Muslim Slave System in Medieval India c6.9

c6.9

Islamic slave system spread and developed wherever Muslim rule was established. *Ghulam* or *quallar* (slave) was the creation of the Safavid state. Mamluks were found in Egypt. In the Ottoman empire they were called kapi-kulus. Kapi-kulu were recruited originally from the Sultan's share of prisoners of war, and subsequently from a periodical levy (*depshrime*) of Christian boys. Most of the youths entered the Janissary corps.¹⁸ Christian slaves were drawn from the ranks of the Georgian, Armenian and Circassian prisoners or their descendants.¹⁹ Black slaves, natives of East Africa, were called Zanj.²⁰ Majority of slaves who penetrated and flourished in India were Turks.