Chattel slavery

Definition

A system in which people were legally treated as property that could be bought, sold and inherited. It was the form of slavery that dominated the Atlantic plantation economy. Historians note that the law's claim of ownership did not change the humanity of the people concerned, which is why careful writing says legally treated as property. Other systems of bondage also existed within Africa. See also: enslaved person, slave codes, and the guide Teaching the Slave Trade Sensitively.