On concubinage…continued

If you thought concubines are a legacy of the past, guess what? When the British came with their colonialism, they imposed prohibitions on slavery in Northern Nigeria. This was only halfhearted though, as the British policy implicitly accepted the patriarchal nature of concubinage. Colonial courts had to deal with cases involving slave women, some of…

Concubinage in Nigerian history

In the days past, in parts of “Western Sudan”, a female slave was worth two male slaves. In the slave markets of Kano, the worth of a female slave was measured by her breasts. Girls with developing breasts could be sold for 100,000 cowries. Women with firm, fully developed breasts cost 80,000 cowries. If their…