During the nineteenth century East Africa was marked by the sad event of the slave trade in response to the demand for larger markets. For a long time the export of slaves took place through the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean to supply the Muslim world. However there was a great expansion of the slave trade to the Atlantic Ocean during the 19th century. The slave trade increased during the 19th century due to the fact that the export of slaves was a profitable business, more than five times the export of ivory and other goods (1). During the 18th century ivory dominated the colonial trade in northern Mozambique, but the demand for slaves in the early 19th century changed this scenario of elephant hunting in East Africa. Now, expeditions and exploratory efforts were concentrated on the inland domains and their populations in order to maintain an efficient slave trade(1). Certain economic and commercial factors were responsible for the increase in the slave trade. In the 1800s, large-scale production of cane sugar and other monocultures such as coffee intensified in Brazil. Slaves were recruited to work in gold mines, to help farmers with manual labor on the land, to help families with normal household chores, and to manage and control the ivory trade. The presence of Islam on the East African coast in the 19th century was creating forces in the region yet was still very rare in the interior of the continent. This event coined the concept of ''urban Islamization'' as the city's population (known as Mombosa) gave more support to the new religion than the people of the interior (known as Wanyika) who showed some resistance to urban Islam. culture (3, p.276). Coinciding with the expansion of Islam in 1...... middle of paper ...... heather and Western Europe. The main influential countries increase the number of slaves in East Africa aliens are in the 19th century Portugal, France and England due to its dominance in East Africa. However, clearly this trade would not have been enough to support the market, the natives themselves have an important role in helping to meet the demand for slaves in the slave market. Works Cited(1) Alpers, EA, in Inikori, JE ed., (1983), Forced Migration: The Impact of Slave Export on African Societies, Africana Pub (2) Feierman, S. A Century of Ironies in East Africa (c.1780-1890)." In P. Curtin, S. Feierman, L.Thompson and J. Vansina. From Early Times to Independence (1995), 2nd ed.London: Longman(3) Sperling, David C ., in Levtzion, N. and Pouwels, R.L. (2000) The History of Islam in Africa Athens: Ohio University Press.