Why did the slave trade, from and within East and West Africa, continue into the second half of the nineteenth century?

The key word here is ‘Why’ and answers will need to cover the reasons for the continuation of the slave trade from and within both regions to earn a mark in one or other of the three top mark bands. Use Marking Band Descriptions to distinguish between the three top bands. Omission of one of the two regions will effectively halve the possible marks. Lack of a reasonable balance between the two will significantly lower the possible total mark. Some of the reasons apply equally to both regions (e.g. the difficulty of mounting an effective naval blockade to stop the export of slaves; or the need for cheap slave labour to cultivate plantation crops like palm trees in Dahomey and the states of the Niger Delta; or cloves in Pemba and Zanzibar; or the fact that it was easier for Europeans than for Africans to adjust to abolition of trade in slaves). Most important of all the reasons was the fact that, so long as a demand for slave labour existed both the slave trade and the institution of slavery would continue. Other reasons applied much more to one region than the other (e.g. Islam’s greater tolerance of slavery and the slave trade applied much more in East Africa where non-Muslim Africans were enslaved to work on
clove plantations in Zanzibar and Pemba; or for transport to Muslim lands around the Indian Ocean and the Pacific).

Related posts:

Examine the reasons for the persistence of Slave Trade into the last half of the nineteenth century in West Africa Trans Atlantic Slave Trade: Watch BBC Africa Documentary Reasons for the abolition of slave trade Reasons for the Atlantic slave trade