Abbasid Caliphate
A major slave trade destination, importing non-Muslim slaves from Africa, Europe, Central Asia, and India.
The Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) was a major slave trade destination, importing non-Muslim slaves from non-Muslim lands. Slaves came from the north via the Balkan slave trade and the Volga trade route; from the east via the Bukhara slave trade; from the west via the Andalusian slave trade, the Trans-Saharan slave trade and the Red Sea slave trade; and from the south from the Indian Ocean slave trade. The slave trade and slavery in the area continued during subsequent states, such as the Mamluk Sultanate (1258–1517) and the Ottoman Empire (1517–1922), until slavery was ended in the 20th century, when national states emerging after the split of the Ottoman Empire gradually ended slavery, culminating in the abolition of slavery in Saudi Arabia, slavery in Yemen and slavery in Oman in 1962–1970.
Quick Facts
- Capital city
- Baghdad
- Dynasty
- House of Abbasid
- Region
- Middle East; Iraq
Lore & Background
During the Abbasid Caliphate, the slave trade reached a more permanent commercial industrial scale, establishing commercial slave trade routes that were to remain for centuries. Since Islamic law prohibited enslavement of Muslims, non-Muslim slaves (kafir) were imported from non-Muslim lands (Dar al-harb). These included pagan Africa in the south; Christian and pagan Europe in the north; and pagan Central Asia and India in the east. African slaves were referred to as Zanj and were favored for hard labor.
Turkic peoples from the Central Asian Steppe (Turkestan) were a major supply source, favored for military slavery, and were trafficked via the Bukhara slave trade. The Red Sea slave trade expanded significantly during the Abbasid Caliphate, with African slaves transported in the 9th century to the slave markets of Jeddah, Mecca and Medina, and from there by caravan to the slave market of Baghdad. The Indian Ocean slave trade trafficked slaves from East Africa across the Indian Ocean by dhow through the Persian Gulf to Basra.
Did You Know?
- The Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) established commercial slave trade routes that were to remain for centuries.
- During the Sack of Amorium in 838, the sale of spoils went on for five days, with 30,000 to 70,000 dead according to different chroniclers.
- The Red Sea slave trade between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula continued until its final abolition in the 1960s, when slavery in Saudi Arabia was abolished in 1962.
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