Economic Progress Thankfully Made Slavery Rare

It is a safe bet that everyone reading this column had an ancestor who was either a slave or slaveholder. It is also no coincidence that the effort to abolish slavery on a sustained and global basis did not occur until after the advent of the industrial revolution. Persistent slavery can be found in all cultures once people ceased being exclusively hunter-gatherers. Slavery was in fact normal until recent times. Sudan became the last country to legally abolish it in 2007 but, although illegal, it continues to be practiced in some countries.