the tribunaux indigenes where customary law was applied. This was a more radical step than in Northern

Nigeria where enslavement and the slave trade were treated as criminal offences and were dealt with in the British Provincial Courts. Yet, the simple possession and sale of slaves remained in the jurisdiction of the Islamic courts, which continued to return slaves to their masters for at least a decade after conquest. Moreover, unlike the

British, the French did not decree the emancipation of children born to slave parents.

This measure was viewed as regressive in French official thinking since all slaves were legally free. Similarly, after 1903 the French did not make any official civilian control, renamed Haut Senegal et Moyen Niger and centred on Kayes. Initially this territory was under the control of the Governor General of French West Africa and administered by a Delegue General in Kayes. In 1904 Haut Senegal et Moyen Niger became a full colony administered by a Lieutenant Governor. William Ponty was the only Delegue General of Haut Senegal et Moyen Niger and its first Lieutemant Governor. Klein, Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa, 127. 172 provisions for permitting, and therefore requiring, that slaves purchase their freedom from their owners. 7 On this last point, there was a discrepancy between law and practice. In some regions of the central Sudan and Sahara, for more than a decade after the abolition of legal status slavery, individual French officials were still requiring slaves to purchase their freedom.18

Nevertheless, even with Ponty's more serious attempts to stop the slave trade in the region, captive-taking, enslavement and the trade in slaves continued in the early years of the twentieth century in the western Sudan, and with it, the now illegal practices of ransoming. In the late 1890s slave traders had already become adept at avoiding French patrols. As a cercle commander in Sokolo observed in 1895 and a cercle commander in Siguiri noted in his 1896 report, there were not enough patrols at the time to find slave caravans and that traders were bypassing French posts and using alternate travel routes.19 The military commander in Sarafere observed in a

March 1902 report, that while the number of slave caravans had decreased, there had been an increase in the number of merchants coming from the south with a retinue of several men, women and children. These merchants left the region several months

17 Paul Lovejoy and A.S Kanya-Forsnter, "Introduction," in Slavery and its Abolition in French West Africa" eds. Paul Lovejoy and Sydney Kanya-Forsnter (Madison: African Studies Program University of Wisconsin Press, 1994), 11-13. For a comparison of French and British policy in Senegal and the Gold Coast see Getz. 18 ANN 1E6.16 1910-1917 Territoire Militaire du Niger, Cercle de Medoua Annexe au Rapport Politique du lier Trimestre 1913. Archives d'Agadez Correspondances Arrivees/Departs 1919, Reponse au lettres 206 et 215. 19 ANM FA IE 156 Rapport sur la repression de la traite des esclaves en Haut-Senegal-Niger. Cercles de Bamako, Bandiagra, Bougouni, Djenne, Kayes, Medine, Nioro, Segou, Sokolo 1894-1904. Sokolo le 10 mars 1895. and ANM FA IE 156 Rapport sur la repression de la traite des esclaves en Haut-Senegal-Niger. Cercles de Bamako, Bandiagra, Bougouni, Djenne, Kayes, Medine, Nioro, Segou, Sokolo 1894-1904. Region Sud Siguiri le 26 decembre 1896. 173 later either alone or with a reduced number of travelling companions. Hence, indicating a continuation of slave trading.

In the first decade of the twentieth century, French officials were ineffective in stopping slave caravans. In 1908, slave caravans were reported crossing between

British and French territory and openly selling slaves in markets.21 In the French colonial judicial correspondence of the first decade of the twentieth century there were numerous discussions of the movement of small groups of slaves that came to the attention of colonial officials by accident or because of disagreements between business partners. There is the example of the trader from Bafoulabe who went east to exchange merchandise for slaves and who only came to the attention of colonial officials in early 1902 because of a fall-out between him and his business partner.22

Similarly there is a 1901 example of a Kayes trader who went to Sikasso to purchase six slaves. Again this case only came to the attention of colonial officials because the trader and his partner disagreed on the division of profits.23 Except for the fact that there were business disagreements that drew the attention of colonial officials, it is doubtful that the manner in which these traders conducted business was out of the ordinary for the time. The traders travelled to other cities in order to purchase a

ANS 2G 2/8 Correspondances du Commandant 1,cr Territoire Militaire au Gouverneur du Soudan-Fran9ais, 1902. 6 mars 1902. 21 ANN 1E5.11 1908 Cercle de Goure, Compte rendu suivant le tournee effectuee dans les territoires du Nord de la Komadougou par le Chef de Bataillon Mauret 1908. 22 ANM FA 2M 3 Justice Indigene Correspondance, Cercle de Bafoulabe 1883-1919. Bafoulabe le 15 juillet 1902. 23 ANM FA 2M 16 Justice Indigene - Correspondance, Cercle de Kayes 1882-1920. Kayes, le 31 octobrel901. 174 small, less detectable, number of slaves to bring back to their home territories to sell for a profit.24

Illegal ransoms, since captive-taking was illegal, were also taking place during this time period, although in the colonial record instances were rarely directly recorded as such. For example the Kita cercle commander noted in his October 1889 political report that,

des gens d'Aguibou ont pille en fevrier ou mars dernier une caravane de gens de Kofoulou (Kollau) ont tue le chef et pris dix prisonniers. Quelques prisonniers ont ete rendus mais les femmes ont ete gardees.25

The cercle commander did not state that ransom money was exchanged, yet this is most likely what had happened. The high status members were returned after a series of negotiations that, in this case, took approximately six months, and the enslaved prisoners and those of low-status were not ransomed. As indicated by cases discussed in French colonial documents, the ransoming of captives continued after the implementation of colonial rule and despite laws against the taking of captives.26

However, as Klein has shown, while in the early years of colonial rule, French officials did not stop captive-taking, enslavement, and slave trading, they did slow it

See also Jennifer Lofkrantz "Changing Norms of Enslavement in the Western Soudan 1890-1910," unpublished conference paper presented at African Studies Association/Canadian Association of African Studies Meeting, November 2004 New Orleans. 25 ANM FA IE 47 Rapports politiques et rapports de tournees, Cercle de Kita 1883-1905. Rapport sur la situation politique du Cercle, Kita lei5 octobre 1889. 26 ANM FA 2M 22 Justice Indigene Correspondance Cercle de Medine 1887-1905. Medine le 28 aout 1890, ANM FA IE 113 Renseignments politiques, Cercle de Segou 1890-1904. Copi de Registre N2 24 trimestre 1898, ANM FA IE 113 Renseignments politiques, Cercle de Segou 1890- 1904. 4ieme trimestre 1894, ANM FA 2M 7 Justice Indigene Correspondance Cercle de Bougouni 1896-1920.Bougouni, le 22 mai 1900. 175 down. For example, Klein noticed a decline in the size of slave caravans in the early

1900s from previous years. He states that while in 1902 in Sokolo, slave caravans with 39 and 70 slaves were being stopped; these were much smaller than the caravans of 400 - 500 that Samori sent to Banamba.27 This slow-down in enslavement was most likely mirrored by a decline in the number of individuals taken captive and held for ransom.

From Archinard to Ernest Roume, the preferred French policy was emancipation when it helped French officials or when it was necessary to conciliate with abolitionist opinion in France. Self-redemption and third-party redemption was encouraged as the means to emancipate slaves in order to compensate owners for their property loss and to maintain social order. Since the emphasis was put on unfree individuals paying for their freedom, no matter how they got into that situation, the ransoming of captives, including free-born Muslims who under Islamic law should never have faced the possibility of enslavement and having to be redeemed like a slave, were included in the policies of redemption as the preferred pathway to freedom.29

Klein, Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa, 128. 28 For more on Roume's policies see E Roume, "Rapport au Ministre des Colonies." In 1892, when domestic slavery was re-labelled as domestic servitude, slaves gained the right to purchase their freedom and to receive a liberty certificate. 29 The desire on the part of French officials to force slaves to compensate their owners through self-redemption had a precedent in French colonial slave policy in the French Caribbean. Under the Mackau Law the encouragement of self-redemption was a pre-emptive move on the part of French officials to have slave owners compensated in view of the possible emancipation of slaves which did take place in 1848. See Bernard Moitt, "Freedom from Bondage at a Price: Women and Redemption from Slavery in the French Caribbean in the Nineteenth Century," Slavery and Abolition,,26:2 (August 2005): 247-256. 176 Besides maintaining the social order while fulfilling metropolitan policies, a slow emancipation process and demanding that slaves compensate their own masters for the loss of their future labour, also allowed British and French colonial officials to exert their own views on the work ethic of slaves. Mirroring contemporary European views of the poor, besides the loss of farm labour, both French and British colonial officials were concerned about hooliganism and crime, which would purportedly be committed by unemployed runaway slaves.30 They therefore supported a policy of liberating only those slaves who "deserved" freedom. In March 1904 GW Webster wrote

