Oceanic History and Human Migration Book Review and Comparative Analysis - Essay Example

The Africans were captured and sent to new places where they had to radically undergo adaptive transformations in order to survive. They were much affected by the cultural differences that they were suddenly forced to endure. They had to form new bonds of friendship, eat new food, and learn new languages relating to the new places they had occupied (Alpers 31). The slave trade across the Indian Ocean was facilitated by the East African coast that presented a good gateway to the rest of the world.

The chapter presents very first-hand experiences by slaves who had to endure the terrible ordeal (Alpers 22). Indeed, it can be seen that the whole exodus from the East African interiors toward the coast was not always easy. It was a journey characterized by deaths arising from beatings, wild animal attacks and other dangers in the wilderness (Alpers 28). It was always a common belief amongst the captured slaves that they were headed to Zanzibar where the whites would eat them. Zanzibar is therefore depicted as a terrifying place that instantly spelled death to anybody headed there.

The author attempts to highlight the efforts of the British anti-slave trade campaigners who were constantly in the dire attempt to convince the Arabs on the negatives of that practice and how it undermined human dignity and brought untold suffering to millions of people across the East African region. Sir Bartle Frere was amongst the anti-slave trade campaigners who lead a delegation to Zanzibar in the 1870s. The living condition in the dhows, which transported the slaves, is totally depicted as pathetic.

Most slaves died before even reaching Madagascar. An account is given when a British ship once seized an Arab dhow carrying slaves and it was realized that the condition in the vessel was inhuman and pathetic. Most of the slaves were suffering from dysentery and starvation. In any case, it appears that the efforts of the anti-slavery crusaders were met with outright antipathy from the slave merchants. The slave traders were normally very elusive in the Indian Ocean and were always wary of their distracters.

The chapter provides a clear narration on how the slaves were usually captured from their homes. Sure enough, the whole process was always very inhuman. People were captured in large numbers without mercy and those who proved uncooperative were always shot dead. The slave trade transcended the whole of the present Eastern African region and the exit points to the sea were always the East African coast or the Red Sea. While chapter one presents a chilling account of the whole slave trade process as it occurred from the interior of Eastern Africa, chapter four is a lucid illustration of the terrible voyage across the Indian Ocean.

The Afro-Arab traders were able to enhance this trade courtesy of their control of the sea routes from as early as the ninth century. The trade became more intensive with the building of bigger ships that enabled the transportation of more slaves (Penn 34). The journey across the sea is depicted as very terrible and dehumanizing. Sick slaves were normally thrown into the sea. In most cases, the slaves opted to jump into the waters and face the sharks other that stay in the ships and face the dire conditions (Penn 52).

This groundbreaking chapter illustrates a much global outlook into the whole picture in a manner that clearly