From the Roman times to feudalism, Spain had slavery. The Muslims overran Southern Spain (Northern Spain was occupied by the Christians) in the early 8th century. Both the Muslims and the Christians enslaved many in their ceaseless raids and counter raids. Wealthy prisoners were ransomed, but the poorer peoples on both sides became slaves if captured.
Northern Spain:
The land was so rugged that the Christians found little use for slaves in their economy, so they sold their captives abroad to Christian masters in Christian slave markets.
Southern Spain:
The slaves fitted well into the Muslim economic system. Since Southern Spain (Moorish Spain) was much more developed than their Northern Christian neighbors, the use of slaves was needed for the gardening and farming systems that fed and beautified the society. Slaves were also used in workshops in the towns and to fill out the ranks of the military units. Rural slaves in Spain always had a hard life, but if they chose not to embrace Islam, their lives became more miserable. When the Moslems were pushed out of Spain in 1492AD, positions reversed. The Christians threw Moslems into slavery wholesale (mostly the peasants) on the slave markets of Barcelona, which became deeply involved in the slave trade, like Venice in earlier times.
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