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Title:Women and Slavery in Nineteenth Century Hausaland
Author:Mack, Beverly B.ISNI
Book title:The Human Commodity: Perspectives on the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade
Year:1992
Pages:89-110
Language:English
Geographic terms:Nigeria
Northern Nigeria
Subjects:female slaves
slave trade
women
Cultural Roles
Historical/Biographical
slavery
Abstract:This study considers the patterns of use of women slaves in 19th-century Hausaland (northern Nigeria), and the roles free women played in that society. It addresses the ways in which women's various sociopolitical roles changed in 19th-century Hausaland as a result of Shehu Usman 'dan Fodio's jihad of Islamic reform, and demonstrates the impact of those changes on the slave trade in women during the period. Data on 19th-century slave-raiding in Hausaland indicate that slaves were captured in great numbers for both local use and long-distance trade at the time. Of these, women were the greatest in number, and the highest priced, their value corresponding to their youth and beauty. The study focuses on local patterns of use and need for women slaves; local markets, relative numbers of women sold, and price determinants; slave caravan transportation and market demands outside Hausaland; and 20th-century testimony with respect to the effects of slavery on the lives of women and their descendants. It suggests that regardless of the Shehu's intentions to the contrary, the jihad provided many with the justification of slave-raiding on religious grounds with the eventual effect of imposing stricter social constraints on women than had existed. Notes, ref.
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