The slave trade and decentralized societies

This article, based on a review of the relevant literature, argues that the analyses of Andrew Hubbell and Waiter Hawthorne can be extended to a gener al interpretation of the impact of the slave trade on decentralized societi es. First, decentralized societies usually defended themselves effectively, forcing slavers both to extend their networks further into the interior an d to devise new ways of obtaining slaves. Second, agents of the slave trade were often successful in developing linkages within targeted societies tha t exploited tensions and hostilities within them. In the process, the prey often became predators, but predators that captured people like themselves.