Globalization and Slavery in Arabia in the Age of Empire

March 7, 2018 Enslaved Africans and their descendants contributed in vital ways to the economy and culture of eastern Arabia. Global economic forces, especially international demand for Gulf pearls and dates, drove demand in the Gulf for slave labor from Africa. The reversal of those trends in the 1930s spelled economic collapse for the Gulf and an eventual end to the slave trade. This talk traces the origins of the African diaspora in eastern Arabia, explores the lives and labors of enslaved Africans in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and discusses the significance of the African legacy in the Gulf today. Speakers Matthew S. Hopper, Professor of History, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo