Slave Prices in The Medieval Islamic World

Abstract

Slavery with its all aspects is an economic, social and cultural system inherited from ancient age or early medieval period to Islamic World. Slave trade is the most active field of that system. From the emergence of slavery to the abolition of it at the beginning of the twentieth century the most interesting thing regarding the slaves was the value of them. In the Islamic World two types of slave prices were encountered. First one of them was qualified slave price, the other one was unskilled/unqualified slave price. There was a serious price gap between those two categories. Whereas a slave that was skillful and well-educated or a carzye (female-slave) having the same qualifications was sold at a wealth value, a slave or a cariye that was lack of mentioned qualifications could be presented at a really low price. Besides at that period there were many factors having affected slave sells and thereby slave prices. These factors can be listed as following: brokerage activities, geographical and ethnical features, education and abilities, need for slaves and must to dispose/sell out them, epidemic diseases and collective slave deaths, slave rebels, natural disasters (Earthquake, inundation etc.), civil wars and wars, features in relation with love and aesthetic, displaying and advertising activities, abilities of slave merchants, supply and demand equilibrium, collective slave escapes, emancipation of slaves.