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Chattel slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
was a major institution and a significant part of the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
's economy and traditional society. The main sources of slaves were wars and politically organized enslavement expeditions in the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
,
Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
,
Southern Europe Southern Europe is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, C ...
,
Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
,
Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...
, the
Western Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...
and
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
. It has been reported that the selling price of slaves decreased after large military operations.Spyropoulos Yannis, Slaves and freedmen in 17th- and early 18th-century Ottoman Crete, ''Turcica'', 46, 2015, p. 181, 182. In
Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
(present-day
Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
), the administrative and political center of the Ottoman Empire, about a fifth of the 16th- and 17th-century population consisted of slaves. The number of slaves imported to the Ottoman Empire from various geographic sources in the
early modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...
remains inadequately quantified. The Ottoman historians
Halil İnalcık Halil İnalcık (7 September 1916 – 25 July 2016) was a Turkish historian. His highly influential research centered on social and economic approaches to the Ottoman Empire. His academic career started at Ankara University, where he completed h ...
and Dariusz Kołodziejczyk have tentatively estimated that 2 million enslaved persons of Rus, Pole, and Ukrainian extraction, captured in Tatar raids, entered the Ottoman Empire between 1500 and 1700. However, other historians, most notably Alan Fisher, have argued that the propensity of contemporary sources on both sides of the
Black Sea slave trade The Black Sea slave trade trafficked people across the Black Sea from Eastern Europe and the Caucasus to slavery in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The Black Sea slave trade was a center of the slave trade between Europe and the rest of t ...
to inflate their estimates for the number of captives taken by Tatar raiders has rendered it impossible to accurately calculate the number of enslaved persons passing into Ottoman lands via this route. In addition, an estimated 1 to 1.5 million slaves entered the Ottoman Empire from the Mediterranean between 1530 and 1780. A smaller number of slaves also arrived in this period from the Caucasus, Africa, and other regions, but exact figures remain to be calculated. Individual members of the Ottoman slave class, called a ''
kul Kul or KUL may refer to: Airports * KUL, current IATA code for Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia * KUL, former IATA code for Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (Subang Airport), Malaysia Populated places * Kul, Iran, a village in Kurdist ...
'' in Turkish, could achieve high status in some positions.
Eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...
harem A harem is a domestic space that is reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic Domestic worker, servants, and other un ...
guards and
janissaries A janissary (, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops. They were the first modern standing army, and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms, adopted du ...
are some of the better known positions an enslaved person could hold, but enslaved women were actually often supervised by them. However, women played and held the most important roles within the harem institution. A large percentage of officials in the Ottoman government were bought as slaves, raised free, and integral to the success of the Ottoman Empire from the 14th to 19th centuries. Many enslaved officials themselves owned numerous slaves, although the
Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...
himself owned by far the most. By raising and specially training slaves as officials in palace schools such as Enderun, where they were taught to serve the Sultan and other educational subjects, the Ottomans created administrators with intricate knowledge of government and fanatic loyalty. Other slaves were simply laborers used for hard labor, such as for example agricultural laborers and
galley slave A galley slave was a slave rowing in a galley, either a Convict, convicted criminal sentenced to work at the oar (''French language, French'': galérien), or a kind of human chattel, sometimes a prisoner of war, assigned to the duty of rowing. ...
s. Female slaves were primarily used as either domestic house servants or as concubines (sex slaves), who were subjected to harem gender segregation. While there were slaves of many different ethnicities and race was not the determined factor in who could be enslaved, there was still a racial hierarchy among slaves, since slaves were valued and assigned tasks and considered to have different abilities due to racial stereotypes. Even after several measures to ban slave trade and restrict slavery, introduced due to Western diplomatic pressure in the late 19th century, the practice continued largely unabated into the early 20th century.


Background

The institution of slavery in the Ottoman Empire was modelled on the institution of slavery in the previous Muslim empires of the Middle East: the slavery in the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661), the slavery in the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750),
slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate Chattel slavery was a major part of society, culture and economy in the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) of the Islamic Golden Age, which during its history included most of the Middle East. While slavery was an important part also of the pr ...
(750–1258) and slavery in the Mamluk Sultanate (1258–1516), which in turn were all built upon slavery in Islamic Law. Slavery was regulated by the '' Seriat'', the religious Islamic Law, and by the secular Sultan's law ''Kanun'', which was essentially supplementary regulations to facilitate the implementation of the Seriat law. Islamic Law allowed for Muslims to enslave non-Muslims, unless they were zimmis (protected minorities who had accepted Muslim rule), and slaves were therefore non-Muslims imported from non-Muslim lands outside of the Empire. While Muslims could only enslave non-Muslims, the conversion of a non-Muslim slave to Islam after their enslavement did not require the enslaver to manumit his slave. Since all non-Muslims outside of Muslim lands were legitimate targets of enslavement, there were slaves of different races. Officially, there were no difference made between slaves of difference races, but in practice, white slaves were given the highest status, with Ethiopians second and fully black African slaves given the lowest status among slaves.


Ottoman slave trade

Slaves were transported to the Ottoman Empire via several different routes, targeting different supply sources. The Ottoman Empire focused on three main slave trade routes: white slaves from the Balkans used for military slavery; black slaves imported from Africa, often from Sudan via Egypt; and white slaves imported via the Black Sea and Caucasus.


African slave trade

Africa was a major target supply of slaves for the Ottoman Empire. The Africans were largely Pagans and hence were viewed as legitimate targets of slavery by Islamic Law. Slaves were trafficked to the Ottoman Empire via three main routes: the Trans-Saharan slave trade via Egypt and Libya; the Red Sea slave trade across the Red Sea; and the Indian Ocean slave trade from East Africa via the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Peninsula. These slave routes were all inherited from the previous Muslim Empire.


Indian Ocean slave trade

As there were restrictions on the enslavement of Muslims and of "
People of the Book People of the Book, or ''Ahl al-Kitāb'' (), is a classification in Islam for the adherents of those religions that are regarded by Muslims as having received a divine revelation from Allah, generally in the form of a holy scripture. The clas ...
" (Jews and Christians) living under Muslim rule, pagan areas in Africa became a popular source of slaves. Known as the
Zanj Zanj (, adj. , ''Zanjī''; from ) is a term used by medieval Muslim geographers to refer to both a certain portion of Southeast Africa (primarily the Swahili Coast) and to its Bantu inhabitants. It has also been used to refer to Africans col ...
( Bantu), these slaves originated mainly from the
African Great Lakes The African Great Lakes (; ) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. The series includes Lake Victoria, the second-largest freshwater lake in the world by area; Lake Tangan ...
region as well as from
Central Africa Central Africa (French language, French: ''Afrique centrale''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''África central''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''África Central'') is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries accordin ...
. The Zanj were employed in households, on plantations and in the army as slave-soldiers. Some could ascend to become high-rank officials, but in general Zanj were considered inferior to European and Caucasian slaves. One way for Zanj slaves to serve in high-ranking roles involved becoming one of the African
eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...
s of the Ottoman palace. This position was used as a political tool by Sultan
Murad III Murad III (; ; 4 July 1546 – 16 January 1595) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death in 1595. His rule saw battles with the Habsburg monarchy, Habsburgs and exhausting wars with the Safavid Iran, Safavids. The long-inde ...
() as an attempt to destabilize the
Grand Vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...
by introducing another source of power to the capital. After being purchased by a member of the
Ottoman court Ottoman court was the culture that evolved around the court of the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman court was held at the Topkapı Palace in Constantinople where the sultan was served by an army of pages and scholars. Some served in the treasury and th ...
, Mullah Ali was introduced to the first chief Black eunuch, Mehmed Aga. Due to Mehmed Aga's influence, Mullah Ali was able to make connections with prominent colleges and tutors of the day, including
Hoca Sadeddin Efendi Hoca Sadeddin Efendi (; 1536/1537 – October 2, 1599İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, ''Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı'', Türkiye Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1971, p. 118. ) was an Ottoman Islamic scholar, theologian, official, and historian, a teacher of the f ...
(1536/37–1599), the tutor of Murad III. Through the network he had built with the help of his education and the black eunuchs, Mullah Ali secured several positions early on. He worked as a teacher in
Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
, a deputy judge, and an inspector of royal endowments. In 1620, Mullah Ali was appointed as chief judge of the capital and in 1621 he became the ''kadiasker'', or chief judge, of the European provinces and the first black man to sit on the imperial council. At this time, he had risen to such power that a French ambassador described him as the person who truly ran the empire. Although Mullah Ali was often challenged because of his blackness and his connection to the African eunuchs, he was able to defend himself through his powerful network of support and his own intellectual productions. As a prominent scholar, he wrote an influential book in which he used logic and the
Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
to debunk stereotypes and prejudice against dark-skinned people and to delegitimize arguments for why Africans should be slaves. Today, thousands of Afro Turks, the descendants of the Zanj slaves in the Ottoman Empire, continue to live in modern
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
. An Afro-Turk, Mustafa Olpak, founded the first officially recognised organisation of Afro-Turks, the Africans' Culture and Solidarity Society (Afrikalılar Kültür ve Dayanışma Derneği) in
Ayvalık Ayvalık (), formerly also known as Kydonies (), is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Balıkesir Province, Turkey. Its area is 305 km2, and its population is 75,126 (2024). It is a seaside town on the northwestern Aegean Se ...
. Olpak claims that about 2,000 Afro-Turks live in modern Turkey.


