| dc.description.abstract | In the late nineteenth century African slaves played an
important role in the major economic, social, religious, and political
developments on the Kenya coast. Procured from Zanzibar, Kilwa, and
later the Kenya interior, slaves in the l870s totaled approximately
forty-five thousand and represented one-quarter of the coastal population.
Some were purchased by Mijikenda and other small hinterland
groups, but the vast majority were owned by Swahili and Arab Muslims
on the coastline. Muslim-owned slaves were used mainly in the rural
areas, where they constituted a large agricultural force. From the
1840s they cleared extensive tracts of unoccupied land, cultivated
thousands of acres in grain, and stimulated an active export trade at
many new ports along the coast. As domestic servants, laborers, and
artisans, slaves were also employed in the homes, villages, and towns
in Muslim areas , Together with slave farmers, they formed a large,
new class of Africans rendered permanently inferior by their manual
duties and lack of Arab male ancestry. Despite their low status,
slaves emulated the free-born classes by adopting elements of Muslim
culture and as farmers spread Islam in the hinterland and enlarged
the territorial control and influence of traditionally small Muslim
communities. | en |
