Slavery has existed since the beginning history, and references can be found throughout the Old Testament and other ancient writings from around the globe. Slaves were often the spoils of wars and battles for the victors, and usually were a different ethnicity, nationality, religion, or race from those who enslaved them (Slavery pp). In the majority of cases, intermarriage, granting of liberty, and the right to buy one"s own freedom have caused slave and slave-owning populations to merge throughout the world (Slavery pp). Slavery is almost always practiced for the purpose of securing labor and in the strictest sense, slaves have no rights (Slavery pp). The 1926 Slavery Convention described slavery as "the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised," thus, a slave is someone who cannot leave an owner, master, overseer, controller, or employer without explicit permission and will be returned if they escape (Slavery pp). Although, slavery is outlawed in all countries by United Nations conventions, there are still some states today, such as Myanmar and Sudan that facilitate the institution of slavery (Slavery pp). These "unfree laborers" are usually told that they are working off a debt, however they have no access to an accounting of the debt and no right to take any higher[paying or less supervised employment (Slavery pp). Societies suffering from poverty, population pressures, and cultural and technological backwardness are often exporters of slaves to more developed nations (Slavery pp). Today, most slaves are rural people forced to move to cities, or they are purchased in rural areas and sold into slavery in cities, and these moves occur due to loss of subsistence agriculture, thefts of land, and population increases (Slavery pp). .

             The African-European slave trade dates back more than five hundred years, when Portuguese seamen first landed in Africa around 1441 (Obadina pp).