Red Sea slave trade

The Upper
Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...
Valley and southern
Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
were also significant sources of slaves in the Ottoman Empire. Although the Christian Ethiopians defeated the Ottoman invaders in the Ottoman–Ethiopian War of 1557–1589, they did not tackle enslavement of southern pagans and Muslims as long as they were paid taxes by the Ottoman slave traders. Pagans and Muslims from southern Ethiopian areas such as Kaffa and
Jimma Jimma () is the largest city in southwestern Oromia Region, Ethiopia. It is a special zone of the Oromia Region and is surrounded by Jimma Zone. It has a latitude and longitude of . Prior to the 2007 census, Jimma was reorganized administrativ ...
were taken north to
Ottoman Egypt Ottoman Egypt was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire after the conquest of Mamluk Egypt by the Ottomans in 1517. The Ottomans administered Egypt as a province (''eyalet'') of their empire (). It remained formally an Ottoman prov ...
and also to ports on the
Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...
for export to
Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...
and the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...
via the
Red Sea slave trade The Red Sea slave trade, sometimes known as the Islamic slave trade, Arab slave trade, or Oriental slave trade, was a slave trade across the Red Sea trafficking Africans from Sub-Saharan Africa in the African continent to slavery in the A ...
. In 1838, it was estimated that 10,000 to 12,000 slaves were arriving in Egypt annually using this route . A significant number of these slaves were young women, and European travelers in the region recorded seeing large numbers of Ethiopian slaves in the Arab world at the time. The Swiss traveler
Johann Ludwig Burckhardt Johann Ludwig (also known as John Lewis, Jean Louis) Burckhardt (24 November 1784 – 15 October 1817) was a Swiss traveller, geographer and Orientalist. Burckhardt assumed the alias ''Sheikh Ibrahim Ibn Abdallah'' during his travels in Arabia ...
estimated that 5,000 Ethiopian slaves passed through the port of
Suakin Suakin or Sawakin (, Beja: ''Oosook'') is a port city in northeastern Sudan, on the west coast of the Red Sea. It was formerly the region's chief port, but is now secondary to Port Sudan, about north. Suakin used to be considered the height ...
alone every year, headed for Arabia, and added that most of them were young women who ended up being
prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...
d by their owners. The English traveler Charles M. Doughty later (in the 1880s) also recorded Ethiopian slaves in Arabia, and stated that they were brought to Arabia every year during the
Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...
pilgrimage. In some cases, female Ethiopian slaves were preferred to male ones, with some Ethiopian slave cargoes recording female-to-male slave ratios of two to one. Zubay Manaus of northern Sudan, whom achieved the rank of bey and pasha was an infamous slaver.


Trans-Saharan slave trade

Ottoman Libya (1551–1912) was a major route for the
Trans-Saharan slave trade The trans-Saharan slave trade, also known as the Arab slave trade, was a Slavery, slave trade in which slaves Trans-Saharan trade, were mainly transported across the Sahara. Most were moved from sub-Saharan Africa to North Africa to be sold to ...
from Sub-Saharan Africa across the Sahara to the Ottoman Empire. Even though the slave trade was officially abolished in Tripoli by the Firman of 1857, this law was never enforced, and continued in practice at least until the 1890s.Lisa Anderson
"Nineteenth-Century Reform in Ottoman Libya"
International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 16, No. 3. (Aug., 1984), pp. 325-348.
The British Consul in
Benghazi Benghazi () () is the List of cities in Libya, second-most-populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 859,000 in 2023. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, Ben ...
wrote in 1875 that the slave trade had reached an enormous scale and that the slaves who were sold in
Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
and
Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
had quadrupled in price. This trade, he wrote, was encouraged by the
local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...
. The slave trade in Libya continued throughout the Ottoman period. Adolf Vischer writes in an article published in 1911 that: "...it has been said that slave traffic is still going on on the Benghazi- Wadai route, but it is difficult to test the truth of such an assertion as, in any case, the traffic is carried on secretly". The Trans-Saharan slave trade via Libya was not eradicated until late into the Italian colonial period of Libya.


Barbary slave trade

For centuries, large vessels on the Mediterranean relied on European galley slaves supplied by Ottoman and Barbary slave traders. Hundreds of thousands of Europeans were captured by
Barbary pirates The Barbary corsairs, Barbary pirates, Ottoman corsairs, or naval mujahideen (in Muslim sources) were mainly Muslim corsairs and privateers who operated from the largely independent Barbary states. This area was known in Europe as the Barba ...
and sold as slaves in
North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 19th centuries. During the height of the Barbary slave trade in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, the Barbary states, with the exception of
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
, were nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, but de facto independent. Many slaves captured by the Barbary corsairs were sold eastward into Ottoman territories before, during, and after Barbary's period of Ottoman rule. While most of the slave raids occurred in the Western Mediterranean, some raiders plundered as far north as
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, the Faroe Islands, and
Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
. The Barbary slave trade was ended with the
Barbary Wars The Barbary Wars were a series of two wars fought by the United States, Sweden, and the Kingdom of Sicily against the Barbary states (including Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli) and Morocco of North Africa in the early 19th century. Sweden had bee ...
in the early 19th century.


Circassian slave trade

During the early modern Crimean slave trade, the trade of Circassians from the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
expanded and developed in to what was termed a luxury slave trade route, providing elite slaves to the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
and the
Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
. The Crimean slave trade was one of the biggest suppliers of concubines (female sex slaves) to the
Ottoman Imperial Harem The Imperial Harem () of the Ottoman Empire was the Ottoman sultan's harem – composed of the concubines, wives, servants (both female slaves and eunuchs), female relatives and the sultan's concubines – occupying a secluded portion (serag ...
, and
virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...
slave girls (normally arriving as children) were given to the
Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...
from local statesmen, family members, grand dignitaries and provincial governors, and particularly from the Crimean Khan; the Ottoman Sultan
Ahmed III Ahmed III (, ''Aḥmed-i sālis''; was sultan of the Ottoman Empire and a son of sultan Mehmed IV (r. 1648–1687). His mother was Gülnuş Sultan, originally named Evmania Voria, who was an ethnic Greek. He was born at Hacıoğlu Pazarcık, ...
received one hundred Circassian virgin girl slaves as presents upon his accession to the throne. When the Crimean slave trade was ended with the
Annexation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire The territory of the Crimean Khanate was annexed by the Russian Empire on . Russia had wanted more control over the Black Sea, and an end to the Crimean slave trade, and as such, waged a series of wars against the Ottoman Empire and its Cri ...
in the 18th century, the trade of Circassians was redirected from
Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...
and went directly from the Caucasus to the Ottoman Empire, developing in to a separate slave trade which continued until the 20th century.


Crimean slave trade

The
Black Sea slave trade The Black Sea slave trade trafficked people across the Black Sea from Eastern Europe and the Caucasus to slavery in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The Black Sea slave trade was a center of the slave trade between Europe and the rest of t ...
were a major supply source of slaves to the Ottoman Empire. The center of the Black Sea slave trade were the Crimea. The
Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate, self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of th ...
conducted regular slave raids in to Eastern Europe, known as Crimean-Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe. The captives were taken to the Crimea, were they were divided between the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire, since the Crimean Khanate was the vassal of the Ottoman Empire. The
Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate, self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of th ...
maintained a massive slave trade with the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East until the late eighteenth century. In a series of
slave raids Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
euphemistically known as the " harvesting of the steppe",
Crimean Tatars Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...
enslaved East Slavic peasants. The
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
and
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
suffered a series of
Tatar invasions These are lists of battles of the Mongol invasion of Europe. Lists of battles Mongol invasions of Eastern Europe Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' (1223, 1237–1241) Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria (1223–1236) * 1223: First Mongol ...
, the goal of which was to loot, pillage, and capture slaves, the Slavic languages even developed a term for the Ottoman slavery (, based on Turkish and Arabic words for capture - ''esir'' or ''asir''). The borderland area to the south-east was in a state of semi-permanent warfare until the 18th century. It is estimated that up to 75% of the Crimean population consisted of slaves or freed slaves. The 17th century Ottoman writer and traveller
Evliya Çelebi Dervish Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi (), was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman explorer who travelled through his home country during its cultural zenith as well as neighboring lands. He travelled for over 40 years, rec ...
estimated that there were about 400,000 slaves in the Crimea but only 187,000 free Muslims. Polish historian Bohdan Baranowski assumed that in the 17th century the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (present-day
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
,
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
and
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
) lost an average of 20,000 yearly and as many as one million in all years combined from 1500 to 1644.Brian L. Davies (2014).
Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe
'. pp. 15–26.
Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...
.
A
Hutterite Hutterites (; ), also called Hutterian Brethren (German: ), are a communal ethnoreligious branch of Anabaptists, who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the early 16th century and have formed intent ...
chronicle reports that in 1605, during the
Long Turkish War The Long Turkish War (, ), Long War (; , ), or Thirteen Years' War was an indecisive land war between the Holy Roman Empire (primarily the Habsburg monarchy) and the Ottoman Empire, primarily over the principalities of Wallachia, Transylvania, ...
, some 240 Hutterites were abducted from their homes in
Upper Hungary Upper Hungary (, "Upland"), is the area that was historically the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now mostly present-day Slovakia. The region has also been called ''Felső-Magyarország'' ( literally: "Upper Hungary"; ). During the ...
by the Ottoman Turkish army and their Tatar allies, and sold into Ottoman slavery. Many worked in the palace or for the Sultan personally.


