Slavery refers to a system in which the dominant group in a society owns (as property) and dominates and physically controls the bodies and lives of the subjugated group (slaves) and exploits their work. Both legal status and actual lived experience of slaves differed across historical periods and geographical regions. In some less harsh situations, slaves were guaranteed the same basic human rights, such as protection from harsh physical punishment and murder, while in the most vicious examples, slaves had the same status as physical property or livestock, meaning that they could be tortured, raped, and murdered without any legal consequences.  

It is important to emphasize the distinction between slavery and other types of unfree or semi-free laborers, mainly serfs and indentured servants. These three forms differed significantly in their legal status, rights, and ability to gain freedom. Slaves were legally considered the property of their owners and could be bought, sold, inherited, or traded. Serfs were peasants tied to a particular piece of land under the feudal system of medieval Europe. Unlike slaves, serfs were not owned by individual lords and could not usually be bought or sold separately from the land. They worked the lord's land and paid rents or labor services in exchange for protection and access to land for their own subsistence. Although they lacked freedom of movement, they retained certain legal and customary rights. Indentured servants voluntarily entered into contracts agreeing to work for a master for a specified number of years, often in exchange for passage to a colony, food, lodging, or the promise of land or money at the end of service. Although conditions could be harsh and abuse was common, they remained legal persons and eventually became free when their contracts expired.

Throughout history, there were many methods that societies used to enslave people. Externally, slaves were acquired by military conquests, intersocietal trade, or by organized raids or pirate attacks. Individuals also become slaves by being the offspring of slaves, due to an inability to pay debts, or as a punishment for a crime. In some societies, slaves could buy their freedom, as was the case for a small number of slaves in the Roman Empire.

In Slavery and Social Death (1982), Orlando Patterson presents a comparative study of slavery throughout history and across the planet, in sixty-six different societies. The societies covered in this study were at different levels of political and economic development; some were tribal, some were ancient states, and some represented cases of slavery in the modern age. He concludes that slavery existed before the emergence of written history, until the twentieth century, and that there is no area on the planet where slavery, in some form, did not exist at some point. Patterson wanted to explore the institutional patterns that enable slavery, as well as the very nature and internal dynamics of slavery. In all slave-owning societies, slaves are separated from the rest of society because they did not have a social life outside the property on which they worked, and this represents their "social death". In addition, they are depersonalized, so slaves lost their identity and became mere property. Patterson wants to resolve the contradiction that arises from the fact that slavery has always existed, and that, on the other hand, the idea of ​​freedom was one of the most important in the development of civilization.

                                   Slavery in Antiquity

Slavery dates back to ancient civilizations such as Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Israel, and Greece. The Greeks are often credited with developing the institution of chattel slavery, in which enslaved individuals were regarded as property rather than as human beings with rights. From its earliest forms, slavery involved harsh treatment, including physical punishment, humiliation, and social isolation. Enslaved people were deprived of their freedom, dignity, and personal identity, often being separated from their families, cultures, and communities. Women experienced an additional layer of oppression, as they were frequently subjected to sexual exploitation, including forced prostitution and abuse by slave owners or their associates.

In ancient Greece and Rome, slavery generally differed from later forms of slavery because it was not primarily based on race and was not always permanent. The children of enslaved individuals could sometimes attain freedom and become integrated into wider society. In some cases, enslaved people held relatively privileged positions and were entrusted with specialized roles that reflected their skills or talents, such as teaching, performing, or military service. Some were even adopted by their owners and designated as legal heirs.

Historian Geoffrey E. M. de Ste. Croix argues that although free producers made up the majority of the population in ancient societies, slavery remained the principal system of exploitation because it enabled wealthy elites to extract significant economic surplus from the labor of enslaved people.

