New World slavery had its roots from more ancient times. Slavery,
even in the New World was not something not seen before. The Genoese
Republic established colonies at the Crimea (Keffe) c. 1300 - 1475.
Eventually, these colonies were located at the deltas of major rivers
that emptied into the Black Sea (as well as the Sea of Azov). These
lands extended eastward past the Caspian Sea to the Aral sea. The
collectivity of all these Black Sea colonies eventually became known as
"New Jenoa". The Crimea as well as surrounding lands was conjointly
fought over by various Mongol, Russian, Polish, and Byzantine/Ottoman/Trebizond
armies. What was of value that these wars were fought? The Silk Trade Route
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and the seaborn Indian Ocean Spice Trade Route (both the Silk Trade Route and
the Spice Trade Routes join near Baghdad). What were the items of value?
The Crimea and the Trebizond Imperium were trade marts of the Silk Trade Route,
the Cuman steppe slaves (white slaves) and spices from the Spice Trade Route.
The Cuman steppes were essential to the Mongols as this was the grass grazing
lands for the horses, essential to the Mongol armies. Eventually in 1454,
Byzantium fell (second time) and was replaced by the Ottoman Empire. Cuman
steppe Mongols traded slaves to the Cairo Sultanate Bey to be used as Mameluke
soldiers. The Mameluke armies in Cairo prevented shipment of trade goods to
the Mediterranean unless high taxes were paid. Instead, Europeans now bypassed
Cairo, safely and quickly, sailing around Africa instead: to the ruin of the
Mameluke sultanate and Venice.
The Crimean "Nuovo Jenoa" (New Genoa) empire traded primarily in slaves.
These slaves were kept in "fonduks": effectively housed in warehouses
(where trade goods were stored until sold, slaves along with other goods).
The slaves (young children) were used in large scale sugar plantations
(as well as in other forms of work and as soldiers) primarily in the area
around the Syrian Mediterranean coast. When the Ottoman empire consolidated
in 1475, the Genoese were forced to exit the Black Sea (control of galley
trade to the Mediterranean basin was through the Bosphorus at Istanbul).
The Venitians and Genoese had to swiftly reinvest (pantalone-arsi: losing
one's pants), and did so, using Black slaves from Portuguese Africa, in
place of White slaves, mediated by Genoese that had intermarried with members
of the Spanish court (Casa de Contratación). In place of
"Nuovo Jenoa", in sugar plantations (but at
that time, the plantations were in the New World). Where in the New World?
Nueva España, New England, Nouvelle France, Caribbean, Dutch Guyana
(Surinam), Brazil, Новая Россия
(New Russia), etc.: "Nuovo Jenoa" was the
original, "first" model of conquest (for the New World).
References (abbreviated)
Byrne, Eugene H.; "Genoese Shipping in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries"
Ciocîltan, Virgil; "The Mongols and the Black Sea Trade in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries"
Davies, Brian L.; "Warfare, State and society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500-1700"
Khvalkov, Evgeny; "Tana, A Venetian and Genoese Black Sea Trading Station in the 1430s: A Social and Economic History"
Khvalkov, Evgeny; "The Colonies of Genoa in the Black Sea Region: Evolution and Transformation"
Kivelson, Valerie A.; "Autocracy in the Provinces: The Muscovite Gentry and Political Culture in the Seventeenth Century"
Olgiati, Giustina; "The Genoese Colonies in Front of the Turkish Advance (1453-1475)"
Pike, Ruth; "Aristocrats and Traders: Sevillian Society in the Sixteenth Century"
Pike, Ruth; "Enterprise and Adventure: The Genoese in Seville and the Opening of the New World"
Vásáry, István; "Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185-1365"
Vásáry, István; "Turks, Tatars and Russians in the 13th-16th Centuries"
Verlinden, Charles; "The Beginnings of Modern Colonization: Eleven Essays with an Introduction"
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