Tributary slaves

Greeks paid a land tax and a heavy tax on trade, the latter taking advantage of the wealthy Greeks to fill the state coffers. The non-Muslim citizens of the Ottoman Empire, were made to pay the ''
jizya Jizya (), or jizyah, is a type of taxation levied on non-Muslim subjects of a state governed by Sharia, Islamic law. The Quran and hadiths mention jizya without specifying its rate or amount,Sabet, Amr (2006), ''The American Journal of Islamic Soc ...
'', or Islamic poll-tax which all non-Muslims in the empire were forced to pay instead of the
Zakat Zakat (or Zakāh زكاة) is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Zakat is the Arabic word for "Giving to Charity" or "Giving to the Needy". Zakat is a form of almsgiving, often collected by the Muslim Ummah. It is considered in Islam a relig ...
that Muslims must pay as part of the 5 pillars of Islam. Failure to pay the jizya could result in the pledge of protection of the Christian's life and property becoming void, facing the alternatives of conversion, enslavement, or death. As had been the case in the Muslim empires before, the Ottoman Empire also practiced tributary slavery. The most famous "tribute of children" (devshirmeh) was that of the boys, an enslavement known as
Devshirme Devshirme (, usually translated as "child levy" or "blood tax", , .) was the Ottoman practice of forcibly recruiting soldiers and bureaucrats from among the children of their Balkan Christian subjects and raising them in the religion of Islam ...
, by which non-Muslim boys where enslaved as children, forcibly converted to Islam and raised to serve as slave soldiers. However, this was not the only form of tributary slavery in the Ottoman Empire. Christian Greek girls were also taken in order to serve as odalisques in
harem A harem is a domestic space that is reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic Domestic worker, servants, and other un ...
s.


Devshirme

In the ''
devşirme Devshirme (, usually translated as "child levy" or "blood tax", , .) was the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman practice of Conscription, forcibly recruiting soldiers and bureaucrats from among the children of their Balkan Christian subjects and raising th ...
'', which connotes "draft", "blood tax" or "child collection", young Christian boys from the
Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
and
Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
were taken from their homes and families, forcibly converted to Islam, and enlisted into the most famous branch of the ''Kapıkulu'', the
janissaries A janissary (, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops. They were the first modern standing army, and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms, adopted du ...
. Most of the military commanders of the Ottoman forces, imperial administrators, and ''de facto'' rulers of the Empire, such as
Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Sokollu Mehmed Pasha (; ; ; 1505 – 11 October 1579) was an Ottoman statesman of Serb origin most notable for being the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. Born in Ottoman Herzegovina into an Orthodox Christian family, Mehmed was recruited a ...
, were recruited in this way. By 1609, the Sultan's ''Kapıkulu'' forces increased to about 100,000.


War captives

The Ottoman Empire practiced the custom of enslaving both soldiers and civilians from enemy states during wartime. This form of enslavement had a long history in the Muslim world and was in accordance with Islamic law. The definition of war in Islamic law did not necessitate actual warfare, since by the doctrin of
Divisions of the world in Islam In classical Islamic law, there are three major divisions of the world which are ''dar al-Islam'' (), denoting regions where Islamic law prevails,
, the dar al-Islam (the Muslim world) was by definition always in a state of war with dar al-harb (the non-Muslim world). The enslavement of war captives was ongoing from the beginning of the Ottoman conquests in the 14th-century until the
Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...
(1821–1829). In accordance with Islamic law, however, only non-Muslim war captives could be made slaves. Consequently, enslavement only occurred along the frontiers of non-Muslim lands, and did not happen in warfare against Muslim enemies, such as for example the Mamluk Sultanate.


Byzantine Empire

During the
fall of Constantinople The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city was captured on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 55-da ...
of 1453, wartime atrocities connected to slavery took place in which women, girls and boys were subjected to rape and then taken captive and sold in to slavery. Barbaro Nicolò described how the Ottoman soldiers captured nuns whom they first raped and then sold as slaves on the slave market: During the pillage of Constantinople, contemporary witnesses described how women and girls were stripped, raped and captured for a life of slavery in the
Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...
itself: In accordance with
Islamic law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...
of
slavery in Islam Islamic views on slavery represent a complex and multifaceted body of Islamic thought,Brockopp, Jonathan E., "Slaves and Slavery", in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC. ...
, the non-Muslim war captives could be sold on the slave market to a life of
sexual slavery Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership rights, right over one or more people with the intent of Coercion, coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activities. This includ ...
in the form of
concubinage in Islam In classical Islamic law, a concubine was an unmarried slave-woman with whom her master engaged in sexual relations. Concubinage was widely accepted by Muslim scholars until the abolition of slavery in the 20th-century. Most modern Muslims, both ...
, and Nicolas de Nicolay described how girls were displayed naked at the city's slave market to be purchased. Among the more famous cases were those taken as slaves by the sultan himself. Critobulus noted: "As for the Sultan, he was sensual rather than acquisitive, and more interested in people than in goods. Phrantzes, the faithful servant of the Basileus, has recounted the fate of his young and good-looking family. His three daughters were consigned to the Imperial harem, even the youngest, a girl of fourteen, who died there of despair. His only son John, a fifteen-year-old boy, was killed by the sultan for having repelled his advances." A famous case was that of Jacob Notaras, son of Loukas Notaras, who was said to be exceptionally beautiful. His father Loukas Notaras was executed for refusing to deliver his son, along with his eldest son and son-in-law, while Jacob was reserved for the pleasure of the sultan. Thus, after the execution of his father and brother, Jacob was added to Mehmed's
harem A harem is a domestic space that is reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic Domestic worker, servants, and other un ...
as his child sex slave. One of the concubines (sex slaves) in the
Ottoman Imperial harem The Imperial Harem () of the Ottoman Empire was the Ottoman sultan's harem – composed of the concubines, wives, servants (both female slaves and eunuchs), female relatives and the sultan's concubines – occupying a secluded portion (serag ...
of Sultan Mehmet II was Çiçek Hatun, who was also referred to as a slave-girl captured during the fall of Constantinople.


Aegean islands

In 1479, during the Ottoman conquest of the
Despotate of Epirus The Despotate of Epirus () was one of the Greek Rump state, successor states of the Byzantine Empire established in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 by a branch of the Angelos dynasty. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the ...
, the islands of Santa Mavra, Cephalonia and Ithaka, the ducal officials were "cut to pieces", the castle of Cephalonia was burned and the peasantry was enslaved and taken to Constantinople as a gift to the sultan, who engaged in "slave breeding" by separating husbands and wives and "mating" them with Ethiopian slaves with the purpose of "producing a race of grey slaves", while other slaves from St Mavra were sold by Ahmed Pascha for ten soldi apiece. In 1537, the Ottoman fleet under Admiral
Hayreddin Barbarossa Hayreddin Barbarossa (, original name: Khiḍr; ), also known as Hayreddin Pasha, Hızır Hayrettin Pasha, and simply Hızır Reis (c. 1466/1483 – 4 July 1546), was an Ottoman corsair and later admiral of the Ottoman Navy. Barbarossa's ...
raided the Aegean islands and brought 2,000 captured people back to Constantinople as slaves, one of them being Nurbanu Sultan. The Ottoman conquest of
Paros Paros (; ; ) is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea. Part of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos (island), Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of Piraeus. The Co ...
in 1537 resulted in atrocities committed against the public: as happened to the population in other islands during the Ottoman conquest of the Aegean islands, old men were killed; young men were made
galley slave A galley slave was a slave rowing in a galley, either a Convict, convicted criminal sentenced to work at the oar (''French language, French'': galérien), or a kind of human chattel, sometimes a prisoner of war, assigned to the duty of rowing. ...
s; little boys were made janissaries; and the women where ordered to dance on the shore so that the conquerors could choose the most attractive for the lieutentants, enslaving around 6000 of the inhabitants of Paros for slavery in the Ottoman Empire.


Cyprus

The Ottomans frequently raided Cyprus during Venetian rule. The first year of Venetian control, in 1489, the Ottomans attacked the
Karpass Peninsula The Karpas Peninsula (; ), also known as the Karpass, Karpaz or Karpasia, is a long, finger-like peninsula that is one of the most prominent geographical features of the island of Cyprus. Its farthest extent is Cape Apostolos Andreas, and its m ...
, pillaging and taking captives to be sold into slavery.Library of Congress
/ref> In the summer of 1570, the Ottomans launched a full-scale invasion of Venetian Cyprus. Troops under the command of Lala Mustafa Pasha landed near
Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...
on July 2, 1570, and laid siege to
Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...
. The city fell on September 9, 1570; after which 20,000 Nicosians were massacred, every
church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...
, public building, and palace was looted, men were massacred while women and children were captured to be sold as slaves.


Austria

During the Siege of Vienna in 1529, the Ottoman troops pillages the countryside around Vienna and took many surviving civilians as slaves. Peter Stern von Labach described it: :"After the taking of Bruck on the Leitha and the castle of Trautmannsdorf, the Sackman and those who went before him, people who have no regular pay, but live by plunder and spoil, to the number of 40,000, spread themselves far and wide over the country, as far as the Ens and into Styria, burning and slaying. Many thousands of people were murdered, or maltreated and dragged into slavery. Children were cut out of their mothers' wombs and stuck on pikes; young women abused to death, and their corpses left on the highway. God rest their souls, and grant vengeance on the bloodhounds who committed this evil." Approximately 20,000 persons are estimated to have been captured and kidnapped into slavery, of which few ever returned: the Ottomans reportedly preferred young boys and girls and members of the clergy. The atrocities was repeated during the second Siege of Vienna of 1683. In the village of Perchtoldsdorf outside of Vienna a massacre took place in which the Ottomans massacres the men of the village while the women and children were taken in to slavery. Perchtoldsdorf had resisted the invasion and barricaded themselwes in the church fortress of the village, but agreed to surrender when the Ottomans promised them safety of their lives and property in exchange for capitulation. After capitulation, however, the Ottomans gathered the men of the village in the market square, took their weapons and massacred them, after which the women and children were taken prisoners and as
kafir ''Kāfir'' (; , , or ; ; or ) is an Arabic-language term used by Muslims to refer to a non-Muslim, more specifically referring to someone who disbelieves in the Islamic God, denies his authority, and rejects the message of Islam as ...
war prisoners taken away as slaves. Normally, the Ottomans killed adult men and preferred to enslave women and children, but men were enslaved as well. In total, 57,220 people were kidnapped and taken away as slaves during the Ottoman pillage of the Austrian and Hungarian border zone in 1683; 6,000 men, 11,215 married women, 14,922 unmarried women under the age of 26 (of which 204 were noblewomen); and 26,093 children.


