The Abolition of Slavery in Ottoman Tunisia

“Montana’s book will be crucial to all who wish to understand the decision to ban slavery in Tunisia in 1846. Its broad scope ranges from the machinations of France, Britain, and the Ottomans in North Africa to the trans-Saharan and Mediterranean trades and the internal struggles over slavery in Tunisia, citing travelers’ accounts, statistics, consular records, Muslim court decisions, and the situations of individual slaves to provide a nuanced account of a key step in the global abolition process.”—George Michael La Rue, Clarion University “A fascinating topic that has the potential to draw in readers interested not only in Tunisia, but also in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and international law.”—Allan Christelow, author of __Algerians without Borders: The Making of a Global Frontier Society__ Tunisia is known for being the first Muslim country to abolish slavery during the modern period. Although Ahmed Bey, the country’s ruler in the mid-nineteenth century, was morally opposed to slavery, he did not have the broad support of the citizenry to enact reforms. Even religious leaders were against change, pointing to Islamic law’s precedent for slave ownership. Yet Bey realized that increased European intervention throughout North Africa threatened Tunisian independence and thus embraced abolition as a progressive reform measure to safeguard its integrity and sovereignty. In this groundbreaking work, Ismael Montana fully explicates the complexity of Tunisian society and culture and reveals how abolition was able to occur in an environment hostile to such change. He reveals how European capitalism, political pressure, and evolving social dynamics throughout the western Mediterranean region helped shape this seismic abolition process. The result is a study that reassesses the impact of the broader transformations of the late eighteenth century on black slavery throughout North Africa and the Mediterranean lands of Islam. This book provides a case study of slavery and its abolition in Ottoman Tunisia, one of the smallest countries in North Africa and the first to abolish the longstanding institution of slavery in the Muslim world during the modern period. The book combines a range of Tunisian and European archival data, travellers' accounts, and Arabic legal documents and source materials, directing much-needed attention not only to the Tunisian elements within slavery and abolition discourses, but also to those in west and central Sudan and Europe, especially in the Mediterranean basin. It argues that the major force driving abolition was Tunisian rulers' pragmatic response to increased European economic and political intervention in North Africa—first with the 1816 prohibition against enslaving Christians for ransom and especially after the French occupation of Algeria in the 1830s. The urgency of safeguarding the independence of Tunisia, more than efforts at selective “modernization” or “reform,” triggered the move toward abolition and the emancipation of the enslaved black population, which was achieved in 1846. By assessing how European capitalism along with political pressure and dynamics in the western Mediterranean shaped the abolition of the trans-Saharan slave trade and slavery in Tunisia, this book attempts to bridge the historiographical gap that treats the Atlantic and Saharan slave trades as separate entities. It offers wider regional perspectives and shows how the Tunisian model of abolition is useful for viewing slavery in the Islamic context during the modern period The First Full Examination Of The Factors For And Against Abolition In Tunisia And How It Was Able To Occur In An Environment Hostile To Such Change. Introduction -- The Slave Trade From The Ottoman Period -- Reforms And Foreign Trade, 1759-1814 -- Changing Patterns Of The Slave Trade, 1759-1814 -- The Slave Trade During European Domination Of The Mediterranean, 1815-1841 -- The Road To Abolition -- Final Abolition, 1846 -- The Aftermath Of Abolition, 1846-1855 -- Epilogue. Ismael M. Montana ; Foreword By Ehud R. Toledano. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [183]-196) And Index. This book is an examination of the factors for and against abolition in Tunisia and how it was able to occur in an. environment hostile to such change