Definition
Slavery is a system in which some human beings are legally treated as the property of others. Enslaved people are denied freedom, bought and sold, and compelled to work without consent, often under the constant threat of violence.
Slavery has existed in many societies across history, from the ancient world to the early modern Atlantic. Its forms varied, but its core was always the same: the reduction of a person to an owned thing.
Why it matters
How it works
Slavery was sustained by law, force, and economic interest. Legal codes defined enslaved people as property and stripped them of rights. Owners used violence and the threat of it to compel labor and obedience. And the profits drawn from unpaid work gave powerful groups a stake in keeping the system intact.
Because slavery was so profitable to those who controlled it, ending it required sustained struggle — by the enslaved themselves and by abolitionists — against entrenched political and economic power.