Of immense importance to the history of slavery and its suppression in Zanzibar, East Africa, Oman, and the Gulf

[Slave Trade]. [Zanzibar and the Slave Trade: correspondence and reports, 1885-1893].

Auf Anfrage

A collection of rare British parliamentary papers and correspondence with local agents and officers on the slave trade, of immense importance to the history of slavery and its suppression in Zanzibar, East Africa, Oman, and the Gulf.

Comprises detailed information from men on the spot; one document titled "Reports on Slave Trade on the East Coast of Africa 1887-88" echoing great confidence in the daunting effect of British presence upon slave traders in the Gulf: "I agree [...] that the strict blockade which has been established on the Arabian coast during the past two seasons has to a great extent stopped the transport of cargoes of slaves in large numbers from Africa to the Arabian coast and Persian Gulf". Yet, a couple of years later in 1891 "Papers relating to the Trade in Slaves from East Africa" state that "in the Persian Gulf we have reports of a recrudescence of the Slave Trade from the Bahrieh coast up the gulf [...] The politicial officers in the Persian Gulf may be trusted to take such measures as are in their power to check this trade, but I propose to instruct the 'Sphinx' to do all that she can in patrolling the coast". In fact, a report from the "Sphinx" from the same year mentions the Agent at Sharjah delivering a group of slaves to Bandar Lengeh, who reportedly "came from Zanzibar in a vessel with about twenty others, landed at or near Muscat, and were driven overland, until the Government Agent at Sharjah captured them". Yet, in May 1891 the British remain confident that "the Trade is on its last legs, and the carrying into effect of the Brussels Act [...] will soon stamp out what remains".

Covering an immense range of geography and politics the present material describes the circumstances leading to the blockade of dhows by the German and British authorities along with the French accepting their ships be searched to cut off the opportunity for slave traders to disguise themselves as French ships, next to extensive communications charting the capture of dhows suspected of slave trading in Zanzibar and Madagascar, half-yearly updates counting the number of dhows captured or released and the total number of slaves released over the year, a treaty between Her Majesty and the King of Italy for the suppression of the African slave trade, resolutions of the Slave Trade Conference held in Brussels in 1889-90, the legal status of slavery and concubinage in Zanzibar, a couple of papers relating to the Emin Pasha Relief expedition, and substantial material bringing up British, Portuguese and German interests in Africa including documents leading up to the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty of 1890, a defining document for the wider region, affecting the establishment of the German East Africa Company and establishing the grievances of the Sultanate of Witu falling under British control.