Where and when has slavery and slave trade existed in the history of humankind?

Answer 1

The institution of slavery and thus slave trade dates back to the earliest recorded history of the world. In ancient times slaves were either purchased and/or became slaves by military conquest. It is also recorded that Egyptian royalty used the forced labor of their own people to build pyramids and temples of ancient Egypt. The Pharaohs also made slaves of peoples they captured through wars. Two thousand years after the Egyptian Empire, in the latter part of the 19th century, Egyptian lords permitted their lower level workers by forced labor to build the Suez Canal under the direction of European interests. The Old Testament of the Bible records the various ancient empires such as Babylon that enslaved the peoples of Israel. This book also defines the laws pertaining to the treatment of Israeli slaves owned by wealthy Israelites. Perhaps the great number of slaves and the slave trades existed in the period of time when the Roman Empire was at its peak of power. Many of Rome's Greek slaves were used as educators and house servants. Slaves were bought and sold to perform as gladiators in Roman arenas. Slavery became the basis of the Roman Empire's economy. Slaves captured from all parts of the empire worked the mines, farms and other parts of Roman industry.

During Europe's Middle Ages, feudal lords forced their serfs into forced labor for them. Slavery and the slave trade was re-birthed and accelerated with the discovery of the New World. Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors tried with limited success to make slaves of the Native Americans under their rule.

Slavery and its trade was much more successful in the southern parts of North America. By the beginning of the 18th century, slave trade was booming. The former French owned city of New Orleans became the slave trading capital of North America. Enterprising Europeans were able to either capture or buy slaves from Black Africa, transport them to be sold in North America in what later became the USA. Frequently unnoticed was the successful ability of of North African Arabs to participate in the slave trade. The development of the southern colonies' agricultural industry based primarily on cotton and other products was based on slave labor. Southern cotton was a market for the British Empire's fabric industry. Egyptian cotton was also another source of raw product for the Empire. I mention the British Empire because it officially outlawed slavery in the early 1800's but failed to outlaw enslaving entire nations of people from India to southeast asia. At the time of the US Civil War, there were an estimated 4 million slaves in the USA. Slaves became almost 25% of what was later called the Confederate States of America. Ironically, only after the Civil War was slavery abolished in Washington DC, Maryland, and territories and border States. Unfortunately, humanitarian organizations of our time have reported what can be defined as forced labor camps deep in the South American rain forests. Also, there is a large and illegal world wide sex slave industry which is comprised of forced prostitution, even children cannot be protected.