Africa civilization

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African Civilization
Even before the colonial era, the state of slavery was widely spread across Africa where slaves formed the majority population in many African societies. Furthermore, slave raiding and kidnapping were common even before the start of the trans-Saharan trade. The account of Mungo Park and Koelle interview helps to understand the state of slavery as a form of bondage and servitude that existed long before the start of transatlantic trade.
The two accounts of Mungo Park and the German Missionary Koelle address the African societies as nonegalitarian where there was inequality among the people. The ownership of land and resources in the society was directed to a particular group of people “rulers” who also controlled the social-political and trade issues in the community. Slaves were owned and controlled by ‘rulers,’ according to Mungo Park’s narrative describes them as the Muslim traders and rulers of West Africa (Northrup 38). Slaves were engaged as servants, concubines, field workers and even administrator who were different from the Atlantic slave trade. The two accounts address the transatlantic slave trade as insidious since the effect of the slave trade penetrated deep into the African societies.
The two accounts provide a clear contrast in the different institution of slavery through describing the relationship between slaves and their master, and their impact the trade had on the slaves. Whereby, the two accounts acknowledge the Trans-Atlantic slavery as the one with a profound side effects on the fabric of the society.

The Trans-Sahara and the Red Sea trade has a smaller scope and magnitude which were felt within the realms of the villages and neighborhoods. The different institutions of the slave trade were decentralized causing variation and instabilities in African societies.
Works Cited
Northrup, David. The Atlantic Slave Trade (2nd Ed.), Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston; New York. (2002). Print