GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Detailed explanation-1: -The first civilizations–along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia, the Nile in Egypt, the Indus Valley of India, and China’s Yangtze River Valley–all had slavery. The earliest known system of laws, the Hammurabi Code, recognized slavery and declared that slaves could be sold or inherited.

Detailed explanation-2: -Slaves made up an effective working class for agricultural and domestic labor, and provided a group of foreigners to always serve as the lowest social class, below even lower-class citizens. So, slaves were the foundation of the social pyramid, upon which urban centers and societies were built.

Detailed explanation-3: -Their lives were harsh. Slaves were often whipped, branded or cruelly mistreated. Their owners could also kill them for any reason, and would face no punishment. Although Romans accepted slavery as the norm, some people – like the poet and philosopher, Seneca – argued that slaves should at least be treated fairly.

Detailed explanation-4: -Slavery existed in ancient India, where it is recorded in the Sanskrit Laws of Manu of the 1st century bce. The institution was little documented until the British colonials in the 19th century made it an object of study because of their desire to abolish it.