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Notes -
Have people looked into how necessary slavery was in historical civilizations? While industrialization seems to have ended the necessity of chattel slavery, though not necessarily all coerced and semi-coerced labor, in a country it seems the past required more coercion. An example is that sugar farming is so horrific once Haiti/St Domingue ended slavery, it basically stopped since no one was willing to do it without being forced to. I'm curious how much more economically diversified empires like the Romans and Chinese required slavery.
Quote from By This Axe (a sourcebook for ACKS (the Adventurer Conqueror King System), whose author prides himself on thorough historical research):
My cursory Internet searching did not find anything super-helpful, but here are some articles about slavery in Scotland.
An act of the Scottish Parliament of 1606 permanently bound coal miners, coal carriers (women and children) and salt pan workers to their workplace.
Not a hundred years ago [as of 1897], a system of servitude still existed in Scotland, sanctioned by the practice of two centuries, by virtue of which colliers and their families were fixed to the soil almost as effectually as if they had been bought in the slave-market of New Orleans or born in the hut of a negro on some Virginian plantation.
Interesting links. It seems coercive labor, even if it's not "slavery" per se, crops up almost everywhere you have civilization.
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