The Characteristics Of Human Slavery In 1450-1750 CE

During the era of 1450-1750 CE, the characteristics of human slavery throughout the world started as a system of assistance gained from the capturing of enemy soldiers and adopting them into the victors society, but changed to a large trafficking business reaching overseas, and then to inherited positions gained from being born into slavery. However, throughout this time period, slavery continued to center in Africa and the Middle East, and remained a prime source of human labor in every society, due to their ability to be easily obtained and cheaply managed.
Before the Atlantic Slave Trade, most slaves were acquired through capturing soldiers and citizens following a military skirmage, and were not viewed as the lowest class of citizens.

After the discovery of sugarcane from the Arabs, European nations began establishing plantation communities throughout the Americas which were rich with sugarcane. With the creation of these plantations, which focused on mass production of various products, a large amount of cheap human labor was necessary in keeping up with production quotas. Therefore, the Europeans found the best option was to import boatloads of African slaves, who were skilled, non Christian, and immune to many of the diseases that the Native Americans had previously perished from. Mexico, under the rule of the Spanish at the time, had previously relied on Aztecs acquired from warfare for human labor. However, as foreign diseases started to contaminate the enslaved in unsanitary conditions, and the Aztecs began to perish at uncontrollable speeds, the Spanish had had to rely on slaves exported from West Africa to fulfill their agricultural needs in plantations, and their economical needs in mines. In North America in the 17th century, slaves were imported from Africa in order to mass produce tobacco, a popular plant throughout the world, most commonly found in the Americas. Like in Mexico, these slaves working in tobacco plantations were purchased solely due to the fact that they were cheap and easily replaceable, not requiring a monthly

In all of the nations dependent on forced human labor, the enslaved were generally African/Middle Eastern or of African/Middle Eastern descent. In the Ottoman Empire, slaves were most commonly used as soldiers, janissaries, and Harem guards. Since the Ottomans believed it controversial to their religion to enslave other Muslims, Jews, or Christians, they found the best solution was to enslave the Pagan Africans in the nearby African tribes. In Africa, a popular trading route was the trans-Saharan Slave Trade. Much like the Atlantic Slave trade, but over the desert rather than the ocean, the Saharan slave trade system transported large quantities of slaves across Africa and continued to thrive until well past the end of the era. Also, following the Age of Exploration, West Africa became the main source for slaves specifically the formally known nation of Kongo-Angola. The main reason for Africa being the largest source of slaves was because, unlike the surrounding nations which were powerful, rich empires, Africa consisted of small tribes and kingdoms. These kingdoms’ greatest exports would consist of gold, salt, and slaves, in exchange for the goods imported from the surrounding