The Use of Slaves in Precolonial Western Dar Fur: The Case of Dar Masalit, 1870-1905

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Periodical article

Title:	The Use of Slaves in Precolonial Western Dar Fur: The Case of Dar Masalit, 1870-1905
Author:	Kapteijns, Lidwien
Year:	1984
Periodical:	Northeast African Studies
Volume:	6
Issue:	1-2
Pages:	105-126
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Sudan
Subjects:	slaves slavery history Dar Masalit polity History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/43663307
Abstract:	A static, functional analysis of the use of slaves in Dar Masalit under the ancien regime in the second half of the nineteenth century is followed by a reconstruction of slavery as a changing institution with the rise of the state in the 1880s. During the years preceding and following the emergence of the Masalit sultanate both the slave-owning group and the slave population changed. Slaves became more important, for although their role in production remained essentially the same, in internal politics and external exchange they acquired new uses as means of power and wealth. One cannot, however, speak of a slave mode of production, since the Masalit sultanate remained largely dependent on the agricultural surplus of its subjects, extracted by more or less autonomous fief holders or district governors, as in a feudal state. - Notes.