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Some of the DOI links go to spreadsheets that are likely not the best source of information for this topic. The inflation rate and trade references could container relevant information, but they're from the 2000s, not from the period of history being discussed.
If I knew a bit more about this topic, I would remove these references as spam/troll. 198.232.211.130 (talk) 16:49, 11 July 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]
I agree and have flagged the article for having multiple citation problems. The editing history shows that @Dbaidoo added an incredible amount of references in August 2020. Zoocat56 (talk) 19:14, 20 October 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]
There may be some irrelevant citations, or on occasion "better" ones (depending on one or another editor's own foregone biases), but care should be taken not to eliminate under this excuse the great majority of excellent citations supporting the article. It is a disagreeable topic, since the truth is often disagreeable at least to some readers. And it is on a very topical and political subject. In such an subject, the more citations, the better.175.39.122.144 (talk) 00:30, 21 October 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Ghana
I am confused about the revert [1]. It is properly sourced by a historian of Ghana. Nothing special is required for this. If there is a source for it, like I provided there should be no issue. If no valid wikipedia policy based reasons are provided I will restore. Quotes can be provided. Other sources from Cambridge University Press state that slaves were used since at least 3000 BC which is part of the Neolithic range [2]. Definitely ancient. Ramos1990 (talk) 08:50, 25 November 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Thanks for taking this to the talk page. I don't think that we can define a form of domination over human beings as "slavery" before we have some form of textual evidence (be it in writing or through oral traditions some generations before the first written evidence). That's why I think this is a case of WP:REDFLAG, meaning we need a lot of excellent sources. We already have expressions like "hundreds of years" or "ancient times" in the article, which seems to be sourced and also plausible. Since the definition of "neolithic times" depends on the region, we'd also need to know when neolithic cultures were active in Ghana. I don't know that, but if e.g. the neolithic period should end about 1500 AD, the claim would be true, but pretty worthless. On the other hand, the Stilwell quote doesn't show which region he is talking about. Is it really Ghana ? Or is it Egypt ? Rsk6400 (talk) 16:03, 25 November 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]
I disagree with redflag because you already acknowledge that slavery in these regions go as far back as the ancient period. These sources are saying the same thing. We could just use the term "ancient" instead of Neolithic - which already has numerous sources for it. Stilwell is talking about all Africa in the link I provided on how the general conditions of expanding commerce and war lead to what to do with captives and then proceeds to break down the conditions of multiple regions in Africa including West Africa on page 37. Talks about how political and commercial complexity existed "long before 500CE" in West Africa.
Also, it is not me defining slavery it is the sources themselves. "It is to the Neolithic period of Ghana's history that one must look for the earliest evidence of slavery. Technological advancement and dependence on agriculture created a need for labor. The available evidence indicates that around the 1st century AD farming was done by individual households consisting of blood relations, pawns, and slaves. The earliest evidence of slavery is, therefore, likely to be found in the field of agriculture." (A history of Indigenous Slavery in Ghana - Akosua Perbi p.15)
Also in the same discusses the ancient practice of acquiring slaves through warfare "The retention of captives taken in battle was a recognized practice among every people before the beginning of written history. The ancient records of the Assyrians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, Persians, Indians and Chinese are all full of references to slaves and types of labor for which they were usually employed. With the Greeks and the Romans, the institution of slavery reached new heights."(p.15)
Here is a another source "Many languages in Africa have different words for “slave.” Historians have plausibly interpreted this diversity of nomenclature as evidence of the independent development of slavery in many places in Africa in the distant past. One working hypothesis, faute de mieux, would be that slavery among the peoples of the Northwest and Africa was similar a millennium earlier to how it appeared when our evidence begins. But the assumption that the distant past was unchanging just because it is unknown is optimistic at best. Somewhat more convincing are statistical surveys of large numbers of societies that show that slavery is rare among hunter-gatherers, is sometimes present in incipient agricultural societies, and then becomes common among societies with more advanced agriculture. Up to this point slavery seems to increase with increasing social and economic complexity."[3]
Thanks for providing all those sources. I learned something new. I'm okay with a re-worded sentence. "1st century AD" sounds much more credible than "neolithic period". But since this is still based on conjectures from linguistics (the words for "slaves") or comparison of types of society (complex societies have slaves), I'd suggest you add something like "according to Ghanaian historian Akosua Perbi". Rsk6400 (talk) 13:46, 26 November 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Great! I will attribute. To capture the ancientness, will reword to include ancient or distant past or something like that.Ramos1990 (talk) 18:19, 26 November 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]