Slavery

A mosaic depicting slaves in ancient Rome from the 2nd century CE.

Slavery was a mode of production characterized by the exploitation of a class of laborers (slaves) who are owned as the explicit property of the slave master and treated as commodities. Slavery emerged following the end of primitive communism and development of agricultural civilizations in the Fertile Crescent and elsewhere, making it one of the first instances of class society. Although slavery as the dominant mode of production ended and was replaced by feudalism, the use of slave labor has continued in various forms into the present day.