But in the case of the farm servants it is very different, as their desertion threatens to check the development of agriculture. I feel extremely diffident about offering any suggestion on such a subject, but would it be possible to oblige those wishing to repudiate their allegiance, either to purchase their holdings outright at a rate fixed by Government, or to pay a yearly rent in kind or money in lieu of their former service? This would check the wholesale desertion of mere idlers, but should not discourage those who really wish to better themselves, if care is taken in the assessment. '

In 1905 Lugard wrote,

If, on the other hand, the holding of slaves were made illegal by an edict of emancipation, or even if the slave population were encouraged to assert their freedom, complete anarchy and chaos would result, involving no less misery to the slaves than to their masters. The former would be deprived of occupation and the great cities would be filled with vagrants, criminals, and prostitutes.32

See Hillard Warren Pouncy, Colonial Racial Attitudes and Colonial Labor Laws in British West Africa, (Ph.D diss., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1981). 31 NAK SNP 15/1 Ace 59 Province of Nassarawa Report #5 March 1904 by GW Webster. 32 Lugard, "West Africa," 850. 177 As the Resident for Bauchi Province put it in 1906, "the slave who redeems himself or who is redeemed by his relations is, generally, a man who deserves freedom."33

Likewise a French official in Dosso Cercle in the central Sudan noted with approval that the majority of "anciens captifs" had voluntarily entered into a "sorte de contrat" with their "anciens maitres" in order to not be tempted to steal or resort to vagobondage in order to survive. He added that "les indigenes savent que nous avons etabli la liberie pour tous."34 This view that only slaves who were good workers, as proven by their ability to raise their redemption price, deserved to be freed was in contrast to Muslim views of who warranted permission to be redeemed. Before the advent of colonial rule in the western and central bilad al-siidan the emphasis was placed on permitting the redemption of slaves who were trustworthy and who were

"good" Muslims while permitting redemption on the part of owners was viewed as a pious act.

Effects of British and French Policy

By effectively outlawing ransoming by outlawing captive-taking, enslavement, and the slave trade, while the practice continued, it continued under the guise of redemption. However, both British and French policies also altered

33 NAK SNP 15/1 Accl21 From the Resident Bauchi Province to the Political Assistant Northern Nigeria 7/5/1906. 34 ANN 1E4.36 1907-1909 Cercle de Dosso: Cahier de Rapports commence le 1 octobre 1907 et termine le 31 decembre 1909: Rapport de Justice 4ieme trimestre 1909. In both French and British controlled regions of the western and central bilad al-siidan, officials enacted a series of Master and Servant laws in order to control the labour of recently freed former slaves. See Klein, Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa, 179. 178 redemption in two ways. First, new redemption policies allowed slaves to be redeemed without the permission of their owners. Second, they took the decision to set the price away from the owners. The British and the French differed on the application of the second point. While the French pursued a policy of set redemption rates, the British encouraged negotiations between owners and masters and if there was no agreement, then the Islamic courts had the prerogative to decide and enforce the price.

The policy of permitting slaves to be redeemed without requiring the permission of their owners was a small but significant change in the practice of redemption. Purposely or not, this altered the practice of redemption even more than setting the redemption price. It turned redemption on its head and completely changed the power dynamic of this process. Redemption was no longer a reward for trustworthiness or for being a good Muslim nor was it a pious act by a generous slave-owner, but a "right" of a hard-working individual who had proven that he deserved to be free because he was able to raise his redemption fee. This change in policy took the power to permit redemption away from the owners and placed it in the hands of slaves. As the Segou Cercle Commander noted in his 1894 report on slavery, this change modified the traditional custom of self-redemption and tilted it in

TIT

"favour" of the slave. Furthermore, redemption became a pathway to freedom in areas where it had previously not been allowed. Redemption rates were applied in

35 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Cercle de Segou. Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle. 179 areas such as Ras-el-Ma that had previously not recognized redemption as well as in regions where there was a tradition of redemption. Purposefully or not, this altered the practice of redemption even more than setting the redemption price. While still rare, as G Deherme noted in his 1906 report, L'esclavage en Afrique Occidentale

Frangaise, the French tinkering with the redemption process allowed for "la possibilite de la liberte pour tous par la volonte et 1'effort."36

In 1891 Archinard set the price for redemption at 300 francs, which was later lowered to 200 francs.37 This was higher than the price of a slave. In 1904 in Guinea the redemption price was set at 150 francs for males and 200 francs for females.38 In

1913, within the French sphere of the southern central Sudan slaves were still paying

10 francs as a redemption fee and in 1919 slaves owned by the Tuareg of the Ai'r region were paying 60 francs despite the fact that the legal status of slavery had been abolished since 1903.39

G. Deherme, "L'esclavage en Afrique Occidentale Francaise: Etude Historique, Critique et Positive," 139. 37 ANS 15G 156, Ordrel5,Julyll 1891. 38 Klein,"Slave Resistance and Slave Emancipation in Coastal Guinea," 209. After the signing of the Brussels Treaty (1892) the Senegalese Governor-General Clement-Thomas met with several chiefs from Saint-Louis Cercle where it was agreed, among other points, that a slave would have the right to purchase their freedom for no more than 500 francs; twice the price of a prime slave. The agreement was later extended or imposed on other cercles, in Bawol, Dimar. Siin, Saalum and some parts of FutaToro. See Klein, Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa, 97 and Getz, 147. 39 ANN 1E6.16 1910-1917 Territoire Militaire du Niger, Cercle de Medoua Annexe au Rapport Politique du lier Trimestre 1913. Archives d'Agadez Correspondances Arrivees/Departs 1919, Reponse au lettres 206 et 215. This reflected French attitudes towards the Tuareg and slavery as practiced by the Tuareg. For example in 1910, the Tillabery cercle commander expressed concern about the fate of slave owners in his cercle if he freed the slaves belonging to the Tuareg and Fulbe in his cercle. He was especially concerned that if the Tuareg lost their slaves they would starve since he believed that Tuareg women were incapable of milling their own millet. ANN 1E6.4 1910 Cercle de Tillabery, Rapport politique du mois de Juin 1910. 180 In dealing with slavery and redemption in the conquered Sokoto Caliphate, the

British differed from the French. Instead of establishing set redemption prices, under

Lugard's system, if slaves and masters could not agree on a price then the Islamic courts had the ability to set the redemption price and enforce it. As Resident Burdon explained in his report for July and August 1905,

A great step towards the gradual abolition of slavery has been taken by the Sarikin Muslimin. He has directed the Native Court to undertake all cases of desire for self redemption, arranging the amount, making provision for it being earned and paid and enforcing the acceptance of the award on the master. The result is that slaves instead of running away can go to the Alkali and obtain immediate conditional release. °

Moroever, in discussing third-party redemption in the early years of colonial rule, it is important to take into account the effect of colonial influence on prices.

While in the central Sudan the British pushed the issue of redemption onto the Islamic

Courts, both the British and the Islamic courts officials had an interest in keeping the balance between making slaves pay a "fair price" to their owners for their freedom and not making the costs too high and thereby encouraging slaves to run away instead of being redeemed or redeeming themselves. In contrast, in French controlled regions, especially starting with the Banamba exodus in 1905-1906, slaves left instead of being redeemed or redeeming themselves.41

The 1905 and 1906 Zaria Registers of Freed Slaves illustrate the costs of third-party redemption in the early years of British colonial rule in the central Sudan

40 NAK SNP 15/1 Ace 109 Province of Sokoto Report #26 for July and August 1905 by Resident Major Alder Burdon. 41 See Klein and Roberts, "The Banamba Slave Exodus of 1905 and the Decline of Slavery in the Western Sudan," 375-394. 181 and how prices could vary. Excluding the redemptions of women who subsequently married the men who redeemed them, while the average redemption price for women was 229 000 cowries and 280 000 cowries for men, a composite number actually

clouds the picture instead of clearing it up. Redemption like ransoming was a phenomenon of the individual and his or her particular circumstances. The redemption price of a particular person was dependent on a number of variables such

as the relationship between the enslaved individual and the owner, the resources of

the person paying the redemption, the personality of the owner, and in the cases that

were recorded in the Zaria register, the personality of court officials who allowed or

disallowed certain prices. This is illustrated by looking at the individual recorded

cases.

