History Main / SlaveMarket

* In ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', the main characters are [[MadeASlave captured by slave traders]]. Caspian is rescued/bought by one of the Lords they have been sent to find who recognizes his father in him, but the rest are sent to a slave market. Caspian comes and rescues them before their new owners can take them away; no one was willing to take Eustace even for free.

* In ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', the protagonists meet when Naofumi visits a slave market and buys Raphtalia. Later they get Filo's egg from the same trader who ran the market. From the looks of it most Demi-Humans in Melromarc are slaves who get sold at one market or another.

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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/slavemarket.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''Lincoln at New Orleans Slave Market'' by Joseph Boggs Beale]]

* In ''Anime/TalesFromEarthSea'', the city to which Arren and Sparrowhawk arrive has a booming slave trade, and it's not long until the hero runs afoul of [[TheDragon Hare]] and rescues [[{{Love Interest|s}} Theru]] from the said slavers.

* ComicBook/JudgeDredd is sold in a market in the Cursed Earth in the course of the "Judge Child" saga. It's all part of a cunning plan, of course.

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[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', these exist in the cities of [[CaptainObvious Slaver's Bay]] (which also serve as the Slave Market for the known world, as their the main hub of its international slave trafficking).

* In the early Literature/{{Discworld}} stories, the setting in general and the city of Ankh-Morpork in particular are parodies of SwordAndSorcery fiction, so of course there are slave markets; in the first novel, ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'', they're one of the sights which Twoflower the tourist insists on visiting.
* {{Literature/Gor}} has many slave markets since slavery is a common phenomenon on the planet.

* The ''Literature/RaiKirah'' trilogy begins with the protagonist Seyonne going back on the market after sixteen years of slavery and being bought by his eventual [[FireForgedFriends Fire-Forged Friend]], the Derzhi Prince Aleksander. The slave trade is common in the Derzhi empire, though directly handling slaves is seen as dishonorable.

* After the fall of Qadaffi's government in 2011, Libya descended back into permanent tribal warfare. Slave markets made a return as well, the "merchandise" being primarily composed of captured sub-Saharan migrants.

* In ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', the protagonists meet when Naofumi visits a slave market and buys Raphtalia. Later they get Filo's egg from the same trader who ran the market. From the looks of it most Demi-Humans in Melromarc are slaves who get sold at one market or another.

* With the DLC [=MegaCorps=] of ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', civilizations can access the Galactic Slave Market, with prices varying depending on the traits of those being sold. Nations which ban slavery also have access to the market whereupon the enslaved pop is set free (and of course very grateful to your empire), though they have to pay double the normal price as the sellers are wary in dealing with those morally opposed to the entire practice.

* The Victorian-period liking for {{fanservice}}-ish slave market paintings, as mentioned above, can be illustrated in a few seconds with Google image search. The results may be NSFW ([[ItsNotPornItsArt in an artistic Victorian way]]), because that was the point. Or Wiki/TheOtherWiki has [[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Slave_trade_in_art a list of examples]].

* With the DLC [=MegaCorps=] of ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', civilizations can access the Galactic Slave Market, with prices varying depending on the traits of those being sold. Nations which ban slavery also have access to the market whereupon the enslaved pop is set free, though they have to pay double the normal price as the sellers are wary in dealing with those morally opposed to the entire practice.

* With the DLC [=MegaCorps=] of ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', civilizations can access to the Galactic Slave Market.

* In the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' setting, the town of Tyrantaros in Thay has an extensive slave market every day in its central market area.

* Donquixote Doflamingo from ''Anime/OnePiece'' has one, managed by his subordinate Disco. Though not long before Amazon Lily arc Doflamingo chooses to stop the business, leaving Disco in astray.

In fact, in SwordAndSorcery fantasy stories and SwordAndSandal stories set in ancient history, the slave market may be treated as just part of the usual setting furniture, and if not exactly treated with approval, not a major moral issue either; slavery is just something (bad) that happens in such settings, so of course there are slave markets. In visual works, the slave market scene may serve as a rather sleazy excuse to slip in some {{Fanservice}}, an amazing proportion of the slaves being young, attractive, and under-dressed (for customer inspection, of course), and often [[BeautifulSlaveGirl female]]. (This is a habit that goes back at least to Victorian painters, who took all sorts of "classical" scenes as excuses to slip a lot of nudity past the period's active MoralGuardians.) In stories set any time in the last couple of hundred years, though, slavery is almost always treated as unambiguously evil, with the slave market being a big sign of the society's moral degeneracy -- although there may still be some fanservice. If it's actually set in the PresentDay, it'll probably be an underground slave market managed by HumanTraffickers and depicted as nightmarishly grim. It also shows up in some sci-fi and DaysOfFuturePast fiction, often as an institution found on a PlanetOfHats which practices slavery, which are more in line with fantasy portrayals.

In fact, in SwordAndSorcery fantasy stories and SwordAndSandal stories set in ancient history, the slave market may be treated as just part of the usual setting furniture, and if not exactly treated with approval, not a major moral issue either; slavery is just something (bad) that happens in such settings, so of course there are slave markets. In visual works, the slave market scene may serve as a rather sleazy excuse to slip in some {{Fanservice}}, an amazing proportion of the slaves being young, attractive, and under-dressed (for customer inspection, of course), and often [[BeautifulSlaveGirl female]]. (This is a habit that goes back at least to Victorian painters, who took all sorts of "classical" scenes as excuses to slip a lot of nudity past the period's active MoralGuardians.) In stories set any time in the last couple of hundred years, though, slavery is almost always treated as unambiguously evil, with the slave market being a big sign of the society's moral degeneracy -- although there may still be some fanservice. However, if set in the PresentDay, it'll probably be an underground slave market managed by HumanTraffickers and depicted as nightmarishly grim. It also shows up in some sci-fi and DaysOfFuturePast fiction, often as an institution found on a PlanetOfHats which practices slavery, which are more in line with fantasy portrayals.

* One of the historical giants of the slave trade was none other than [[UsefulNotes/AncientGreece Athens]], which was happy to be middleman for all Greece and much of the Eastern Mediterranean, and also bought so many slaves that at its height, a majority of people living in Athens were slaves. This was mostly a result of them being an empire and taking thousands of people (often other Greeks) as slaves in wars (a common practice by most classical empires). Of course, slavery was also practiced by the other ancient Greek city-states, on a lesser scale.