Summary report of the meeting of experts
on the African slave trade225elusions on this matter was that many of the local studies have not been cir-
culated widely enough—for example, the studies on marronnage carried out in
Haiti, Cuba and the Caribbean region in general.Abolition of the slave tradeThe dates of abolition of the slave trade and later of slavery vary widely and
reflect different factual situations. When their financial interests were at stake,
owners frequently found it more economical to free their slaves! Such reasons
explain why emancipation began in Cuba and Brazil a long time before slavery
was officially abolished. Some of the freed slaves travelled back to what is
now Nigeria and to Dahomey (now Benin) at their own expense. The abundance
of such examples, particularly in the Caribbean, indicates that a general study
of the subject would be worth while^12.
Slave revolts undoubtedly played a part in accelerating abolition and
in the development of a wage-earning structure. The Haitian Revolution spread
terror in the slave-trading colonies and metropolitan countries and the slaves
regarded it as symbolic. During the period between the abolition of the slave
trade and that of slavery itself, frequent revolts occurred in the English- and
Spanish-speaking Caribbean, with the support of Christian sects or churches.
In this respect, and perhaps involuntarily, Christianity encouraged the appear-
ance of emancipation movements and Messianic cults.
Here, too, Islam was in a unique position. Rejecting the idea that a
Muslim could ever be a slave, and believing that a 'pagan' one ipso facto was,
Islam had nothing to say about the two abolitions which were the cause of so
much ideological and political discussion in the Christian world.
Whether early or late, abolition of the slave trade hardly ever put an
end to the manpower drain of Africa. In the Indian Ocean clandestine slavery
continued to exist until late in the nineteenth century. Other means of procuring
labour, such as the identure system, took the place of the slave trade.
Abolition made very little difference. The relations of the masters and
the newly emancipated did not improve. The condition of the emancipated was
often worse, financially, than before.
Under cover of the new legality, all sorts of schemes were introduced
to enable the masters to perpetuate their control of the labour force (the
gourmettes of Senegambia and the 'freedom villages' of West Africa are exam-
ples). The existence of a free labour market meant that the masters could avoid
part of the costs they had previously borne in connection with their slaves.^13
Slavery was an obsolete system, but in addition it was now a less economical
proposition than wage-earning labour. Moreover, when the labour market was
saturated, wages fell.
As a rule, 'official' liberalism considered that freedom was a sufficiently