# Are there descendents of African slaves in Arab countries? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-descendents-of-african-slaves-in-arab-countries/444310 "2008-04-07T14:45:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-descendents-of-african-slaves-in-arab-countries/444310/1 "2008-04-07T14:45:22Z")
I’ve been reading up on the slave trade, and it seems thoughout history there has been an active slave trade of Africans to the near East. Are their descendents visible in the populations of these countries like they are in America? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-descendents-of-african-slaves-in-arab-countries/444310/2 "2008-04-07T14:52:29Z")
[A Legacy Hidden in Plain Sight](http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A6645-2004Jan10¬Found=true) Article about African-descended Iraqis. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-descendents-of-african-slaves-in-arab-countries/444310/3 "2008-04-08T14:54:49Z")
Thanks! Anyone got any more info? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-descendents-of-african-slaves-in-arab-countries/444310/4 "2008-04-08T15:35:39Z")
I read a review of a book about this topic in The Guardian Book Review a few years ago. I’m trying to remember some details of it and search but I’m getting nothing. Try searching “African diaspora” and terms like that, you might find more of what you’re looking for. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-descendents-of-african-slaves-in-arab-countries/444310/5 "2008-04-08T15:47:41Z")
One problem you are going to have is that there has been intercourse (in all it’s different meanings 🙂 ) between Africa and the Middle East for thousands of years. Whether someone in an Arab country who has African ancestors is the descendant of slaves or just a descendant of Africans is probably going to be difficult to know. We don’t have that problem, much, in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-descendents-of-african-slaves-in-arab-countries/444310/6 "2008-04-08T15:58:44Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] I read a review of a book about this topic in The Guardian Book Review a few years ago. I’m trying to remember some details of it and search but I’m getting nothing. Try searching “African diaspora” and terms like that, you might find more of what you’re looking for. [/QUOTE] Was it Islam’s Black Slaves: _The Other Black Diaspora_ by Ronald Segal ( 2001, Farrar, Straus and Giroux )? It’s interesting as an introduction to the topic, but it’s a popular book (m i.e. not an academic one - he’s not a historian ) and has been criticized for a certain tone of apologia and it has an odd detour into the American NOI at the end. His argument is that the black slaves were largely assimilated ( female concubines ) or else were short-lived ( soldiers and eunuchs ) in most Arab countries. I’m not entirely sure I’d recommend it ( I remember having a fewe issues with it, way back when ), though it does have a bibliography that might be useful. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-descendents-of-african-slaves-in-arab-countries/444310/7 "2008-04-08T17:42:32Z")
Wouldn’t many American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan fit your description? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-descendents-of-african-slaves-in-arab-countries/444310/8 "2008-04-08T23:56:05Z")
[QUOTE=Tamerlane] Was it Islam’s Black Slaves: _The Other Black Diaspora_ by Ronald Segal ( 2001, Farrar, Straus and Giroux )? It’s interesting as an introduction to the topic, but it’s a popular book (m i.e. not an academic one - he’s not a historian ) and has been criticized for a certain tone of apologia and it has an odd detour into the American NOI at the end. His argument is that the black slaves were largely assimilated ( female concubines ) or else were short-lived ( soldiers and eunuchs ) in most Arab countries. I’m not entirely sure I’d recommend it ( I remember having a fewe issues with it, way back when ), though it does have a bibliography that might be useful. [/QUOTE] That sounds about right. Was there a section about them bringing 10 young men for every eunuch they needed because 9 out of 10 of them didn’t survive the procedure? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-descendents-of-african-slaves-in-arab-countries/444310/9 "2008-04-09T00:19:29Z")
Well, there are African slaves in Sudan [_right now_](http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=sudan+slave+trade&btnG=Google+Search&meta=). ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-descendents-of-african-slaves-in-arab-countries/444310/10 "2008-04-09T09:36:13Z")
We have a Sudanese teacher here who swears he is an Arab. He is Black. There are more than a few Black Saudis too. (Some Asian Saudis.) But who is descended from slaves is not known to me. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-descendents-of-african-slaves-in-arab-countries/444310/11 "2008-04-09T17:14:16Z")
Getting a bit off-topic, but what does “arab” ethnicity even mean? Does it just mean growing up speaking arabic as your native language? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-descendents-of-african-slaves-in-arab-countries/444310/12 "2008-04-09T17:41:33Z")
Supposedly it is is a race. Lebanese are Arabs but aren’t (always) Muslims. Iranians are Muslims, but not Arabs. Kurds speak Arabic, as well as Kurdish, but are not Arabs. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-descendents-of-african-slaves-in-arab-countries/444310/13 "2008-04-09T17:43:17Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] Was there a section about them bringing 10 young men for every eunuch they needed because 9 out of 10 of them didn’t survive the procedure? ☹ [/QUOTE] I can’t find that exact number, but he does mention that the cost was seven times that of a regular slave, in part due to the high mortality rate. In addition he cites a western source that claimed that every live eunuch equaled 200 dead Sudanese, but this was an anti-slavery rant in 1910, so should be taken with a grain of salt. But given pre-modern notions of antisepsis, I wouldn’t doubt that the death rate was appallingly high, whatever it was. [QUOTE=Lemur866] Getting a bit off-topic, but what does “arab” ethnicity even mean? Does it just mean growing up speaking arabic as your native language? [/QUOTE] Pretty much, yes. Though sometimes historical attachement enters the picture as well. For example most Arabs in Afghanistan ( excluding the the recent mujahideen ) no longer speak Arabic.