Slave Trade Networks; Historical Origin paradigmata

 The origins of slavery is an interesting yet somewhat vague topic to most Americans. Since this is the ending phase of the U.S. National Black history month I thought I would contribute a thesis idea if not a thesis on the Muslim origins of the European and American slave trade.

Islamic slavers captured and enslaved Africans before the rise of European exploitation of the black human resource I would guess. The Umayyad had invaded Spain and attacked Sicily and Constantinople long before European ship development had trans-Atlantic capability.

Of course Europe too had slavery for-itself as is well known from Greek history. Romans too had slavery as did Carthaginians. Each likely had black slaves, although Caesar in his book The Civil War, I believe it was, described a battle with a black General named Numa in North Africa. So the degree of black slavery was less perhaps then, and Europe itself not full of black slaves, as was the U.S.A. later where 50% of the southern states population was black.

At some point after 622 C.E. Mohammedans embarked on a vast expansion north, south and west from Arabia. Slavery was simply a part of human society in that era of low government enforcement capability outside of war and direct condign measures capability. African slaves and slave networks may have been worked into the business models of entrepreneurs of the region.

For several centuries after the protracted war between Islam and Europe with incessant pressure from Islam advancing the battle line northward slaves were a part of the complexity of society and perennial war. In the sea change year of 1492 Columbus discovered the Americas for Europe and the final Moors were driven from Spain at Grenada. Yet interactions had been established and slave trade networks and situations for capture and export of slaves existed that might be expropriated by European human traffickers. Slavery was a ripe business for the age of European exploration and hegemony over North Africa. It flourished in the Americas as the development of European conquest continued, especially driven by continuing Muslim pressure on the eastern front with the fall of Constantinople to the Osmanli Muslims in 1453 and the Sublime Porte's conquests in Serbia and siege of Vienna in 1683. Building up American colonies quickly in order to provide resources to defend against Mohammedans may have added a drafting effect on importation of African slaves to America, if the competition between Europeans themselves for colonial territories wasn't enough.