Something New out of Africa: States Made Slaves, Slaves Made States

Abstract In this article I explain a nexus between slavery and state formation in Africa, proceeding from initial demographic institutional conditions to an external demand shift, individual responses, their collective systemic consequences. Historically, African rulers faced distinctive challenges: low population density prioritized control of people more than territory, internal disintegration was often greater threat conquest. A massive expansion the for slaves offered increased opportunities use resources “outside-in” building. Many did so by creating highly militarized predatory slaving states. The consequence heightened insecurity. Variation timing these developments reflected regional historical variation slaves. Slaving states appeared first West reflecting late-seventeenth-century trans-Atlantic slave trade, before spreading East Africa century later, following parallel later increase Indian Ocean trade. This path both parallels contrasts with contemporary postcolonial formation.