ABSTRACT
While the slave trade formally ended in the middle of the nineteenth century, the practice of slavery continued and flourished illegally. This was especially the case in the princely states or protected states in Western India that enjoyed autonomous status. This chapter narrates the plight of the freed slaves who had few opportunities for education or employment. They were destined to lead wretched lives of poverty and illiteracy. The British Indian Government proved ineffective and in some cases unwilling to put an end to the domestic holding of slaves. The chapter also provides a discussion of the ‘Bombay Africans’ who comprised of the freed slaves who were repatriated to East Africa and their invaluable contributions to the numerous expeditions of nineteenth-century explorers and adventurers who carried out the exploration of the African continent. It also highlights the role played by the Africans in the spread of Christianity and the success of the missions in their work of proselytisation.
