Silk Road Slavery
1st Millennium CE
Historiography
Silk Road Studies
Glamorization vs. Trade network
Eurasian Slave Trade
Inner Asia to West Asia
Turkic slave soldiers by 9th c.
To East??
Slave Trade in Western Eurasia
Abbasid Caliphate, 749-1258
Capital at Baghdad
Privileged Military Slaves
Caliph al-Mu'tasim (833–842)
Turkic (ghulam) “boys”
“Sogdiana” under Samanid (819–1005) control
*Samanids
Capital at Samarkand
Islamization
Persian writing revival
“Silk Road” Trade
Supply military slaves (ghulam) to Abbasids
Turkic boys
*“Fur Road” Trade
Samanid trade with Khazars (ca. 640-ca. 965) and Rus
Furs and “Slavs” slaves
Males and females
400,000 Samanid and Abbasid Islamic silver coins
discovered in Russia and Scandinavia
9th to10th c.
Trade system collapsed around 950-970
Slave Trade in Eastern Eurasia
Turfan Slave-Sale Contracts
Slave Purchase Contract, 477
A=Buyer
Zhang Zu
B=Seller
Kang “Ah Ugly”
*“[Regarding the] slave, if someone
recog (sic) the name, look up to Ugly to handle it.”
C=Male Slave
“W. Asian slave, ‘Expanding Wealth,’” age 30
Price
137 bolts of cotton cloth (die or xie 緤)
D=Scribe
Song Zhong
Witnesses
E=*Zu Qiangjia’nu
F=*He Yang
G=Su Gaochang
H=Tang Hu
Certified Market Contract (市券shiquan),
731
A=Seller
“Merchant West Asian (xinghu 興胡) Mi Lushan [Rokshan ‘Bright One’]”
B=Female Slave (bi 婢)
Shiman’er, age 12
C=Buyer
Tang Rong
*“Certified
market contract given to purchaser”
P=Price
40 bolts of silk tabby
Guarantors
Guarantors (baoren 保人)
pledged that the slave had not been induced into slavery through poverty or
deceit.
Certified Market Contract (shiquan), 732
A=Seller
Tian Yuanyu
B= “West Asian Female Slave ‘Green Pearl,’” age 12
C=Buyer
Xue “Fifteenth Girl”
*“Market
contract given to purchaser”
P=Price
40 bolts of wide-loom silk tabby
Travel Permit Application to Fuzhou, 733
Family Hierarchy
Status
Gender
Age
|
Status
|
Name
|
Translated
Name
|
Age (Chinese
count)
|
|
Nephews
|
Tang
Yiqian 唐益謙
|
|
33
|
|
Tang
Yinu 唐意奴
|
|
31
|
|
Concubine
|
Xue 薛
|
|
18
|
|
Male
Slaves
|
Dianxin 典信
|
Model
Trustworthiness
|
26
|
|
Guiming 歸命
|
Submit to
Orders
|
21
|
|
Pengbian
捧鞭
|
Grip the
Whip
|
22
|
|
Suima 遂馬
|
Follow
the Horse
|
18
|
|
Female
Slaves
|
Chun’er 春兒
|
Springy
|
20
|
|
Lüzhu 綠珠
|
Green
Pearl
|
13
|
|
Shiman’er
失滿兒
|
N/A
|
14
|
|
Servant
|
Duan Hong
段洪
|
|
35
|
Postal and Customs Station System
Turfan to Fuzhou via Jade Gate and other stops: 4000 kilometers (2500
miles)
Tang Travel Permit Paperwork:
22 travel parties, ca. 650-750
Travel Party Leaders with Chinese Names
None with commerce as objective of travel
Three types of travel party leaders
3 poor commoners (cart drivers, soldiers, etc.)
No slaves or hired laborers
1 prosperous commoner
With horse & 10 donkeys
No slaves or hired laborers
4 Tang civil and military officials
Commoners comprise 1/3 of laborers
Slaves comprise 2/3 of laborers!
Travel Party Leaders with Foreign Names
Commerce is always objective of travel
Sogdians are the dominant merchants
2/3 of travel party heads
Lots of slaves
8 of 10 travel parties have slaves
15 of 39 extant travellers (38.5%) were slaves
Slave labor or slave commerce?
Shih Zhēmat-yān (Randian 石染典
)
Turfan resident
Guazhou-Hami-Kucha, 732
Turfan?-Hami, 733
2 Sogdian laborers
1 male slave, “born in household”
Yitādhi (Yiduodi 移多地)
10 donkeys
Peddler Trade Including Slaves
[…]Jidupan ☐藉篤潘 ca. 672-685
4 female slaves and 5 donkeys
Discussion: Whitfield, “The Unknown Slave,” pp. 250-272
1. How does this chapter differ from others in the book?
Why does Whitfield think that slavery is worth studying?
2. What is the extent of geographical coverage in the chapter?
Does slavery in premodern northern and western Europe belong in a book
about the Silk Road?
3. According to Whitfield, how were most slaves obtained?
What do we learn about the trade of slaves along the Silk Road?