The 1905 and 1906 Zaria Registers of Freed Slaves reveal that it was more

expensive to redeem a man than a woman. This is interesting since in general the

price of female slaves was higher than that of males. This is another indication that

the factors in determining a redemption price differed from those determining the

price of a slave. This further supports Lovejoy's contention that pre-colonial

ransoming artificially lowered the price of male slaves.43

To truly understand the redemption process, it is more important to look at

individual cases rather than price averages. For example, while the average third-

party redemption price in the Zaria register was 229 000 cowries, which is around the

42 NAK SNP 15/1 Ace 90 Register of freed slaves Zaria Province 1905-1906. Contains records of 215 redemptions. 43 Lovejoy "The Sahara-Atlantic Divide." 182 price of a female slave, the redemption fee that Dije's daughter paid on September 30

1905, for the freedom of her 70 year old mother was 350 000 cowries which is at least

50 000 cowries more than the usual price of a prime female slave of 300 000 cowries in 1900.44 It is doubtful that a 70 year old woman would have been sold for the price of a prime female slave let alone for more. Obviously the desire on the part of the daughter and mother for the mother's freedom was calculated into the price of redemption. Likewise, the redemption price of Madijata, a 40 year old male was 430

000 cowries which is approximately three times the 1896 price of a male slave.

Redemption prices for all men regardless of age seems to have fallen in the

200 000 to 300 000 cowries range which is well above the 1896 Zaria slave prices of

200 000 cowries for 18 year old men and 133 000 cowries for 30 year old men. The redemption prices for two 15 year old boys were 280 000 cowries and 300 000 cowries respectively while an 18 year old was redeemed for 300 000 cowries, a 20 year old for 250 000 cowries and a 19 year old for only 200 000. The redemption prices for most 30 to 40 year old men also ranged between 200 000 and 300 000 cowries. One 40 year old man was redeemed by his older brother for 300 000 cowries while a 35 year old man's redemption price was only 200 000 cowries and a

30 year old for 300 000 cowries.

There is a similar non-pattern for women. A 27 year old and a 40 year old were both redeemed for 200 000 cowries while a 30 year old was redeemed by her mother for 280 000 cowries and another 40 year old for 300 000 cowries. Equally

44 Lovejoy and Hogendorn, 207. 183 intriguing is that there were three cases of 12 year old girls being redeemed by their fathers. One girl's redemption was 310 000 cowries, another's was 250 000 cowries while yet another's was only 200 000 cowries. The market does not explain the discrepancy. Most likely the answers could only have been found in the personal relationships, desires, and assets of the people involved.

The Freed Slave Register for Zaria in 1905-1906 also gives an indication of how self-redemption worked under the British in the first few years of the twentieth century.45 In these two years, 59 individuals redeemed themselves. Of these 59 people, 17, or 28.8% were women while the vast majority, 42 or 71.2% were men.

The average age of self-redemption for both men and women was 34 although there was a wider age range for men than for women. For example there was a 15 year old youth and a 50 year old man who redeemed themselves, while except for two 25 year olds, all the women were between the ages of 30 and 40. According to this register, the average price of self-redemption was about the same for both men and women although the average price was slightly higher for women at 272 176 cowries than for men at 270 642 cowries. The fact that most slaves were female but only a few were able to redeem themselves speaks to the difficulty in gathering redemption money.

Women were less likely to work under murgu and even then were less likely to have

skills that would allow them to earn enough to support themselves, make murgu payments, and then redemption payments. As was seen previously, women were also

less likely to be the redeemer in third-party redemptions.

45 NAK SNP 15/1 Ace 90 Register of Freed Slaves Zaria Province 1905-1906. 184 However, simply looking at the aggregate numbers for self-redemption gives only a part of the picture. For women, while most self-redemption prices fell in the high 200 000 cowries to 300 000 cowries range there are some unexplained oddities such as the self-redemption price of 30 year old Aiyashatu in August 1905 at only

150 000 cowries, the lowest, and that of 40 year old Izzi in June 1905 at 400 000 cowries, the highest. Furthermore, the price of self-redemption did not seem to decrease with age. There were 40 year old women who were paying 300 000 cowries along with 25 year old women. Likewise there is a case of a 40 year old woman paying only 217 000 cowries. Similarly, there was no pattern of decreasing self- redemption prices and increasing age among men. The median price was 300 000 cowries for men of all ages and similarly to women there were odd cases such as 30 year old Issa who paid only 180 000 cowries for his redemption in November 1906 and 35 year old Jebrilla who had to pay 400 000 cowries in July 1905. One also has to wonder about 15 year old Gibelu. In October 1905 he redeemed himself for 260

000 cowries. It is curious that one so young was able to raise his own redemption fee and further that for an obviously enterprising youth entering his prime he was permitted to buy his freedom for only that amount. As for third-party redemption, self-redemption prices were dependent on factors other than the market such as personal relationships and the assets and desires of the individuals involved.

Nevertheless, even though redemption was put into the hands of slaves, slaves who left their masters without compensating them were forced to justify their leaving in the case of the French, and the British, whenever possible, forced runaway slaves

185 to pay compensation. For example, the Assistant Resident for Nassarawa Province wrote that he made runaway slaves repay their former owners 50 000 cowries per annum until they had repaid their purchase price.46 In 1908, C.W Orr, the Resident of

Zaria Province reported that,

at the beginning the year [1907] I gave the Emir of Zaria at his own request definite orders in writing that persons known to be run-away slaves from other Emirates and countries were not to be harboured or given permission to settle without reference to me.47

Conclusion

In conclusion, with the advent of colonial rule, the outlawing of captivity, enslavement and slave-trading, legal practices of ransoming came to an end. However since slave-holding was not made illegal, legal redemption not only continued well into the twentieth century but was in fact encouraged as a slow means of ending slavery without causing economic upheaval for the elite. Nevertheless, just as slave trading continued into the colonial era so too did the holding of captives for ransom.

Ransom negotiations were conducted either outside official colonial knowledge or under the guise of redemption of slaves. In this way, under colonialism, the similarities between ransoming and redemption are highlighted yet again, but so too are the differences. For an important difference between a ransomed captive and a redeemed slave, before and after the European conquest, is that while ransomed

46 NAK SNP 15/1 Ace 59 Assistant Resident Nassarawa Province Edward Stanley Report for June 1904. 47 NAK SNP 7/9 563/1908 Annual Report for 1907 Zaria Province, Resident C.W Orr. 186 captives returned to their previous status, redeemed slaves remained in a subservient social position to their former owners. Yet with the co-option by colonial officials of redemption into emancipation policies, the dynamics of third-party redemption and self-redemption were changed. While it continued to remain quite difficult to raise redemption fees, the setting of a fixed price and the forcing of owners to accept offers of redemption gave enslaved individuals more control over the process than they had previously and changed the dynamics of redemption from a boon given by a generous owner to that of a "right" of a hard-working productive individual.

187 Map 8.1: European Conquest of West Africa c 1906

Adapted from Roland Oliver and Anthony Atmore, Africa since 1800, 5lh ed. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004), 132.

188 CONCLUSION

The possibility of ransoming was an important feature of slavery in the nineteenth century western and central bilad al-sudan. Ransoming was a valid and utilized option for dealing with captives. Muslim jurists and intellectuals discussed the issues of enslavement and ransoming from the medieval period, as reflected in the writings of Muhamad al-Maghfll and Ahmad Baba, and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as demonstrated in the work of 'Uthman ibn FudI, Muhammad

Bello, 'Abdullahi ibn FudI, and 'Umar al-Futl. From at least the Middle Ages ransoming was practised in the Maghrib, and there are indications that ransoming was practised in western and central Sudan from at least the fifteenth century. As with the issue of lawful and unlawful enslavement, there were discussions amongst Muslim intellectuals about issues concerning ransoming. Ransoming was permitted under

Islamic law, particularly within the Malik! school of law, as one of the legitimate options for dealing with prisoners of war.

The warfare of the jihads of the nineteenth century, including the formation of the Sokoto Caliphate, studied here, but also the campaigns of 'Umar and Samori, as demonstrated by Robinson, Klein, Hanson, and others, provided not only opportunities to enslave people but also prospects to ransom individuals taken captive. As Lovejoy, Hogendorn, and Klein have shown, the colonial conquest of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the western and central Sudan also provided opportunities to enslave people along with traditional prospects to ransom

189 individuals taken captive.1 The fact that the new Muslim regimes could not prevent the taking of individuals who should not be taken captive or enslaved and condoned their release through ransoming demonstrates their relative weakness in upholding the principles of Islamic law. Moreover, the insecurity caused by warfare provided opportunities for banditry and personal and economic motivated pillaging and by extension the ransoming of prisoners. In the Sokoto Caliphate, just as throughout

Islamic West Africa, people were aware that taking captives and holding free-born

Muslims for ransom was illegal, but sometimes they did so anyway since the state was unable to prevent it. In the Sokoto Caliphate, especially in the early nineteenth century, ransoming was largely limited to free Muslims who under Islamic law should never have faced the possibility of enslavement. Even so, towards the end of the nineteenth century there are indications that within the Sokoto Caliphate ransoming of non-Muslims was being permitted.

