Slavery in Safavid Iran (c. 1502–1736 AD) Slavery was a common institution in
Safavid Iran, with slaves employed in many levels of society. African slaves were imported by the East African slave trade across the Indian Ocean, and white slaves were mainly provided from the Caucasus area or the Caspian Sea through warfare and slave trade.
Slave market Male slaves were referred to as (in Arabic lit. a youth) or (lit. bought by gold) or if they were black as kākā , while female slaves were referred to as . and by giving sexual services by prostitution at private parties.
Safavid harem One of the biggest slavery institutions in Safavid Iran was the royal
Safavid harem and court.
Shah Soltan Hossein's (r. 1694–1722) court has been estimated to include five thousand slaves; male and female, black and white, of which one hundred were black eunuchs. The monarchs of the
Safavid dynasty preferred to procreate through slave concubines, which would neutralize potential ambitions from relatives and other in-laws and protect patrimony. The slave concubines (and later mothers) of the Shah's mainly consisted of enslaved Caucasian, Georgian and Armenian women, captured as war booty,
bought at the slave market or received as gifts from local potentates. Slave eunuchs performed various tasks in many levels of the harem as well as the general court. Eunuchs had offices in the general court, such as in the royal treasury and as the tutors and adoptive fathers of non-castrated slaves selected to be slave soldiers (), as well as inside the harem, and served as a channel between the secluded harem women and the outside court and world. Inside Iran, non-Muslims, often Jewish women, were kidnapped from their homes, and Muslim tribespeople were kidnapped or taken as war prisoners during tribal warfare, often by Turkoman slave traders. Normally, white and light skinned slaves were used for concubinage, while black slaves were used domestics (maids, nannies and eunuchs). The Habeshees were taken from the southern Abyssinian kingdom of Shoa engaged in conflicts with the
Galla peoples along its borders, resulting in the capture of slaves. The trade routes stemming from these hostilities extended through Shoa, reaching the Red Sea coast at Roheita in the north and Tajura. Muslim Somalis actively participated in raiding
Galla and
Habesha groups, making significant contributions to the slave population, they utilized the ports of Zeila and Berbera for these endeavors. In contrast, slaves or supplies drawn by the northern Abyssinian Kingdom of Tigre were obtained through conflicts or wars with neighboring Gondar and Shoa, for its supply of slaves and primarily conducted its export trade through the port of Massowa.
Oromo slave-girls were also exported from the Somali coast to Persia during this time. It is estimated that during the 19th century, more than two thousand slaves were shipped annually from the northern Somali coast to the Persian Gulf. In 1873, Oromo slaves were reportedly being exported from
Zeila to the Persian gulf, with the females costing around 75$. Oromo slaves were also exported to Persia from the southern Somali
Banadir ports. Shia Persians were seen as legitimate targets by Sunni Muslim
Turkmens and
Uzbek slave traders. Many were captured during the warfare between the Uzbeks and the
Safavids, and in
Turkmen slave raids to villages of northwestern Iran. A notorious slave market for captured
Persian slaves was the
Khivan slave trade, centered in the
Khanate of Khiva from the 17th to the 19th centuries.
Employment of slaves As in previous times, slaves were used as eunuchs, domestic servants and concubines in the
harems; as military men, administrative staff, or field laborers; it was considered a matter of status to have slaves in the household. Slaves were well-integrated into Iranian society. They intermarried with Persians, spoke Persian and adopted Islam. British traveler
Ella Sykes wrote that Iran was the "Paradise" for slaves.
Decline The
1828 war with Russia put an end to the import of white slaves from the
Russian Empire borderlands as it undermined the trade in
Circassians and
Georgians, which both Iran and neighboring Turkey had been practicing for quite some time. When the number of white slaves diminished, free Iranian men were employed for the royal guards rather than the previous white . Consequently, by 1870 the trade in African slaves to Iran through the Indian Ocean had been significantly diminished. It is noted that the position of the formerly powerful eunuchs of the royal harem diminished in this period because of their decreasing numbers. It is noted that poor parents still sold their children in to slavery, and that slave raids by chieftains were still conducted in the early 20th-century. == Modern period ==