Emancipation Without Abolition in German East Africa, C. 1884-1914

The German authorities, unlike other European powers in Africa, did not legally abolish slavery in their colonial territories. However, despite government efforts to keep the institution of slavery alive, it significantly declined in Tanganyika. This study highlights the crucial role played by the slaves in the process of emancipation.
The first part of the book explores the rise of slavery in Tanganyika in the second half of the nineteenth century when the region became more fully integrated into the world economy.
An analysis of German colonial policy shows that the authorities believed that abolition should be avoided at all costs since it would undermine the power and prosperity of the local slave owning elites whose effective collaboration was thought to be indispensable to the functioning of colonial rule.
In the end it was the slaves themselves who, by their own initiative, brought the 'evil institution' to an end. Sometimes there was wholesale flight but often de facto emancipation was achieved by more subtle changes in servile relationships.
The study is of interest to historians of East Africa, but also makes a timely contribution to the more general debate about the demise of slavery on the continent.

Jan-Georg Deutsch is Lecturer in Commonwealth History at the University of Oxford.