ABSTRACT
Ex-slaves and slaves in the early colonial period remained vulnerable to those in power. For the slaves who remained in Takaungu district after the Anglo-Mazrui war, the delay of abolition carried little significance. The oldest farming generation in the days of slavery had become the only ex-slaves tilling the soil. Plantation slavery was established in Lamu earlier than in other parts of the coast, and more slaves were employed there than anywhere else in East Africa, apart from Zanzibar and Pemba. Revisionists sidestep the conclusions of Zein, the only scholar to examine Lamu slavery in any depth. In the early colonial period, several ex-slaves acquired governing authority over hinterland communities made up of freeborn persons. When William Jones governed Rabai, many of the ex-slaves began the process of absorbing, and being absorbed by, the Miji Kenda surrounding the mission.
