Why Is Slavery Important In The 19th Century

Slavery was a profitable business during the 1700s and 1800s. Though controversial, slavery was practiced by multiple regions, including those of Haiti and Ottoman Egypt. In these slavery regimes, different characteristics shaped the culture of each area determining things such as a slave’s labor, rights, and ultimately freedom with the abolition of slavery in the 19th century. Haiti and Ottoman Egypt were two of the largest regions, with Haiti having more than 450,000 slaves by the 17th century, and Egypt’s population being made up of about 80% peasant civilians. Although both areas had big roles in the popularity of slavery and plantation agriculture, they also differed in characteristics that helped develop their regimes.
Labor was the …show more content…
However, the people of Haiti were filled with the great joy of independence from slavery much earlier than the Ottoman Egyptian regime. A very opposite feeling was felt by the middle class in Haiti. Without their wealth from the slaves, they were nothing and now had no one to their work for them. The fight for freedom took a great amount of time, but in 1804 the Haitian Revolution, led by Toussaint L'ouverture, successfully got rid of slavery in San Domingo. Interestingly, the slaves gained outside support from the French servants and peasants. Suffering themselves, the French showed their support by not drinking coffee that the slaves had harvested. In Ottoman Egypt’s case, a decline for the importation of male slaves was on a decline. In the late 19th century, the Egyptian government began to respond with a series of declarations and anti-slavery laws. In 1856, the practice of importing and selling white slaves was banned. And in 1877, the import and export of Sudanese and Ethiopian slaves was banned. British naval forces were able to search any vessel for suspected slaves in Egyptian slaves. Ironically, neither act actually banned the practice of