Part III: Zanzibar and Post-Abolition Slave Trade

The horrors did not stop for the African victims of slavery with abolition in 1873.  This should hardly be surprising to me given my country’s history.  How long did former slave owners continue to treat former slaves like property in the antebellum south?  Abuse, segregation, hate crimes, racism.  The scars of slavery still flare up for the descendants of African slaves, as well as more recent immigrants to the US. 

But at least in the US, slave trade ended once and for all with the end of the Civil War.  Not so in Zanzibar.  As I mentioned in the previous installment, the majority of the profit of the Slave Market went into the coffers of the Sultan of Zanzibar.  In 1873, it was the Sultan himself who proclaimed an end to slave trade and closed the market, but it appears that losing all of that income was not really what he wanted, so he did what all capitalists ultimately do- he found a way to keep making money, morals, ethics, and laws be damned!  The slave trade went underground.

Literally.

Sometime in the early 19^th century, a slave boy discovered a cave when he was looking for a lost goat.  The cave, made entirely of coral, has only one opening.  After descending into the cave, it extends about 1km in one direction toward the sea, and about 3km in the other direction, farther in land.  Following abolition, it became an ideal hiding place for slaves.

I got to explore the cave a little bit.  In the US, such a cave would have had a clearly marked path and guide ropes and dim lighting.  Here, we have the flickering light of the guides’ torches and our own hands to steady us as we scramble over the jagged coral, deeper and deeper into the cave.  I used my camera flash to illuminate sections of the cave, and each time I did so, bats would swoop in and out of sight.  When we stood in complete darkness, I could still hear them wheeling and diving in the cave.  We probably didn’t go more than ½ a kilometer inland, but the guides told us that the size of the cave tapers down until you have to “move like a python” in order to get any further.  The only fresh water comes from a spring near the entrance, and the only food was lowered through the cave entrance.  Once they were trapped in the cave, the slaves were completely at the mercy of the traders. 

Less than 2km away, there is another site that was crucial to the slaving black market.  Two spaces were carved into the coral, creating subterranean rooms to hold the slaves.  From land, all you can see of the cells are their pitched wooden roofs.  From what I understand, slaves would be held in these cells until the tide and timing would allow dhows (sail boats) to pull into the secluded bay nearby, at which point the slaves would be loaded on under cover of darkness and sent to Oman.  Looking at the bay now, it is almost unbelievable to think it was used for such a cruel practice.  It is perfectly tucked away, surrounded by lush green trees, lined with white sand, the grey coral visible just beneath the cerulean water, completely hidden from the entire world.  My personal instinct would be to have a picnic there, not sell human beings into lives of pain and suffering. 

It took until well into the 20^th century for the slave trade to be eradicated once and for all.  It has been almost 100 years since Zanzibar has been involved in the sale of human souls.  Though the scars will never fade, they can do nothing to diminish the beauty of the island.  But I can’t let myself believe that slavery is really a thing of the past.  I know too much about the reality of human trafficking and unjust labor conditions to think that every human being on earth is truly free.  I hope that someday, all we have left are the scars, eternal reminders that all life is precious.