Author: Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya.

The literature on African migrations is dominated by the Atlantic experience, which tends to obscure other African migrations. Drawing on a range of periods and locations, this collection of articles examines factors that encouraged enlisting Africans in foreign armies, drawing attention to the lives of Africans who were uprooted and re-rooted in Asia. Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya examines the circumstances that led to recruiting African slaves to the British Ceylon regiments in the 19th century. Faaeza Jasdanwalla discusses the political history of the princely State of Janjira on the west coast of India, which was ruled by Sidis (Africans) from the early 17th century. Rosie Llewellyn Jones examines the inconsistent colonial policy towards African slaves in British India, arguing that it was tempered by differing regional and political considerations. Focusing on Ethiopia, Richard Pankhurst considers the Fetha Nagast, or the Laws of the Kings, a medieval Christian code which deals with various aspects of Ethiopian slavery, including manumission, inheritance and the purchase and sale of slaves.