Hungary

After the
Battle of Mohács The Battle of Mohács (; , ) took place on 29 August 1526 near Mohács, in the Kingdom of Hungary. It was fought between the forces of Hungary, led by King Louis II of Hungary, Louis II, and the invading Ottoman Empire, commanded by Suleima ...
(1526), the Ottoman army pillaged Hungary on the way to Budapest, during which men were massacres and women captured, raped and sold as slaves. After the final Ottoman conquest of Hungary in 1541, there were frequent border raids by Ottoman and Crimean-Tartar troops toward Christian border lands, during which civilian were killed or captured, marched away and sold in the slave markets of Istanbul and Sarajevo. Between 1522 and 1717, Tatars, soldiers from the Crimean Khanate, often participated in the Ottoman campaigns in the Hungarian border zones, and during these campaigns the tatars often captured slaves in Hungary and Austria; the long way back to the Crimea did provide opportunity for prisoners to escape, but many were abducted to Crimea, where they were either ransomed (if they were rich), or (if they were poor) sold on the Crimean slave trade.


Italy

In the night of 8–9 August 1534, the town of Fondi was attacked by the corsair
Barbarossa Barbarossa, a name meaning "red beard" in Italian, primarily refers to: * Frederick Barbarossa (1122–1190), Holy Roman Emperor * Hayreddin Barbarossa (c. 1478–1546), Ottoman admiral * Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Uni ...
, who was seeking to kidnap Giulia Gonzaga and deliver her to
Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...
. Barbarossa had been ordered to kidnap (enslave) her by Ibrahim Pasha, the Ottoman Grand Vizier. Pasha's plan was to add her to the sultan's
Ottoman Imperial Harem The Imperial Harem () of the Ottoman Empire was the Ottoman sultan's harem – composed of the concubines, wives, servants (both female slaves and eunuchs), female relatives and the sultan's concubines – occupying a secluded portion (serag ...
(as a slave concubine) and supplant
Roxelana Hürrem Sultan (; , "''the joyful one''"; 1505– 15 April 1558), also known as Roxelana (), was the chief consort, the first Haseki Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the legal wife of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, and the mother ...
, the sultan's wife. She escaped, and Barbarossa, frustrated, massacred the populations of
Fondi Fondi (; Southern Laziale: ''Fùnn'') is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy, halfway between Rome and Naples. As of 2017, the city had a population of 39,800. The city has experienced steady population growth si ...
and nearby
Sperlonga Sperlonga (locally ) is a coastal town in the province of Latina, Italy, about halfway between Rome and Naples. It is best known for the ancient Roman sea grotto discovered in the grounds of the Villa of Tiberius containing the important and spect ...
, though he was repulsed at nearby Itri. She fled into the night, accompanied by a single knight. In 1558, Reggio was sacked by
Dragut Dragut (; 1485 – 23 June 1565) was an Ottoman corsair, naval commander, governor, and noble. Under his command, the Ottoman Empire's maritime power was extended across North Africa. Recognized for his military genius, and as being among "the ...
and most of its inhabitants were taken as slaves to Ottoman Tripoli.


Malta

The Ottomans attacked Hospitaller Malta several times in the 16th and 17th centuries, while the
Barbary corsairs The Barbary corsairs, Barbary pirates, Ottoman corsairs, or naval mujahideen (in Muslim sources) were mainly Muslim corsairs and privateers who operated from the largely independent Barbary states. This area was known in Europe as the Barba ...
raided the Maltese Islands on many occasions between the 16th and the early 18th centuries. At the time, the
Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...
who ruled Malta were in a state of
perpetual war A perpetual war, endless war or forever war is a lasting state of war with no clear conditions that would lead to its conclusion. These wars are usually situations of ongoing tension that may escalate at any moment, similar to the Cold War. From ...
against the Ottomans, and the capture of inhabitants as slaves was a regular occurrence during these attacks. Maltese shipping was also frequently attacked by the Ottomans and Barbary corsairs, while Muslim ships and coastal targets were themselves targets of the Hospitaller fleet and Malta-based corsairs; the enslavement of crewmembers and passengers was a routine occurrence on both sides. During the 16th century, the Maltese island of
Gozo Gozo ( ), known in classical antiquity, antiquity as Gaulos, is an island in the Malta#The Maltese archipelago, Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After the Malta Island, island of Malta ...
was particularly vulnerable to Ottoman and corsair raids, and there are records of it being raided in 1533, 1540, 1541, 1544, 1545, 1546, 1547 and 1550. Ottoman corsair
Dragut Dragut (; 1485 – 23 June 1565) was an Ottoman corsair, naval commander, governor, and noble. Under his command, the Ottoman Empire's maritime power was extended across North Africa. Recognized for his military genius, and as being among "the ...
led several of these raids, including the 1540 raid in which 50 Gozitans were enslaved. In July 1551, an Ottoman fleet which was on its way to capture Tripoli from the Hospitallers launched a major attack on Gozo, sacked its
fortress A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from L ...
, and captured between 5,000 and 7,000 people – the majority of the island's population – as slaves. The captives were initially taken to
North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
, and there are records of some being sold in
Tajura Tajura (), also spelt ''Tajoura'', is a town in north-western Libya, and baladiyah in the Tripoli District, Libya, Tripoli Muhafazah, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast east of Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli. From 2001 to 2007 Tajura wa ...
. According to tradition, some enslaved Gozitans were taken to
Tarhuna Tarhuna (; ), also Tarhoona or Tarhunah, is a Libyan village to the southeast of Tripoli, in the Murqub District. The Tarhuna District, including the city of Msallata, had an urban population of about 296,000 (est. 2003). The population in T ...
in modern Libya, where they and their descendants converted to Islam and assimilated into the local population. After the capture of Tripoli, the majority of the Gozitan slaves were taken to Constantinople. Many of the adult men are believed to have ended up as
galley slave A galley slave was a slave rowing in a galley, either a Convict, convicted criminal sentenced to work at the oar (''French language, French'': galérien), or a kind of human chattel, sometimes a prisoner of war, assigned to the duty of rowing. ...
s. A number of surviving court cases and other records from the 1550s and 1560s make reference to Gozitan slaves in the Ottoman capital, including some who were eventually freed or ransomed, some who converted to Islam, and others who died in slavery. It is believed that the majority never returned to the Maltese Islands, and it took around a century of resettlement for Gozo's population to recover. After the 1551 depopulation, other corsair raids on Gozo occurred in 1560, 1563, 1572, 1574, 1583, 1598 and 1599; during the 18 October 1583 raid,
Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...
was sacked and 70 people were taken as slaves by corsairs from
Bizerte Bizerte (, ) is the capital and largest city of Bizerte Governorate in northern Tunisia. It is the List of northernmost items, northernmost city in Africa, located north of the capital Tunis. It is also known as the last town to remain under Fr ...
in Ottoman Tunisia. The last major Ottoman attack on the Maltese Islands was a raid on southern Malta in July 1614, when an Ottoman fleet landed at
Marsaskala Marsaskala, sometimes written as Marsascala is a seaside town in the Southern Region, Malta, Southern Region of Malta. Originally a fishing village, it has grown into a tourist destination and a permanent hometown for an ever-growing population. ...
Bay and proceeded to pillage the area around
Żejtun Żejtun ( ) is a town in the Southern Region of Malta, with a population of 11,218 at the end of 2016. Żejtun is traditionally known as Città Beland, a title conferred by the grandmaster of the Order of the Knights of Malta, Ferdinand von ...
before being repelled by a Maltese and Hospitaller militia. Although Christian sources specifically state that "no one of the Christians was captured", Turkish sources reportedly mention that some Maltese were enslaved during this raid. The frequency of corsair raids on Malta decreased significantly by the mid-17th century, but the threat continued and smaller-scale raids occurred until as late as 1733. The state of perpetual war ended with the
French occupation of Malta The island of Malta was occupied by France from 1798 to 1800. The Knights Hospitaller surrendered to Napoleon Bonaparte following the French landing in June 1798. In Malta, the French established a constitutional tradition in Maltese history (as ...
in 1798, after which Muslims who had been enslaved in Malta were freed. In turn, many Maltese who were enslaved in Ottoman territories were also freed, with 66 Maltese slaves being freed from Tunisia in 1798, 250 from Algeria in 1801, and 200 from Constantinople in 1802.


Serbia

When the
First Serbian Uprising The First Serbian Uprising (; sr-Cyrl, Први српски устанак; ) was an uprising of Serbs in Orašac (Aranđelovac), Orašac against the Ottoman Empire from 14 February 1804 to 7 October 1813. The uprising began as a local revolt ...
ended in defeat of the rebellion by the Ottomans, the Ottoman recapture of Belgrade in October 1813 became a scene of brutal revenge, with hundreds of its citizens massacred, and thousands sold into slavery as far away as Asia, followed by the abolition of all Serbian institutions.


Greece

During the
Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...
(1821–1829), the Ottoman practiced wide scale enslavement of Greeks. An occasion which attracted particular attention were the large-scale enslavement of the Greek population on Chios after the Chios massacre of 1822. This incident attracted great attention in Europe and gave the Ottoman Empire bad publicity. It ultimately resulted in the first anti-slavery reform, the Firman of 1830, which decreed the manumission of the Greek war prisoners.


