038840engo 2

The slave trade and the population drain

from Black Africa

173

No one has summed up the problem of Arab-Black relations better than
the Egyptian historian Samir Zoghby :

An abscess can lead to blood poisoning. It may also develop into gangrene which
may require amputation of a limb. Yet, if treated surgically it will probably leave an
ugly scar and the memory of a throbbing pain. Such have been Arab relations with
Black Africa. The past brings forth the ugly image of the Arab slave-trader which mars
the present and strains the dialogue, creating awkward moments of embarrassment.^18

This article should be seen as an attempt to lance the abscess, to open a dialogue

and to plan for the future in full awareness of the past.

Notes

1. André Falk, Visa pour l'Arabie, p. 169, Paris, Gallimard, 1958.


2. E. Zeys, 'Esclavage et Guerre Sainte', consultation d'Ahmed Baba aux Gens du Touat,
   XVème Siècle, Bulletin de la Réunion d'Études Algériennes, 1900.


3. E. Berlioux, La Traite Orientale, Histoire des Chasses à l'Homme Organisées en
   Afrique, Paris, Guillaumin, 1870.


4. M. Emerit, Les Liaisons Terrestres entre le Soudan et l'Afrique du Nord au XVlWme
   et au Début du XIXe™ Siècle, Algiers, 1954.


5. Norman R. Bennet, 'Christian and Negro Slavery in Eighteenth Century North
   Africa', Journal of African History, 1960.


6. Berlioux, op. cit.


7. Frédéric Cailliaud, Voyage à Méroé, au Fleuve Blanc, Paris, 1826.
   8. 1 thaler = 3.75 francs.


8. Raymond Mauvy, Les Siècles Obscurs de l'Afrique Noire, Paris, Fayard, 1970.


9. Jérôme and Jean Tharaud, Fès ou les Bourgeois de l'Islam.


10. Edmondo de Amicis, Le Maroc, p. 323, trans, from the Italian by Henri Belle, Paris,
    Hachette, 1882.


11. L. Valensi, Esclaves Chrétiens et Esclaves Noirs à Tunis', Annales-Economies-Sociétés,
    November/December 1967.


12. G. Mouette, Histoire des Conquestes de Mouley Archy, Connu sous le Nom de Roy de
    Talifet, p. 407.


13. Dr Louis Frank, Collection d'Opuscules de Médecine Pratique avec un Mémoire sur le
    Commerce des Nègres au Kaire, p. 202, Paris, 1812.


14. Charles Mangia, La Force Noire, Paris, Hachette, 1910, 355 p.


15. See Crusade Historians, Historiens Orientaux, Vol. IV, p. 147-8.


16. See Magali Morsy, Moulay Ismail et l'Armée de Métier, Revue d'Histoire Moderne
    Contemporaine, April-June 1967.


17. Samir M. Zoghby, 'Blacks and Arabs: Past and Present', Current Bibliography on
    African Affairs, Vol. 3, No. 5, May 1970.

Bibliography

North Africa and Egypt

BRAITHWAITE, John. History of the Revolutions in the Empire of Morocco Upon the Death

of the Late Emperor Muley Ishmael. London, J. Darby Brown, 1729. 381 p.