Changes

Slavery as a form of war booty or bondage for being in debt largely continued in many societies even after ancient period and into the Medieval period. Slavery did vary across societies, where sometimes slaves were treated as part of the family or responsibilities, including power within government, were even given to slaves. However, racial-based slavery emerged as a new strand of slavery by the early Medieval period. Initially, Arab slave traders began to raid and establish slave colonies in Africa. The slaves, or called zanj, began to originate from Sub-Saharan Africa, which took advantage of other slave trade existing within Africa. Colonies soon developed, such as Zanzibar, that began import ports for slave traders connecting the Arab Middle East and Africa. As many of these slaves were black, slavery over time began to be associated with racial aspects. No longer were slaves racially indistinguishable from other others in society. Rather, the color of skin began to be a distinguishing feature within slavery. Slavery did continue people from a variety of backgrounds. White Europeans, for instance, were sometimes enslaved by Arab traders. Slaves also had high positions of power and even sometimes became the ruling class, such as the Mamluks in Egypt. They mamluks, meaning property, were brought in as slaves in Egypt and began to serve in the army. Over time, they became influential and took the reigns of power directly.  Nevertheless, the beginning of association of slavery with race had begun and with the discovery of the New World took on a new dimension. The key change was the collapse of the Silk Road as a leading trade route in the Old World and rise of transatlantic trade with the discovery of the New World. The origin of Western race-based slavery began slightly earlier in the 15th century, with the Portuguese engaging more with Africa. From the beginning, slaves were often captured by other Africans in their inter-tribal wars. European slave trades simply traded with Africans for slaves, where the slaves were then shipped to the New World. This trade became to be associated with high intensity labor, such as the production of coffee and sugar cane, which were two emerging products in Europe in the 15-16th centuries. It was the impetus of the slave trade that motivated European explorers to expand their exploration of Africa and the New World. In the 16th century, the profitability of agriculture in the New World and slaves became so high that it led to Portugal to directly take control of parts of Africa, specifically in Angola. However, the trade was not completely one-way, as African states and tribes began to exact tribute from European traders for access to the slave trade and to pay shipping fees as they moved slaves from the African coast.  By the 16th and 17th centuries, the Caribbean had emerged as a major destination for British, French, and Dutch interests. Slaves began to be moved to these areas in greater numbers. As British naval power expanded in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, they soon became the largest exporters of slaves. Europeans still mostly avoided going into interior regions of Africa, mostly depending on Africans to capture or bring them slaves. However, the difference between the European and African systems of slavery was the European system began to associated slavery as a racial-based enterprise, given that almost all slaves were black, while African slavery was based on warfare and was not even inheritable to the children of slaves.