Latest / Trade Routes That Changed Human History Forever — Fexingo History / The Silk Road Slave Trade That Built an Empire
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about the Silk Road as this glorious exchange of silk, spices, ideas. But there's a darker current running through it that doesn't get as much airtime — the slave trade. And specifically, there's one group that was trafficked in huge numbers: the Saqaliba. That's the Arabic term for Slavic slaves. Luna: Wait, Saqaliba — that's related to 'Slav', isn't it? Lucas: Exactly. Linguistically it comes from the same root. And these weren't just a few hundred people. We're talking about thousands upon thousands of Slavs captured from Eastern Europe, marched down the Volga, and sold in markets from Itil to Baghdad. The scale is staggering. Lucas: Before we dive deep into that, I want to mention something. You know, we keep this show going without any ads — that's a deliberate choice. If you appreciate that, and you want to support it, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's that simple. Luna: Yeah, it's really nice to listen to a history podcast that's not interrupted by commercials every ten minutes. Lucas: Alright, so back to the Saqaliba. The key hub for this trade was the Khazar Khaganate. The Khazars were a semi-nomadic Turkic people who converted to Judaism in the 8th or 9th century — that's a whole other story. But their location between the Black Sea and the Caspian made them perfect middlemen. Luna: Right, and they controlled the Volga route, didn't they? Lucas: Yes. The Volga was the highway. The Khazars had their capital at Itil, at the mouth of the Volga on the Caspian. And they worked closely with the Radhanites — Jewish merchants from the West who had networks stretching from Spain to China. Ibn Khordadbeh, a 9th-century Persian geographer, describes the Radhanite routes in his Book of Roads and Kingdoms. Lucas: The Radhanites would travel from places like France or Italy, bringing swords, furs, and captives to the Khazar market. The Khazars would then sell those captives — mostly Slavs — further south to the Abbasid Caliphate, where they became domestic servants, eunuchs, or soldiers. Luna: So the Saqaliba ended up as slave soldiers? That's similar to the ghilman we talked about in episode 168. Lucas: Exactly. The ghilman were often Turkish or Slavic. In fact, some of the most powerful slave soldiers in the Islamic world were Saqaliba. There's a famous example: the Tulunid dynasty in Egypt, founded by Ahmad ibn Tulun, whose father was a Turkish slave. But there were also Slavic eunuchs who served in the caliph's palace. Lucas: Now, the Khazar Khaganate itself was eventually destroyed by the Rus' prince Sviatoslav in the 960s. The Rus' were Varangians — basically Vikings — who had started raiding and trading along the Volga. They had their own interest in the slave trade, and they saw the Khazars as competitors. Luna: So the Rus' were slavers too? Lucas: Absolutely. The Rus' were notorious for capturing people during their raids and selling them down the Volga to the Khazars or directly to the Muslims. The Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos wrote about how the Rus' would collect slaves from Slavic tribes and transport them on boats to Constantinople. Lucas: One of the most important sources for understanding this trade is the Cairo Geniza — a treasure trove of medieval Jewish documents found in a synagogue in Fustat, Old Cairo. These letters mention slave traders, prices, and even legal disputes. They show that the trade was highly organized. Luna: And what about the legal side? Islamic law had rules about slavery, right? Lucas: Yes, Islamic law distinguished between believers and non-believers. Technically, you couldn't enslave a free Muslim. But the Saqaliba were mostly pagans or Christians from Eastern Europe, so they were fair game. The Khazars, being Jewish, operated under their own legal framework, but they were pragmatic. Lucas: The slave trade was so lucrative that it survived the fall of the Khazars. The Volga route continued under the Rus' and later the Mongols. When Genghis Khan unified the steppes, the Pax Mongolica actually made long-distance trade safer, including the slave trade. Luna: So the Yassa, Genghis's law code, protected merchants and traders? Lucas: Exactly. The Yassa guaranteed safe passage for merchants, including slave traders. And the Mongols themselves were involved in the trade. They captured thousands of people during their conquests and sold them. Marco Polo mentions slave markets in Tabriz and other Mongol cities. Lucas: But let's go back to a specific figure: Bulan, the Khazar king who converted to Judaism. His conversion was partly political — he wanted to avoid aligning with either the Christian Byzantines or the Muslim Caliphate. But it also gave the Khazars a distinct identity that helped them control trade routes. Luna: I've heard that the Khazars were a kind of 'third power' in the region. Lucas: Exactly. They weren't just middlemen; they were a powerful state that could enforce contracts and protect caravans. But their reliance on the slave trade made them vulnerable. When the Rus' and the Byzantines allied against them, the Khazars collapsed within a few decades. Lucas: One fascinating detail from the Cairo Geniza is a letter from a Jewish slave trader named Judah, who writes about buying a young Saqalibi girl in a market in Fustat. He complains about the price — it went up because of 'the war in the north.' That war was likely Sviatoslav's campaign against the Khazars. Luna: So global events directly impacted local prices, even back then. Lucas: Absolutely. The slave trade was deeply interconnected. And it's important to remember that these weren't just commodities — they were people with names and stories, even if we rarely get to hear them. Some Saqaliba rose to power: like the eunuch Kafur, who became the de facto ruler of Egypt in the 10th century. Luna: Kafur — that's the famous poet's subject, right? Al-Mutanabbi wrote about him. Lucas: Yes! The great Arab poet al-Mutanabbi praised Kafur in his poems, though later he satirized him when Kafur didn't give him the patronage he expected. It's a reminder that slavery in the Islamic world wasn't the same as the transatlantic chattel slavery — it was often a path to power, but it was still brutal. Lucas: The Saqaliba trade began to decline after the Mongol invasion, when the slave markets shifted. But the legacy lasted. The word 'slave' itself comes from 'Slav', because so many Slavs were enslaved. It's a linguistic echo of this vast, hidden history. Luna: That's a powerful way to think about it. Language carries the scars. Lucas: It does. And next time we'll look at another side of the Silk Road — the spread of disease. Because where people and goods travel, germs travel too.