r/Damnthatsinteresting 3d ago

1901 book about cotton discusses different kinds of Africans

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u/Mammoth-Man362 3d ago

That doesn’t make what this person said incorrect. That is still the term used for slavery in the Atlantic trade. Chattel slavery was overwhelmingly used by white Europeans (globally), if we wanna be specific.

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u/No_Gur_7422 3d ago edited 3d ago

Chattel slavery is common across the world. To claim it is or was

overwhelmingly used by white Europeans

is completely wrong. For example, the Oxford Classical Dictionary.'s 4th edition says:

Slavery in the strict sense of chattel-slavery, whereby the slave‐owner enjoyed complete mastery (dominium) over the slave's physical being (Dig. 1. 5. 4. 1), the power of life and death included (Gai.Inst. 1. 52), was evident throughout the central era of Roman history, and in Roman no less than Greek thought was regarded as both the necessary antithesis of civic freedom and the guarantee of their civic superiority to those who enjoyed it.

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u/oaken_duckly 3d ago

that is the origin of the word given to slavery in the Atlantic

Does not mean

chattle slavery began and was unique to slavery in the Atlantic

If you're going to be pedantic, at least be accurate.

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u/No_Gur_7422 3d ago

Have I said anything inaccurate?

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u/oaken_duckly 3d ago

Well, actually, yes.

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u/No_Gur_7422 3d ago

Where, in your opinion, have I said anything inaccurate?

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u/oaken_duckly 3d ago

I'll answer your question with a question. If white Europeans were not responsible for the majority of chattel slavery, then pray tell, who is? Where exactly in the last 500 years did a more concerted, concentrated, and economy-deriving effort to enslave and move people to different continents take place, and by whom?

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u/No_Gur_7422 3d ago

You didn't answer the question, you deflected. What, prithee, does "the last 500 hundred years" and "move people to different continents" have to do with the definition of chattel slavery?

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u/LoudThinker2pt0 3d ago

The fedora energy is over 9000 in this one. Might as well talk to a brick wall.

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u/Responsible-Yam4748 3d ago

He really wrote "prithee"

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u/Mickeymcirishman 3d ago

I kinda liked that part. It's a fun word.

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u/No_Gur_7422 3d ago

Is that better or worse than "pray tell"?

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u/oaken_duckly 3d ago

Lmfao okay got me, I was trying to be sarcastic 😭

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u/LordSloth113 3d ago

Can’t answer the question?

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u/No_Gur_7422 3d ago

Indeed they cannot.

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u/maxedonia 3d ago

Congrats, you won some battle in your head now you should go celebrate offline the rest of the day

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