History of slavery

The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and religions from ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The social, economic, and legal positions of slaves have differed vastly in different systems of slavery in different times and places.^[1]

Slavery has been found in some hunter-gatherer populations, particularly as hereditary slavery,^[2]^[3] but the conditions of agriculture with increasing social and economic complexity offer greater opportunity for mass chattel slavery.^[4] Slavery was institutionalized by the time the first civilizations emerged (such as Sumer in Mesopotamia,^[5] which dates back as far as 3500 BC). Slavery features in the Mesopotamian Code of Hammurabi (c. 1750 BC), which refers to it as an established institution.^[6] Slavery was widespread in the ancient world in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.^[7]^[8]^[4]

Slavery became less common throughout Europe during the Early Middle Ages but continued to be practiced in some areas. Both Christians and Muslims captured and enslaved each other during centuries of warfare in the Mediterranean and Europe.^[9] Islamic slavery encompassed mainly Western and Central Asia, Northern and Eastern Africa, India, and Europe from the 7th to the 20th century. Islamic law approved of enslavement of non-Muslims, and slaves were trafficked from non-Muslim lands: from the North via the Balkan slave trade and the Crimean slave trade; from the East via the Bukhara slave trade; from the West via Andalusian slave trade; and from the South via the Trans-Saharan slave trade, the Red Sea slave trade and the Indian Ocean slave trade.

Beginning in the 16th century, European merchants, starting mainly with merchants from Portugal, initiated the transatlantic slave trade. Few traders ventured far inland, attempting to avoid tropical diseases and violence. They mostly purchased imprisoned Africans (and exported commodities including gold and ivory) from West African kingdoms, transporting them to Europe's colonies in the Americas. The merchants were sources of desired goods including guns, gunpowder, copper manillas, and cloth, and this demand for imported goods drove local wars and other means to the enslavement of Africans in ever greater numbers.^[10] In India and throughout the New World, people were forced into slavery to create the local workforce. The transatlantic slave trade was eventually curtailed after European and American governments passed legislation abolishing their nations' involvement in it. Practical efforts to enforce the abolition of slavery included the British Preventative Squadron and the American African Slave Trade Patrol, the abolition of slavery in the Americas, and the widespread imposition of European political control in Africa.

In modern times, human trafficking remains an international problem. Slavery in the 21st century continues and generates an estimated $150 billion in annual profits.^[11] Populations in regions with armed conflict are especially vulnerable, and modern transportation has made human trafficking easier.^[12] In 2019, there were an estimated 40.3 million people worldwide subject to some form of slavery, and 25% were children.^[11] 24.9 million are used for forced labor, mostly in the private sector; 15.4 million live in forced marriages.^[11] Forms of slavery include domestic labour, forced labour in manufacturing, fishing, mining and construction, and sexual slavery.^[11]

^ Klein, Herbert S.; III, Ben Vinson (2007). African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean (2nd ed.). New York [etc.]: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195189421.
^ Hunt, Peter (2015). "Slavery". The Cambridge World History: Volume 4: A World with States, Empires and Networks 1200 BCE–900 CE. 4: 76–100. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139059251.006. ISBN 9781139059251. 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.
^ Smith, Eric Alden; Hill, Kim; Marlowe, Frank; Nolin, David; Wiessner, Polly; Gurven, Michael; Bowles, Samuel; Mulder, Monique Borgerhoff; Hertz, Tom; Bell, Adrian (February 2010). "Wealth Transmission and Inequality Among Hunter-Gatherers". Current Anthropology. 51 (1): 19–34. doi:10.1086/648530. ISSN 0011-3204. PMC 2999363. PMID 21151711. Summary characteristics of hunter-gatherer societies in the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCSS). [...] Social stratification [: ...] Hereditary slavery 24% [...].
^ ^a ^b Hunt, Peter (2015). "Slavery". The Cambridge World History: Volume 4: A World with States, Empires and Networks 1200 BCE–900 CE. 4: 76–100. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139059251.006. ISBN 9781139059251. Slavery was a widespread institution in the ancient world (1200 BCE – 900 CE). Slaves could be found in simpler societies, but more important and better known was the existence of slavery in most advanced states. Indeed, it is hard to find any ancient civilizations in which some slavery did not exist. Slave use was sometimes extensive.
^ Tetlow, Elisabeth Meier (2004). "Sumer". Women, Crime and Punishment in Ancient Law and Society: Volume 1: The Ancient Near East. Women, Crime, and Punishment in Ancient Law and Society. Vol. 1. New York: A&C Black. p. 7. ISBN 9780826416285. Retrieved 17 March 2019. In Sumer, as in most ancient societies, the institution of slavery existed as an integral part of the social and economic structure. Sumer was not, however, a slavery based economy.
^ "Mesopotamia: The Code of Hammurabi". Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. e.g. Prologue, "the shepherd of the oppressed and of the slaves" Code of Laws No. 307, "If any one buy from the son or the slave of another man".
^ Cite error: The named reference Stilwell africa was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Perbi, Akosua Adoma (2004). A History of Indigenous Slavery in Ghana : from the 15th to the 19th century. Legon, Accra, Ghana: Sub-Saharan Publishers. p. 15. ISBN 9789988550325. 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." and "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.
^ Salzmann, Ariel (2013). "Migrants in Chains: On the Enslavement of Muslims in Renaissance and Enlightenment Europe". Religions. 4 (3): 391–411. doi:10.3390/rel4030391. Between the Renaissance and the French Revolution, hundreds of thousands of Muslim men and women from the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean were forcibly transported to Western Europe.
^ Thomas, Hugh (2006). The slave trade : the history of the Atlantic slave trade, 1440-1870 (New ed.). London: Phoenix. ISBN 978-0753820568.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Hodal, Kate (31 May 2016). "One in 200 people is a slave. Why?". The Guardian.
^ "10 countries with the highest prevalence of modern slavery". Global Slavery Index. Retrieved 3 June 2020.

