African Economic History Working Paper,
African Economic History Network

Abstract: According to western observers, slavery was almost universal in Africa by the end of the slave trade era. I investigate the extent to which the international slave trades transformed the institutions of slavery in Africa. I use newly-developed data on travel time to estimate the inland reach of international slave demand. I find that societies in decentralized catchment zones adopted slavery to defend against further enslavement. More generally, I find that the international slave trades incentivized the evolution of aristocratic slave regimes characterized by slavery as a property system, polygyny as a family organization, inheritance of property within the nuclear family and hereditary succession in local politics. I discuss the implications for literatures on long-term legacies in African development.

Keywords: Slavery; Slave Trade; Slave Regimes; Institutions; Africa

JEL-codes: J47; N17; N37; N47

44 pages, January 14, 2021

Download statistics

• African Economic History Network
• Home page for this series

Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Erik Green ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().

This page generated on 2024-02-05 17:10:51.