Suppression of the Slave Trade in the Nigerian Emirates

Ubah, C.N.

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Title:	Suppression of the Slave Trade in the Nigerian Emirates
Author:	Ubah, C.N.
Year:	1991
Periodical:	The Journal of African History
Volume:	32
Issue:	3
Pages:	447-470
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Nigeria Northern Nigeria Great Britain
Subjects:	colonialism slave trade abolition of slavery History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Economics and Trade
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/182662
Abstract:	This paper examines the efforts made by the British colonial regime in Northern Nigeria to suppress the slave trade. It shows that the slave trade disappeared gradually, in three phases. The first extended from 1900 to c. 1908, the second lasted until c. 1919, the third continued until the disappearance of the slave trade at the end of the 1930s. The task of suppression was carried out by a variety of means: military, including the patrolling of trade routes and policing of strategic locations; political and diplomatic, involving cooperation with other colonial powers in the area (the Germans and the French); and judicial, including arrest, prosecution and punishment of offenders. In these efforts the colonial administration received assistance from the native authorities; by the third phase these authorities and the native courts were the most active forces against slaving. The slave trade dealt to a significant extent in children. In the environment in which the trade was conducted the dealers developed a range of tricks and subterfuges to evade detection by the law enforcement agencies. The long borders which the agencies had to patrol, the manpower problems which they faced, and the relative ease with which slaves could be obtained in times of adversity combined to make the struggle against slaving a protracted one. Time was not, however, on the side of the traders. Improvements in communications, a stronger administration, the growing effectiveness of patrols, and the deterrent effects of judicial action finally eliminated the slave trade. Notes, ref.

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