Re: 1619 NYT series on slavery in the US
Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2019 2:01 pm
The practice of slavery is known to have existed in Mesopotamia dating back to 3,500 BC, which is the oldest civilization of which we have records. Mesopotamia was located in the Middle East in the area that Iraq and Iran now occupy. It did not start in Africa, nor did "Africa" exist at the time in any sense that we view it as a continent now.morgan wrote: ↑Tue Aug 20, 2019 1:12 pmI commented on how awful it is that wealthy Africans sold poor Africans around the world for a thousand years. If this practice never occurred, there would have never been slavery in American colonies, or anywhere else in the world.MonarchMom wrote: ↑Tue Aug 20, 2019 12:59 pmI do not see your point. The series is on the institution of slavery in the American colonies, how that translated to wealth and independence from England, and the legacy of laws, culture and finances that followed.
Slavery took place independently in Europe, including many Christians held as slaves during the 13th century - predating the African slave trade by hundreds of years. The Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, British, Arab and some West African kingdoms all participated in the Atlantic slave trade.