However, West African slavery was more like the
European system of serfdom than it was like modern slavery.
Within this subsistence economy, each tribe or locality tended to
specialize in certain fields of agriculture or manufacture which
necessitated a vigorous and constant trade between all of them.
However, within the trading centers, money had come into regular
use. It usually took the form of cowrie shells, iron bars, brass rings,
or other standard items of value. Systems of banking and credit
had also been developed, but even those involved in money,
banking, and trade had a noncapitalist attitude towards wealth.
They enjoyed luxury and the display of affluence, but they had no
concept of investing capital to increase overall production.
West Africa also carried on a vigorous trade with the outside
world. When the Europeans arrived, they discovered, as had the
Arabs before them, that the West Africans could strike a hard
bargain. They had developed their own systems of weights and
measures and insisted on using them. Europeans who failed to treat
the king or his agent fairly, found that the Africans simply refused
to deal with them again.
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