Introduction

**Introduction**
 The 18th century English poet William Cowper’s poem, “Pity for Poor Africans,” accurately portrays the world’s mindset throughout history about slavery. A line from that poem reads, “I pity them [slaves] greatly, but I must be mum, for how could we do without sugar and rum?” This sums up much of the world’s motivation for millennia for slavery. Throughout history, slavery has been a way to easily derive resources and produce goods. It has played a very prominent role in shaping the world's societies and economies. Slavery has been a hideous and revolting foundation stone for many of the world's economies today. Though it may have struck a chord with peoples’ consciences, the world did not know how else to acquire luxuries and how to live without them, and so the world allowed this horrific practice to go on. This essay details more of how slavery was used as an economic stimulus for nations through history. It explains how the world finally took action against it and attempted to abolish it. Lastly, it discusses what forms of it still were used after this action took place. These forms were no less disturbing and gruesome. Across three time periods in particular, slavery throughout the world has notable similarities and differences in areas such as the status of slavery, the way slavery influenced society, and the motivation for a civilization to practice slavery. These time periods are the Renaissance (1300-1650), the Industrial Revolution (1700-1900), and World Wars I and II (1914-1945).