Slavery, the End of Slavery, and the Intensification of Work in the French Soudan, 1883–1912

Abstract

This article posits a strong correlation between episodes of regionally specific economic growth and the intensification of work to meet increased demand. The arrival of the French conquest armies in Bamako in 1883 stimulated the market for grain to feed the soldiers and the crowd of those supporting them. The market for grain had long predated the arrival of the French to support the desert side trade with the pastoralists of the sahel and had stimulated a slave-based plantation sector among the Maraka. In the absence of new technologies and new cultigens to increase productivity of agriculture, only by increasing the size of the labor force and by intensifying work could the Maraka supply grain to meet the new demand. Intensifying work led to the slaves’ exodus of 1905. Responding to the exodus of slaves, the Maraka slave owners intensified the work required of their wives and children resulting in incidence of running away and requests for divorce. With the end of slavery, former Maraka slave masters trafficked in women and children to augment the pool of coercible labor under their control.