Rules and conditions


Slavery laws

Slavery was regulated by the '' Seriat'', the religious Islamic Law, and by the secular Sultan's law ''Kanun'', which was essentially supplementary regulations to facilitate the implementation of the Seriat law. Slaves could become legally enslaved through direct capture in warfare; acquired via a middle man trade network (essentially foreign slave merchants), or by being born in to slavery, which meant both of their parents or their only known parent was a slave; there was however also illegally acquired slaves.Erdem, Y. Hakan. Slavery in the Ottoman Empire and its Demise, 1800–1909. London: Macmillan Press, 1996. Islamic Law allowed for Muslims to enslave non-Muslims, unless they were zimmis (protected minorities who had accepted Muslim rule), and slaves were therefore non-Muslims imported from non-Muslim lands outside of the Empire. By Islamic law, foreign non-Muslims (
kafir ''Kāfir'' (; , , or ; ; or ) is an Arabic-language term used by Muslims to refer to a non-Muslim, more specifically referring to someone who disbelieves in the Islamic God, denies his authority, and rejects the message of Islam as ...
s) were by definition legitimate targets for enslavement, since the Muslim world of '' dar al-islam'' was by definition at war with the non-Muslim world of '' dar al-harb'' ("House of War"). While Muslims could only enslave non-Muslims, the conversion of a non-Muslim slave to Islam after their enslavement did not require the enslaver to manumit his slave. A Muslim man was allowed by law to have sexual intercourse with his female slave, though not by a slave who was legally owned by his wife. The child of a slave was born a slave, unless the male slave owner acknowledged the child of his female slave as his, in which case the child would be automatically free by law. If he chose to acknowledge his child with his slave, then the slave mother herself would become an '' umm al-walad'' and free when her enslaver died, though she continued to be a slave during his lifetime. It was difficult for a runaway slave to hide and survive in the Ottoman society, which was a society with tight social control where everyone knew each other.Hakan Erdem, Slavery in the Ottoman Empire and its Demise 1800-1909, (London: Palgrave Macmillan Publish House, 1996), pp. 120-125 Runaway slaves who were caught and not able to present proof of their free status, would be kept in arrest by the
kadı A kadi (, ) was an official in the Ottoman Empire. In Arabic, the term () typically refers to judges who preside over matters in accordance with sharia Islamic law; under Ottoman rule, however, the kadi also became a crucial part of the imperi ...
, who kept them for three months and, unless their enslaver had appeared to collect them, would have them sold on the slave market. To manumit a slave was described as a good act, and often practiced to be forgiven of sins at the close of death of the slave owner. Former slaves normally had little choice but to continue to work for their former owners, since there were few opportunities for them after manumission.Büssow, S., Büssow, J., Faroqhi, S., Frenkel, Y., Güneş Yağcı, Z., Hathaway, J., Ipsirli Argit, B., Królikowska-Jedlińska, N., Toledano, E. R., Wagner, V., White, J., Witzenrath, C. (2020). Slaves and Slave Agency in the Ottoman Empire. Tyskland: Bonn University Press. 407 If the slaves did leave their former owners, they rarely had any other choice but to rely on private charities which were established in some cities; such organizations were often managed by Europeans, but in Constantinople, there was a society of former female slaves known as ''godyas'' who offered assistance to manumitted slaves.


Racial dimension

Since all non-Muslims outside of Muslim lands were legitimate targets of enslavement, there were slaves of different races. Officially, there were no difference made between slaves of difference races, but in practice, white slaves were given the highest status, with Ethiopians second and fully black African slaves given the lowest status among slaves. Enslaved people were sold for different prices depending on their race, and were considered to have different ability, and be suitable for different tasks, because of their race and ethnicity. The
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
kept genders segregated in the
harem A harem is a domestic space that is reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic Domestic worker, servants, and other un ...
s and concubines were not allowed to leave the harem. Men, aside from the male head of the household, were forbidden to enter the harem. However,
eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...
s were allowed to move freely inside and outside the harem and acted as protectors of the women. This position gave eunuchs the ability to have access to the ruler's living quarters. A common consequence of this segregation of the ruler from the rest of the house while in the harem, gave eunuchs the role of message bearers. During the course of the Harem, racial segregation became common between eunuchs. Slave traders of white circassian slaves enjoyed more business clout due to the inflated value of whiteness that existed during the Ottoman Empire. While African slave girls were used as maidservants as well as for sexual services, white slave girls were primarily used as concubines (sex slaves) and were more expensive. The preference of white girls over African girls as sex slaves was noted by the international press, when the slave market was flooded by white girls in the 1850s due to the
Circassian genocide The Circassian genocide, or Tsitsekun, was the systematic mass killing, ethnic cleansing, and forced displacement of between 95% and 97% of the Circassian people during the final stages of the Russian invasion of Circassia in the 19th centur ...
, which resulted in the price for white slave girls to become cheaper and Muslim men who were not able to buy white girls before now exchanged their black slave women for white ones. The '' New York Daily Times'' reported on August 6, 1856:


Slave traders

The Ottoman slave traders were sorted by professional
guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...
s. The slave guilds were categorized by the category of slaves sold. The slave merchants who traded in white slaves were given a higher status: white slaves were viewed as luxury possessions and sold for higher prices, and dealers in white slaves were consequently more wealthy, catered to rich clients, and given highest professional status than slave traders who specialized in black African slaves.Struggle and Survival in the Modern Middle East: Second Edition. (2006). USA: University of California Press. 55 In Cairo, for example, slave merchants who dealt in white slaves were (in contrast to their colleagues) allowed to join prestigious merchant guilds.


Market sale

Slaves were traded in special marketplaces called "Esir" or "Yesir" that were located in most towns and cities, central to the Ottoman Empire. It is said that Sultan
Mehmed II Mehmed II (; , ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (; ), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481. In Mehmed II's first reign, ...
"the Conqueror" established the first Ottoman slave market in Constantinople in the 1460s, probably where the former Byzantine slave market had stood. According to
Nicolas de Nicolay Nicolas de Nicolay, Sieur d'Arfeville & de Belair, (1517–1583) of the Nicolay (family) was a French geographer. Biography Born at la Grave in Oisans, in the Dauphiné, he left France in 1542 to participate in the Siege of Perpignan (1542), si ...
, there were slaves of all ages and both sexes, most were displayed naked to be thoroughly checked – especially children and young women – by possible buyers.


Prices and taxes

A study of the
slave market A slave market is a place where slaves are bought and sold. These markets are a key phenomenon in the history of slavery. Asia Central Asia Since antiquity, cities along the Silk road of Central Asia, had been centers of slave trade. In ...
of
Ottoman Crete The island of Crete () was declared an Ottoman province (eyalet) in 1646, after the Ottomans managed to conquer the western part of the island as part of the Cretan War (1645–1669), Cretan War, but the Republic of Venice, Venetians Siege of Can ...
produces details about the prices of slaves. Factors such as age, race,
virginity Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereo ...
, etc. significantly influenced prices. The most expensive slaves were those between 10 and 35 years of age, with the highest prices for European virgin girls 13–25 years of age and teenage boys. The cheaper slaves were those with disabilities and
sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...
ns. Prices in Crete ranged between 65 and 150 "''esedi guruş''" (see
Kuruş Kuruş ( ; ), also gurush, ersh, gersh, grush, grosha, and grosi, are all names for currency denominations in and around the territories formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. The variation in the name stems from the different languages it is us ...
). But even the lowest prices were affordable to only high income persons. For example, in 1717 a 12-year-old boy with mental disabilities was sold for 27 ''guruş'', an amount that could buy in the same year of lamb meat, of bread or of milk. In 1671 a female slave was sold in Crete for 350 ''guruş'', while at the same time the value of a large two-floor house with a garden in
Chania Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...
was 300 ''guruş''. There were various taxes to be paid on the importation and selling of slaves. One of them was the "''pençik''" or "''penç-yek''" tax, literally meaning "one fifth". This taxation was based on verses of the
Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
, according to which one fifth of the spoils of war belonged to
God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
, to the Prophet and his family, to orphans, to those in need and to travelers. The Ottomans probably started collecting ''pençik'' at the time of Sultan
Murad I Murad I (; ), nicknamed ''Hüdavendigâr'' (from – meaning "Head of state, sovereign" in this context; 29 June 1326 – 15 June 1389) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1362 to 1389. He was the son of Orhan Gazi and Nilüfer Hatun. Mura ...
(1362–1389). ''Pençik'' was collected both in money and in kind, the latter including slaves as well. Tax was not collected in some cases of war captives. With war captives, slaves were given to soldiers and officers as a motive to participate in war. The recapture of runaway slaves was a job for private individuals called "''yavacis''". Whoever managed to find a runaway enslaved person seeking their freedom would collect a fee of "good news" from the ''yavaci'' and the latter took this fee plus other expenses from the slaves' master. Slaves could also be rented, inherited, pawned, exchanged or given as gifts.


Slave market and the function of slaves

Slaves were used for a number of different roles and tasks within the Ottoman Empire. There was an informal racial hierarchy among slaves. White male slaves were often used for potentially influential positions as military slaves. White female slaves were preferred by wealthy men as harem concubines, while black female slaves were used as maidservants or domestic laborers.


Agricultural laborers

On the basis of a list of estates belonging to members of the ruling class kept in
Edirne Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...
between 1545 and 1659, the following data was collected: out of 93 estates, 41 had slaves. The total number of slaves in the estates was 140; 54 female and 86 male. 134 of them bore Muslim names, 5 were not defined, and 1 was a Christian woman. Some of these slaves appear to have been employed on farms. In conclusion, the ruling class, because of extensive use of warrior slaves and because of its own high purchasing capacity, was undoubtedly the single major group keeping the slave market alive in the Ottoman Empire. Rural slavery was largely a phenomenon endemic to the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
region, which was carried to Anatolia and Rumelia after the Circassian
migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
in 1864.