[1] Klein, Herbert S.; III, Ben Vinson (2007). African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean (2nd ed.). New York [etc.]: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195189421.

[2] Hunt, Peter (2015). "Slavery". The Cambridge World History: Volume 4: A World with States, Empires and Networks 1200 BCE–900 CE. 4: 76–100. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139059251.006. ISBN 9781139059251. 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] Smith, Eric Alden; Hill, Kim; Marlowe, Frank; Nolin, David; Wiessner, Polly; Gurven, Michael; Bowles, Samuel; Mulder, Monique Borgerhoff; Hertz, Tom; Bell, Adrian (February 2010). "Wealth Transmission and Inequality Among Hunter-Gatherers". Current Anthropology. 51 (1): 19–34. doi:10.1086/648530. ISSN 0011-3204. PMC 2999363. PMID 21151711. Summary characteristics of hunter-gatherer societies in the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCSS). [...] Social stratification [: ...] Hereditary slavery 24% [...].

[Hunt_Slavery-4] Hunt, Peter (2015). "Slavery". The Cambridge World History: Volume 4: A World with States, Empires and Networks 1200 BCE–900 CE. 4: 76–100. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139059251.006. ISBN 9781139059251. Slavery was a widespread institution in the ancient world (1200 BCE – 900 CE). Slaves could be found in simpler societies, but more important and better known was the existence of slavery in most advanced states. Indeed, it is hard to find any ancient civilizations in which some slavery did not exist. Slave use was sometimes extensive.

[5] Tetlow, Elisabeth Meier (2004). "Sumer". Women, Crime and Punishment in Ancient Law and Society: Volume 1: The Ancient Near East. Women, Crime, and Punishment in Ancient Law and Society. Vol. 1. New York: A&C Black. p. 7. ISBN 9780826416285. Retrieved 17 March 2019. In Sumer, as in most ancient societies, the institution of slavery existed as an integral part of the social and economic structure. Sumer was not, however, a slavery based economy.

[6] "Mesopotamia: The Code of Hammurabi". Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. e.g. Prologue, "the shepherd of the oppressed and of the slaves" Code of Laws No. 307, "If any one buy from the son or the slave of another man".

[Stilwell_africa-7] Cite error: The named reference Stilwell africa was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Perbi_Ghana-8] Perbi, Akosua Adoma (2004). A History of Indigenous Slavery in Ghana : from the 15th to the 19th century. Legon, Accra, Ghana: Sub-Saharan Publishers. p. 15. ISBN 9789988550325. 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." and "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.

[9] Salzmann, Ariel (2013). "Migrants in Chains: On the Enslavement of Muslims in Renaissance and Enlightenment Europe". Religions. 4 (3): 391–411. doi:10.3390/rel4030391. Between the Renaissance and the French Revolution, hundreds of thousands of Muslim men and women from the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean were forcibly transported to Western Europe.

[10] Thomas, Hugh (2006). The slave trade : the history of the Atlantic slave trade, 1440-1870 (New ed.). London: Phoenix. ISBN 978-0753820568.

[Guardian-11] Hodal, Kate (31 May 2016). "One in 200 people is a slave. Why?". The Guardian.

[globalslaveryindex.org-12] "10 countries with the highest prevalence of modern slavery". Global Slavery Index. Retrieved 3 June 2020.

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