Uongo wangu ni mdogo sana, aliyeianzisha ndie aliyeipiga marufuku. Eneo lote la Africa Mashariki lilikuwa chini ya Muingereza na Mjerumani, hivyo unataka kusema Mwarabu alikuwa anafanya biashara kwenye eneo lao then wamuachie tu?? Muarabu kazi yake ilikuwa ni kufikisha watumwa sokoni lakini soko lilikuwa linamilikiwa na Waingereza.
Mkuu Emiir, soma historia ya "Zanj Rebellion". Waarabu waliwaleta watumwa kutoka Zanzibar na sehemu nyingine za Afrika Mashariki kufanya kazi za kilimo Basra, Iraq mwaka 869 wakati wa enzi za Abbasid. Walishindwa kupata uhuru wao japo walipigana kwa miaka 15.
Kwa upande mmoja upo sahihi, waiingereza walifanya biashara ya utumwa pia pamoja na raia wa nchi nyingine, lakini kukataa kuwa Waarabu wa Zanzibar/Oman hawajafanya biashara hii si kweli, na itakuchukua dakika moja tu kupata majibu ya wanahistoria mmbalimbali wa nchi tofauti katika Google.
Karne ya nane ndio hio hio iliyowaleta waarabu kufanya biashara mbalimbali Afrika mashariki na kuleta dini ya Kiislam na ngarawa. Kilimo cha karafuu kilikuwa na faida sana na watumwa wengi walitumika Zanzibar katika kilimo hiki. Watumwa walitumika pia kama wanajeshi na wafanyakazi wa nyumbani.
Zaidi ya Zanzibar, kulikuwa na masoko ya watumwa Tanzania Bara na Somalia. Wakaweka hata "agent" wao Yemen ili biashara ipate mteja haraka.
Ndio sababu ya kuwaona Waarabu wenye asili ya Kiafrika Saudi Arabia, Yemem, Oman na nchi nyingine za Kiarabu. Waarabu waliwauza huko, si Waiingereza.
Waiingereza waliwasili Afrika Mashariki kutawala karne ya 19.
Zanzibar ilikataza biashara ya utumwa mwaka 1897 baada ya kutumika presha ya Uiingereza kwa Sultani lakini hawajatumia nguvu sana kukemea utumwa kwa kuwa ulikuwa unawapa faida sana kwa kupata nguvu ya bure ya wafanyakazi katika mashamba yao, kodi na kadhalika.
Soma hapo chini Profesa maarufu akitoa point inayoonyesha kuwa Waarabu walikuwa wa kwanza kufanya hii biashara kabla ya Uiingereza kuichukua na kuifanya Zanzibar "Protectorate" ya Uiingereza.
Fahamu kuwa, sisemi, Waarabu TU, ndio walikuwa wauza watumwa.
The East African Slave Trade
Swahili patricians, the ruling class of coastal society of mixed African-Asian origin in the ports and islands of East Africa, comprising Sultans, chiefs, government officials, ship owners and wealthy merchant houses, used non-Muslim slaves as domestic servants, sailors, coolies and workers on farms and plantations, even in the interior of modern day Tanzania around trading centers such as Tabora, Mwanza on Lake Victoria, and Ujiji and Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika.
Seyyid Said, Sultan of Oman an Zanzibar, and his relatives and associates, became so rich because of his clove plantations in Zanzibar employing slave labor that he moved his capital Muscat in Oman to Zanzibar in 1840; thus he became the first of 12 Omani Sultans of Zanzibar.
Slavery and slave trade within East Africa were well established before the Europeans arrived on the scene.
Export of slaves was mostly to the countries of the Middle East, especially in the Persian Gulf region. African slaves worked as sailors in Persia, pearl divers and laborers on
date plantations in Oman and the Gulf, soldiers in the various armies and workers on the salt pans of Mesopotamia (todays Iraq).
Many Africans were domestic slaves, working in rich households. Many young women were taken as concubines, i.e. sex slaves.
After 1729 when the Portuguese were ousted from the Swahili coast by the Omani fleet, Arab, Iranian and Indian settlement increased in East Africa and the slave trade expanded far into
the interior of East and Central Africa and became more organized.
Source:
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE IN EASTERN AFRICA.
Abdulaziz Y. Lodhi (PhD), Professor Emeritus.
Uppsala University, Sweden.