While enslavement and ransoming were similar in that captives slated for both enslavement and ransoming were captured mainly through warfare, raiding and kidnapping, their treatment after capture differed. Unlike an individual marked for enslavement, the value of an individual to be ransomed did not increase the farther away he or she was taken from the point of capture. Indeed, the maintenance of

1 See for example, Klein, Islam and Imperialism in Senegal, and Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa, Robinson, The Holy War of Umar Tal, Hanson, Migration, Jihad and Muslim Authority in West Africa, Person, Samori, Victor Azarya, "Traders and the Center in Massina, Kong, and Samori's State," The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 13:3 (1980): 420-456, Robert R Griffeth, "Samori Toure," in Leadership in Nineteenth Century Africa, ed. Obaro Ikime (London, 1974), Lovejoy and Hogendorn, Slow Death for Slavery.

190 communication links and the use of mediators were key to successful ransom negotiations. At the state level, the ransoming of free-born Muslims was viewed as a moral and legal obligation while at the personal level people were motivated to take part in ransom negotiations because the kin of captive individuals valued the freedom of their relatives while captors enjoyed the higher rate they could attain by ransoming a person back to family and friends than by selling the individual as a slave. While ransom prices varied, they were generally about twice what the individual would fetch if sold as a slave. The relationship between ransom and slave prices remained steady throughout the nineteenth century. The high price of ransoming most often limited the practice to elite individuals. Yet, especially in the Air region, kidnapped slaves were sometimes ransomed by their owners, and returned to their previous slave status, as a matter of honour. Moreover, ransoming may have had important ramifications for the price of slaves, especially of male slaves since the majority of people ransomed were men. Generally, the ransom price of male captives and the selling price of female slaves was approximately the same. Ransoming may help to explain the price differential between male and female slaves.

While different, redemption practices are related to ransoming practices. On an ideological level ransoming can be viewed as the immediate payment for the debt incurred through the loss of life during a jihad whereas redemption can be viewed as the delayed payment for that debt with the years of service serving as the interest.

These related institutions shared important traits. Both ransoming and redemption were dependent on the willingness of the society to permit the practice, both were

191 dependent on the willingness of the owner to permit the ransoming or redemption of a particular individual, both were restricted to those who could afford the fees, and the fees for both were equivalent to approximately twice the slave value. However, while both practices shared these important similarities, they differed fundamentally on the status of the newly freed individual. With ransoming, the captive was returned to his or her own society and resumed his or her previous status. With redemption, however, freed slaves rarely had the opportunity to return to their earlier homes and assumed a subservient position in relation to their previous owners.

Likewise, the practice of ransoming in the western and central Sudan shared important characteristics with ransoming in non-Muslim regions of West Africa.

Indeed, the ransoming of free-born Muslims held by non-Muslims could not have taken place if not for these similarities. As in Muslim regions of the western and central bilad al-sudan, the right to decide to permit the ransoming of captives and the price lay with the captor. Furthermore, like their Muslim captive-holding counterparts, non-Muslims in West Africa were motivated to ransom their captives in order to gather the greater profit from returning a person to a state of freedom than by selling him or her as a slave. Yet, in one important aspect, ransoming practices differed between Muslim and non-Muslim regions of West Africa. In Muslim regions ransoming and redemption were governed and justified by law. In non-

Muslim regions ransoming was regulated through practice. This dissimilarity led to using different types of mediators in ransoming negotiations. In Muslim regions, since ransoming was sanctioned by law, often the mediator was an individual who

192 operated within the bureaucracy. In non-Muslim regions, though, the mediator was usually a person who was respected by both sides and was not necessarily attached to the state bureaucracy.

Under colonial rule, legal ransoming effectively came to an end in the western and central bilad al-sudan as captive-taking, enslavement, and slave trading were outlawed. Redemption, however, continued as both French and British colonial officials included pre-existing redemption practices in their emancipation policies.

Both French and British officials justified the take-over of African territory as a means to end slavery and the slave trade. With the ending of legal enslavement, ransoming was no longer viable, although under the guise of third-party redemption, the practice of illegal ransoming continued for several years into colonial rule, and indeed as long as captive-taking continued. With the co-option by colonial officials of redemption into emancipation policies, the dynamics of redemption were changed.

While it remained quite difficult to raise redemption fees, the setting of a fixed price and the forcing of owners to accept offers of redemption gave enslaved individuals more control over the process than they had enjoyed previously and indeed turned redemption into a "right" instead of a "gift".

193 APPENDIX A

NINETEENTH CENTURY RANSOM PRICES IN THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL BILAD AL- SUDAN

Sample of Nineteenth Century Ransom Prices

Date Place Price early 1800s Segou1 2 slaves

1810 Timbuktu? 5 camel loads of tobacco for 10 hisan, their 2 European captives, 1 boy, plus the purchase of 1 adult male slave. 19th century among Songhay3 2 or more slaves

19th century Air4 Any price for a "white" Tuareg

1858 Timbuktu5 18 and 1/3 gold bars mid- 19' century Casamance6 6 cows mid-nineteenth century Futa Jallon' 10 slaves mid-19th century Ilorin8 22 heads of cowries

' Mungo Park, Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa, ed Kate Ferguson Marsters. (Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2000), 257-258. Robert Adams, The Narrative of Robert Adams, a sailor, who was wrecked on the western coast of Africa, in theyear 1810, (London, 1816), 47-48. 3 Kimba Idrissa, "Guerres et societes: Les populations du "Niger" Occidental au XIX siecle et leurs reactions face a la colonizations 1896-1906," (Ph.D diss, Universite de Paris VII, 1979), 55. 4 personal communication with Ibrahim Amouren, Director of the Archives d'Agadez, April 2007. 5IHERIAB ms 3549. 6 Olga F Linares, "Deferring to Trade in Slaves: The Jola of Casamance Senegal in Historical Perspective" History in Africa, 14(1987): 126. Theophilus Conneau, A Slaver's Log Book; or Twenty Years' Residence in West Africa. (reprint Prentice-Hall, 1976), 144-147. Ann O'Hear, Power Relations in Nigeria, Ilorin Slaves and their Successors, (Rochester: Rochester University Press, 1997), 25. 194 19th century Tuareg9 5 pagnes

1860s among Awlad Sulayman10 10 camels

1860s Kano" 10 bags of cowries (200 000 cowries late 19th century western Sudan 10-50 slaves late 19th century Kayes13 2 slaves late 19,h century Bakel14 twice the selling price late 19th century Sumpi15 twice the selling price

1890 Medine16 5 oxen and 2 gros d'or

1890 Medine17 14 oxen, 6 cows, 2 pieces of guinea cloth 1890s Katsina18 400 000 cowries

1894 Segou19 load of salt plus 2000 cowries late 1890s Dosso2U 100 cloths, three youths, two girls 1896 Segou21 10 cows

Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan, Les societes Songhay-Zarma (Niger-Mali) Chefs, guerriers, esclaves, paysans, (Paris: Editions Karthala, 1984), 58. 0 Gustav Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan, trans., Allan B Fisher and Humphrey J Fisher (London, 1980), 2: 378. 11 KSHCB KAN PRO 1/11/7 Rano 1955-59, 19. 12 Louis-Gustave Binger, Du Niger au Golfe de Guinee (1997-1889) (Paris: Societe d'editions Scientifiques 1892), 1: 467. 13ANM FA 2M 7 Justice Indigene Correspondance Cercle de Bougouni 1896-1920. Bougouni, le 22 mai 1900. 14 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894, Bakel. 15 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894, Sumpi. 16 ANM FA 2M 22 Justice Indigene Correspondance Cercle de Medine 1887-1905. Medine le 28 aout 1890. One gros is equal to 1 drachma, which is equal to 1/8 ounce. So 2 gros d'or is equal to a !4 ounce of gold. 17 ANM FA 2M 22 Justice Indigene Correspondance Cercle de Medine 1887-1905. Medine le 28 aout 1890 18 Mary F Smith ed. Baba of Karo, A Woman of the Muslim Hausa, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981), 69. 19 ANM FA IE 113 Renseignments politiques, Cercle de Segou 1890-1904. 4ieme trimestre 1894. 20 HF Backwell ed., The Occupation of Hausaland 1900-1904, (London: Frank Cass & Co Ltd, 1969), 23-24. 21 ANM FA IE 113 Renseignments politiques, Cercle de Segou 1890-1904. 195 1898 Banko (Bamako)22 1 horse, 1 cow

1899 Bamako23 2 slaves

1900 Bougouni24 3 slaves

1900 between Faboua and Fanaoke25 1 camel and 2 horses for prisoners from a Tuareg camp held by French Senegalese troops.

