“We now come to the harbour of Keelwa; from this port a very considerable trade carried on with Zanzibar other parts, in Ivory, Gum Copal and other native produce; it is besides the principal place from which slaves are exported.”
~From a report by the Commander of the HMS Gorgon of 1862.
Zanzibar (in present-day Tanzania), on the East African coast, was one of the last places in the world where human beings continued to be reduced to mere commodities and bought and sold in public markets, decades after the transatlantic trade had been outlawed by Britain and other nations. Captives were taken from a vast area, extending south of Lake Nyasa (now Malawi), west of Lake Tanganyika (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), and north of Lake Victoria (now Uganda), and brought in caravans to the open markets in Stone Town. Before sale, they were imprisoned in cramped underground chambers; if they survived for more than three days, they would then be taken to market.
The markets, presided over largely by Arabs under the authority of the Sultan of Zanzibar, often opened in the late afternoon. Contemporary accounts describe captives being led outside and lined up in rows according to age, gender, perceived suitability for work, and market value. Buyers made detailed inspections of eyes and teeth, and women were subjected to intrusive examinations; captives were tied to a tree or post and whipped with a stinging branch to demonstrate their strength to potential buyers, and those who did not cry out or faint fetched a higher price. By the 1850s there were tens of thousands of enslaved Africans on Zanzibar itself, working in clove plantations and in domestic service.
Under intense pressure from the British government, Sultan Barghash bin Said signed a treaty that led to the closure of the public market in Zanzibar in 1873, although clandestine and overland trafficking continued for years afterward. The Universities’ Mission to Central Africa purchased the market site, and British missionaries began building Christ Church Cathedral there; the cathedral, sometimes known as the “Slave Market Church,” was inaugurated in 1879 as a deliberate monument to the supposed triumph of Christian faith over human suffering. The high altar is said to be positioned over the spot of the former whipping post, while black cobblestones set in the floor mark the entrances to the underground holding chambers beneath the church where captives were once confined.
On the cathedral grounds, near the former market site, is a monument to those who did not survive the ordeal of capture, imprisonment, and sale. “Memory for the Slaves” (often called the Slave Memorial), by Swedish artist Clara Sörnäs, was installed on 2 May 1998 and depicts five enslaved people, slightly larger than life, standing in a pit below ground level. The figures emerge from the hewn stone and appear hopelessly trapped, shoulders slumped in despair; around their necks are metal collars linked by chains, some of which are historic artifacts from the period of slavery. It is a disturbing and haunting sight, insisting that the memory of those imprisoned, sold, and killed in Zanzibar’s slave trade remains visible in the very heart of Stone Town.
*Photo credit: Images via We Heart Public Heart, originally from Flickr pic originally uploaded by patripics
Source:
https://theurgetowander.com/2015/06/20/zanzibar-the-last-slave-market/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/26/slave-markets-zanzibar
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cathleen-falsani/how-do-you-redeem-sacred-_b_71375.html
https://publicheart.wordpress.com/2008/11/06/memory-for-the-slaves/
http://www.ced.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Zanzibar-article-Nov13.pdf
http://www.trover.com/d/xhIp-anglican-cathedral-zanzibar-tanzania
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g293752-d2459855-r265117783 Old_Slave_Market_Anglican_Cathedral_Stonetown-Zanzibar_Archipelago.html#
1 comment
this history should be in the public school