The slave trade within the African continent 161Because of all the inherent risks, after 1893 it was more often children who fell
prey to the slave-traders. Slaves freed by the colonial authorities were kept
in 'free' villages where the authorities could requisition them at any time for
head porterage.
As from 1898, with their supremacy firmly established, the colonial
authorities increased their coercive measures against the African slave-dealers.
The definitive abolition of the internal slave trade compelled the Africans to
turn to agriculture. Around 1900, numerous directives were issued with a view
to ending the slave trade once and for all. For example, a circular promulgated
that year provided that 'all caravans of slaves intended for sale, from any part
of the colony, should, on being reported, be immediately put under arrest \^56
The slaves should be freed an placed in free villages, the slave-owner given a
penalty of fifteen days' imprisonment and a one hundred franc fine per slave,
and his merchandise confiscated.^57
At the beginning of the twentieth century the slave trade was still prac-
tised. But by and large it had declined substantially, owing to the strict appli-
cation of the administrative directives. In 1905, the Governor-General of
French West Africa prohibited all purchase of slaves. In spite of severe sanc-
tions, some Africans continued to derive the greater part of their income from
this traffic. Slaves were as a rule exchanged for cattle.^58 But transactions were
becoming difficult or even impossible because of the precautions the African
traders had to take, and especially because of the scarcity of prospective buyers
who were disinclined to run the risk of being involved in illicit dealings, or
took advantage of the situation by forcing the sellers to do business at absurdly
low prices under threat of denunciation.^59 Although it was an undeniable fact
that the slave trade still existed, all the reports by colonial authorities at the
beginning of the twentieth century stated that it was no longer the powerful
institution it had been. There was a period of calm in internecine conflicts
following the colonial conquest. The modernization of the economy meant
that recourse to slave labour was increasingly hazardous. It could legitimately
he hoped that the domestic slave trade would eventually die a natural death.
But the slave trade is an institution that dies hard. It persisted on the African
continent for more than a century after the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade.
Notes- G. Hardy, Histoire Sociale de la Colonization Française, p. 69, Paris, Larose, 1953.
- James Pope Hennessy, La Traite des Noirs à Travers l'Atlantique 1441-1807, p. 37,
Paris, Fayard, 1969. - Edrisi, Description de l'Afrique et de l'Espagne, p. 90, trans, by Dozy and Goeje,
Leyden, 1866. - Edrisi, op. cit., p. 9.
- Mungo Park, Travel in the Interior Districts of Africa in the Years 1795-1777, p. 433,
London, 1800.