ANM FA IE 113 Renseignments politiques, Cercle de Segou 1890-1904. Copi de Regtstre N2 24 trimestre 1898. 23 Paul Vigne d'Octon, La gloire du sabre. (Diffusion Ulysse Distribution Distique: 1984), 96. 24 ANM FA 2M 7 Justice Indigene Correspondance Cercle de Bougouni 1896-1920. Bougouni, le 22 mai 1900. 25 ANN IE 1.3 1900 Rapport de Lieutenant JI Galidon Commandatn le 2ieme Senegalais en marche sur Zinder-Tchad. 196 APPENDIX B

NINETEENTH CENTURY SLAVE PRICES IN THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL BILAD AL- SUDAN

Sample of Nineteenth Century Slave Prices

Time Place Cost Equivalent in Francs or dollars 1826-1827 Sokoto26 young male: 10 000-20 000 cowries $ 5-$10 handsome female:40 000 - 50 000 cowries $ 20 - $25 virgin female: c 30 000 cowries c$ 15 19th century rural adult male: 20 000 cowries Damagaram27 adult female: 30 000 cowries youth: 12 000 cowries 19(h century Zinder28 adult male: 60 000 cowries adult woman: 100 000 cowries female Peulh: at least 150 000 cowries youth: 25 000 cowries 1827 Zegzeg male: 14 000 cowries $7 (Zaria)29 mid 1830s Katsina30 bearded man: 10 000-15 000 cowries $5-$7.50 older woman; 10 000-15 000 cowries $ 5 - adolescent boy: 30 000 cowries $7.50 adolescent girl: 50 000 - 60 000 cowries $ 15 young male child: 45 000 cowries $ 25 - $30 young girl: 35 000 - 45 000 cowries $22.50 $17.50 - $20 1845 Kano31 female: 30 000 - 40 000 cowries $15-$20 mid 19th Soudan32 30 bricks of salt, 1 barrel and 8 parcels of chestnut-

David C Tambo, "The Sokoto Caliphate Slave Trade in the Nineteenth Century," The InternationalJournal of African Historical Studies, 9:2 (1976), 193-194. 27 Andre Salifou, Le Damagram ou Sultanat de Zinder au XIXe siecle, (Niamey: Centre Nigerien de Recherches en Sciences Humaines, 1971), 174-177. 28 Salifou, 174-177. 29 Tambo, 210. 30 Tambo, 197. 31 Tambo, 197. 32 Rene Caillie, Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo, (London: Frank Cass & Co, 1968.),316-317. 197 century coloured beads/ 1 gun and 4 yards of rose-coloured tafetta/ 54 cord fine blue or white Guinea cloth made in Pondichery or Rouen 1850 Zinder33 old woman: 6 000 wadas/10 shillings

1851 Yola34 slave: 4 turkedi cloths( 1800-2000 kurdi each)

1853 Sokoto35 lad of indifferent appearance: 30 000 cowries $13 late 1850s Rabba36 strong healthy lad : 40 000 cowries girl: 50 000 cowries 1862 Zaria37 young woman: 90 000 cowries $20

1873 Timbuktu38 four Zanj/Sorko slaves: 300, 000 kafiriyya

1879 Goumel 15 pieces of guinea cloth 225-300f

1879 Cayor4" 30-50 pieces of Guinea cloth 330-480f

1879 Bondou/Bamb young male or female: 2 pieces of guinea cloth 30-40f ouck41 child: 2.5-3 pieces of guinea cloth 37.5-60f 1880 Keniera42 15kg bar of salt/ 1 gun 1880 Wasulu43 54 bar of salt 1887-1889 Mossi44 50 000 - 65 000 cowries 50-120f late 19th Katsina45 comely female: up to 300, 000 cowries up to $60 century late 19th western child: 60 000 - 100 000 cowries 60-100f century "Niger"46 adult male: 60 000 cowries 60f

James Richardson, Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa 1850-51, (London: Chapman and Hall, 1853), 2: 230. 34 Heinrich Barth, Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa (1849-1855) (London: Frank Cass & Co Ltd, 1965), 2: 190. 35 Barth, 2: 153. 36 Richard and John Lander, Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Course and Termination of the Niger, (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 185 8), 2: 72 "Tambo, 214. 38IHERIAB ms4626/i. 39 Paul Soleillet, Voyage a Segou 1878-1879, (ed) Gabriel Gravier, (Paris: Challamel aine Librairie Editeur, 1887), 79-80. 40 Soleillet, 79-80. 41 Soleillet, 79-80. 42 Joseph Gallieni, Voyage au Soudan Francois (Haut-Niger et Pays de Segou) 1879-1881, (Paris: Librairie Hachet et C, 1885), 321. 43 Gallieni, 356. 44 Louis-Gustave Binger, Du Niger au Golfe de Guinnee (1887-1889), (Paris: Librairie Hachette, 1892), 1:498. 45Tambo, 216. 46 Kimba Idrissa, "Guerres et societes: Les populations du "Niger" Occidental au XIX siecle et leurs reactions face a la colonization 1896-1906". (Ph.D diss., Universite de Paris VII, 1979), 49. 198 adult female: 100 000 - 150 000 cowries 100-150f 1889 Ilorin47 10 - 20 bags of cowries

1891-1892 Yola48 100, 000 cowries $20 1894 Segou49 Child: 50 000 cowries 80f Female 14-16: 150 000 cowries 240f 1894 Bamako5" Youth 200-250f Male Adult 100-200f Young Female 150-300f Adult Female 150-200f 1894 Kerouane51 Child 8-10 250f Child 5-8 lOOf Child below 5 50f Male 20-40f Female 14-18 400-450f Female 10-14 250f Mother with Child 250f 1894 Kayes52 Male 14-15 200-250f Adult Male 200f Older Male 60-100f Really Old Male not purchased Female 13-14 250-300f 1894 Sokolo" Child 10-12 130f Male 150f Female 200f 1894 Timbuktu54 Child 40-130f Male 100-200f Female 100-250f 1894 Djenne55 Child 10 and under: 30 000-60 000 cowries Male: 80 000 cowries Female: 100 000-400 000 cowries 1894 Kankan56 Child 200f Male 250f Female 250f 1894 Bandiagara57 Child 12 and under 200-250f

AF Mockler-Ferryman, Up the Niger. (London: George Philip & Son, 1892), 306. 48Tambo,216. 49 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle de Segou. 50 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Etude sur la captivite dans le Soudan. Poste de Bamako. 51 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle de Kerouane 52 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle de Kayes, 53 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Cercle de Sokolo. Etude sur la captivite, Cercle de Sokolo 54 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle de Tombouctou. 55 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle de Djenne. 56 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Cercle de Kankan. Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle. 199 8 year old girl 200f 12 year old girl 200-300f Male 250-300f Bambara woman 300-400f Samoko or Bobo woman 80-100f

ANM FA 1E23 Rapport sur la captivite dans les etats d'Aguibou, Bandiagara, le 18 aoflt, 1894.

200 APPENDIX C

NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY REDEMPTION PRICES IN THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL BILAD AL-SUDAN

Sample of Redemption Prices for the Western Bilad al-Sudan

Cercle Price

Bakel58 double purchase price

Segou59 set by master

Sumpi"0 double the purchase price 280-300fforman 380-400fforwoman Kayes61 up to two slaves

Timbuktu62 negotiate with master 1858: approximately 9 mithqals of gold for a woman 1898: 260 000 cowries for a woman Djenne6j all that slave had at time of demand plus price set by master

Sokolo64 set by master

ANS K18 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans le cercles d'administration directe du Senegal 1904. Bakel. Questionnaire au sujet de la captivite. 59 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle, Segou. 60 ANS K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie-Niger 1904. Cercle de Sumpi. Rapport sur l'etat de captivite dans le cercle. 61 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Cercle de Kayes Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle, ANS K16 Etude en execution de la circulaire de 18 Janvier sur l'etat de captivite dans le cercle de Kayes, le 27 Janvier 1904. 62IHERIAB ms 3549, IHERIAB ms 3851/9 63 ANS K14 Captivite au Soudan 1894. Cercle de Djenne. Rapport sur la captivite dans le cercle. It is interesting to note that in the same report the Cercle Commander reasoned that the reason rich slaves, even slaves who were richer than their masters, never redeemed themselves was because of the mildness of their servitude. He did not take into consideration that if they were to redeem themselves they would lose everything they had, and potentially in debt. 64 ANM FA IE 156 Rapport sur la repression de la traite des esclaves en Haut-Senegal-Niger. Cercles de Bamako, Bandiagra, Bougouni, Djenne, Kayes, Medine, Nioro, Segou, Sokolo 1894-1904. 201 Touba65 no more than 500f

Djougou-Kouande66 set by master

Moyen-Niger6' 150-200f

Say6" 100-200fforaman 200-250f for a young woman 50-1 OOf for an old woman Haut-Dahomey69 100-200fforaman 200-250f for a young woman 50-1 OOf for an old woman

65 ANS K18 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans le cercles d'administration directe du Senegal 1904. La captivite dans le Baol-Occidental. 66 ANS K22 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles du Dahomey 1904. Cercle de Djougou-Kouande, Rapport sur la captivite. 67 ANS K22 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles du Dahomey 1904. Cercle du Moyen-Niger, Rapport sur la captivite. 68 ANS K22 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles du Dahomey 1904. Cercle de Say, Rapport sur la captivite. 69 ANS K22 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles du Dahomey 1904. Resume des responses au questionnaire sur l'esclavage.

