Last Emperor,
Wengi hapa jamvini mnaandika kwa hisia na dhana kuliko utafiti.
Hii ndiyo tofauti kati yetu:
Hebu tuwasome wajuzi wa historia ya utumwa:
Kaandika R.Coupland:
When hammerton hoisted the British flag at Zanzibar in 1841 he found that the number of British Indians resident in the island or at the coast-towns within the Said`s dominion in East Africa was already high; he put in 1844 at about five hundred Hindu banyans and between six and seven hundred Moslems. And he soon discovered that most of the comercial business of East Africa was in their hands. ‘The bulk of trade in slaves, ivory and copal’, he wrote in 1841, is carried on by the natives of India: the Arabs do little or nothing in it. And in 1844: ‘As long as they (Arabs) can procure slaves at a cheap rate to cultivate their cloves, from which they derive great profit, little is to be expected from them [1].
Maana, “Wakati Hammerton alipopandisha bendera ya Uingereza Zanzibar mwaka 1841, alikuta jumla ya Wahindi Waingereza kisiwani au katika miji ya mwambao ndani ya utawala wa Said katika Afrika ya Mashariki ilikuwa teyari juu; aliweka idadi yake mwaka 1844 kuwa karibu ya Mabaniyani 500 (mia tano) na Wahindi Waisilamu baina ya mia sita namia saba. Halafu mapema akagundua biashara karibu zote za Afrika Mashariki zilikuwa katika mikono yao (Wahindi). Sehemu kubwa ya biashara ya utumwa, pembe za ndovu, na sanadarusi”. Aliandika mwaka 1841, (biashara hizo) zinafanywa na wenyeji wa India, Waarabu wanafanya kidogo au hawafanyi kabisa katika hivyo. Na mwaka 1844 (akaandika), “Ali mradi Waarabu wanaweza kununua watumwa kwa bei rahisi wa kulima mashamba yao ya karafuu, ambayo wanapata faida kubwa, ni kidogo unaweza kutegemea kutoka kwao” Mwisho wa kunukuu, yaani Waarabu walikuwa hawakujishughulisha na biashara ya utumwa ya kukamata, kusafirisha, kuwa madalali wao walichofanya ni kununua watumwa walioletewa kwa matumizi yao tu ya mashamba”.
Kaandika Edward A. Alpers:
“The first half of the nineteenth century in East Africa was marked by the continued rapid growth of the slave trade. All along the coast the demand for slaves steadily mounted, as Arabs, Brazialians, French, Spanish slaversfrom Cuba, and Americans discovered East Africa in the wake of the British anti-slave trade campaign in West Africa”[2]
Tafsiri, “Katika nusu ya karne ya kumi na tisa Afrika Mashariki ilitambulika kwa kuongezeka kwa haraka kwa biashara ya utumwa. Katika mwambao wote wa baharí mahitajio ya utumwa yaliongezeka, kwa kuwa Waarabu, Wabrazil, Wafaransa, Wafanya biashara wa utumwa wa Kispaniola kutoka Cuba, na Wamerekani walipoigundua Afrika ya Mashariki wakati wa kuanzishwa harakati za Kiingereza za kuzuia utumwa katika Afrika ya Magharibi”.
Lililo dhahiri ni kuwa biashara ya utumwa ile iliyofanyika Afrika mashariki inayoitwa ‘Biashara ya Utumwa ya Mwarabu’ au “Biashara ya Utumwa wa Mwisilamu” haijapatapo hata wakati mmoja kuonekana kuwa ya Mwarabu au kufanywa na peke yake Mwarabu, na yale yote yanazungumzwa na kusambazwa ni uzushi uliopandikizwa.
[1] East Africa and its Invaders uk. wa 484, pia unaweza kuikuta ripoti hii Bombay katika hifadhi ya nyaraka za serikali nambari 22 ya 1844.
[2] Ivory and Slaves uk. 209.
