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When did slavery start?
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Before there were towns,
slaves were not needed
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Hunter-gatherers and primitive farmers have
no use for a slave.
They collect or grow just enough food for
themselves.
One more pair of hands is one more mouth.
There is no economic advantage in owning
another human being.
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But once there were towns …
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…. a surplus of food created in the
countryside (often now on large estates)
makes possible a wide range of crafts in the
town.
On a large farm or in a workshop there is real
benefit in a reliable source of cheap labour,
costing no more than the minimum of food
and lodging.
These are the conditions for slavery.
Every ancient civilization uses slaves.
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And slaves were quite easy to come
by ..
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War is the main source of supply, and wars
are frequent and brutal in early civilizations.
When a town falls to a hostile army, it is
normal to take into slavery those inhabitants
who will make useful workers and to kill the
rest.
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And slaves were quite easy to come
by ..
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There are several other ways in which slaves
are acquired.
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Pirates offer their captives for sale.
A criminal may be sentenced to slavery.
An unpaid debt can bring the end of liberty.
The impoverished sell their own children.
And the children of slaves are themselves slaves
- though with a cheap supply of labour available
through war, not many owners will allow their
slaves the diversion of raising a family.
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Babylonian slaves 1800 – 600BC
(or BCE)
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These are the first ones we
know much about. There
were 3 classes: awilu (upper
class), musheknu (free, but
of little means, usually
craftsmen or farmers) and
wardu (slaves).
It seems they treated their
slaves quite well – a healthy
slave could work harder!
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Evidence of Egyptian
slaves at a market When? 1550 BC
By Kane
Who and where? The ancient
Egyptians in ancient Egypt
Where did they come from?
They came from slave-masters
selling captured Israelites from
I would suppose ancient Israel
How did they get their
slaves? From raiding villages
and enslaving the population
or being sold into slavery by
someone else to settle his or
selling themselves into slavery
to pay their own debt.
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Greek Slaves
thanks Alex & Luke
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Both the leading states of Greece - Sparta and
Athens - depend entirely upon forced labour. Those
belonging to Sparta were more like the villains in
Mediaeval England – they lived on their own land
but produced goods for their landlord.
Slaves in Athens were mostly house slaves or their
were assistants in businesses and banks.
There was also an elite archery corp who were
slaves
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Roman Slaves (200BC – 400AD)
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The most privileged slaves are the secretarial staff
of the emperor.
But these are the exception.
In the mines they are whipped into continuing effort
by overseers
In the fields they work in chain gangs
In the public arenas they are forced to engage in
terrifying combat as gladiators.
There are several slave uprisings in these two
centuries, the most famous of them led by
Spartacus.
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'... the Romans always feared
another Spartacus'
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In 73-71 BC the gladiator Spartacus famously led an
uprising of thousands of slaves in central Italy,
formed an army that defeated several Roman
legions, and at one point threatened Rome itself.
Earlier there had been similar large-scale rebellions
on the island of Sicily. But open rebellion was also
the most dangerous form of resistance, because the
stakes were enormously high. The greater the size
of the rebellion, the greater the likelihood was of
betrayal from within, and the greater the threat was
of serious retaliation, re-enslavement or death.
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'... the Romans always feared
another Spartacus'
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Spartacus himself died in battle, and thousands of
his captured followers were crucified. The slave
rebels in Sicily were likewise thoroughly
suppressed. It isn't surprising that they had no
successors, or that their rebellions achieved nothing
of lasting value for Roman slaves.
Still, the Romans always feared another Spartacus.
The philosopher Seneca tells of a proposal that was
once made in the Roman senate requiring slaves to
wear distinctive clothing so that they could be easily
recognised. But once the senators realised that the
slaves might then become conscious of their
strength, and make common cause against their
masters, they abandoned the idea.
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A slave attending her mistresses
hair
It is thought that 25% of
all people in Rome
were slaves
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The Roman writer Seneca believed that masters should treat their slaves
well as a well treated slave would work better for a good master rather
than just doing enough begrudgingly for someone who treated their
slaves badly.
“The result is that slaves who cannot talk before his (the master) face talk
about him behind his back. It is this sort of treatment which makes people
say, “You’ve as many enemies as you’ve slaves.” They are not our
enemies when we get them; we make them so.” (Seneca)
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Slaves in the Middle Ages: 6th 15th century AD
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In the period after the collapse of the Roman empire, slavery
continues in the countries around the Mediterranean. But the
slaves were employed almost exclusively in households,
offices and armies.
