During the Almoravid dynasty (1040–1147) the trade route exported weapons and textiles from Spain in the north to Senegal south of the Sahara, in exchange for gold, ivory, salt and slaves from the non-Islamic areas south of Senegal to Morocco, al-Andalus in Spain and the Mediterranean world.
[3] As a spoil of war after defeating the Songhai Empire, sultan Isma‘il ibn Sharif of Morocco was sent thousands of Sub-Saharan slaves from Timbuktu every year, which he then added to his massive army of black-African slaves and Haratin slave-soldiers named the Black Guard (or Abid al-Bukhari).
They converted to Islam under the Arabs and Berbers[4] and were forcibly recruited into the Moroccan army by Ismail Ibn Sharif (Sultan of Morocco from 1672 to 1727) to consolidate power.
[6] Most concubines in Morocco were black, as they were more easily acquired in the local markets due to continuous yearly supply from the trans-Saharan slave trade.
[8] The majority of slaves traded across the Mediterranean region were predominantly of African and European origin from the 7th to 15th centuries.
[9] In the 15th century, Ethiopians sold slaves from western borderland areas (usually just outside the realm of the Emperor of Ethiopia) or Ennarea.
[12] Capturing merchant ships and enslaving or ransoming their crews provided the rulers of these nations with wealth and naval power.
According to Robert Davis, between 1 and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves between the 16th and 19th centuries.
[15] The sex slave-concubines of rich urban men who had given birth to the son of their enslaver were counted as the most privileged, since they became an Umm al-walad and became free upon the death of their enslaver; the concubine of a Beduoin mainly lived the same life as the rest of the tribal members and the women of the family.
According to the writings of the French diplomat Dominique Busnot, Sultan Moulay Ismail had at least 500 concubines and even more children.
Around 1702, Al-Darah tragically died strangled by Moulay Ismail whom Lalla Aisha had made believe she had betrayed him.
Mode of acquisition, as well as age when acquired heavily influenced slave value, as well as fostering trusting master-slave relationships.
Many times, slaves acquired as adolescents or even young adults became trusted aides and confidants of their masters.
[24] They were called the "Slaves of Bukhari" because Sultan Isma‘il emphasized the importance of the teachings of the famous imam Muhammad al-Bukhari, going so far as to give the leaders of the army copies of his book.
[25] This military corps, which was loyal only to the sultan, was one of the pillars of Isma'il's power as he sought to establish a more stable and more absolute authority over Morocco.
The Trans-Saharan slave trade with Africans were ended by the French Colonial authorities in 1923, but the slavery as such persisted long into the 20th century.
On 31 January 1884, the representative of the Moroccan monarch, Muhammed Bargash, answered the British representative Sir J. Drummond Hay that it was impossible to abolish slavery since it would be contrary to Islamic law; but that the slaves where mainly used for light domestic work to serve Muslim women, who because of sex segregation were subjected to harem seclusion and could not leave their homes, and that the slaves were content and well treated, and would not want to be free themselwes: In 1884, the British and the French governments banned their own citizens and employees in Morocco to own slaves.
[14] By 1952 the majority of the existing slaves in Morocco were reportedly kidnapped as children, and when this was said to be against Islamic law, the speed of the manumissions increased.
[15] When Morocco won its independence in 1956, slavery was said to be essentially confined to the Household slaves of the Royal Harem.
[35][36] The slave descentants, the Haratin have been, and still commonly are socially isolated in some Maghrebi countries, living in segregated, Haratin-only ghettos.