There is no single identifiable group who were “the first slaves.” Slavery arose independently in many early societies once people began forming settled communities, fighting wars, and accumulating wealth and labor needs.

Early origins of slavery

  • The very earliest known forms of slavery appear in the first city-states of ancient Mesopotamia, where war captives were forced into labor as early as the late 7th millennium to 3rd millennium BCE.
  • As societies developed agriculture, armies, and social classes, powerful groups often enslaved prisoners of war, debtors, or criminals, turning unfree labor into a regular institution.

Ancient civilizations and enslaved people

  • In ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, enslaved people were frequently prisoners taken in warfare or individuals who had fallen into debt; they could be found in households, construction projects, and temples.
  • Classical Greek city-states such as Athens and later Rome relied heavily on enslaved labor, with tens of thousands working in mines, fields, and homes; in some periods, enslaved people made up a very large share of the urban population.

Not about race at the start

  • In these early systems, enslavement was not primarily based on skin color but on vulnerability: being on the losing side of wars, lacking protection, or being in debt.
  • Over time, some later systems—especially the Atlantic slave trade—began to racialize slavery, targeting specific populations (notably Africans) and turning inherited status and race into central features of enslavement.

“First slaves” vs. “first recorded slaves”

  • Because written records begin in places like Sumer and Egypt, the earliest documented enslaved people come from those regions, but this does not mean slavery did not exist elsewhere before writing.
  • Archaeology and comparative history suggest that some form of coerced, unfree labor likely emerged wherever early states and empires formed, making the identity of the absolutely “first slaves” impossible to pinpoint.

Why the question is tricky

  • Asking “who were the first slaves” can unintentionally suggest that one modern racial or ethnic group “started” or “owned” slavery, but historically nearly every large civilization both enslaved others and suffered from slavery at some point.
  • A more accurate and more ethical way to frame it is: slavery is a very old human institution rooted in power and inequality, not something invented by any one people, and it has changed form over time—from ancient war captives to racialized chattel slavery to today’s modern forms of forced labor.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.