202 Zaria Redemption Prices 1905-1906 70

Zaria Male Third-Party Redemption Prices 1905-1906

ARnr\r\n - 'fOUUUU . ©.'" 400000

350000 -.—:-• : : — '-— : •*— : 300000 - ~ t- %^ - 2 250000 @ Series 1

o 200000 •—- G : ••<>--- :—•

150000

100000 •>•• - - - ,••' •• - —••••

50000 - ' - :-:- ;: - -:'— - ••

n U • i i i i () 10 20 30 40 50 Age (years)

Sample Size: 10

70 NAK SNP 15/1 Ace 90 Register of freed slaves Zaria Province 1905-1906. Contains records of 215 redemptions.

203 Zaria Female Third-Party Redemption Prices 1905-1906

400000

350000

300000

250000 'I 200000 iSeriesI o o

150000

100000

50000 0 20 40 60 80 0 Age (years)

Sample Size: 10 Zaria Female Self-Redemption Prices 1905-1906

450000 - i 400000 i O 350000 -j 300000 -| b .2 250000 i 88 • Seriesl | 200000 -; o ° 150000 o 100000 50000 • < 0 r- - . ' '"I 0 20 40 60 Age (years)

Sample Size: 17

205 Zaria Male Self-Redemption Prices 1905-1906

450000

400000 O 350000 300000 .£ 250000 O 006 o Seriesl o 200000 o o o 150000 100000 50000 0 0 20 40 60 Age (years)

Sample Size: 42

206 BIBLIOGRAPHY

PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIAL 1. NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND DOCUMENTATION CENTRES

1.1 Archives d'Agadez, Agadez

Correspondances Arrivees/ Depart 1914. Correspondances Arrivees/ Depart 1916. Correspondances Arrivees/ Depart 1917. Correspondances Arrivees/ Depart 1918. Correspondances Arrivees/ Depart 1919.

1.2 Archives Nationales du Mali (ANM), Koulouba

FA ID 2 A Grodet. Etude sur la captivite au Soudan, 1894.

FA ID 54 Monographie de Tombouctou et region 1894-1921.

FA ID 55 Renseignments Mage-Barth, 1889.

FA ID 59 10 Notes sur les rezzous Marocains, 1906.

FA ID 185 Enquete sur la justice penale et civil. Questionnaire Bafoulabe (Malinke-Kassonke) 1911

FA ID 192 Coutume Bambara dans le Cercle du Goumbou 1909.

FA ID 207 Cercle de Segou. Enquete sur 1'organisation de la famille. 1910.

FA ID 221 Relation des Missions Correspondances diverses Cercle de Segou 1891-1989.

FA ID 227 Mission Delegation sur la frontiere des cercles de Goumbou et Sokolo. Correspondances, rapport 1897.

FA IE 16 Note sure les rezzous Marocains Tombouctou 1906. FA IE 23 Rapports politiques et rapports de tournees, Cercle de Bandiagara 1893-1920.

FA IE 47 Rapports politiques et rapports de tournees, Cercle de Kita 1883-1905.

FA IE 60 Rapports politiques et rapports de tournees, Cercle de Nioro 1891- 1900.

FA IE 71 Rapports politiques et Rapports de tournees, Cercle de Segou 1891 - 1905

FA IE 78 Rapports politiques et rapports de tournees, Region et Cercle de Tombouctou 1895-1902.

FA IE 113 Renseignments politiques, Cercle de Segou 1890-1904.

FA IE 156 Rapports sur la repression de la traite des esclaves en Haut- Senegal- Niger Cercles de Bamako, Bandiagara, Bongouni, Djenne, Kayes, Medine, Nioro, Segou, Sokolo, 1894-1904.

FA IE 183 Enquete Ministrielle au sujet des mesures a prendre pour la suppression de l'esclavage 1895-1904.

FA IE 184 Mesures a prendre pour la disparition de l'esclavage, 1908.

FA IN 27 Incidents de Banamba. Emigration des serviteurs des markas -Cercle de Bamako Correspondance - Rapport 1905.

FA 2M 3 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle de Bafoulabe 1883-1919.

FA 2M 4 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle de Bamako 1895-1920.

FA 2M 5 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle de Bandiagara 1903 - 1919

FA 2M 7 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle de Bougouni 1896-1920.

FA 2M 8 Justice Indigene, Correspondance avec le Cercle de Djenne 1899-

1914

FA 2M 13 Justice Indigene, Correspondance Cercle de Goumbou 1900-1911

FA 2M 16 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle de Kayes 1882-1920. FA 2M 17 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle de Bobo-Dioulasso 1901- 1919

FA 2M 18 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle de Kita 1887-1919.

FA 2M 19 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle de Koury 1903-1918.

FA 2M 20 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle de Koutiala 1903-1919.

FA 2M 21 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle de Lobi (Gaoua) 1903-1919.

FA 2M 22 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle Medine 1887-1905.

FA 2M 26 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle de Niamey 1905-1911.

FA 2M 27 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle de Nioro 1891-1919

FA 2M 28 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle de Ouagadougou 1905-1919

FA 2M 29 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Residence du Yatenga 1900-1919.

FA 2M 31 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle de San 1901-1919.

FA 2M 32 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle de Satadougou 1898-1919.

FA 2M 34 Justice Indigene, Correspondance, Cercle de Segou 1898-1920.

FA 2M 37 Justice Indigene, Correspondance Cercle de Tombouctou 1895-1920

FA 2M 44 Justice Indigene, - Etats de condamnations prononcees dans les cercles en matiere de traite 1905-1907

FA 5E 6 Relations Exterieurs, Relations avec le Maroc Correspondance, 1896.

1.3 Archives Nationales du Niger (ANN), Niamey

9B5 1904-1905 Correspondances Depart.

9B6 1904-1905 Correspondances Depart.

9B10 3 1909-1910 Correspondances Depart.

209 9B11.3 1909 Correspondances Depart Region Zinder 1909.

IE 1.2 1900 Poste de Zinder-Tchad. Report du Capitaine Moll sur la situation politique.

1E1.3 1900 Rapport de Lieutenant JI Galidon Commandant le 2ieme Senegalais en marche sur Zinder-Tchad.

1E1.4 1901 Poste d'Agadez. Rapport en fin de reconnaissance de Lieutenant Jean sur Pescorte de la caravane et la reconnaissance dans l'Air.

IE 1.5 1901 Remarques politiques: Region Ouest 3ieme Territoire Militaire Poste de Niamey.

1E1.9 1901 Rapport du Commandant Gouraud sur la region Ouest du 3ieme Territoire Militaire.

1E1.10 1901 Troisieme Territoire Militaire. Colonne du Damergou Correspondances diverses, 1901.

1E1.13 1902 Cercle de Djerma. Secteur de Dosso. Rapports politiques mensuels.

IE 1.16 1902 Rapport politique sur les sultanats du Tessaoua, du Gober et du Maradi (mois du Janvier).

IE 1.19 1902 Troisieme Territoire Militaire. Rapport sur la situation politique du 3ieme trimestre.

1E1.21 1903 Residence de Tessaoua. Rapports Politiques mensuels 1903.

1E1.24 1904 Rapport du Lieutenant-Colonel Ronget sur la politique suivie pendant l'annee 1904 (Rapport annuel 1904).

1E1.32 1904 Poste d'Agadez. Rapport en fin de reconnaissance de Lieutenant Jean sur l'escorte de la caravane et la reconnaissance dans l'Air.

1E1.34 1904 Cercle de Zinder. Residence de Tessaoua. Rapport politique du mois de Juin.

1E2.1 1900 Poste de Zinder Tchad. Rapport du Capitaine Moll sur la situation politique.

210 1E2.5 1905 Region de Tombouctou. Rapports politiques periodiques de Bamba.

1E2.10 1905 Cercle de Goure. Compte rendu de la tournee effectuee de la 29 aout au 16 septembre 1905 sur le commandement de Lieutenant Rongat chez les Tebbous.

1E2.13 1905 Cercle de Tahoua. Rapport du Capitaine Delestre au sujet de la reconnaissance qu'il a dirigee dans l'Azaoua du 14 fevrier au 11 mars.

1E2.20 1906 Region de Niamey. Rapports politiques et administratifs trimestriels de la region.

1E3.1 1906 Cercle de Djerma. Secteur Dosso. Rapport de Lieutenant Ponsard commandant le secteur de Dosso sur la tournee effectuee en octobre 1906 dans le canton de Kiota.

