Slavery existed in many African societies. Rich and powerful rulers demonstrated their status by retaining large numbers of enslaved people in their households, who performed the roles of servants, craftsmen and even political advisors.

Internal African slavery was often a form of social hierarchy, with slaves permitted to rise up the social ladder and even acquire slaves of their own. This was unlike slavery in European colonies in the Americas, where the enslaved were considered as ‘chattel’, the legal property of their ‘owners’.