The most theoretical explanations for the first emergence of the institution of slavery in history use the combination of the development of complex agriculture and military conquests as crucial factors that led to the introduction of slavery. Herbert Spencer argued that when one tribe becomes militarily strong enough to be able to permanently subjugate other tribes, a supreme chief appears, who rules the lower chiefs, and members of the conquered tribes start to work as slave labor for members of the conquering tribe. Plekhanov states that with the development of primitive agriculture came slavery, because, while pastoral tribes killed their captives because they could not use their labor, agricultural tribes turned captives into slaves so that they could cultivate the land. With the appearance of slavery, for the first time, came the exploitation of other people's labor and the first class division. A developed slave-owning system affects the overall economic relations and thus determines the form of socio-political organization. Friedrich Engels states that the advent of animal husbandry brought a sharp increase in the level of economic production, and this led to the emergence of slavery, because, for the first time in history, defeated members of another tribe could be of economic benefit to the victors, as slave labor. The introduction of cattle breeding gave a greater economic role to the men, so they also became owners of cattle and slaves.

                                    Slavery in the USA

The new system of slavery emerged as a direct consequence of European imperial expansion and the Atlantic slave trade. Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, approximately 11 million Africans were forcibly transported to the Americas, with nearly half a million taken to the English colonies of North America. While slavery had existed in earlier societies, the version that developed in the Americas was distinct in its scale, brutality, and permanence. It was designed as a system of extreme economic exploitation that granted slaveholders complete control over the labor, bodies, and lives of enslaved people.

In the British colonies, slavery relied not only on physical coercion but also on systematic dehumanization. Enslaved Africans were stripped of their identities, cultural traditions, and histories, and were legally classified as chattel property rather than human beings. Strict rules of behavior and social etiquette reinforced the power of slaveholders and maintained social control. Any perceived disobedience could result in severe punishments, including beatings, mutilation, or execution. Slavery became a “total institution,” affecting every aspect of enslaved people’s lives and denying them autonomy.

A defining feature of slavery in the Americas was its connection to race. Europeans developed racial ideologies and racism to justify the enslavement of Africans and their descendants. As a result, people of African descent were often subjected to suspicion and discrimination regardless of whether they were enslaved, free, or emancipated. Laws and social customs reinforced racial hierarchies, ensuring that people of color remained vulnerable to exploitation and oppression. These racial divisions outlasted slavery itself and continued to shape social and economic inequalities long after emancipation.

Despite the oppressive nature of slavery, enslaved people actively resisted their condition. They formed networks of communication and support that facilitated rebellion, escape, and other forms of resistance. Revolts such as the Stono Rebellion of 1739 demonstrated that enslaved people continuously challenged the institution. Resistance took many forms, from open rebellion to subtle acts of defiance, reflecting the determination of enslaved individuals to reclaim their freedom and humanity.

The economic purpose of slavery was to maximize profits for slaveholders through the complete exploitation of enslaved labor. Enslaved people had no legal rights to the products of their labor, their intellectual contributions, or even their children, who were also considered property. Life expectancy among enslaved populations was often extremely low because of harsh working conditions and poor treatment. Escape, death, or the rare possibility of emancipation were often the only means of release from this system.

Sexual exploitation was another central feature of slavery. Enslaved women were vulnerable to abuse by slaveholders, which served multiple purposes: satisfying the desires of the master class, increasing the enslaved population through childbirth, and further humiliating enslaved people. Such practices reinforced both economic and social control.

Historian Edmund Morgan argued that slavery played a crucial role in the development of American freedom and democracy for white citizens. According to Morgan, the wealth generated by enslaved labor made it possible for many white men to enjoy political participation and economic opportunities. Thus, American slavery was rooted in a combination of economic interests of agrarian capitalism, racial ideology, and cultural practices.

The institution of slavery evolved gradually in British North America. The British initially depended on the importation of European indentured servants, mostly Irish. Africans first brought to Virginia in the early 1600s appear to have occupied a status similar to indentured servants, serving for a limited period before gaining freedom. However, by the 1660s, hereditary slavery had become established, ensuring that the children of enslaved people would also be enslaved. Over time, slavery expanded and became increasingly important to the colonial and later American economy. Robin Blackburn argues that the economic profits from slavery in the British American colonies, the process he calls “extended primitive accumulation”, allowed Britain’s industrial revolution. 

