The African Slave Trade
Portuguese traders likewise ousted Arab merchants as the prime purveyors of African slaves. Coerced labor — through slavery, serfdom, or indentured servitude was the norm inmost premodern societies, and in Africa slavery was widespread. Some Africans were held in bondage as security for debts others were sold into servitude by their kin in exchange for food in times of famine many others were war captives. Slaves were a key commodity of exchange, sold as agricultural laborers, concubines, or military recruits. Sometimes their descendants were freed, but others endured hereditary bondage. Sonni Ali (r. 1464–1492),
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