Slavery’s Roots: War and Economic Domination
·
6800 B.C. The world’s first city-state
emerges in Mesopotamia. Land ownership and the early stages of technology bring
war—in which enemies are captured and forced to work: slavery.
·
2575 B.C. Temple art celebrates the capture
of slaves in battle. Egyptians capture slaves by sending special expeditions up
the Nile River.
·
550 B.C. The city-state of Athens uses
as many as 30,000 slaves in its silver mines.
·
120 A.D. Roman military campaigns
capture slaves by the thousands. Some estimate the population of Rome is more
than half slave.
·
500 Anglo-Saxons enslave the native Britons after
invading England.
·
1000 Slavery is a normal practice in England’s rural,
agricultural economy, as destitute workers place themselves and their families
in a form of debt bondage to landowners.
·
1380 In the aftermath of the Black Plague, Europe’s slave
trade thrives in response to a labor shortage. Slaves pour in from all over the
continent, the Middle East, and North Africa.
·
1444 Portuguese traders bring the first large cargo of
slaves from West Africa to Europe by sea—establishing the Atlantic slave trade.
·
1526 Spanish explorers bring the first African slaves to
settlements in what would become the United States. These first
African-Americans stage the first known slave revolt in the Americas.
·
1550 Slaves are depicted as objects of conspicuous
consumption in much Renaissance art.
·
1641 Massachusetts becomes the first British colony to
legalize slavery.