Eunuchs

During the slavery in the Ottoman Empire, eunuchs were typically slaves imported from outside their domains. A fair proportion of male slaves were imported as eunuchs. The Ottoman court harem—within the
Topkapı Palace The Topkapı Palace (; ), or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih List of districts of Istanbul, district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the ad ...
(1465–1853) and later the
Dolmabahçe Palace Dolmabahçe Palace ( ) is a 19th-century imperial palace located in Istanbul, Turkey, along the European shore of the Bosporus, which served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1856 to 1887 and from 1909 to 1922. Histor ...
(1853–1909) in
Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
—was under the administration of the eunuchs. These were of two categories: black eunuchs and white eunuchs. Black eunuchs were slaves from
sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...
via the
Trans-Saharan slave trade The trans-Saharan slave trade, also known as the Arab slave trade, was a Slavery, slave trade in which slaves Trans-Saharan trade, were mainly transported across the Sahara. Most were moved from sub-Saharan Africa to North Africa to be sold to ...
, the
Red Sea slave trade The Red Sea slave trade, sometimes known as the Islamic slave trade, Arab slave trade, or Oriental slave trade, was a slave trade across the Red Sea trafficking Africans from Sub-Saharan Africa in the African continent to slavery in the A ...
or the
Indian Ocean slave trade The Indian Ocean slave trade, sometimes known as the East African slave trade, involved the capture and transportation of predominately sub-Saharan African slaves along the coasts, such as the Swahili Coast and the Horn of Africa, and through ...
, who served the concubines and officials in the Harem together with chamber maidens of low rank. The white eunuchs were slaves from the
Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
or the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
, either purchased in the slave markets or taken as boys from Christian families in the Balkans who were unable to pay the ''
jizya Jizya (), or jizyah, is a type of taxation levied on non-Muslim subjects of a state governed by Sharia, Islamic law. The Quran and hadiths mention jizya without specifying its rate or amount,Sabet, Amr (2006), ''The American Journal of Islamic Soc ...
'' tax. They served the recruits at the Palace School and were from 1582 prohibited from entering the Harem. An important figure in the Ottoman court was the Chief Black Eunuch (''Kızlar Ağası'' or ''Darüssaade Ağası''). In control of both the harem and a net of spies among the black eunuchs, the Chief Eunuch was involved in almost every palace intrigue and thereby could gain power over either the sultan or one of his viziers, ministers, or other court officials. One of the most powerful Chief Eunuchs was Beshir Agha in the 1730s, who played a crucial role in establishing the Ottoman version of
Hanafi The Hanafi school or Hanafism is the oldest and largest Madhhab, school of Islamic jurisprudence out of the four schools within Sunni Islam. It developed from the teachings of the Faqīh, jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa (), who systemised the ...
Islam throughout the Empire by founding libraries and schools.


Military slavery

In the mid-14th century,
Murad I Murad I (; ), nicknamed ''Hüdavendigâr'' (from – meaning "Head of state, sovereign" in this context; 29 June 1326 – 15 June 1389) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1362 to 1389. He was the son of Orhan Gazi and Nilüfer Hatun. Mura ...
built an army of slaves, referred to as the ''
Kapıkulu ''Kapıkulu'' (, ''Kapıkulu Ocağı'', "Slaves of the Sublime Porte") was the collective name for the household division of the Ottoman Sultans. They included the Janissary infantry corps as well as the Six Divisions of Cavalry. Unlike provincia ...
''. The new force was based on the sultan's right to a fifth of the war booty, which he interpreted to include captives taken in battle. The captives were trained in the sultan's personal service. The ''
devşirme Devshirme (, usually translated as "child levy" or "blood tax", , .) was the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman practice of Conscription, forcibly recruiting soldiers and bureaucrats from among the children of their Balkan Christian subjects and raising th ...
'' system could be considered a form of slavery because the Sultans had absolute power over them. However, as the 'servant' or '
kul Kul or KUL may refer to: Airports * KUL, current IATA code for Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia * KUL, former IATA code for Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (Subang Airport), Malaysia Populated places * Kul, Iran, a village in Kurdist ...
' of the sultan, they had high status within the Ottoman society because of their training and knowledge. They could become the highest officers of the state and the military elite, and most recruits were privileged and remunerated. Though ordered to cut all ties with their families, a few succeeded in dispensing patronage at home. Christian parents might thus implore, or even bribe, officials to take their sons. Indeed, Bosnian and Albanian Muslims successfully requested their inclusion in the system.


Sexual slavery

In the Ottoman Empire, female slaves owned by men were sexually available to their masters, and their children, if acknowledged by their owners, were considered as legitimate as any child born of a free woman. This means that any child of a female slave could not be sold or given away. However female slaves owned by women could not be available to their masters' husband by law. However, due to extreme poverty, some Circassian slaves and free people in the lower classes of Ottoman society felt forced to sell their children into slavery; this provided a potential benefit for the children as well, as slavery also held the opportunity for social mobility. If a harem slave became pregnant and the owner acknowledged paternity, it also became illegal for her to be further sold in slavery, and she would gain her freedom upon her current owner's death. Slavery in and of itself was long tied with the economic and expansionist activities of the Ottoman Empire. There was a major decrease in slave acquisition by the late eighteenth century as a result of the lessening of expansionist activities. War efforts were a great source of slave procurement, so the Ottoman Empire had to find other methods of obtaining slaves because they were a major source of income within the empire. The Caucasian War caused a major influx of Circassian slaves into the Ottoman market via the Circassian slave trade and a person of modest wealth could purchase a slave with a few pieces of gold. At a time, Circassian slaves became the most abundant in the imperial harem. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries,
sexual slavery Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership rights, right over one or more people with the intent of Coercion, coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activities. This includ ...
was not only central to Ottoman practice but a critical component of imperial governance and elite social reproduction. Boys could also become sexual slaves, though usually they worked in places like bathhouses (
hammam A hammam (), also often called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited from the model ...
) and coffeehouses. During this period, historians have documented men indulging in sexual behavior with other men and getting caught. Moreover, the visual illustrations during this period of exposing a sodomite being stigmatized by a group of people with Turkish wind instruments shows the disconnect between sexuality and tradition. However those that were accepted became ''tellaks'' (masseurs), '' köçeks'' (cross-dressing dancers) or ''sāqīs'' (wine pourers) for as long as they were young and beardless. The "Beloveds" were often loved by former Beloveds that were educated and considered upper class. Some female slaves who were enslaved by women were sold as sex workers for short periods of time. Women also purchased slaves, but usually not for sexual purposes, and most likely searched for slaves who were loyal, healthy, and had good domestic skills. Beauty was also a valued trait when looking to buy a slave because they often were seen as objects to show off to people. While prostitution was against the law, there were very little recorded instances of punishment that came to shari'a courts for pimps, prostitutes, or for the people who sought out their services. Cases that did punish prostitution usually resulted in the expulsion of the prostitute or pimp from the area they were in. However, this does not mean that these people were always receiving light punishments. Sometimes military officials took it upon themselves to enforce extra judicial punishment. This involved pimps being strung up on trees, destruction of brothels, and harassing prostitutes. In the Islamic world, sex outside of marriage was normally acquired by men not by paying for sex from a prostitute, but rather by a personal sex slave called
concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal relationship, interpersonal and Intimate relationship, sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarde ...
, which was a sex slave trade that was still ongoing until the 20th century. Traditionally, prostitution in the Islamic world was historically practiced by way of the pimp temporarily selling his slave to her client, who then returned the ownership of the slave after intercourse. The Islamic Law formally prohibited prostitution. However, since Islamic Law allowed a man to have sexual intercourse with his personal sex slave, prostitution was practiced by a pimp selling his female slave on the slave market to a client, who returned his ownership of her after 1–2 days on the pretext of discontent after having had intercourse with her, which was a legal and accepted method for prostitution in the Islamic world. This form of prostitution was practiced by for example
Ibn Batuta Ibn Battuta (; 24 February 13041368/1369), was a Maghrebis, Maghrebi traveller, explorer and scholar. Over a period of 30 years from 1325 to 1354, he visited much of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Iberian Peninsula. Near the end of his ...
, who acquired several female slaves during his travels. The
Ottoman Imperial Harem The Imperial Harem () of the Ottoman Empire was the Ottoman sultan's harem – composed of the concubines, wives, servants (both female slaves and eunuchs), female relatives and the sultan's concubines – occupying a secluded portion (serag ...
was similar to a training institution for concubines, and served as a way to get closer to the Ottoman elite. Women from lower-class families had especially good opportunities for social mobility in the imperial harem because they could be trained to be concubines for high-ranking military officials. Concubines had an chance for even greater power in Ottoman society if they became favorites of the sultan. The sultan would keep a large number of girls as his concubines in the New Palace, which as a result became known as "the palace of the girls" in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These concubines mainly consisted of young Christian slave girls. Accounts claim that the sultan would keep a concubine in the New Palace for a period of two months, during which time he would do with her as he pleased. They would be considered eligible for the sultan's sexual attention until they became pregnant; if a concubine became pregnant, the sultan might take her as a wife and move her to the Old Palace where they would prepare for the royal child; if she did not become pregnant by the end of the two months, she would be married off to one of the sultan's high-ranking military men. If a concubine became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter, she might still be considered for further sexual attention from the sultan. The harem system was an important part of Ottoman-Egyptian society as well; it attempted to mimic the imperial harem in many ways, including the secrecy of the harem section of the household, where the women were kept hidden away from males who were outside of their own family, the guarding of the women by black eunuchs, and also having the function of training for becoming concubines.


