I.

Introduction

Slavery, social institution defined by law and custom as the most absolute involuntary form of human servitude. The definitive characteristics of slaves are as follows: their labour or services are obtained through force; their physical beings are regarded as the property of another person, their owner; and they are entirely subject to their owner's will. Since earliest times slaves have been legally defined as things; therefore, they could, among other possibilities, be bought, sold, traded, given as gifts, or pledged for a debt by their owner, usually without any recourse to personal or legal objection or restraint. There are often ethnic differences between slave-holders and slaves, and the fact of slavery is often founded upon a strong racially prejudiced belief that the ethnic group to which the slave-holder belongs is “superior” to that of the slaves. Enslavement of members of the owner's own ethnic group is very rare, with 17th-and 18th-century Russia being one of the few exceptions.

The practice of slavery dates to prehistoric times, although its institutionalization probably first occurred when agricultural advances first made possible more highly organized societies. Slaves were needed for various specialized functions in these societies and were obtained either through raids or conquests of other peoples, or within the society itself, when some people sold themselves or their family members to pay debts or were enslaved as punishment for crimes.

II.

Slavery in the Ancient World

Slavery was an accepted feature, often essential to the economy and society, of all ancient civilizations. The ancient Mesopotamian, Indian, and Chinese civilizations employed slaves, either domestically in homes and shops or in gangs for large-scale construction or agriculture. The ancient Egyptians used slaves on a mass scale to build the royal palaces and monuments. The ancient Hebrews also used slaves, but they were required by religious law to free slaves of their own nationality at certain fixed times. In the civilizations of pre-Columbian America, those of the Aztec, Inca, and Maya, for example, slave labour was also used on a large scale in both agriculture and warfare.

In the Homeric epics, slavery is the ordinary destiny of prisoners of war. The later Greek philosophers did not consider the condition of slavery as morally objectionable, although Aristotle went so far as to suggest that faithful slaves might be freed in reward for loyal service. With few exceptions, slaves in ancient Greece were humanely treated. However, the Helots of Sparta, descendants of an earlier, conquered group of inhabitants who were forced to labour on large estates and to fight with the Spartan armies, were severely treated, mainly because they far outnumbered their dependent rulers. More typically, slaves were employed in domestic service, in trades, as labourers on country estates, and as sailors and rowers. Where they were employed in private domestic service, it was not uncommon to find them on friendly terms with their owners.

Roman slavery differed in several important aspects from that of ancient Greece. Roman masters had more power over their slaves, including, by law, the power of life and death. Slavery was also far more necessary to the economy and social system of Rome, especially during the period of the empire, than it had been in Greece. Wealthy Romans, often maintaining large city and country homes, depended on numerous slaves for the efficient operation of these households. Imperial conquests and expansion eventually strained the native Roman workforce, so great numbers of foreign slaves had to be imported to fill agricultural labour needs. The primary means of acquiring slaves was through war; tens of thousands of captured prisoners of war were brought to Rome as slaves. Other sources of slaves were people convicted of serious crime and debtors, who sold themselves or members of their families into slavery to pay their debt.

III.

Slavery in the Middle Ages

The introduction of Christianity, its adoption as the official religion of the Roman Empire, and its subsequent spread over Europe and parts of the Middle East during the Middle Ages tended to improve the slaves' conditions but did not eliminate the practice of slavery. After the fall of Rome, during the barbarian invasions that occurred at various times between the 5th and 10th centuries, the ancient institution of slavery was transformed into the generally less binding system known as serfdom.

Islam, established in the 7th century, recognized the institution of slavery from the beginning. The Prophet Muhammad urged his followers to use slaves kindly, however, and, on the whole, slaves owned by Muslims were comparatively well treated. Most were employed as domestic servants.

IV.

Slavery in the Modern Period

The coastal exploration of Africa and the invasion of North and South America by Europeans in the 15th century, and the subsequent colonization of the Americas during the next three centuries, provided the impetus for the modern slave trade. Portugal, lacking in agricultural workers, was the first modern European nation to meet its labour needs by importing slaves. The Portuguese began the practice in 1444; by 1460, they were annually importing 700 to 800 slaves to Portugal from trading posts and forts established on the African coast. These were African people captured by other Africans and transported to the western coast of Africa. Spain soon followed, but for more than a century Portugal virtually monopolized the African traffic. Throughout the 15th century, Arab traders in northern Africa shipped African people taken from central Africa to markets in Arabia, Iran, and India.