During and after the American Revolution, ideas about liberty and natural rights spread, leading some people to question slavery. Northern states began adopting gradual emancipation laws, while the federal government prohibited the importation of enslaved people in 1808. Nevertheless, slavery remained deeply entrenched in the South, and debates over its expansion intensified. Measures such as the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850 attempted to manage sectional tensions, while the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision of 1857 strengthened pro-slavery arguments. The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and fears for the future of slavery ultimately contributed to Southern secession and the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861.

The effects of slavery extended beyond enslaved Africans. The system also harmed white laborers by suppressing wages and limiting economic opportunities. Because enslaved labor was cheaper and more profitable, it often displaced free workers. Poor white workers found themselves economically disadvantaged, yet racial privilege provided a psychological and social compensation that discouraged alliances with enslaved or free Black workers. Racism thus functioned as a tool that divided laborers and protected the interests of the slaveholding elite.

W. E. B. Du Bois, in Black Reconstruction (1935), emphasized these complex relationships. He argued that competition among enslaved people, free Black workers, and white laborers often generated racial conflict. Many white workers blamed Black labor for low wages rather than recognizing the broader economic system that exploited all workers. Du Bois showed that slavery shaped not only race relations but also labor relations, leaving a legacy that continued to influence American society long after the institution itself was abolished.

Franklin Frazier, based on case studies and statistics, performed a macro analysis of the family and social life of African Americans. One of his basic theoretical assumptions is that African Americans, having been brought to the American continent as slaves, did not retain the culture they had in Africa. The loss of culture is the result of a series of critical shocks: enslavement in Africa; boat trips to America; experiences of slavery; and, in the end, the social disorganization that followed the liberation. This means that the culture of African Americans is largely a product of the reaction to the conditions of slavery and the dominant culture. The culture that African Americans developed in the United States is mostly fatalistic because it represents "surrender" to white Americans, that is, acceptance of a subordinate position. The socio-cultural position of African Americans, as well as the peculiarity of their culture, led them to become a subordinate caste within the American social structure.

Angela Davis studied the topic of the rape of enslaved black women in the US. She states that white owners of slaves used rape as a method of controlling and subjugating slaves of both sexes. The stereotypes introduced during slavery still exist: African American women are portrayed as sexually unrestrained, and African American men as sexual predators.

Slavery in French, Spanish, and Portuguese Colonies in the Americas

The Spanish, French, and Portuguese systems of slavery in the Americas differed from the British model because of distinct cultural, political, economic, and religious influences. One of the most significant factors shaping Spanish, French, and Portuguese slavery was the influence of the Catholic Church.

Spanish colonization began with the pursuit of wealth, driven by stories of vast stores of gold in the Americas. Early Spanish settlers, led by explorers such as Columbus, sought to extract riches as quickly as possible. When these expectations proved unfounded, they turned to the exploitation of Indigenous peoples through kidnapping, enslavement, forced labor, and ransom. During the Spanish conquest between 1519 and 1523, extreme violence, warfare, disease, and harsh labor conditions devastated Indigenous populations. The native population declined dramatically due to smallpox, typhus, forced labor in mines and plantations, tribute demands, and cultural destruction. As Indigenous labor became scarce, the Spanish increasingly imported enslaved Africans to meet labor needs.

The Spanish colonies also experienced significant racial mixing. Because relatively few Spanish women migrated to the Americas, relationships between Spanish men, Indigenous women, and African women became common, although many involved coercion, sexual exploitation, or prostitution. In some cases, the Catholic Church encouraged formal marriage, contributing to the emergence of mixed-race, or creole, societies that blended Spanish, Indigenous, and African ancestry.

French colonial efforts were motivated primarily by economic gain through trade and agricultural production. Establishing colonies mainly in the Caribbean and parts of North America, the French initially developed relatively cooperative relationships with Indigenous peoples. However, as plantation agriculture expanded, they increasingly relied on enslaved Africans as their primary labor force. Similar to the Spanish colonies, the shortage of French women contributed to the widespread sexual exploitation of Indigenous and African women. Some of these relationships were formalized through marriage, which could provide social legitimacy, strengthen ties with Indigenous communities, and support the stability of colonial society.

