User:Ttocserp/Slave-owning slaves: Difference between revisions

 

====Ibadan====

[[Ibadan]] (1850-1900) was a military state in [[Yorubaland]], West Africa. Starting as a war-camp it grew to become the capital of an empire, a transformation which required a very large number of slaves, which it obtained by warfare and raiding expeditions. Slaves served as soldiers, agricultural labourers and menials.{{sfn|Falola|1987|pp=96-7}}

 

The leadership promoted some slaves to privileged positions, such as ''ajele'' (governor of a colony), farm village chief, toll collector, diplomat or spy. They were preferred over free men because they were thought to be more loyal: if not, they would be instantly degraded or sold. These privileged slaves acquired slaves of their own, buying them in the market or capturing them in war, and they enjoyed enormous power over them, which they frequently abused. [[Toyin Falola]] found that they had a reputation for extravagance and cruelty, and were hated and feared by the slaves they controlled.{{sfn|Falola|1987|pp=97-100}} {{blockquote|[S]ince they were not sure of when their privileges would be withdrawn, or when they would die or fall out of favor with their masters, some believed they should have the best out of life by engaging in excessive eating and drinking and also in a reckless exercise of power.{{sfn|Falola|1987|p=99}} }}Slaves fled en masse from Ibadan in the 1890s when British colonial power intervened.