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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5050101" data-attributes="member: 4937">I think you have a hard time proving that thesis.  And in any event, you'd have to explain why the modern world was an exception, and if an exception, why you thought the thesis then had any explanatory power in the first place.If I had to guess, the basis of your thesis is that the history taught in survey courses tends to focus on the 'movers and shakers' of history, and so you are less well acquainted with the cultures and slave holding practices of the less powerful societies that don't get taught, you assume from that that the lack of mention of it in your studies means it wasn't happening there.  That is, you know slavery was happening in the places you studied, and you are biased assume by default it wasn't happening in the places you didn't.Even more ironicly, so far as I know, the strongest common thread of questioning the ethics of slavery runs through that list of nations you list.  Babylon was the first nation I know of it articulate that the strong ought dominate the weak.  Roman ethicists were the first I know of to denounce slavery.  Great Britain was the first I know of it actually renounce slavery completely, and further the first to make the connection that it was wrong not only to enslave their own citizens, but also wrong for their own citizens to enslave others, and further the first to take steps to stop slavery on a global scale.</blockquote>