The
slave trade is almost as old as civilisation itself.
Between the
6th and
10th centuries, the primary source of
slaves for Europe and the
Middle East was
central and
eastern Europe, especially Slavic people. This is the reason why the word for
slave in many European languages is derived from Slav (for example English, German and French).
After the conquest of
north Africa and
Spain by Muslims, the
Islamic world became an importer of slaves from central Europe. Because of religious reasons, the slave trade was monopolised by Jews, who were able transfer the slaves from pagan central Europe through
Christian Western Europe to Muslim countries in Spain and Africa. The trade routes were established between slave trade centres in the Slavonic countries (for example,
Prague and
Wolin) and Arab metropolises in Spain. The majority of slaves were prisoners captured in wars between Slavonic tribes and states.
This trade came to the end the
10th century after the Christianisation of central Europe.
For specific articles on the slave trade, see:
Category:Slavery
Category:International trade
da:slavehandel
de:Sklavenhandel
ja:奴隷貿易
nl:Slavenhandel