SLAVERY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

Slavery throughout the world

Slavery throughout the World

Introduction

Slavery is properly defined as: The state of one bound in servitude - as the property of a slaveholder or household or a mode of production in which slaves constitute the principal work force. In simple terms, slaves have no right whatsoever to claim the fruits of their own labors (Drescher, Seymore; Engerman, Stanley L. 1998). Upon hearing the word slavery, many people, perhaps most, associate it with USA history; the US Civil War and black chattel slavery of those imported into the USA from the 16th through 18th centuries. To many it conjures mental images of black field hands laboring in the South, picking cotton, wearing rags, a bandanna wrapped around their head and white slave owners cracking the whip over the heads and backs of their slaves.

Analysis

Although commonly held that slavery was rare among primitive pastoral peoples and that it appeared in full form only with the development of an agricultural economy, there are numerous historical instances that contradict this belief. Domestic slavery and sometimes concubine slavery appeared among nomadic Arabs (who still practice it), among Native Americans primarily devoted to hunting, and among the seafaring Vikings (Drescher, Seymore; Engerman, Stanley L. 1998). Some ascribe the beginnings of slavery to war and consequent subjection of one group by another. Slavery as a result of debt, however, is evidenced in very early times, and some African peoples have had the custom of putting up wives and children as hostages for an obligation; if the obligation was unfulfilled, the hostages became permanent slaves (Nussbaum, 1994).

The institution of slavery extends back beyond recorded history. References to it appear in the ancient Babylonian code of Hammurabi. Its form and nature varied greatly in ancient society having been common in the Tigris-Euphrates civilizations and ancient Persia. In ancient Egypt slave labor was used in building temples and pyramids. The institution was familiar to and used by the ancient Hebrews, according to passages in the Bible (Christina Accomando, 1998).

Slavery was an established institution in Homer's Greece. Large portions of the population of the Greek city-states were of the servile class. There were domestic slaves, agricultural slaves, and artisans and workers. In Greece, although not quite as commonly as in Asia Minor, there were also public slaves such as those belonging to temples (Christina Accomando, 1998). In general it is thought slaves in Greek city-states ...