Slavery
Peter, a slave from Louisiana in 1863, bore scars on his back from a whipping by his overseer. These marks tell the story of an economic phenomenon where ownership of people as property became the norm across most civilizations. The word slavery entered Middle English through Old French and ultimately derives from Byzantine Greek terms meaning prisoner or captive. One historical view suggests this term came from the Slavic tribe name Slověne, who were often captured and enslaved during the 8th or 9th century. Another hypothesis argues the root means to strip an enemy killed in battle or to make booty from war. Historians debate whether terms like unfree labourer or enslaved person better describe victims than the word slave itself. Some argue slave perpetuates the crime by reducing victims to nonhuman nouns while others prefer it for its familiarity and accuracy regarding inhumanity.
In 2007, profits generated worldwide by all forms of slavery reached $91.2 billion, second only to drug trafficking among global criminal enterprises. The weighted average global sales price of a slave was approximately $340, with trafficked sex slaves selling for up to $1,895 each. Economists note that slavery becomes more desirable when land is abundant but labor is scarce, allowing owners to pay low wages to free workers. Large-scale monocrops like sugarcane and cotton enabled systems such as the gang system in the United States where field hands worked with factory-like precision. Adam Smith argued that free labor was economically superior to slave labor since many legislators were slave owners themselves. In the late 18th century, the trans-Atlantic slave trade peaked when African kingdoms like the Oyo Empire and Ashanti Empire captured millions for export. About fifteen percent of slaves died during the Middle Passage voyage, with mortality rates even higher within Africa before reaching ships. By 1866, nearly five million slaves had been brought from Africa to Brazil alone, making it the largest importer in history.
Between 1300 and 1900, close to one-third of the population in the Senegambia region was enslaved through internal and external trades. In early Islamic states of western Sahel including Ghana, Mali, Segou, and Songhai, about a third of people lived under some form of servitude. During the Red Sea slave trade, slaves traveled across the Arabian Peninsula while others crossed the Sahara desert via Trans-Saharan routes. As many as seventeen million people were sold into slavery on the coast of the Indian Ocean, Middle East, and North Africa between 1500 and 1900. In Algiers, capital of Algeria, there were as many as thirty-five thousand Christian slaves around 1650. Barbary slave traders raided coastal villages extending from Italy to Iceland, enslaving an estimated one to 1.25 million Europeans over three centuries. Under Omani Arabs, Zanzibar became East Africa's main slave port where fifty thousand African slaves passed through annually during the nineteenth century. The Zanj Rebellion near Basra involved over five hundred thousand slaves imported from across the Muslim empire and claimed tens of thousands of lives.
In Saint-Domingue, now Haiti, approximately four hundred thousand white colonists lived alongside forty-five hundred thousand slaves by 1788. Blacks outnumbered whites ten to one in this French colony which produced sugarcane as its primary export. One-third of newly imported Africans died within a few years due to disease or brutal treatment. Birth rates among enslaved women hovered around three percent with evidence suggesting some aborted fetuses or committed infanticide rather than raise children in bondage. The Haitian Revolution of 1804 stands as the only successful slave revolt in human history precipitating end of slavery in all French colonies by 1848. In Brazil, nearly five million slaves were brought from Africa between 1501 and 1866 making it the largest destination for trans-Atlantic trade. Forty percent of total slaves sent to the Americas went to Brazil before abolition came finally in 1888. In the United States, roughly four hundred thousand individuals representing eight percent of families owned nearly four million slaves according to the 1860 census. More than one million slaves were sold from Upper South states to Deep South plantations splitting many families apart during forced migration.
The Code of Hammurabi prescribed death for anyone helping a slave escape or sheltering fugitives in ancient Mesopotamia. France abolished slavery in 1794 after the revolution but Napoleon reintroduced it in 1802 until permanent abolition arrived in 1848. Britain ended slavery across much of its empire in 1833 while the United States ratified the Thirteenth Amendment banning involuntary servitude except as punishment for crime in December 1865. Cuba abolished slavery in 1886 and Brazil became the last country in the Western world to do so in 1888. Mauritania officially banned slavery in 1981 yet legal prosecution of slaveholders was not established until 2007. The Ottoman Empire maintained chattel slavery until the twentieth century with Saudi Arabia and Yemen abolishing it in 1962. Legal mechanisms to prosecute those using slaves remained unimplemented in many places long after formal bans appeared on paper. International bodies like the League of Nations created temporary commissions between 1924 and 1926 to investigate global slavery issues.
In 2019, approximately forty million people including twenty-six percent children remained enslaved worldwide despite international prohibitions. More than fifty percent of modern slaves provide forced labor usually within factories or sweatshops of private sectors. Human trafficking primarily involves women and children forced into prostitution becoming the fastest growing form of unfree labor today. Thailand Cambodia India Brazil and Mexico have been identified as leading hotspots for commercial sexual exploitation of minors. In 2007 Human Rights Watch estimated two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand children served as soldiers in current conflicts globally. Over sixteen-year-old girls work as domestic workers more than any other category often sent to cities by parents living in rural poverty. Marriage by abduction occurs frequently with a 2003 study finding national average of sixty-nine percent marriages in Ethiopia conducted through abduction. Convict leasing systems affect millions in countries where prisoners receive no pay or wages below one dollar per hour while working for corporations generating billions annually.
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Common questions
What is the origin of the word slavery?
The word slavery entered Middle English through Old French and ultimately derives from Byzantine Greek terms meaning prisoner or captive. One historical view suggests this term came from the Slavic tribe name Slověne, who were often captured and enslaved during the 8th or 9th century.
How many people were sold into slavery on the coast of the Indian Ocean between 1500 and 1900?
As many as seventeen million people were sold into slavery on the coast of the Indian Ocean, Middle East, and North Africa between 1500 and 1900. This trade included routes across the Arabian Peninsula and Trans-Saharan routes used by slaves traveling to the Sahara desert.
When did Brazil become the last country in the Western world to abolish slavery?
Brazil became the last country in the Western world to abolish slavery in 1888. Nearly five million slaves were brought from Africa to Brazil between 1501 and 1866 making it the largest destination for trans-Atlantic trade.
Which amendment banned involuntary servitude in the United States and when was it ratified?
The United States ratified the Thirteenth Amendment banning involuntary servitude except as punishment for crime in December 1865. This legal change followed earlier abolition efforts such as Britain ending slavery across much of its empire in 1833.
What percentage of modern slaves provide forced labor within factories or sweatshops?
More than fifty percent of modern slaves provide forced labor usually within factories or sweatshops of private sectors. Human trafficking primarily involves women and children forced into prostitution becoming the fastest growing form of unfree labor today.