Slavery

 

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to perform various kinds of work. Slaves are typically held against their will. People can become slaves when they are captured as prisoners in war or raids. Others are born into slavery, as the children of other slaves. Slavery has officially been outlawed in the continent of Westeros for thousands of years, but it is widespread throughout much of the eastern continent of Essos.

 

Slavery has been illegal in the Seven Kingdoms for thousands of years. Slavery is considered an abomination by both the Faith of the Seven and the worshipers of the Old Gods of the Forest. It was illegal in Westeros long before there ever were "Seven Kingdoms", and the unification of the Seven Kingdoms in the Targaryen Conquest three hundred years ago only served to strengthen the enforcement of this prohibition.

Even selling criminals to foreign slavers from Essos is considered a heinous crime. When Lord Jorah Mormont sold some poachers he caught on his lands to foreign slavers, he fled into exile to Essos to avoid execution.

 

In sharp contrast with Westeros, slavery is widespread throughout the continent of Essos, across the Narrow Sea. Large-scale chattel slavery has been practiced in Essos for thousands of years, since the dawn of recorded civilization. Indeed, it would be easier to list the few places in Essos where slavery is not practiced: the Free City of Braavos, one or two of the other northern Free Cities such as Pentos which Braavos has managed to force to abolish slavery (but only nominally), and Lhazar. The slave trade is so pervasive in most of Essos that in many ways, slaves are used as a form of currency. Indeed, the slave trade is one of the pillars of the international economy in Essos.

 

Slaver's Bay is the central hub of the international slaving market. Qarth is also involved in the slave trade, and Asshai seems to be as well. The cities of Slaver’s Bay breed their local slave population, and also capture new slaves in raids on distant shores, such as the coasts of nearby Sothoryos (including the island of Naath). They trade their slaves to the southern Free Cities for food and finished goods, as well as to eastern locales such as Qarth and Asshai for more exotic products and spices.Slaver's Bay is also known for its fighting pits, where slaves are forced to fight to the death with each other or against wild animals.