Sexual slavery in the Armenian genocide

Prior to the Armenian genocide, the Ottoman government had stressed the link between the payment of jizya and the protected status of the Armenian community. However, the appeal by Armenian leaders to outside powers prior to 1915, to press the Ottomans to make reforms for the Christians, was subsequently cited as a violation of their contract with the state, removing that protected status, including the protection from enslavement. During the
Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
, numerous Armenian women were raped and subjected to sexual slavery, with women forced into prostitution or forcibly married to non-Armenians, or sold as sex slaves to military officials. Kidnapped Armenian girls were sorted on the basis of their age, beauty and marital status. The "first choice" was given to high-level Ottoman officials. One German reported the sale of girls in Ras al-Ayn and testified that the policemen carried out the trade in girls. A few slave markets were set up in the vicinity of government buildings, while Armenian captive sex slaves were kept in the Red Crescent Hospital in Trebizond. Research has shown that Turkish women were often also complicit in the crimes perpetrated against Armenian women by assisting in selling them into sexual slavery.


Slaves in the Imperial Harem

Very little is actually known about the Imperial Harem, and much of what is thought to be known is actually conjecture and imagination. There are two main reasons for the lack of accurate accounts on this subject. The first was the barrier imposed by the people of the Ottoman society – the Ottoman people did not know much about the machinations of the Imperial Harem themselves, due to it being physically impenetrable, and because the silence of insiders was enforced. The second was that any accounts from this period were from European travelers, who were both not privy to the information, and also further distanced from the inner workings of the Royal Harem by virtue of being non-Muslim (kafir) foreigners. Despite this, scandalous stories of the Imperial Harem, and the sexual practices of the sultans there-in were popular, whether they originated from sensationalist claims or uncomfortable truths. Ibrahim bin Ahmed, successor to Murad IV, inherited the throne in 1640 and famously squandered public funds to conduct massive orgies in the palace with such frequency that lurid stories of the sexual excesses of the sultanate became emblematic of dynastic life throughout the seventeenth century. However, European accounts from captives who served as pages in the imperial palace, and the reports, dispatches, and letters of ambassadors resident in Istanbul, their secretaries, and other members of their suites offered more reliable insight than other, often religiously motivated European sources. And further, of this group, the writings of the Venetians in the sixteenth century are considered especially extensive in volume, comprehensiveness, sophistication, and accuracy. The concubines of the Ottoman Sultan consisted chiefly of purchased slaves. The Sultan's concubines were generally of Christian origin (usually European, Circassian, Abkhazian, or Georgian). Most of the elites of the Harem Ottoman Empire included many women, such as the sultan's mother, preferred concubines, royal concubines, children (princes/princess), and administrative personnel. The administrative personnel of the palace harem were made up of many high-ranking slave women officers, they were responsible for the training of Jariyes for domestic chores. The mother of a Sultan, though formally technically a slave, became free when the sultan died, in accordance with the Umm al-walad rule of a slave women who gave birth to a child awknowledge by her enslaver, and as the free mother of the sultan received the high status title of ''
Valide sultan Valide Sultan (, lit. "Sultana mother") was the title held by the mother of a ruling sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans first formally used the title in the 16th century as an epithet of Hafsa Sultan (died 1534), mother of Sultan Suleima ...
'' which could offer her significant informal influence over the ruler of the Empire (see Sultanate of Women). The mother of the Sultan played a substantial role in decision-making for the Imperial Harem. One notable example was
Kösem Sultan Kösem Sultan (; 1589 – 2 September 1651), also known as Mahpeyker Sultan (;), was the Haseki sultan, Haseki Sultan as the chief consort and legal wife of the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I, Valide sultan, Vali ...
, daughter of a Greek Christian priest, who dominated the Ottoman Empire during the early decades of the 17th century.
Roxelana Hürrem Sultan (; , "''the joyful one''"; 1505– 15 April 1558), also known as Roxelana (), was the chief consort, the first Haseki Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the legal wife of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, and the mother ...
(also known as ''Hürrem Sultan''), another notable example, was the favorite wife of
Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...
. Many historians who study the Ottoman Empire, rely on the factual evidence of observers of the 16th and 17th century Islam. The tremendous growth of the Harem institution reconstructed the careers and roles of women in the dynasty power structure. There were harem women who were the mothers, legal wives, Kalfas, and concubines of the Ottoman Sultan. Only a small amount of these harem women were freed from slavery and married their spouses. The concubines were guarded by enslaved
eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...
s, often from pagan Africa. The eunuchs were headed by the Kizlar Agha (" agha of the lavegirls"). While some interpretation of Islamic law forbade the emasculation of a man, Ethiopian Christians had no such compunctions; thus, they enslaved members of territories to the south and sold the resulting eunuchs to the
Ottoman Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( or ''Babıali''; ), was a synecdoche or metaphor used to refer collectively to the central government of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul. It is particularly referred to the buildin ...
.Gwyn Campbell, ''The Structure of Slavery in Indian Ocean Africa and Asia'', 1 edition, (Routledge: 2003), p.ix Henry G. Spooner claimed that Coptic priests at Abou Gerbe monastery in Upper Egypt participated extensively in the slave trade of eunuchs. Spooner stated that the Coptic priests sliced the penis and testicles off boys around the age of eight in a
castration Castration is any action, surgery, surgical, chemical substance, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical cas ...
operation. The eunuch boys were then sold in the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
. According to Spooner, the majority of Ottoman eunuchs endured castration at the hands of the Copts at Abou Gerbe monastery. Boys were captured from the African Great Lakes region and other areas in
Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
like
Darfur Darfur ( ; ) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju () while ruled by the Daju, who migrated from Meroë , and it was renamed Dartunjur () when the Tunjur ruled the area. ...
and
Kordofan Kordofan ( ') is a former province of central Sudan. In 1994 it was divided into three new federal states: North Kordofan, South Kordofan and West Kordofan. In August 2005, West Kordofan State was abolished and its territory divided between N ...
, enslaved, then sold to customers in Egypt. While the majority of eunuchs came from Africa, most white eunuchs were selected from the ''
devshirme Devshirme (, usually translated as "child levy" or "blood tax", , .) was the Ottoman practice of forcibly recruiting soldiers and bureaucrats from among the children of their Balkan Christian subjects and raising them in the religion of Islam ...
'', Christian boys recruited from the Ottoman
Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
and Anatolian Greeks. Differently from the black eunuchs, who were castrated in their place of origin, they were castrated at the palace. A number of eunuchs of ''devshirme'' origin went on to hold important positions in the Ottoman military and the government, such as grand viziers
Hadım Ali Pasha Hadım Ali Pasha ( Turkish: ''Hadım Ali Paşa''; died July 1511), also known as Atik Ali Pasha (Turkish: ''Atik Ali Paşa''), was an Ottoman statesman and eunuch (''hadım'' means "eunuch" in Turkish) of Ottoman Bosnian origin. He served as go ...
,
Sinan Borovinić Sinan (Arabic: سنان ''sinān'') is a name found in Arabic and Early Arabic, meaning ''spearhead''. The name may also be related to the Ancient Greek name Sinon. It was used as a male given name. Etymology The word is possibly stems from th ...
, and
Hadım Hasan Pasha Hadım Hasan Pasha (; died 1598 in Constantinople) was an Ottoman statesman. He was an Albanian Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1597 to 1598.İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı, Türkiye Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1971 (Turkish) ...
.


Decline and suppression of Ottoman slavery

From 1830 onward, the Ottoman Empire issued a number of reforms gradually restricting slavery and slave trade. Among the reforms representing the process of official abolition of slavery in the Ottoman Empire where the Firman of 1830, the Disestablishment of the Istanbul Slave Market (1847), the Suppression of the slave trade in the Persian Gulf (1847), the Prohibition of the Circassian and Georgian slave trade (1854–1855), the Prohibition of the Black Slave Trade (1857), and the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1880, followed by the Kanunname of 1889 and the excluding of slavery from the Constitution of 1908. However, these reforms were mainly nominal. They were introduced for diplomatic reasons after pressure from the West, and in practice, both slavery and the slave trade were tolerated by the Ottoman Empire until the end of the Empire in the 20th century.


