Slavery in the Mediterranean

This chapter focuses on slavery in the Mediterranean region from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, and especially in the Northern Mediterranean basin, including the Italian states, France, Spain, and Portugal. Comparing the situation in Southern European states to that in the Ottoman Empire and its satellite states enables an analysis of the forms of reciprocity and the commonalities inherent in slave trade practices around the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean was at the center of larger slave trading networks whose slaves originated from all over the world. More specifically, this chapter examines various forms of enslavement and types of work performed by slaves, along with the different levels of coercion involved in them. In its conclusion, the chapter details some of the exit strategies that enabled slaves to become free—both in socio-economic terms and from a legal perspective.