In tropical Latin America during the 16th century, Spanish colonists first forced the indigenous populations to work the land. These indigenous people, however, could not survive under conditions of slavery and were nearly exterminated, in part by exposure to European disease and excruciating labour. Africans were then brought to the Spanish colonies, primarily because it was believed that they could better endure forced labour in the generally more enervating Caribbean and mainland Latin-American climates.

England entered the slave trade in the latter half of the 16th century, contesting the right to supply the Spanish colonies held until then by Portugal. France, Holland, Denmark, and the American colonies themselves subsequently entered the trade as competitors. In 1713 the exclusive right to supply the Spanish colonies was granted to the British South Sea Company.

In North America the first African slaves landed at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. Brought by early English privateers, they were subjected to limited servitude, a legalized status of Native American, white, and black servants preceding slavery in most, if not all, the English colonies in the New World. The number of slaves imported was small at first, and it did not seem necessary to define their legal status. Statutory recognition of slavery, however, occurred in Massachusetts in 1641, in Connecticut in 1650, and in Virginia in 1661; these statutes mainly concerned fugitive slaves.

With the development of the plantation system in the southern colonies in the latter half of the 17th century, the number of Africans imported as agricultural slave labourers increased greatly, and several northern coastal cities became centres of the slave traffic. Generally, in the northern colonies, slaves were used as domestics and in trade; in the Middle-Atlantic colonies they were used more in agriculture; and in the southern colonies, where plantation agriculture was the primary occupation, almost all slaves were used to work the plantations.

As African slaves became an increasingly important element in the English colonies in America, particularly in the South where they were considered fundamental to the economy and society, the laws affecting them were modified. By the time of the American War of Independence (1775-1783), they were no longer indentured servants but slaves in the fullest sense of the term, and laws defining their legal, political, and social status with respect to their owners were specific.

Formally, slaves in the Americas did have some legal rights, such as the right to support in age or sickness, the right to limited religious instruction, and the right to have legal representation and to give evidence in special cases. Custom gave numerous rights also, such as private property, marriage, free time, contractual ability, and, to females, domestic or lighter plantation labour, which, however, the owner was not bound to respect. In fact, basic human rights were often disregarded. Women slaves could be subjected to persistent rape by their owners, and families were often split apart as their members were sold away to separate plantations. Brutal treatment such as mutilation, branding, chaining, and murder were, in theory, regulated or prohibited by law, but instances of cruelty were common before the 19th century.

V.

Abolition of Slavery

Denmark was the first European country to abolish the slave trade, in 1792. Great Britain followed in 1807, and the United States followed in 1808. At the Congress of Vienna in 1814, Great Britain exerted its influence to induce other foreign powers to adopt a similar policy, and eventually nearly all the states of Europe passed laws or entered into treaties prohibiting the traffic. The Ashburton Treaty of 1842, between Great Britain and the United States, provided for the maintenance by each country of a squadron on the African coast to enforce prohibition of the trade, and in 1845 a joint cooperation of the naval forces of England and France was substituted for the mutual right of search. The limited supply of slaves led to a greater attention on the part of the owners to the condition of their slaves.

The French slaves had freedom conferred on them in 1848; the Dutch slaves in 1863. Most of the new republics of South America provided for the emancipation of slaves at the time of their establishment. In Brazil, however, slavery was not abolished until 1888.

VI.

Slavery in the 20th Century

An important achievement was the adoption of the International Slavery Convention in 1926 by the League of Nations. This convention provided for the suppression and prohibition of the slave trade and complete abolition of slavery in all forms. The convictions embodied in the convention were reaffirmed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948.

In 1951 a United Nations committee on slavery reported that the practice of slavery was declining rapidly, with only a vestige of slavery remaining in a few areas of the world. Nevertheless, the committee found that forms of servitude similar to slavery affected a large number of people. These types of servitude include forms of serfdom and peonage, various abuses arising from the adoption of children, and the transfer in marriage of women without their consent. At the recommendation of the committee a conference representing 51 nations was held in Geneva in 1956. The conference adopted a Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery to supplement the convention of 1926. The new convention condemns forms of servitude similar to slavery and provides for penal sanctions against the slave trade. Any disputes relating to the convention are to be referred to the International Court of Justice.