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Slavery is the legal and economic status of being property.
Slavery probably originated in early agricultural societies, evidence of slavery among the ancient Germans, Greeks, Egyptians, Arabs and many African peoples is evident. The slaves then being recruited from prisoners of war, captured by raiding parties and also frequently gamblers who to repay their debt became a slave for a period of time.
In Greece and Rome slaves formed the economic basis of society. From the 2nd century BC conquest flooded Rome with slaves, who in the 1st cent, AD outnumbered free men in Italy, and several slave revolts occurred. The economic crisis of the 2nd century AD onwards led to alleviation of the slaves' lot, and serfdom replaced slavery. It nevertheless died out slowly surviving in England until the 11th century The colonisation of America led to a revival of slavery in the 16th century and to the establishment of a traffic in Negro slaves.
The popular understanding of African slaves used by Europeans to work the sugar plantations of the West Indies originated with the Portuguese who upon exploring the kingdom of Dahomey (now Benin) in West Africa were introduced to slavery by the Dahomean king. The Dahomeans bringing back slaves from other countries inland, many being sacrificed in religious ceremonies, others killed and cooked to feed the soldiers and others used as unpaid workers. From the Portuguese the concept spread to the Dutch and the English and French.
The treatment of slaves in European colonies varied. In French colonies slaves were no allowed to be traded once they had reached the colony, and had rights including religious education. In Jamaica and other English colonies the slaves were treated far harsher, and in one colony the penalty for a master killing a Negro slave was a fine of just fifteen shillings. Later legislation in the 18th century made it a capital offence in English colonies to kill a Negro slave, but it seems unlikely justice was observed.
The concept of slavery was abhorrent to many English people certainly as early as the 18th century, an early edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica published in 1797 calls for an end to slavery in no uncertain terms. An 19th century petition to the British parliament calling for an abolition of slavery failed because many of the signatories were found to be under age or uneducated 'peasants', and as such many wealthy and eligible to vote opponents of slavery refused to be involved with the petition. It is clear, also, that the rich and influential plantation owners and slave traders were not keen to lose their lucrative trade and lobbied hard to counter the abolitionist movement.
Humanitarian agitation led to the abolition of the slave trade in the British dominions in 1807 and of slave-holding itself in 1833. Leaders of the anti-slavery movement were Oranville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson and Wilberforce. In the USA the American Civil War turned largely on slavery which was declared illegal by Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Although officially abolished, slavery is widespread throughout the Arab world and Africa and still occurs within the rest of the world including Britain and America, and it would be more accurate to say slavery is illegal, rather than abolished.
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