Let's just exclude the ancient Romans anf Greeks, shall we? In modern history it was Christian nations and colonial empires that enslaved until the 19th century. Christianity did nothong in stoping that, and Viking culture in general changed dramatically once they were converted to Christianity, slavery was just one aspect of that.
Serfdom is, of course, different from slavery. Thr main difference being that serfs could be sold like other mobilr assets as they were attached to the land. When thr land was sold, the serfs eere sold along with it so. The common theme between slavery and servedom so is that in both cases people were property of sorts.
Abolitionists were Christians, because they tried to abolish slavery in Christian nations. As much as Abolitionists used religious arguments against slavery, slavery advocates used religious argments for it.
Modern day de-facto slavery, in the Arab world and illegal varieties affecting immigrants for example, are different from historical slavery. As much different as Roman and Greek slavery was from Barbary state slavery and Colonial slavery.
One hallmark of the modern variety of slavery, the one European nations used to build their colonial empires on, is the racist nature of it. In ancient times race didn't play much of a role in slavery. Nor did religion in pre-Christian Rome. These two things set the Colonial / Christian form slavery apart from those ancient forms.
Slavery was never about race.
Often people would convert to Islam or Christianity so as not to be enslaved.
Hence the Arab word for black Africans, Kefir or unbeliever.
People’s looks are often mentioned with slavery, though. For example, while Julius Caesar abducted about a million Gauls, the blondest slaves in Roman markets were Angles.
Hollywood, at least in the HBO production “Rome” did get this part right. The main character has blonde hair, which is a political liability.
As noted in another comment, Zanj is the Arab word for black. Kafir is the word for nonbeliever and use more broadly. I’ve not heard it used racially.
Was the Atlantic slave trade about race though? I don’t think that the tragedy that was the slave trade enslaved people because they were black, but because they were sub-Saharan Africans. I think it would have worked the same with any race that had been in those cultures.
There wasn’t a law or practice of enslaving people based on their skin color. As evidenced by the free blacks in other areas of the world that weren’t enslaved.
I think the racial stereotypes came about based on the race of the slaves, not the other way around.
I jever said it was exclusively Christian nations, did I? The Barbary Coast pirates are just one example. This whole discussion started with a a claim that Christianity "ended" slavery by the Vikings. Christianity never had an issue with slavery if it was Christians doing the slaving. And it was Christian colonial super powers that used slavery all the way, in tremendous scales, all the way to the mid 19th century.
Serfdom is, of course, different from slavery. Thr main difference being that serfs could be sold like other mobilr assets as they were attached to the land. When thr land was sold, the serfs eere sold along with it so. The common theme between slavery and servedom so is that in both cases people were property of sorts.
Abolitionists were Christians, because they tried to abolish slavery in Christian nations. As much as Abolitionists used religious arguments against slavery, slavery advocates used religious argments for it.
Modern day de-facto slavery, in the Arab world and illegal varieties affecting immigrants for example, are different from historical slavery. As much different as Roman and Greek slavery was from Barbary state slavery and Colonial slavery.
One hallmark of the modern variety of slavery, the one European nations used to build their colonial empires on, is the racist nature of it. In ancient times race didn't play much of a role in slavery. Nor did religion in pre-Christian Rome. These two things set the Colonial / Christian form slavery apart from those ancient forms.