Jan 27,2016
Before 1500, the mediterranean and Indian Ocean basins were the major arenas of the Old world slave trade, and southern Russia was a major source of slaves. Within the Islamic world, the preference was for female slaves. They were ordered around by their husbands. In general women were seen as lower than men. Until the crusades, Europeans knew nothing of sugar and relied on honey and fruits to sweeten their bland diets. In 1453, however, when the Ottoman Turks seized Constantinople, the supply of slavic slaves was effectively cut off. Portuguese mariners were exploring the coast of West Africa . They were looking for gold , but they also found there an alternative source of slaves. The global economy in the early modern era was tied unapologetically to empire building and to slavery. Asia and China in particular remained major engines of the world economy.
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