Maafa

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The word Maafa (also know as the African Holocaust or Holocaust of Enslavement) is derived from a Kiswahili word meaning disaster, terrible occurrence or great tragedy. The term collectively refers to the 500 hundred years of suffering (including present times) of people of African heritage through Slavery, Imperialism, Colonialism, Oppression, Invasions and Exploitation.^[1] The Maafa can be considered an area of study within African history where both the actually history and the legacy of that history are studied as a single discourse. Thus the paradigm of emphasis is on the legacy of the African Holocaust on African people globally. For this reason Maafa is an aspect of Pan-Africanism.

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This box: view • talk • edit

1 Beyond slavery
2 European slave trade
- 2.1 Legacy of European enslavement of Africans
3 Arab slave trade
- 3.1 Legacy of Arab enslavement of Africans
4 Slavery in Africa
5 How many
6 Academic legacy of the African holocaust
7 Problems with terminology
8 Further reading
9 References
10 External links

[edit] Beyond slavery

Whipped slave, Baton Rouge, La., April 2, 1863

The Maafa (African Holocaust) when referencing the slave trade, morally distinguishes domestic slavery in Africa from the commercial ventures of the European and Arab trade in captive Africans. The Maafa also focuses on the legacy (consequences)of these foreign relationships in Africa. Not limited to demographic significance, in the aggregate population losses but also in the profound changes to settlement patterns, epidemiological exposure and reproductive and social development potential. ^[2]. And in dealing with legacy the Maafa includes the academic and social forces which categorized Africans into color labels and the policies of invalidating African historical contributions to humanity.

[edit] European slave trade

Main articles: Slavery in Christianity and Curse of Ham

Many Europeans saw Ham as the progenitor of the African race and subsequent translations were stirred to reflect the biases and prejudice of the era.^{[citation needed]} Islamic theocracy refuted this myth but this prejudice still filtered into the non-religious writings of some Arabs. ^[3] The most profound manifestation occurred in imagery, which constantly portrayed white as God, and black as the Devil.

[edit] Legacy of European enslavement of Africans

The depiction of God, and subsequently the divine ethnic social dynamic, which placed Whites as masters, Blacks as Slaves. These images single-handedly upheld a system of subjugation and oppression: Christianity became the context for the cultural prevalence of European culture, European names became Christian names and those who adopted or were forced into Christianity automatically adopted European culture in an attempt to beome more "Christian."

[edit] Arab slave trade

The oriental slave trade is sometimes called Islamic slave trade, but religion was hardly the point of the slavery, Patrick Manning, a professor of World History, states. ^[4] Many Arabs were Christian, Jewish and also indigenous Arab faiths. Also, this term suggests comparison between Islamic slave trade and Christian slave trade. Furthermore, usage of the terms "Islamic trade" or "Islamic world" implicitly and erroneously treats Africa as it were outside of Islam, or a negligible portion of the Islamic world.^[4] Dr. Kwaku Person-Lynn points out that the Arab trade was rarely a chattel trade and some argue more "humane." ^[5]. In both African Slavery and Arab enslavement of Africans, the enslaved were allowed great social ascension. In the 8th century Africa was dominated by Arab-Berbers in the north: Islam moved southwards along the Nile and along the desert trails. The Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia often exported Nilotic slaves from their western borderland provinces, or from newly conquered or reconquered Muslim provinces. Native Muslim Ethiopian sultanates (rulership) exported slaves as well, such as the sometimes independent sultanate (rulership) of Adal (a sixteenth century province-cum-rulership located in East Africa north of Northwestern Somalia).^[6] The Arab (African identifying as Arab) Tippu Tib extended his influence and made many people slaves. After Europeans had settled in the Gulf of Guinea, the trans-Saharan slave trade became less important. In Zanzibar, slavery was abolished late, in 1897, under Sultan Hamoud bin Mohammed.^[7] The rest of Africa had no direct contact with Muslim slave-traders.

The primary boom of the trade in African slaves by Arabs was during the 18th century. The Portuguese had destroyed the Swahili coast and Zanzibar emerged as the hub of wealth for the Arabian state of Muscat. By 1839, slaving became the prime Arab enterprise. The demand for slaves in Arabia, Egypt, Persia and India, but more notability by the Portuguese who occupied Mozambique created a wave of destruction on Eastern Africa. 45,000 slaves were passing through Zanzibar every year.^[8].

[edit] Legacy of Arab enslavement of Africans

Islam like Christianity became the context for the cultural prevalence of Arab culture, Arab names became Islamic names and those who adopted Islam automatically adopted Arab culture in an attempt to become "Islamic." The Afro-Arab relationship was riddled with complexities lined in a cultural nexus. Some Arabs were Arab linguistically but racially African (see definition of Arab. Thus, the Arab trade in enslaved Africans was not only conducted by Asiatic and Caucasian Arabs, but also African Arabs: Africans speaking Arabic as a first language embracing an Arab culture.^{[citation needed]} Focus on the Arab slavery is previously been low due to the fact that most descendants of enslaved people are as a result of the Transatlantic slave trade for this reason the impact of the Arab trade on people of the Americas is negligible. Another reason is the legacy of the Arab Slave Trade is far less impacting than the European trade in enslaved Africans, as there are no ghettos or prison complexes in Arabian lands overflowing with African people. The African Diaspora in Arab lands has almost disappeared through inter-marriage. The resurgence of Islamaphobia some argue has brought this aspect of history to the foreground.^[9]

[edit] Slavery in Africa

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In most African societies, there was very little difference between the free peasants and the feudal vassal peasants. Vassals of the Songhay Muslim Empire were used primarily in agriculture; they paid tribute to their masters in crop and service but they were slightly restricted in custom and convenience. These non-free people were more an occupational caste, as their bondage was relative. ^[2].

