Introduction to slavery in
South Africa
By: Krista du Plooy and Litaletu
Magwadi and Kerry Gough
References:
Dyer, C, 2005,LOOKING into the PAST
source based history for Grade 10 chapter 5
& 7, Maskew Miller Longman, Cape town
• Slavery excited in many and most ancient
civilizations, e.g. Africa before there was any contact
with Europe but it was different to that of when
European colonists came to South Africa and began
slave trade. Slaves were taken from there homes
and forced to work in the society and never became
apart of that society. They were not seen as humanbeings but as things or possessions. They were
owned by the people who bought them and had to
do what that person told them to do but they were
never paid for it.
Slavery started when there was a lack of
agricultural workers and to increase
labour, the colonists used slaves to work
in domestic cleaning or on farms to
produce more crops and harvests and
work in mines to find raw materials, which
were usually sent off to Europe, the
colonists countries to be manufactured
and then used to trade with in South Africa
and with other countries.
• Slaves were captured from all different
countries e.g. from the West and East Indies
and brought to South Africa to work in the
Cape Colony on agricultural farms or homes.
• Slaves were captured in their own country,
South Africa in raids or being defeated and had
to work for the colonists. Chief and Kings in
South Africa sold some of there own people
but also captured enemies and sold the
enemies to the colonists, who then used them
as slaves.
• When there were raids children were
captured, raised and trained to work as
laborers on farms until they were 25.
• If a slave had a baby, the baby
immediately became a slave as well.
Some colonists also slept with the slave
women and the baby did not become part
of the colonist’s family but became a
slave.
• After slavery was considered bad, slaves
were named as servants and this meant
that the colonists still had control over
them.
•
• When Britain passed Ordinance 50, the
slaves were given more freedom and
opportunity to choose who to work for. As
the colonists lost control over the slaves,
legal contracts were brought out and
workers (slaves) had to carry passes.
• Xhosa worked on farms in return for
payments in food e.g. livestock and young
men looked for work as they needed to
pay lobola (bride-price) in order to get
married.
SLAVERY IN SOUTH
AFRICA
By: Mihlali Ngqunge & Xatyiswa
Mbalana
References: Knowledge4afric.com
Ask.com
First slaves
• The first slave to
arrived in 1653 was
Abraham van Batavia.
Why most slaves came from
Madagascar, East Africa and
Malaysia
• The Dutch East India Company forbade
the use of Christians as slaves
• This is also the reason that many slave
masters encouraged conversion to Islam
rather than Christianity
Treatment of Slaves
“There treatment of slaves was
horrific. Slaves were forcibly
separated from their families and
tribes, hard labour affected the
slaves immensely, causing a
person to be harmed physically
and psychologically”
Legal status
• In the Cape, unlike in America, slaves did
have recourse to legal action (at least in
theory). He/she had a right to speak in
court out if the slave-master brutalized
him/her.
Some extra information
• Although some slaves were given easy
household work and some married their
masters, most had a horrific life.
• Interestingly much of the wine industry
was begun by emancipated slaves
• Slaves also helped to build The Castle
now a famous landmark in Cape Town
• 1693 - Slaves at the Cape outnumber free
people for the first time.
• 1808 – External trading of slaves
abolished (ie no more slaves could be
brought into the country)
• 1834 – slavery abolished
• Reference : www.ask.com