ABSTRACT
Research on the social history of the slave trade developed from efforts to quantify the export trade in slaves and assess its impact on African societies. Three topics have dominated research. The dominant role of warriors and military states in much of Africa has been linked to the export trade in slaves and the expansion of African slavery. The merchant networks that purchased, transported, and resold slaves within Africa played an equally vital role in the history of the slave trade. Finally, historians have examined the history of the slaves in transit, the mortality caused by malnutrition and disease, incidences of flight and rebellion, and the factors that led some slaves to be purchased in Africa and destined others for the export trade. Historical developments related to the slave trade have also inspired research. The regular movement of large numbers of slaves along established trade routes led to the emergence of new towns and the expansion of commerce in provisions produced to feed slaves in transit. Many of the laborers whose work sustained the trade in slaves were slaves themselves. In all these areas the history of the slave trade is inseparable from the history of slavery in Africa.