The gang slavery characteristic of large Roman estates
seems to have largely disappeared
Nevertheless the slave trade thrived, and the Mediterranean
was a natural focal point.
Civilized regions surround the central sea.
To the north and south stretch vast areas populated by
relatively unsophisticated tribes. Border warfare resulted in
tribal captives being enslaved.
Market forces encouraged the tribes to seize prisoners of
their own to service a developing slave trade.
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Slaves in the Middle Ages: 6th 15th century AD
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During the eastward expansion of the Germans in
the 10th century many Slavs were captured. This is
where the name ‘slave’ came from
At the same period the delivery of slaves to the
Black Sea region is an important part of the early
economy of Russia.
South of the Mediterranean, the dynasties of Arabs
along the coast stimulated an African slave trade.
The town of Zawila developed in the Sahara in
about AD 700 specifically as a trading station for
slaves.
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13th century slave
market in Yemen
Yemen is on the
Saudi Arabian
Peninsula
What do you notice
about the people
being sold?
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Slaves in the Middle Ages: 6th 15th century AD
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Captured in the region around Lake Chad, they
were sold to Arab households in a Muslim world
which by the 8th century stretched from Spain to
Persia.
Slavery was an accepted part of life in Arabia during
the time of Muhammad, in the 7th century, and the
Qur'an offers no arguments against the practice. It
merely stated, particularly in relation to female
slaves, that they must be well treated.
In general that has been the case, compared with
the barbaric treatment of slaves in some Christian
communities.
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Slaves were not always the losers!
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Meanwhile the Muslim habit of using slaves in
the army has led to one unusual result - in
itself an indication of the trust accorded to
slaves in Middle Eastern communities.
In 1250 the slave leaders of the Egyptian
army, known as Mamelukes, depose the
sultan and seize power.
A succession of rulers from their own ranks
control much of the Middle East, as the
Mameluke dynasty, for nearly three centuries.
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Christians and slaves
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The Christian Gospels make no specific mention of
slavery, though slaves may be expected to benefit
from the general bias in favour of the poor and the
oppressed.
During the early Middle Ages the missionaries and
bishops of the Roman Catholic church argue
against the ownership of slaves in the emerging
dynasties of northern Europe.
At first they make little headway.
But gradually slavery disappears in western
European countries - largely replaced by the
serfdom of the feudal manor.
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The Portuguese slave trade: 15th 17th century AD
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The Portuguese expeditions of the 15th century
bring European ships for the first time into regular
contact with sub-Saharan Africa. This region has
long been the source of slaves for the route through
the Sahara to the Mediterranean. The arrival of the
Portuguese opens up another channel.
Nature even provides a new collection point for this
human cargo. The volcanic Cape Verde Islands,
with their rocky and forbidding coastlines, are
uninhabited. But they contain lush tropical valleys.
And they are well placed on the sea routes between
West Africa, Europe and America.
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The Portuguese slave trade: 15th 17th century AD
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Portuguese settlers move into the Cape Verde islands in
about 1460. In 1466 they are given an economic advantage
which guarantees their prosperity. They are granted a
monopoly of a new slave trade. On the coast of Guinea the
Portuguese are now setting up trading stations to buy captive
Negroes.
Some of these slaves are used to work the settlers' estates
in the Cape Verde islands. Others are sent north for sale in
Madeira, or in Portugal and Spain - where Seville now
becomes an important market. Negroes have been imported
by this sea route into Europe since at least 1444, when one
of Henry the Navigator's expeditions returns with slaves
exchanged for Moorish prisoners.
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Cape Verde islands
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The labour of the slaves in the Cape Verde Islands primed a
profitable trade with the African region which became known
as Portuguese Guinea or the Slave Coast. The slaves
worked in the Cape Verde plantations, growing cotton and
indigo in the fertile valleys. They were also employed in
weaving and dying factories, where these commodities were
transformed into cloth.
The cloth was exchanged in Guinea for slaves. And the
slaves were sold for cash to the slaving ships which paid
regular visits to the Cape Verde Islands.
This African trade, together with the prosperity of the Cape
Verde Islands, expanded greatly with the development of
labour-intensive plantations growing sugar, cotton and
tobacco in the Caribbean and America. The Portuguese
enforced a monopoly of the transport of African slaves to
their own colony of Brazil. But other nations with transatlantic
interests soon became the main visitors to the Slave Coast.
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