The truth of servants’ and slaves’ life.

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c. 1800, Slave Branding Iron. European, American and other colonial slavers branded millions of slaves during the period of trans-Atlantic enslavement. Sometimes there were several brandings, e.g. for the Portuguese crown and the (consecutive) private owner(s), an extra cross after baptism as well as by African slave catchers. To a slave owner it would be logical to mark such property just like cattle, more so since humans are more able to escape.