Was there any place on the globe without slaves. What happened?

The short video podcast tells the fascinating story of slavery's eventual abolition globally and in the US. I'll provide a brief overview with some additional context from the economist Thomas Sowell.

• Until several centuries ago, there was almost no place on earth that didn't practice slavery. At the time it was considered normal and not immoral.

• In fact the Old Testiment and Koran both continue passages directing the "ethical" treatment of slaves. How f-cked up is that?

• Thousand of Europeans found themselves enslaved in Muslim Middle East nations.

• Generally speaking, all African Blacks sold into slavery were captured by other Blacks (neighboring tribes). Coastal tribes typically used the proceeds from these sales to purchase or trade for guns and weaponry which they used to gain military superiority over interior tribes and generate more slaves for sale.

• A Black slave could be shipped to either Muslim nations, Brazil or the US. Brazil was a far worse destination and treated this cohort far worse the the States. The worst place to go was the Middle East. The abuse was so bad that few slave descendants live there today. Most died at their captors hands.

So what caused slavery to disappear?

• The economic impact of slave uprisings and the cost of policing this populaton against flight. As plantations took hold and started processing massive amounts of crops, the slave population could quickly exceed that of their captors. In Haiti for example, in 1791 approx 20,000 slaves revolted eventually removing French rule. At the time, Haiti was the sugar capital of the world. It's GDP was greater than all the 13 US colonies. After the rebellion all it's investors were wiped out.

• Numerous groups began to speak out against slavery (ex. the Quakers in the US). The British Government was among the first to outlaw slavery paying in 1833 approx 40% it's entire federal budget to reimburse slave owners for their losses after they no longer "possessed" purchased slaves.

• The industrial revolution required workers who were mobile and could switch from factory (or job to job) as needed. As Adam Smith (the famous economist) pointed out, this wasn't fiesible with a slave population tied to one employer.