Decline and reforms

Responding to the influence and pressure of European countries in the 19th century, the Empire began taking steps to curtail the slave trade, which had been legally valid under Ottoman law since the beginning of the empire. One of the important campaigns against Ottoman slavery and slave trade was conducted in the Caucasus by the Russian authorities. A series of decrees were promulgated that initially limited the slavery of white persons, and subsequently that of all races and religions. The '' Firman of 1830'' of Sultan
Mahmud II Mahmud II (, ; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. Often described as the "Peter the Great of Turkey", Mahmud instituted extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms ...
gave freedom to white slaves. This category included Circassians, who had the custom of selling their own children, enslaved Greeks who had revolted against the Empire in 1821, and some others. In practice, it concerned Greek captives enslaved during the
Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...
, which had caused great attention in the West. In 1847 the Disestablishment of the Istanbul Slave Market closed the open slave market in the Ottoman capital; a cosmetic reform, making the slave trade less visible to criticism by moving it indoors. The same year, the Suppression of the slave trade in the Persian Gulf nominally prohibited the import of African slaves via the route of the Persian Gulf to Ottoman territory. However, the ban was nominal. The slave trade in primarily white girls intended for the harems attracted attention in the West. Attempting to suppress the practice, another ''firman'' abolishing the trade of Circassians and
Georgians Georgians, or Kartvelians (; ka, ქართველები, tr, ), are a nation and Peoples of the Caucasus, Caucasian ethnic group native to present-day Georgia (country), Georgia and surrounding areas historically associated with the Ge ...
was issued in October 1854. The decree did not abolish slavery as such, only the import of new slaves. However, in March 1858, the Ottoman Governor of Trapezunt informed the British Consul that the 1854 ban had been a temporary war time ban due to foreign pressure, and that he had been given orders to allow slave ships on the Black Sea passage on their way to Constantinople, and in December formal tax regulations were introduced, legitimizing the Circassian slave trade again. The so-called Circassian slave trade was to continue until the 20th century. The sex slave trade in white girls for sexual slavery (concubinage) did not stop, and the British travel writer John Murray described a batch of white slave girls in the Middle East in the 1870s: :"Their complexion are sallow, and none of them icare even good looking. But the daily Turkish bath, protection from the sun, and a wholesome diet, working upon and excellent constitution, accomplish wonders in a short space of time". The West also started to pressure on the abolition in slaves from Africa. In 1857, British pressure resulted in the Ottoman Sultan issuing the Firman of 1857 that prohibited the slave trade from the Sudan to Ottoman Egypt and across the Red Sea to Ottoman Hijaz; however, the preceding firman of 1854 had already caused the Hejaz rebellion in the Hijaz Province and resulted in the slave trade in the Hijaz being exempted from the 1857 prohibition of the
Red Sea slave trade The Red Sea slave trade, sometimes known as the Islamic slave trade, Arab slave trade, or Oriental slave trade, was a slave trade across the Red Sea trafficking Africans from Sub-Saharan Africa in the African continent to slavery in the A ...
Miers, S. (2003). Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. Storbritannien: AltaMira Press. p. 17 and the prohibition remained nominal on paper only. The firman of 1857 did not ban slavery as such, nor did it ban slave trade: it merely banned the import of new slaves from foreign landa across the borders to the Ottoman Empire. Later, slave trafficking was prohibited in practice by enforcing specific conditions of slavery in ''
sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...
'', Islamic law, even though sharia permitted slavery in principle. For example, under one provision, a person who was captured could not be kept a slave if they had already been Muslim prior to their capture. Moreover, they could not be captured legitimately without a formal declaration of war, and only the Sultan could make such a declaration. As late Ottoman Sultans wished to halt slavery, they did not authorize raids for the purpose of capturing slaves, and thereby made it effectively illegal to procure new slaves, although those already in slavery remained slaves. In November 1874, the British Embassy discussed the increase of slave trafficking in northern Africa with the Ottoman government, with the aims of implementing measures to limit the trade of slaves. Even then, however, the British neglected to secure the right to prevent the transportation of enslaved people across the Mediterranean (for example, from North Africa to İstanbul.) The Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1880 banned the
Red Sea slave trade The Red Sea slave trade, sometimes known as the Islamic slave trade, Arab slave trade, or Oriental slave trade, was a slave trade across the Red Sea trafficking Africans from Sub-Saharan Africa in the African continent to slavery in the A ...
, and the British were given the right to stop and control all ships suspected of trafficking slaves on Ottoman waters; however, in practice, this prohibition was not enforced in the Hejaz Province. The Tanzimat anti-slavery reforms were directed toward the public slave trade rather than the institution of slavery as such: by the late 19th and early 20th century, the sale of slaves had often moved from public slave markets to the private homes of the slave traders; the purchase of slaves, who were often bought as children, had come to be officially called adoptions,Yavuz Selim Karakışla, Osmanlı Hanımları ve Hizmetçi Kadınlar, (İstanbul: Akıl Fikir Yayınları, 2009), p. 13. and the slaves in private households were officially called "servants", with no distinction being made between chattel slaves and domestic servants.


Supression and aftermath

In an Imperial firman (decree) of 1887, chattel slavery was declared formally abolished and no longer legally recognized, the decree stating: "The Imperial government not officially recognizing the state of slavery, considers by law every person living in the empire to be free". This law was however nominal and slave trade continued. After British pressure, Sultan
Abdul Hamid II Abdulhamid II or Abdul Hamid II (; ; 21 September 184210 February 1918) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1876 to 1909, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a Decline and modernizati ...
promulgated a law against the African slave trade on 30 December 1889, Kanunname of 1889.Erdem, Y. (1996). Slavery in the Ottoman Empire and Its Demise 1800-1909. Storbritannien: Palgrave Macmillan UK. 144 However, this law did not include any special punishment against slave trade within the empire, and it was not deemed efficient. The Ottoman Empire and 16 other countries signed the 1890 Brussels Conference Act for the suppression of the slave trade. The Act obliged the Ottoman Empire to manumit all slaves within its borders who had been illegally trafficked, and granted every signure states the right to liberate or demand the liberation of every one of their citizens who had been brought to the Ottoman Empire as slaves since 1889, and this Act was enforced in 1892. Clandestine slavery persisted into the early 20th century. A circular by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in October 1895 warned local authorities that some
steamships A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
stripped Zanj sailors of their "certificates of liberation" and threw them into slavery. Another circular of the same year reveals that some newly freed Zanj slaves were arrested based on unfounded accusations, imprisoned and forced back to their lords. An instruction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Vali of Bassora of 1897 ordered that the children of liberated slaves be issued separate certificates of liberation to avoid both being enslaved themselves and separated from their parents. George Young, Second Secretary of the British Embassy in Constantinople, wrote in his ''Corpus of Ottoman Law'', published in 1905, that at the time of this writing, his impression that the slave trade in the Empire was practiced only as contraband. The house slaves, who were often women and children, were referred to as adoptees and domestic servants by the early 20th century, but were in fact still slaves, and given little money or no salary at all.Hakan Erdem, Slavery in the Ottoman Empire and its Demise 1800-1909, (London: Palgrave Macmillan Publish House, 1996), p. 52-53 In 1908, a state servant institution was established, the Hizmetçi İdaresi, to assist former female slaves who were often forced to prostitute themselwes, but it came to function as a de facto slave market bazaar for women and children. In 1908, female slaves were still being openly sold on the slave market in the Ottoman Empire. The
Young Turks The Young Turks (, also ''Genç Türkler'') formed as a constitutionalist broad opposition-movement in the late Ottoman Empire against the absolutist régime of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (). The most powerful organization of the movement, ...
adopted an anti-slavery stance in the early 20th century. The Ottoman intellectuals showed little interest in the abolition of slavery as such, but focused on the closure of one of the most symbolic institutions of slavery: the slaves of the Imperial harem, who were officially released on 31 March 1909.Hakan Erdem, Slavery in the Ottoman Empire and its Demise 1800-1909, (London: Palgrave Macmillan Publish House, 1996), p. 186 While Sultan
Abdul Hamid II Abdulhamid II or Abdul Hamid II (; ; 21 September 184210 February 1918) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1876 to 1909, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a Decline and modernizati ...
's personal slaves were freed in 1909, the members of his dynasty were allowed to keep their slaves. Upper-class people in general kept their slaves also after the release of the Sultan's harem slaves. The trade continued until
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Henry Morgenthau Sr., who served as the U.S. Ambassador in Constantinople from 1913 until 1916, reported in his '' Ambassador Morgenthau's Story'' that there were gangs that traded white slaves during those years. Morgenthau's writings also confirmed reports that Armenian girls were being sold as slaves during the
Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
of 1915. During the
Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
between 1915 and 1917, Armenian women and children were being displayed naked in Damascus in Ottoman Syria and sold at the slave market. At the end of the Ottoman Empire, chattel slavery was still tolerated by the Ottoman authorities in most provinces.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...
ended legal slavery in the Turkish Republic. Turkey waited until 1933 to ratify the 1926
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
convention on the suppression of slavery. Nonetheless, illegal sales of girls were reportedly continued at least into the early 1930s. Legislation explicitly prohibiting slavery was finally adopted in 1964. Despite the Ottoman reforms introduced to limit and reduce slavery and slave trade in the Empire from 1830 onward, chattel slavery continued to exist in the former Ottoman provinces in the Middle East after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1917–1920: while slavery in Egypt was phased out after the ban of the slave trade in 1877–1884, existing slaves were noted as late as 1931; slavery in Iraq was banned after British pressure in 1924; slavery in Jordan was ended by the British in 1929; slavery in Lebanon as well as slavery in Syria was banned by the French in 1931; slavery in Palestine still existed under the guise of clientage in 1934; slavery in Libya still existed in 1930s; and
slavery in Saudi Arabia Legal chattel slavery existed in Saudi Arabia from antiquity until its abolition in the 1960s. Hejaz (the western region of modern day Saudi Arabia), which encompasses approximately 12% of the total land area of Saudi Arabia, was under th ...
lasted until it was abolished after pressure from the US in 1962, with slavery in Yemen being banned between 1962 and 1967.Miers, S. (2003). Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. Storbritannien: AltaMira Press. p. 352


See also

* '' That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260-1500'' *
History of slavery The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and Slavery and religion, religions from ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The social, economic, a ...
*
History of slavery in the Muslim world The history of slavery in the Muslim world was throughout the history of Islam with slaves serving in various social and economic roles, from powerful emirs to harshly treated manual laborers. Slaves were widely forced to labour in irrigatio ...
*
Islamic views on slavery Islamic views on slavery represent a complex and multifaceted body of Islamic thought,Brockopp, Jonathan E., "Slaves and Slavery", in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC. ...
* Slavery and religion * Slavery in the Regency of Algiers * Slavery in Ottoman Tripolitania * Slavery in Ottoman Egypt * Slavery in Ottoman Palestine * Slavery in Ottoman Syria * Slavery in Ottoman Iraq


References


Footnotes


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * * * Çetin, Osman. "Slavery and Conversion of the Slaves to Islam in the Ottoman Society: According to the Canonical Registers of Bursa Between XVth and XVIIIth Centuries." Uludağ Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 10.1 (2001): 1–

* '' Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters''


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Slavery In The Ottoman Empire
Slavery in the Ottoman Empire Chattel slavery was a major institution and a significant part of the Ottoman Empire's economy and traditional society. The main sources of slaves were wars and politically organized enslavement expeditions in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, S ...
Society of the Ottoman Empire Social class in the Ottoman Empire History of slavery in the Muslim world Sexual slavery