986 slaves and slavery: Egypt paved the way for the emergence of large settlements, has been attributed to the agricultural revolution that took place on the continent some 200,000 years ago Slavery in ancient Africa is akin to that in other parts of the world: It involved physical, emotional, and psychological containment By and large, the master of a slave had the power of life and death over the slave A slave, like chattel, could be sold and bought by someone who occupied a privileged position in the prevailing power configuration It is important to differentiate between slavery and other forms of servitude In Africa pawnship was a form of subordination that differed from slavery A person could be pawn as a collateral security for debt People could surrender themselves to pawnship because of the need to raise money for marriage, a funeral, or another purpose that required a lot of money A pawn was most likely a member of the community where he or she served, but a slave in most cases was brought from another community While slaves were not likely to be free throughout their lifetime and their masters could enslave their children, a pawn was automatically free after rendering the services equivalent to the debt owned A master could not exercise any form of control over the relatives of a pawn A master did not have the power of life and death over a pawn but could kill a slave at will The condition of a slave was degrading; a slave could be asked to perform any type of labor, and the most unpalatable works were reserved for slaves A Yoruba proverb from West Africa that highlights the difference between slavery and pawnship is Ohun t’o ni oun o so ni d’eru, bio ba so, ni d’ iwofa, ki a dupe, meaning, “If what threatens to make us a slave makes us a pawn, we should be thankful.” Only in rare instances did slaves manage to remove the yoke of domination and rise to important positions Royal slaves in some communities, such as the western Sudanese region of West Africa, were said to have been able to gain freedom, inherit the property of their dead masters, and emerge as prominent members of the place were they had previously served as nonentities Aside from this exceptional situation, former slaves could not remove the stigma of being formally enslaved There were many sources for slaves in ancient Africa People accused of antisocial behavior, such as murder, thievery, and witchcraft , were sold into slavery Wars, kidnapping, and raids also produced slaves as part of the booty There is limited evidence, however, to suggest that wars were fought for the sole purpose of acquiring slaves Although a trans-Saharan slave trade had already existed, the act of waging wars primarily for the purpose of enslavement came largely through the advent of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which did not begin until the second decade of the 16th century Ancient Africa was predominantly agrarian, and the use of slaves for agricultural purposes was important Slaves could also be part of tributes that a subordinate state paid to an overlord Aristocratic families had slaves, and slaves in some palaces were eunuchs (castrated men) who watched over the large harem of royal wives Others performed domestic functions associated with royalty A master had control over a slave’s sexual relations and reproduction This implies that a slave could not get married without the knowledge of his or her master Unsanctioned copulation among slaves carried a serious degree of punishment A male slave master could use his slaves as concubines, which partly explains why female slaves were more expensive or highly priced than their male counterparts The offspring produced from such a union became free upon birth, and the status of the mother improved considerably compared with others who did not have children for their masters Slaves could serve religious functions There is much evidence that slaves were killed and used as offerings during periodic sacrifices to the gods In fact, in most parts of Africa slaves of different ethnic groups were traditionally used to appease the gods and goddess There is an important connection between this aspect of the religious use of slaves and African belief in life after death The oral history of people of Africa is replete with references to how slaves were killed and buried with kings and important rulers According to one belief, dead kings entered another realm, where they lived and communed with the gods and ancestors In this realm or world they would need the services of domestic servants EGYPT BY MARIAM F AYAD In its most basic definition, slavery implies a loss of freedom, regardless of the degree or nature of this loss There is little doubt that in ancient Egypt certain groups of people enjoyed less freedom than others Egyptian slavery, however, was very different from forms of slavery experienced centuries later in Europe and North America In Egyptian there are no words for slave or slavery The word sometimes translated as “slave,” hem, was also used to indicate “servant.” Thus, the Egyptian word for “priest,” hem-netjer can be translated as either a “god’s servant” or a “god’s slave.” Inherently, the word hem did not necessarily indicate servitude It was used, for example, to refer to the king of Egypt Hem-ef, traditionally translated as “his majesty,” may also be rendered as “his incarnation” or “his body.” Meret, a collective noun, is another term that may refer to a group of people without complete freedom, in particular, agricultural workers who could be owned by individuals or temple estates Mostly found in legal and administrative documents, the term meret is closely linked with the transfer of property, especially land and cattle, from one owner to another Like other kinds of property, people who were considered meret could be passed down from father to son as part of an individual’s inheritance Meret may have referred to serfs, a special kind of conscripted workforce There were several different sources of slaves in ancient Egypt War and conquest was the principal and oldest way to acquire slaves Some information about enslaved prisoners of