The influence of Enlightenment ideals and resistance to oppression eventually inspired challenges to slavery. The most significant example occurred in Haiti, a French colony, where enslaved people launched a revolution in 1791. By 1803, the Haitian Revolution had successfully abolished slavery and established the first independent Black republic in the Americas, demonstrating the power of enslaved people to resist and overthrow colonial rule.

In Brazil, only Portuguese colony in the Americas, similar processes of exploitation and racial mixing happened. Brazilian scholar Gilberto Freyre, in the book The Masters and the Slaves (1933), examines the relationship between Portuguese colonizers and African slaves in Brazil, tracing the country’s social, cultural, and economic development through its patriarchal agrarian foundations. Central to Freyre’s analysis is the symbolic contrast between the casa-grande (the master’s house) and the senzala (the slave quarters), which he uses to explore both the divisions and the interactions within colonial society. He examines the historical and environmental conditions of the quasi-feudal society that emerged around sugar plantations in the sixteenth century and later adapted to coffee cultivation, which shaped a social order marked by deep inequality alongside significant cultural integration. Freyre demonstrates how interactions among European, African, and Indigenous cultures produced a distinct Brazilian society, characterized by widespread miscegenation and cultural fusion, yet firmly structured by the hierarchical relations between masters.

In the book Patterns of Race in the Americas, Marvin Harris explains the differences between racial relations and categories in Spanish colonies and in Brazil, on the one hand, and the US, on the other, through the difference between material conditions that existed in the US and Latin America during and after slavery. A key difference between the racial systems of the United States and Latin America was how race was defined. In the United States, racial identity was rigidly determined by ancestry; even a small amount of African heritage classified a person as Black. In contrast, Latin American societies had more flexible racial categories, allowing individuals of mixed ancestry to achieve higher social status based on their accomplishments or social position. While this did not eliminate inequality, it often reduced visible racial tensions and enabled greater social mobility.

According to Harris, another important distinction was the treatment of free Black and mixed-race people. In Latin America, they had more opportunities for advancement because smaller European populations required non-white individuals to fill various social and economic roles. In Anglo-America, where whites generally outnumbered non-whites, most skilled and non-servile occupations were reserved for whites. Harris also argues that differences between North and South American slave systems may be overstated, noting that in countries like Brazil, social inequalities were often linked to class as well as race, allowing some people of color greater participation in society than in the United States.

                                      Modern Slavery

Modern slavery refers to cases of slavery in the second half of the 20th and at the beginning of the 21st century. By the end of the Second World War, an absolute majority of countries had abolished the institution of slavery. Remaining countries abolished slavery in the next few decades: Bhutan in 1948, Saudi Arabia in 1962, South Yemen in 1967, and Oman in 1970. The last country to formally abolish slavery was Mauritania in 1981, although owning slaves wasn’t criminalized as a felony in that country until 2007.  Since 1981, all forms of slavery across the world have been illegal, both by international and national laws. Kevin Bales, in Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy (1999), estimates that (at the time his book was published) there were twenty-seven million slaves in the global economy. A study made by the international human rights group Walk Free, in their global Slavery Index report, estimates that “50 million people were living in modern slavery on any given day in 2021, an increase of 10 million people since 2016.” Of those 50 million, an estimated 22 million people are enslaved in forced marriages, with 40% of them being children. 27.6 million people are enslaved in forced labour, with 17.3 million of them in the private economy, 6.3 million in forced prostitution, and around 4 million are forced to work by state authorities. Countries with the highest absolute number of modern slaves are: India (11 million), China (5,8 million), North Korea (2.7 million), Pakistan (2,3 million), and Russia (1,9 million). Countries with the highest per capita number of modern slaves are: North Korea, Eritrea, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. The report states that global problems such as gender inequality, climate change, wars and civil wars, political oppression, poverty, and COVID-19 lead to a large increase in the last decade in the number of the modern slave world wide.

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