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The definition of slavery and the conditions that accompany it are relative between different societies and circumstances. ... Thus, when making comparisons, one must understand the likenesses and differences between certain groups in particular circumstances cannot be applied to slavery on a grander scale.
Slavery at the Cape Coast of South Africa and Madagascar share many similarities. ...
To understand the institution of slavery in the area of the Cape, one must be rid of all prior perceptions of what slavery as an institution is and represents. Although slavery in this area maintains some characteristics to slavery in different parts of the world, it mixes those characteristics in a way in which it resembles them all and none of them at the same time. ...
The origins of slaves at the Cape are unlike any other settlement at least in Africa and maybe the world. The distinction lies within the diversity of their origins and the fact the majority were taken from outside the continent of Africa. ...
The origins of the 63,000 slaves imported between 1652 and 1808 can be divided almost equally into four groups, Africa, Madagascar/Mascarenes, South Asia, and the Indonesian Archipelago. Of these, 26% are from South Asia and Africa, 23% from the Indonesian Archipelago and 22% from Madagascar and the Mascarenes.
The slaves from Africa can be further broken down into those from the west versus those from the east. In only a few instances in the late 1650’s the Dutch captured slaves out of West Africa from other slave ships. ... From then on, the Cape would be supplied from Eastern Africa (25%) and the surrounding areas off the Indian Ocean.
South Asia although making up about the same total percent of people sent to the area, was made up of many different factions. ...
The Indonesian Archipelago is very similar to that of South Asia. ... In comparison to other slave communities inside and especially outside of Africa, the slave treatment at the Cape was very mild. ... The small island off the east coast of Africa began enslaving one another in a lineage society early in the 17th century. ... In 1770, the distinction between the Cape and Madagascar slavery became evident. ... By around 1810, traders on Madagascar began bringing slaves in from Mozambique on the east coast of Africa. ... On Madagascar, all the ingredients were right for this type of resistance, and bands began to form in the forested interior south of the Merina. ... Since the idea of slavery is relative, the slaves’ marginality to the society they lived in is one way to compare them. ...
Compared to many other institutions, slavery on the Cape and Madagascar was much less marginal. ...
The main difference in marginality came with the change of slavery in Madagascar in the 1820’s. ...
In conclusion, I argue slavery at the Cape and Madagascar does have similarities, but are not nearly identical.
Approximate Word count = 2417
Approximate Pages = 9.7
(250 words per page double spaced)
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