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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheAuldGrump" data-source="post: 2225680" data-attributes="member: 6957">Though again, it is interesting to note that in many countries the taking of slaves was incidental to the causes of war - more often it was expansion rather than the taking of slaves that drove the slave economy. Though there were odd hiccups...The slave trade in the U.S. was primarily commercial, which is to say that Dutch, English, and New England traders purchased people from slave markets rather than enslaved them personally, transported them, and resold them for a profit in the South. English traders were odd in that while slavery was illegal in England slaves were still stored as 'merchandise' in Liverpool warehouses... as long as they were being transported elsewhere keeping them for a time in England was legal.Rome used the slave trade as a means to quash rebellion - if an area rebelled than the people were punished, and one of those punishments was slavery. And like the U.S. Rome purchased many of their slaves in foreign markets, asking few questions.The Aztecs did raid their neighbors for slaves, and were raided in turn. This also served as a means of population control as a percentage of those taken as slaves were given up to the gods in sacrifice.The Celts were known to raid for slaves, then to trade them back for slaves taken from their own... And often a slave was allowed to make his or her purchase, or to join the clan that took him or her. Slavery was also a punishment for criminals (as were some human sacrifices).The Norse and their kin also made slave raids, but a slave (carl) was allowed to make his purchase if he could.The French made slave raids from Canada into Maine, with the rationale that these were English colonists and therefor criminals... It was an act of war rather than a full fledged trade.It is also worth noting that in many (but by no means all) slave taking cultures the worst treatments of slaves were illegal, though these laws were not always enforced. (One U.S. law limited the amount of lobster that one was allowed to feed to one's slaves - it was then considered a trash food, a giant sea going cockroach...) Many of the Southern plantations were in fact breaking the laws of their states in the treatment of their slaves. Though without punishment the mistreatment continued.The Mongols and Turks on the other hand... The term 'salt mines' comes to mind...The naval press of the English seamen can also be viewed as a form of temporary slave taking... though once taken they were paid the same as any other tar. And led to the War of 1812...The Auld Grump</blockquote>

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