SLAVERY IN SOKOTO CITY,
SLAVERY IN SOKOTO CITY,
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Date
1988-08
Authors
JUMARE, IBRAHIM MUHAMMAD
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Abstract
ABSTRACT.
Many references have been made to slavery in 'Sokoto
City' by scholars who have written on the political,
social, economic, military and intellectual history of
the Sokoto Caliphate. These references, which are scattered
in their nature, suggest that slavery was important to
the society, economy and political life of the centre of
the Caliphate during the nineteenth century and even after.
But apart from these scattered references, which mostly
focused at Caliphate level, no specific work or research
has been done to show the ways and the extent to which
slavery was important to the society, economy, and political
life of Sokoto City itself as the centre of the Caliphate
during the period in question. This only implies that
the role of slavery in the centre of the Caliphate (Sokoto
City), which was a slave-receiving centre, has not been
given enough attention. Therefore, this study hopes to
give more light on the role played by slavery towards the
socio-economic transformations of the centre of the
Caliphate during the nineteenth century and also hopes
to provide stimulation of the study of social history at
micro levels in the other parts of the Caliphate so that
the imbalance existing in the historiography of the Caliphate
could be redressed.
And again, a lot of changes have occured within the
institution of slavery itself in Sokoto City, yet such
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changes have hitherto not been explained in the studies
so far done on Sokoto City. So it is therefore in view
of this that this study seeks to demonstrate why and how
such changes occured over time within the institution of
slavery in Sokoto City. Hence one of the important contributions
of this study in the field of social history is
the discussion on the phenomenon of concubinage which has
undergone many changes in its persistence in Sokoto but
yet it has almost been totally neglected by the historians
of the Sokoto Caliphate.
The first chapter of the study provides the antecedents
of the historical background and evolution of Sokoto City,
definition of some useful concepts such as slavery, servitude,
subordinate and slave-owning mode of
production as well as brief explanation on the views of
Islam as it relates to the role of state in the practice
of slavery as an institution in Sokoto with a view to
providing a conceptual framework for the study. The second
chapter discusses the various sources of procurement of
slaves and position accorded to the slaves at the bottom
of the social structure of Sokoto City society. The chapter
has also examined the roles played by slaves in the various
units of the jihad army such as light and heavy cavalry,
infantry and in the musketeer corps. The last section
of the chapter deals with the roles played by slaves in
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the various sectors of Sokoto economy like commerce, craft
production and manufacturing.
Chapter three traces the historical background of
the establishment of slave agricultural settlements in
Sokoto area to the pre-jihad period and argued that the
concept of 'plantation' is not applicable to these settlements
because of its historicity and racial connotations.
In the chapter, we have also focused attention on the
foundations, management, organisation of labour and
significance of the sarauta slave agricultural settlements
in view of their dominance. The fourth chapter which
discusses the phenomenon of concubinage is broadly divided
into three sections - nineteenth century concubinage,
twentieth century concubinage, and the impacts of the
practice on Sokoto society. The changes and persistence
of the phenomenon were also examined in the chapter. The
chapter has also discussed the social and political
significance of the practice of concubinage.
The last chapter discusses the various processes of
de-enslavement of domestic slavery and the shortcomings
of the processes under the Caliphate authority and British
colonial rule in Sokoto City. Through re-interpretation
and analysis of colonial sources, it is shown in the chapter
that right from April 1901 when the first British proclamation
on slavery was made, several other laws on the status
of slaves were passed. But most of the laws, as agrued
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in the chapter, were more or less a formalisation of the
Caliphate system of de-enslavement and were only pre-supposed
to be effective on the future generations of domestic slaves.
The chapter has also focused attention on the real factors
responsible for both the decline and partial disappearance
of slavery, showing the roles played by Emirs, Alkali Courts,
and colonial administrators. The chapter concludes by
examining the processes of emancipation of slaves and the
consequences of the complete abolishing of slavery in Sokoto.
Description
Department of History
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Keywords
SLAVERY,, SOKOTO,, CITY.