Medieval slave trade in Eastern Europe from Finland, the Baltic Countries to Central Asia (Blondes)

Science Daily ^ | 4-15-2014 | University of Eastern Finland

[blam]

Medieval slave trade routes in Eastern Europe extended from Finland and the Baltic Countries to Central Asia

April 15, 2014
University of Eastern Finland

Summary:

The routes of slave trade in Eastern Europe in the medieval and pre-modern period extended all the way to the Caspian Sea and Central Asia. A recent study suggests that persons captured during raids into areas which today constitute parts of Finland, the Russian Karelia and the Baltic Countries ended up being sold on these remote trade routes.

The routes of slave trade in Eastern Europe in the medieval and pre-modern period extended all the way to the Caspian Sea and Central Asia. A recent study completed at the University of Eastern Finland suggests that persons captured during raids into areas which today constitute parts of Finland, the Russian Karelia and the Baltic Countries ended up being sold on these remote trade routes. There was a particular demand for blonde girls and boys who were seen as exotic luxury items, and it was financially beneficial to transport them to the far-away markets. The study by Professor Jukka Korpela was published as a General Article in Russian History (1/2014).

The numbers of northern people who finally reached the southern markets were not large. The study indicates that out of the thousands of persons kidnapped in the north, only a few hundred -- at most -- ended up in the Caspian Sea region and Central Asia via the Volgan and Crimean slave markets. Otherwise, slave trade in the Crimea and Volga regions was extensive, and tens of thousands of people were sold into slavery every year. However, the existence of the trade route shows that it was possible, even under primitive conditions, to distribute information about the demand for blonde girls in the far-away markets.

(snip)

[Little Bill]

I am surprised that you are still alive, I nearly had my heart ripped out by a Colombian Blond when I asked if she was Mexican.

The are lovely but nasty when they get their tempers up.

[colorado tanker]

Not so different today. Attractive East European blond women are still sought after in the sex trade.

[SunkenCiv]

A former coworker who grew up in Romania (and is blonde) stated that it was impressed on her from an early age not to go anywhere unescorted, as blondes were in especial demand for prostitution in Turkey, and the pimps weren’t especially fussy how they obtained new ones.

[colorado tanker]

I don’t know if she was blonde, but posted today on FR an unescorted girl in Donetsk was abducted, raped, strangled and burned by three well-connected young thugs.