Modern Day Slavery: Mauritania

11/10/22 • 26 min

9 Listeners

Mauritania, one of Africa’s largest yet least talked about countries holds a dark secret: slavery. While slavery in various forms continues to exist around the world, in Mauritania its on a massive scale having been woven into the very fabric of society. In fact, the loathsome practice was only criminalized 15 years ago. But whereas the emancipation proclamation and subsequent events in the US eventually led to the visible liberation of milions of people, the new law in Mauritania had no such effect. Indeed, the government quickly moved on from criminalizing the trade to claiming there were no slaves in the country. Those suggesting otherwise risked harassment and arrest while the practitioners of the trade were largely undisturbed.

But the situation is starting to improve in part because of the work of organizations such as anti slavery international. An entity founded in 1837 and designed to bring an end to the Atlantic slave trade. Almost two hundreds years later, despite much success, the groups work is not done, as Emma Cain Programme Quality and Impact Manager explained to me.

Learn more at and help fight slavery today by going to AntiSlavery.org

Music: Pixabay

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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/daniel-mainwaring5/message

Learn more at and help fight slavery today by going to AntiSlavery.org

Music: Pixabay

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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/daniel-mainwaring5/message

Previous Episode

Amy Johnson: The Pioneering Pilot

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In May 1930, a young English woman from Yorkshire arrived in Sydney, Australia she received a welcome fit for a Queen.

Amy Johnson had become the first female pilot to fly from the United Kingdom to Australia. It was a remarkable feat for the 26 year old aviator who was born the same year the Wright brothers launched the first flight. It was also a notable achievement for a British woman considering that just two years earlier most women (Johnson included) weren’t even allowed to vote.

In this episode I explore the life of the extraordinary aviator, from her childhood through her greatest triumphs up until her tragic and still controversial death.

Music: Pixabay

Film: Amy Johnson speaks with Jim Mollison, her husband, before her departure on solo flight to the Cape.

On this day in 1930, Amy Johnson became the 1st woman to fly solo from England to Australia. Big City down under gives courageous girl flyer big reception. Amy Johnson makes a lovely speech.

Amy Johnson discusses plans for her tour

British Movietone. Public Domain

Polygoon Hollands Nieuws (producent) / Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid (beheerder) Public Domain

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Next Episode

Caliphate of Hamdullahi (Massina Empire)

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In North West Africa, the vast wilderness of the Sahara runs into the tropical rainforests of Benin and Burkina Faso. And it is in this region, that some of Africa’s greatest empires flourished. Among them was the Songhai Empire, as well as the earlier Mali Empire, whose rulers included Mansa Musa – who flushed with gold – was reportedly the wealthiest man in history. By the early 19th century, the Bambara Empire controlled much of the territory that is in today’s Mali. But from the Southwest, a new force emerged, a man named Ahmad Lobbu who forged not just a new empire but what came to be known as the Caliphate of Hamdullahi. An Islamic and jihadist state, it was one of the last powerful empires in the region before the scramble for Africa beginning in 1881 saw almost the entire continent fall under colonial rule.

It’s an area of the world and era of history that is often overlooked in the West. But Professor Mauro Nobili author of Sultan, Caliph, and the Renewer of the Faith: Aḥmad Lobbo, the Tārīkh al-Fattāsh and the Making of an Islamic State in 19th-Century West Africa is a subject matter expert on this period of history. I recently spoke to him about the caliphate and began by picking up from our discussion in a previous episode about the Songhai Empire.