There is adequate evidence citing case after case of African control of segments of the trade. Several African nations such as the Ashanti of Ghana and the Yoruba of Nigeria had economies depended solely on the trade. African peoples such as the Imbangala of Angola and the Nyamwezi of Tanzania would serve as intermediaries or roving bands warring with other African nations to capture Africans for Europeans.Extenuating circumstances demanding exploration are the tremendous efforts European officials in Africa used to install rulers agreeable to their interests. They would actively favor one African group against another to deliberately ignite chaos and continue their slaving activities.^[5].

[edit] How many

The academic downsizing of human lost that occurred during the Transatlantic Slave trade is another feature of the legacy of African Holocaust (Maafa). The widely accepted view of the arrival of 10 million neglects to state how many left. Estimates range from 40 million to 100 million from both the Arab Slave trade and the Transatlantic trade ^[10].It has been estimated that the population of Africa in the mid 19th century would have been 50 million instead of 25 million had Slavery not taken place. ^[10] But many more died in the villages fighting their enslavers, many more died in the dungeons and many died aboard the ships. Many Africans either committed suicide or were thrown over board to lighten the ship or to make insurance claims. It is a estimated that the Portuguese trade was under estimated by 50% and the British trade by a 1/3. Then there were those who died by the indirect actions of the slavers, those left to starve, those who died of European diseases.

An often-neglected study within history is the value of population demographics as a function of time. 30 million people 500 years ago is not equivalent to 30 million people today because the percentage of the world population represented 500 years ago is far greater than what it represents today. It is estimated that by the height of the slave trade the population of Africa unlike the rest of the World had stagnated by 50% ^[10] Not only was the trade of demographic significance, in the aggregate population losses but also in the profound changes to settlement patterns, epidemiological exposure and reproductive and social development potential.^[2].

[edit] Academic legacy of the African holocaust

An aspect of the African holocaust is the anti-African sentiments expressed in scholarship. It isolates the tradition of prejudicial study of African societies, cultures, languages and peoples by Western scholars (including other African Western scholars). It by default gives an inferior voice to all aspects of African culture and history. Writer Owen 'Alik Shahadah articulates that the pattern of scholarship emerged during slavery and colonialism to remove any form of noble claim from the victims of these systems, thus reducing them and justifying their position as “natural” and a continuation of their historical “worthlessness.” The first expressions of this academic trend appeared in the claim that "Slavery was a natural feature of African, and that Africans sold each other everyday." Though its roots started to justify what was one of the largest commercial exploitation in the history of humanity the legacy did not end after enslavement or colonialism ended. ^[11].

While the denial of the Jewish Holocaust remains illegal in some European countries, and bodies such as the Anti-defamation league exist to protect the history of Jewish suffering, no such laws or institutions exist for the African Holocaust. It is subjected to all forms of deformation and denial. Most recent of these is blame reassignment and statistical downsizing of the numbers of people trafficked.

[edit] Problems with terminology

The term African Holocaust is preferred by some academics, as it implies intention as pointed out by Maulana Karenga.^[12] He stipulates that the translation of the word Maafa is slightly flawed as it can also mean accident, and the holocaust of enslavement was clearly

No accident

The term Transatlantic Slave Trade is also often erroneously used when attempting to translate the word Maafa into a European language. In these instances it is incorrectly interpreted as a 'black' or African version of the Holocaust limited to describing the enslavement of Africa whilst excluding the subsequent periods of colonization. However the Maafa uniquely refers to the subjugation, contamination and loss of indigenous African cultures, languages, spiritual beliefs and encompasses the historic and ongoing commercial exploitation of Africa’s human and natural resources through enslavement, colonization and neo-colonialism ^{[citation needed]}. In addition the category trade tends to sanitize the high level of violence and mass murder that was inflicted on African peoples and societies. It thus becomes more of a commercial dilemma than a moral one. And since trade is the primary focus, the greater tragedy can be conveniently accepted as simply collateral damage of a commercial venture gone bad.

It is generally accepted the term is used exclusively to detail the relationship between African and non-African people (consequences directly or indirectly of non-African actions on African people), and hence does not include African-African wars, enslavement, etc. For this reason the term is seen as an "ethnically biases" area of study as it excludes for the greater part African to African atrocities.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Further reading

Muslim Bahia Slave Revolts by Muhammad Shareef {limited publication}
Tarikh Ul Sudan (ancient African document) Arabic only
Kebra Negust (Glory of Kings) (Ancient Ethiopian document)
The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam (Princeton Series on the Middle East) by Eve Troutt Powell (Editor), John O. Hunwick (Editor)
Van Sertima, Ivan. ed. The Journal of African Civilization.
The Negro Writer and His Relationship to His Roots, in The American Negro Writer and His Roots: Selected Papers From the First Conference of Negro Writers.
Rodney, Walter. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press. 1974.
World's Great Men Of Color. Vols. I and II, edited by John Henrik Clarke. New York: Collier-MacMillan, 1972.
The Negro Impact on Western Civilization. New York: Philosophical Library. 1970.
Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro and the Making of the Americas.
United West Africa (or Africa) at the Bar of the Family of Nations. Ghana: Privately published. 1927.
Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience Cambridge, Ma.: Belnap Press, Harvard University. 1970.
The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam by John Hunwick
Let The Circle Be Unbroken, by Dr. Marimba Ani