1E3.2 1906 Secteur de Dosso. Rapport sur la tournee effectuee en novembre dans le Maouri.

1E3.4 1906 Cercle de Goure. Rapport du Lieutenant Faulques de Jonquieres sur les routes caravanieres.

1E3.9 1906 Cercle de Djerma. Rapport sur la tournee effectuee par le Capitaine Salaman du 18 au 28 octobre dans le Sud de Djerma.

1E3.16 1906 Colonie du Dahomey et Dependances. Cercles de Say. Rapports d'ensemble.

1E3.27 1906 Region de Tombouctou. Rapport du Capitaine Lacrois sur la reconnaissance executees dans les environs de Ral-el-Ma.

1E3.36 1907 Rapport de l'adjudant Vergnol Hort-Cadres Commandant le cercle de Ras-El-Ma exposant la situation politique December 1906- Mars 1907.

1E3.37 1907 Secteur d'Agadez. Rapports politiques mensuels.

1E3.43 1907 Cercle de Goure. Rapports mensuels.

1E4.3 1907 Region de Niamey. Rapports politiques et administratifs trimestriels et rapport general annuel sur la politique de la region.

211 1E4.29 1907 Territoire Militaire du Niger. Situation politique mensuelle des territoires du sud.

1E4.34 1907-1908 Rezzous de Toubous: 1907-1908.

1E4.36 1907-1909 Cercle de Dosso. Carrier de Rapports commence le 1 octobre 1907 et termine le 31 decembre 1909.

1E4.37 1907-1908 Rezzous de Toubous: 1907-1908.

1E5.1 1908 Cercle de Bilma. Raports politiques mensuels.

1E5.8 1908 Cercle de N'Guigmi. Rapports politiques mensuels.

1E5.11 1908 Cercle de Goure. Compte rendu suivant de tournee effectuee dans les territoires du Nord de la Komadougou par le Chef de Bataillon Mouret, 1908.

1E5.18 1909 Region de Zinder, Cercle d'Agadez. Rapports politiques mensuels, 1909.

1E5.19 1909 Region de Zinder, Cercle de Bilma. Rapports politiques mensuels.

1E6.4. 1910 Cercle de Tillabery. Rapport politique du mois de Juin 1910.

1E6.16 1910-1917 Territoire Militaire du Niger. Cercle de Medoua rtapports politiques.

1E7.1 1912 Cercle de N'Guigmi. Rapports politiques.

1E7.8 1912 Cercle de Zinder. Secteur de Tessaoua. Rapports politiques.

1E7.10 1912 Colonie du Niger. Rapport politique lier trimestre.

1E7.11 1912 Colonie du Niger. Rapport politique 2ier trimestre.

1E7.16 1913 Cercle de Madoua. Rapports politiques trimestriels 1913.

1E7.23 1913 Cercle de Niamey. Secteur de Tillabery. Monographie du secteur de Tillabery.

Boubou Hama, Journal novembre 1964 a mars 1965

212 Boubou Hama, Journal de 11 aout au 1 mars 1968.

Boubou Hama, Journal de 2 mars 1968 au 6 mai 1969.

1.4 Kano State History and Cultural Bureau (KSHCB), Kano

KAN PRO Kiru KAN PRO Dawakin Rudu KAN PRO Dutse KAN PRO Gwarzo KAN PRO 1/11/5 KAN PRO 1//11/5 KAN PRO 1/11/7 Rano 1955-59 KAN PRO 1/11/14 KAN PRO 1/11/6 KAN PRO 1/11/11 KAN PRO 155/1927 KAN PRO 202/1917 KAN PRO 256/1928 KAN PRO 382/1915 KAN PRO 411/1917 KAN PRO 195/1921 KAN PRO 82/1921 KAN PRO 412/1916 KAN PRO 376/1914 KAN PROP/1925 KAN PRO 108 KAN PRO 181 KAN PRO 1651 KAN PRO 2201 KAN PRO 472 KAN PRO 6508 5.2 KAN PRO CSO 21/52/123 1921 KAN PRO HIS 5/1936 KAN PRO HIS 3/1956

1.5 Center for Research Libraries, Chicago

1.5.1 Church Missionary Society, Yoruba Mission (CMS) CA 2/045 Yoruba Mission, Arthur A Harrison Letters, 1862.

CA 2/046 Yoruba Mission, W.H Hechler Letters 1871-1873.

CA 2/047 Yoruba Mission, WC Hensman Letters 1853.

CA 2/048 Yoruba Mission JS Hill Letters 1876-1877.

CA 2/049 Yoruba Mission, D Hinderer, Letters, Journals, and Reports 1849-1876.

CA 2/052 Yoruba Mission, EG Irving Letters 1854-1855.

CA 2/057 Yoruba Mission, Nathaniel Johnson Letters and Journals 1867- 1879.

CA 2/066 Yoruba Mission, A Mann Letters, Journals, Reports 1852- 1880.

CA 2/068 Yoruba Mission, J.A Maser Letters and Journals 1853-1879.

CA 2/070 Yoruba Mission, W Moore, Letters and Journals 1861-1880.

CA2/071 Yoruba Mission, W Morgan, Letters and Journals 1852-1880.

1.6 Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples, Toronto

1.6.1 Archives Nationales du Senegal (ANS) - Dakar

2G 2/8 Correspondances du Commandant lier Territoire Militaire au Gouverneur du Soudan-Francais, 1902.

2G 7/3 Haut Senegal-Niger Rapports Politiques Trimestriels.

7G 37 Correspondances du Commandant de le cercle de Faranah a le Gouverneur du Soudan-Francais 1893-1896.

K14 Captivite au Soudan. Rapports sur les captivites dans les cercles du Soudan, 1894.

K 15 Captivite en A.O.F. Legislation sur les captifs liberes; repression de

214 la captivite en Cote d'lvoire; la captivite dans les territoires de la Senegambie et du Niger et le 2eme territoire militaire, 1900-1903.

K16 Enquete sur la captivite en A.O.F. Circulaires, questionnaires appreciations des rapports des administrateurs des cercles, rapports... 1903-1904.

K18 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles d'administration directe du Senegal 1904

K19 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Senegambie-Niger 1904.

K20 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de laGuinee 1904.

K21 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles de la Cote d'lvoire 1904.

K22 Enquete sur la captivite. Rapports sur la captivite dans les cercles du Dahomey 1904.

K24 Captivite et repression de la traite en A.O.F 1904-1906.

1.6.2 Bibliotheque Commemorative Mama Haidara (MHT), Timbuktu (in Arabic)

Manuscript 76. Manuscript 156.

1.6.3 Institut des Hauts Etudes et de la Recherche Islamique-Ahmed Baba (IHERIAB), Timbuktu (in Arabic)

Manuscript 3549. Manuscript 3851/9. Manuscript 4626.

1.6.4 Church Missionary Gleaner

1850-1853, vols 1-3.

215 1857, vol 7. 1875, vol 2. 1876-1877, vol 4. 1878-1879, vol 5.

1.6.5 Economic History Project

Interview with Dan Rimin Kano, Kano, December 12 and 30, 1975. Interview with Muhammadu Rabi'u, Fanisau, July 13, 1975. Interview with Alhaji Yunusa Mikail, August 2, 1975

1.6.6 Northern Nigeria Gazette, vol 2 (1901).

1.6.7 Nigerian National Archives, Kaduna

Secretariat, Northern Province (SNP)

SNP 5/1 Ace 121 Resident Bauchi Province, Letters.

SNP 7/8 Nassarawa Province Reports, 1907.

SNP 7/9 Annual Reports. SNP 7/10 Yola Province, Monthly Reports 1908. SNP 7/12 Bauchi Reports, 1910. SNP 15/1 Ace 64 Kabba Province Monthly Reports, 1903. SNP 15/1 Ace 42 Bauchi Province Monthly Reports, 1902. SNP 15/1 Ace 59 Province of Nassarawa Monthly Reports, 1904. SNP 15/1 Ace 90 Register of Freed Slaves Zaria Province, 1905- 1906 SNP 15/1 Ace 109 Sokoto Province Reports, 1905.

216 2. PUBLISHED ARABIC SOURCE MATERIAL

Backwell, HF., ed. and trans. The Occupation ofHausaland 1900-1904: Being a Translation of Arabic Letters Found in the House of the Wasir ofSokoto, Bohari, in 1903. London: Frank Cass& Co. Ltd, 1969.

Bello, Muhammad. Infaq al-Maysur fi Tarikh bilddal Takrur. Edited by Bahiji Hadli. Rabat: Publications of the Institute of African Studies, 1996.

- - -.Risdla ild ahl al-haramayn al-sharifayn wa ila ahl al-mashriq. In 'Umar al- Naqar, The Pilgrimage Tradition in West Africa. Khartoum: Khartoum University Press, 1972.

