INTRODUCTION

Slavery had long existed in many parts of the world prior to the settlement of the Americas. While the basic legal provisions and the conditions in which slave labor was used differed, few, if any, periods in world history had not had some form of enslavement of individuals. These individuals were frequently, but not always, from other societies. While sociologists might point to the distinguishing features of slavery in most societies as including “social death” and alienation – the slave as an outsider – in order to understand the economic implications, we wish to regard the slave as property. Slaves could be bought and sold (as well as freed), the rights to their labor belonged to their owners, and the offspring of a slave mother was regarded as slave property of her owner. To function effectively, slavery must be accepted by members in the potential slaveowning class and, to those societies with a code of legal controls, defended by the law.

ORIGIN OF SLAVERY IN THE AMERICAS, OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES

Although slavery has been widespread throughout history, the distinguished classicist Moses Finley has argued that “there have been only five genuine slave societies,” societies whose social and economic institutions were dominated by the existence of slavery. Two were in the ancient world, Greece and Rome, and three in the Americas between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, Brazil, the Caribbean, and the U.S. South.