Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

2 results

  • 42 - The Arabic Letters of Ghadames Slaves in the Niger Bend, 1860–1900
  • from Part Eight - Documents from Muslim Africa
  • Edited by Alice Bellagamba, Sandra E. Greene, Cornell University, New York, Martin A. Klein, University of Toronto
  • Book: African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
  • Published online: 05 April 2013
  • Print publication: 13 May 2013, pp 485-502
  • View extract

    Summary

    This chapter presents a list of ten Arabic letters that were either written by slaves, or addressed to slaves, in their role as commercial agents in the Niger Bend region of West Africa during the second half of the nineteenth century. One of them is a correspondence centered around two literate Muslim slaves who belonged to the same master, and who referred to themselves as brothers. The letters open a window on relatively autonomous and high-status slaves living in the circum-Saharan world of the nineteenth century. Sources of this kind allow us to add new stories to the history of slavery in Africa. Only some of the letters are dated. The first and second letters are written by Ṣanbu ʿĪsā to his master ʿĪsā b. Ḥmīda. The third letter is written by Anjay ʿĪsā to ʿĪsā b. Ḥmīda.