In the early nineteenth century, most slave men and ladies worked on massive agricultural plantations as house servants or field hands. Life for slave men and ladies was brutal; they were subject to repression, harsh punishments, and strict racial policing.
The slave trade in Africa had been started by the Turks and Arabs long before the Europeans, and by the Africans before that. Slavery in historical Africa before Europeans was practised in many different forms: Debt slavery, enslavement of war captives, military slavery, slavery for prostitution, and criminal slavery were all practised in various parts of Africa.
