Pre-Transatlantic Slave Trade Slave Systems

This chapter traces the roots of cross-border labor migration from ancient civilizations like Egypt, Sumerian, and Ancient Greece, through the medieval period under empires like the Romans and the Ottomans, to the proliferation of slave markets across Asia, Africa, and Europe. The chapter then examines the enslavement of Amerindians and Native Americans by the Spanish Empire in the New World after Columbus discovered the New World. The narrative underscores the persistence of large-scale slavery before the Transatlantic Slave Trade and its potential influence on the exploitation of foreign labor by European powers for colonization and industrial capital accumulation.