Slaves and Slave Traders in the Persian Gulf, 18th and 19th Centuries

For historians of Iran and the Persian Gulf, the subject of slaves and slave traders is a relatively new field of research. Except for a few works that have focused on the issues of piracy, anti-slave patrols and the policies of British imperial rule, little research has appeared on slaves and the slave trade in the Persian Gulf. The extensive research by African and Asian historians has stimulated Middle East historians to re-evaluate the societies and economies of the region in terms of slaves and slave trading as important issues in Middle Eastern social and economic historiography. ¹