Slavery and imperialism were as old as civilisation, predating the Enlightenment.

True if historical evidence shows that both slavery and imperialism (conquest and rule of other peoples by states or empires) existed in the earliest civilisations (e.g. Mesopotamia, Egypt, around 3000 BCE or earlier) and so well before the Enlightenment. Mostly true if both clearly predate the Enlightenment by millennia but one appears somewhat after the very earliest civilisations. Mixed if only one of the two is documented as dating from the start of civilisation. Mostly false if both predate the Enlightenment but neither appears near the start of civilisation. False if either is shown to have begun with or after the Enlightenment.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 6 x 10.5 Three line title.p65 (The Cambridge World History of Slavery, Chapter 1: Slavery in the Ancient Near East, by Daniel C. Snell) Cambridge University Press & Assessment · 29 March 2025

   “Butthereisnoquestionthatpersonscouldbeandwereboughtandsoldfromaveryearlyperiod,suchtransactionsfittingwithatraditionaldefinitionofwhatslaveryis.”

2. E2 6 x 10.5 Three line title.p65 (The Cambridge World History of Slavery, Chapter 1: Slavery in the Ancient Near East, by Daniel C. Snell) Cambridge University Press & Assessment · 29 March 2025

   “Beyondthattradition,theevidenceofslaveryismorepatchyandbestunderstoodinlightofevidencefrombetter-documentedsocieties.”

3. E3 3.2 Ancient Mesopotamia - World History Volume 1, to 1500 | OpenStax OpenStax (Rice University) · 19 April 2023

   “Around 2300 BCE, the era of the independent Sumerian city-state, a political entity consisting of a city and surrounding territory that it controls, came to an end. Sumer and indeed all of Mesopotamia was conquered by Sargon of Akkad, who created the first-known empire, in this case, a number of regional powers under the control of one person.”

4. E4 Sargon | History, Accomplishments, Facts, & Definition Encyclopaedia Britannica · 25 September 2026

   “Sargon (flourished 23rd century bce) was an ancient Mesopotamian ruler who reigned around 2334–2279 bce. He was one of the earliest of the world’s great empire builders, conquering all of southern Mesopotamia as well as parts of Syria, Anatolia, and Elam (western Iran).”

E1, a scholarly chapter on slavery in the ancient Near East, states that people were bought and sold as slaves "from a very early period", though it gives no specific date, and E2 notes that beyond that tradition the evidence of slavery is patchier. E3 and E4 date the first known empire, Sargon of Akkad's conquest of Mesopotamia, to about 2334–2300 BCE. That came after an earlier era of independent Sumerian city-states, but still millennia before the Enlightenment. Both practices clearly predate the Enlightenment by millennia, while imperialism appears somewhat after the very earliest civilisations, which fits the criteria for mostly true.