Title: Slavery of Africans by Africans
Headings: Slavery of Africans by Africans

Content: African rulers and merchants were thus able to tap into preexisting methods and networks of enslavement to supply European demand for slaves. Enslavement was most often a byproduct of local warfare, kidnapping, or the manipulation of religious and judicial institutions. Military, political, and religious authority within West Africa determined who controlled access to the Atlantic slave trade. And some African elites, such as those in the Dahomey and Ashanti empires, took advantage of this control and used it to their profit by enslaving and selling other Africans to European traders." [ 26]
Hugh Thomas in his book on the history of Slavery, The Slave Trade, has detailed the African involvement in the production of victims for slavery. African monarchs often bought slaves from dealers, in order to sell them again to Europeans, to other Africans, or to Arabs especially. The rulers of Benin, the kings of Ashanti, Congo, and Dahomey; and the Vili rulers of Loango, sold great numbers of slaves over many generations. Jean Barbot, who was on a slave ship during the 17th century said "the slaves [whom the African monarchs] possess and sell are prisoners of war, or, if from among themselves, are condemned to slavery for some crime. But there are also those who have been kidnapped by their compatriots, these being mainly children...".