An important destination on our walking tour was a visit to the Slave Market site, where the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral now stands. This market is of historical significance because the inhumane conditions and cruelty to the slaves, most of whom were from central Africa, inspired the eventual ending of the slave trade on Zanzibar. In learning more about the slave trade, Christopher told us that this cruel trade was begun by the Arabs, who used the islands of Zanzibar Archipelago as a base for trading with the mainland, which they called zanj al bar, or “black land” in Arabic. Arabs traded slaves, part of their “exotic trade in the Arab world” which included spices, gold, ivory, and slaves. Sultan Seyed Said visited the island in 1828, then in 1832 built his residence on Zanzibar, arriving from Oman. He also established plantations of cloves on both Zanzibar and Pemba. He forced the Hadimu people to either work on the plantations or move to the easter part of the island. During this time, Zanzibar became the center for the Arab slave trade. Between 65% to 90% of the population of Arab-Swahili Zanzibar was enslaved. The Omani Arabs, financed by the Indians living in Zanzibar. The Indians, working for Bombay companies, organized caravans from the coast into the interior of Africa.  The African natives, who were sold to the Arabs by their tribal chiefs for arms, cloth, and mere trinkets, were marched in a ladder of chains across land to the port. Those who survived the march were shipped  from Africa through the port of Bagamayo to Zanzibar for auction. On the island, the slaves were put in one of several “holding cells”, underground chambers built on the edge of the sea. The conditions here were base, with extreme overcrowding in a dungeon-styled room. The ocean’s  high tide washed away the human waste from the trough latrines that ran down the center of each room.  Henry and I visited the two remaining cells, kept intact for historical purposes. In the first of these, an underground chamber with three small, narrow slit windows, housed as many as 75 women and children. The small windows allowed so little air in this dungeon that many of the people imprisoned here suffocated. So cruel were these base conditions, that many of the people held in these quarters died of hunger or dehydration, as no food or water was given to them. The men in an adjoining chamber suffered the same conditions, though their room held  a maximum of 50 men in the confined space.  Nearby, a Mkunazi (Jojoba tree)  stood as the Whipping Tree.  The captive slaves were put to a test by being beaten, sometimes with the tail of a stingray. Those who cried were considered weak, while those who held their pain were considered strong. The “strong” slaves commanded higher prices. Christopher, our guide, told us that this practice of using the tail of a stingray was considered so inhumane, that after a while, the fishermen on the island told the Arabs, who shopped for these tails, that all were sold out, removing and discarding the tails instead. The slaves taken from central Africa were used for harvesting cloves, or were shipped across the Indian Ocean to Oman, Persia, or India, east to the Dutch East Indies, or south to Madagascar or South Africa. Male slaves sent to India or Persia were castrated When the slaves were marched to the ships for transport to their destinations, they were chained together in a ladder of chains, their bodies  spaced so closely together that they could not walk properly, let alone run away. The human cargo was then stacked like sardines in the hull of a dhow, and on the long voyage, they were deprived of food and water. Many died before ever reaching land.  Slavery finally ended in 1873. Dr. David Livingston, the British explorer and missionary, stayed in a house on Zanzibar on several occasions during his travels and explorations of Africa. He had witnessed the inhumane suffering of the Africans at the hand of the Arab traders in the Slave Market on Zanzibar.  In 1857, he appealed to the gentlemen of both Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England to abolish the slave trade on Zanzibar. In 1873, at the behest of the British government, Sultan Barghash signed an agreement forbidding seaborne slave trade, essentially abolishing slavery. His acquiescence to sign this declaration was encouraged by the nine British war ships anchored offshore. The island of Mangapwani in the Zanzibar Archipelago, 28 km/17 miles from Zanzibar, became the next trading post. This island’s topography, with its many caves, allowed the Arab slave traders to hide the Africans. Slavery  by the Arabs was finally stopped in 1907.

PHOTOS: Upper Left: Memorial in Memory for the Slaves” conceived and executed by Swedish artist, Clara Sornas. The sculpture was made at Sculpture Project Bagamayo, 1997-8. Lower Left: The slave quarters for women and children, as many as 75 crammed into this small room.  A trough down the middle of the room was used as a latrine,  the human waste washed to sea every day at high tide. There were only three small slit windows in this room. Center: Detail: Sculpture by Clara Sornas. This image portrays a slave with neck device and chain. This “neck cuff” was the better of two methods used to chain the slaves together. The crueler method was a linked chain that tended to become embedded in the skin, choking the prisoner. Ms. Sornas used an interesting stylistic technique to portray the slaves. The figures’ head and shoulders are finely sculpted, while the remainder of their torsos are abstracted, modeled roughly in clay. Upper Right: View of  the  Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, built on the grounds of the Slave Market. The High Altar of the cathedral stands on the  former site of the cruel whipping post.

JOURDAN ARPELLE-ZIEGLER                                        BACK TO MAP  PAGE