Figure 1.--Pedram Khosronejad tells us, "Nasser al-Din Shah had a special interest in taking photos of his own slaves inside the harem. In this photo, 53 eunuch slaves of different ethnic backgrounds in their early childhood, had probably been recently [obtained] from abroad to the local southern markets, and to the king’s harem. Among them four African boys (qolam bachehha), inside Nasser al-Din Shah’s harem, Golestan Palace, Tehran. Date unknown." Nasser was assainated (1896). Photograph: Central Library, University of Tehran. Put your cursor ion the image to see the rest of ghe gfoup.
Developments in the north and south generated by foreign Christian powers adversely affected the Persian slave trade in Persia during the 19th century. Persia and Russia fought series of wars for control of the Caucuses (19th century). These wars were not about oil, but Russian possession of the Caucasus/Caspian oil resource would profound affect the history of the 20th century. The Russo-Persian wars ended badly for Persia and Russia emerged as the dominant power in the Caucuses. The last war basically ejected Persian from the Caucuses (1826-28). This ended the Persian ability to obtain white slaves from areas along the Russian border. It brought a virtual end to the trade in Circassians and Georgians. This had been the primary source of white slaves for both Persia and the Ottoman Empire for centuries. This mean that the free Iranian began to be used for rather than the white 'ghilmans' -- slave-soldiers and/or mercenaries used in the armies throughout the Islamic world. Note the continued reliance on foreigners for royal security. Related developments were occurring in the south. The British Parliament abolished the slave trade, at the same time as America (1807). And soon the Royal Navy was committed to end it. At first the effort was primarily in the Atlantic, anti slavery patrols off West Africa. Then the British Parliament abolished slavery itself (1835). The British extended their anti-slavery efforts to the Indian Ocean, applying both diplomatic and naval power. The European Scramble for Africa (colonization) further restricted (1870s-90s). These developments significantly reduced access and the price of captive Africans (by the 1870s). One author report that the declining numbers of royal eunuchs adversely affected their power. There may have been more involved here. Military defeats experienced by both Ottoman and Persian Empires created pressure for preform. There was also diplomatic pressure, especially from the British. While the slave trade was vastly reduced, slavery itself still existed in Persia during and into the 20th century under the Qajar dynasty. Poor parents were still selling their children. And powerful tribal chieftains were still conducing slave raids. Slavery would be officially abolished in Iran under Reza Shah Pahlavi. [Mirzai] Pressure for reform was increasing, primarily because of Persia's inability to resist foreign incursions. It was increasingly understood that Persia's traditional society could not effectively resist powerful European powers. As far as we know, there was no great domestic abolitionist movement as in the West or mortal outrage from the conservative Islamic clergy. In fact, slavery had Koranic authority. Notably if you Google Persian or Iranian abolitionist movement, there are no pertinent pages that come up. (The same is true for other Muslim countries.) The abolitionist movements that brought an end to the save trade and slavery bitself were all Western, largely Christian, movements.
Sources
Khosronejad, Pedram. Khosronejad is an Iranuian-born anthroplogist now working in the United States. Quoted in Denise Hassanzade Ajiri. " The face of African slavery in Qajar Iran – in pictures," Above Whispers (2016). The captions are provided by anthropologist Pedram Khosronejad who has collected extensive photographic evidence of African slavery in Iran.
