27 June 2019 - NDOLA SLAVE TREE IN ZAMBIA

NDOLA SLAVE TREE IN ZAMBIA

G'day folks,

Once a meeting point for Swahili slave traders, this ancient tree is now a monument to those killed by the slave trade. 

 

Ndola is one of the most prominent towns in Zambia’s Copperbelt province. Today, the numerous copper mines in the region provide the region’s wealth. But in the past, a darker industry spurred the settlement.

 

 

 Still standing near the center of town, the Slave Tree was the central location where Swahili slave traders met to discuss their gruesome transactions. Under its shade, Swahili traders such as Chipembere, Mwalabu, and Chiwala held councils of war and sold slaves to the Mambundu from Angola.

Much of central and southern Africa, including modern-day Zambia, was crisscrossed by slave traders transporting slaves ultimately to the Swahili coast to be sold to Arab slave traders. These traders would capture slaves themselves or buy slaves captured by warring local tribes.

Slave trading in Zambia was abolished early in the 1900s with the establishment of the British Colonial Administration. The town of Ndola itself was founded in 1904 after the discovery of copper at the Bwana Mkubwa mine at the site of the slave trading post. The Slave Tree was left standing as a monument to the lives lost to the slave trade. 

 Clancy's comment: One can only imagine what life was like for a slave. 

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