Has there ever been a sustained effort to enslave a group of people other than in early america?

Question

i believe that various people would enslave their war prisoners. but has there been any other effort to enslave people purely as part of economic advantage as happened to african people brought to america? were non-african people ever apart of the american slave trade?

Answer 1

The Israelites, for 350 years. Dont you recall the Exodus with Moses. Its in the Bible

Answer 2

Yes; throughout the whole of human history.  One rather obvious example is the Roman Empire, which had slavery as its economic bedrock.

Answer 3

Almost all societies thoughout history have had slaves.  Egypt had a huge slave trade which was part of their economy.

Answer 4

You are kidding, right?  Read a history book.  Almost EVERY society that goes back more than a few hundred years has a past that includes slavery.  Some were ethnic, but most were economic.

Answer 5

~Surely you don't believe that slavery originated in 17th  century colonial America?  Or that the colonists were the first to enslave Africans?  Or that before the first slaves were delivered to Williamsburg in 1619 that the traffic in African slaves was not already making countless European shippers and slave traders obscenely wealthy?  Or that Europe ended slavery before it was outlawed in many of the American states?  Or that the Spanish, French and Dutch colonists in Central, South and Caribbean America had no slaves?  Or that, in the early years at least, all slaves were African?  Or that no other culture or civilization before the Western Europeans and Colonial Americans had held slaves or had enslaved peoples of other cultures, tribes, races, religions or ethnic backgrounds?   Or that Africans in Africa did not enslave other Africans?  If you do, you have no knowledge whatsoever of the history or nature of Man.

Edit:  It is refreshing to hear someone say "I want to learn."  That is the first necessary step of education.  Understand that a good teacher will not "teach" you anything other than the means by which you can learn to learn.  This site is neither  designed for nor well suited to that purpose.

Yes, slavery existed long before the Europeans reached the western hemisphere.  However, if you analyze the situation from a rational historical perspective, the Jews were NOT enslaved in Egypt.  In the context of history, it is clear that they were welcome and productive members of Egyptian society but there religious differences did cause them (self-inflicted?) problems.  Virtually all cultures utilized slavery in one form or another.  African slaves were expedient in the colonies because of several obvious reasons.  It was already acceptable in 'good society' to own them.  They were 'sub-human'.  Their skin made them easy to find if they ran off.  They didn't know the country or the language and had no place to run if they ran off (unless they had the great good fortune to run south and join the conglomeration of outcasts who came to be known as the Seminole.  There were greater moral issues involved with owning whites beyond a term of years or for life (the offspring of colonial white slaves were not deemed property for they were 'human').  Native Americans were deemed unfit for the labor involved on the plantations and they could find help from kindred spirits or allied clans or tribes if they escaped.  If you are Jewish or Christian and have read the bible, you know slavery existed in Biblical times - and the Jews owned people too.  Once Feudal Europe dissipated, the slaves (or serfs) gained a modicum of 'freedom' but they were still vassals of the Barons and other feudal lords.  Peoples of other races, ethnicity and religion are more practical for use as slaves than those of ones own 'breed' because it makes it so much easier to moralize the practice and to find runaways.  That is why Africa was such a treasure trove of human chattel.  Nobody cared about the 'rights' of the 'white man's burden' and the cheap (it was never free) labor was handy.  However, enslavement of Africans was no different than most other slavery that had come before since the first humanoid exercised supremacy over a weaker one.  At least not until someone figured out that slavery should continue through the generations rather than to be confined to the individual.  Even so, the early empire builders, West and East, seldom if ever afforded full rights of society or citizenship to conquered foes.  The subjugated were always 'slaves' in one form or another.  And slavery existed in North and South America before the Europeans arrived.  Don't by into the c**p about the peace-loving docile Native Americans.  They were as ruthless and savage as their white cousins, they owned and protected their tribal lands, they constantly warred amongst themselves and they made slaves of captives.   They were no different in that respect than were they Asians, the Africans, the Indonesians, the Polynesians, or the Europeans.  The condition and story of man is truly a sordid and miserable tale.  

The gods we have created truly mirror us, but why do we insist on continuing down the same dismal path?  I really loved Lennon's "Imagine" and in the 60s there were those of us who tried to live the life, long before John put it to music, but I suspect we're still a few evolutionary steps away from the promised land.

If you are truly interested, read up on the topic (but NOT in Wikipedia).  Millions of words have been written on the subject for your edification but you surely can't expect worthwhile information on this site or from anyplace else that doesn't require some effort on your part.  

Learn and enjoy.  You will find yourself in a unique minority if you do.