The Zanj Rebellion: Lockdown Lecture 16 September

In this second lecture on Slave Revolts we turn to the issue of the Africans taken into slavery by the Arabs. Slavery began before Islam and continues in The Middle East today, despite national and international legislation banning it.

Little studied in The West we shall use as our central pivot The Zanj Rebellion of the 9th century CE/AD. This will open up the wider question of the largest slave trade, before the transatlantic one in which again Arabs participated, enabling Europeans to transport countless number of Africans this time to the Americas.

We shall also mention what has been officially described as 'modern slavery', not only in The Middle East but wider across the world.

There are few sources on the Zanj Rebellion in English and the 'best' is almost impossible to read given the quality of the translation, so sorry you will just have to listen hard!