Bivar, ADH. "The Wathiqat ahl al-Sudan: A Manifesto of the Fulani Jihad." The Journal of African History, 2:2 (1961) 235-243.

Caillie, Jacques. Les accords Internationauz du Sultan Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah (175701790). Tangier: Faculte de droit du Maroc, 1960.

Christelow, Allan., ed. Thus Ruled Emir Abbas: Selected Cases from the Records of the Emir ofKano 's Judicial Council. East Lansing Michigan: Michigan State University Press, 1994.

Fudi, Abdullahi ibn. Tazyin al-waraqdt. Translated and edited by M Hiskett. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1983.

Fudl, 'Uthman ibn. Nur-al-albab. Translated by Ismail Hamet. Revue AfricaineXVh, 1897: 297-320.

- - -. Rawdthat' al Afkdri. Translated and edited by H.R Palmer. "Western Sudan History: The Raudthat ul Afkari." Journal of the Royal African Society 15:59 (Apr 1916): 261-273.

- - -. Bayan wujub al-hijra 'ala 7 - 'ibad. Translated and edited by FH El Masri. Khartoum: Khartoum University Press, 1978.

- - -. Kitab al-farq. Translated and Edited by M Hiskett. Hiskett, M. "Kitab al- farq: 'A Work on the Habe Kingdoms Attributed to 'Uthman dan fodio'," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 23:3 (1960): 558-579.

- - -. Tanbihu al-lkhwdn. Translated and edited by H.R Palmer. "An Early Fulani Conception of Islam." Journal of the Royal African Society, 13: 52 (July 217 1914): 407-414, "An Early Fulani Conception of Islam (Continued.)." Journal of the Royal African Society 14:53 (Oct 1914): 53-59, "An Early Fulani Conception of Islam (Continued)." Journal of the Royal African Society 14: 54 (Jan, 1915): 185-192.

Futi, Umar al. Baydn ma waqa 'a. Translated and edited by Sidi Mohamed Mahibou and Jean-Louis Triaud. Paris: Editions du centre national de la recherche scientifique,1983.

- - -. Risdlat sahwa al-habib ila Ibrahim al-labib. In O Jah. "The Effects of Pilgrimate on the Jihad of Al-Hajj 'Umar al-Futi 1799-1864." In The Central Bilad al-Sudan: Tradition and Adaption. Edited by Yusuf Fadl Hasan and Paul Doornbos. Khartoom: Khartoom University Press, 1977.

Hunwick, John., ed. Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire. Al -Sa 'di 's Ta 'rikh al- suddn down to 1613 and other Contemporary Documents. Leiden: Brill, 1996.

- - -. "Back to West African Zanj Again: A Document of Sale from Timbuktu." Sudanic Africa 7 (1996): 53-60.

- - -. "Falkeiana III: The Kitdb al-TarsTl, an Anonymous Manual of Epistolatory and Notary Style." Sudanic Africa 5 (1994): 179-184.

- - -. "Falkeiana II: A Letter from the AmTr of Mafara to the Amir of Zamfara." Sudanic Africa 3 (1992): 97-108.

- - -. ed. and trans. SharT 'a in Songhay: The Replies of al-MaghilT to the Questions ofAskia Al-Hajj Muhammad. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.

Hunwick, John and Fatima Harrak trans. Mi'raj al-Su 'ud, Ahmad B aba's Replies on Slavery. Rabat: Universite Mohammed V Souissi Institute of African Studies, 2000.

Ibrahim Muhammad ibn. "The Chronicle of the Succession." In David Robinson. "The Chronicle of the Succession': An Important Document for the Umarian State." Journal of African History, 31(1990): 245-262.

Kati, Mahmud. Tarikh al-Fattdsh. Edited and translated by O Houdas and M. Delafosse. Paris: Librairie d'amerique et d'orient Adrien-Masonneuve, 1964.

218 KhalTl ibn Ishaq al-Jundi. Abrege de la loi musulmane selon le rite de I'imam Malek. 4 vols. Translated by Georges Bousquet. Paris : A. Maisonneuve, 1962.

Maghfli al, Muhammad. Taj al-din yajib 'ala-muluk. Translated by T.H Baldwin. Beyrouth-Liban: Imprimerie Catholique, 1932.

Omari al, Ibn Fadl Allah. Masalik al Absarfi Mamlik al Amsar. Translated by Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes. Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1927.

Qadiri al, Muhammad. Nash al-mathdnT: The Chronicles. Edited by Norman Cigar, London: Oxford University Press, 1981.

Qayrawanl al, ibn Abl Zayd Risalah. trans. Leon Bercher, 3r edition, Algiers: Editions Jules Carbonel, 1949.

Sadi al, Abd al Rahman, Tarikh al-Sudan. Translated by O Houdas, Paris: Librairie d'Amerique et d'Orient Adrien-Masonneuve, 1964.

Salih, Muhammad, Takyid 'Akhbar. Translated by I.U.A Musa and Abdullahi Mahadi (unpublished)

Soudan es, Akbar Muluk. Tadhkirat al-nisyan. Translated by O Houdas. Paris: Librarie d'Amerique et d'Orient, 1966.

Soudan es, Akbar Muluk. "Histoire de Sokoto." In Tadhkirat al-nisyan. Translated by O Houdas. Paris: Librarie d'Amerique et d'Orient, 1966.

3. PUBLISHED ORAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL

Hama, Boubou., ed. Histoire Traditionnelle d'un village Songhay: Foneko. Editions Presence Africaine, 1970.

Johnson, Samuel. The History of the Yorubas. London: Routledge&Kegan Paul Ltd, 1966.

Lambert, Sheila., ed. House of Commons Sessional Papers of the Eighteenth Century. Great Britain: Parliament. House of Commons, 1975 vol 68-73.

Law, Robin and Paul E Lovejoy., eds. The Biography ofMahommah Gardo Baquaqua. Princeton: Markus Weiner Publishers, 2000.

219 Mercadier, FJG. L 'esclave de Timimoun. Translated and reprinted by John Hunwick and Eve Trout Powell in The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam. Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2002.

Olivier de Sardan, Jean-Pierre., ed. and trans. Quand nosperes etaient captifs... Recits pay sans du Niger. Paris: Nubia, 1976.

Patterson, JR., ed. Kanuri Songs. Lagos: 1926.

Rasmussen, Susan. "The Slave Narrative in Life History and Myth, and Problems of Ethnographic Representation of the Tuareg Cultural Predicament." Ethnohistory, 46:1 (1999): 67-108.

Schon, JF. Magana Hausa: native literature...in the Hausa language. London: 1885.

Smith, Mary F., ed. Baba ofKaro, A Woman of the Muslim Hausa. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981.

Sow, Alfa Ibrahim., ed. Chroniques et Recits du Fouta Djalon. Paris: Librairie C Klincksieck, 1968.

Tukur, Muhammed. "Busuraa'u." In Chants Musulans Peul, edited by J Haafkens. Leiden: Brill, 1983.

4. VOYAGE AND TRAVEL LITERATURE, OFFICIAL REPORTS

Adams, Robert. The Narrative of Robert Adams, a sailor who was wrecked onto the western coast of Africa in the year 1810. London: 1816.

Almada de, Andre Alvares. Tratado Breve dos Rios de Guine do Cobo Verde. Edited by A Brasio. Lisbon: 1964.

Aranda d', Emmanuel. Les captifs d Alger. Edited by Latifa Z'Kari. Paris: Jean PaulRocher, 1977.

Baillaud, Emile. Sur les routes du Soudan. Toulouse: Impremerie et Librairie Edouard Privat, 1902.

Barber, M.A.S. Oshielle or Village Life in the Yoruba Country. London: James NisbetandCo, 1857.

220 Barth, Heinrich. Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa. 2 vols. London: Frank Cass & Co Ltd, 1965.

Benezet, Anthony. Some Historical Account of Guinea. 2nd edition, 1788. London: Frank Cass & Ltd, 1968.

Binger, Louis-Gustave. Esclavage, Islamisme et Christianisme, Paris: Societe d'editions scientifiques, 1891.

Bou-el-Moghdad. "Voyage par Terre entre le Senegal et le Maroc" Revue Maritime et Coloniale, (May 1861): 477-492.

Bowen, TJ. Adventures and Missionary Labours in several Countries in the Interior of Africa from 1848 to 1856. Charleston: 1857.

Caillie, Rene. Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo, London: Frank Cass & Co, 1968.

Campbell, Robert. "A Pilgrimage to my Motherland: An Account of a Journey among the Egbas and Yorubas of Central Africa in 1859-1960." In Search for a Place: Black Separation and Africa. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1969.

Canot, Theodore. Adventures of an African Slavery: Being a True Account of the Life of Theodore Canot... His own story as told in the Year 1854 to Brantz Mayer. London: 1928.

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