Khazar slave trade

[2] People taken captive during the viking raids in Western Europe, such as Ireland, could be sold to Moorish Spain via the Dublin slave trade[3] or transported to Hedeby or Brännö and from there via the Volga trade route to present day Russia, where slaves and furs were sold to Muslim merchants in exchange for Arab silver dirham and silk, which have been found in Birka, Wolin, and Dublin;[4] until the early 10th-century, this trade route between Europe and the Abbasid Caliphate passed via the Khazar Kaghanate.

Slaves bought for the domestic market were all officially categorized as pagans, since the Khazars did not formally approve of the enslavement of Monotheists (Christians, Jews or Muslims).

[10] The Khazar slave trade flourished in the 9th century until a crisis occurred during the Anarchy at Samarra which destabilized the Caliphate during the 860s, and the dirham found in Europe diminished.

[11] During the 10th century, the vikings instead sold their captives to Volga Bulgaria, who exported them by caravan around the Khazar Khaganate to the Abbasid Caliphate via the Samanid slave trade in Central Asia instead, and the Arab silver dirham found in Europe now came from the Samanid Empire rather than directly from the Abbasid Caliphate.

[12] The Khazar Khaganate initially reacted to this change by making Volga Bulgaria their tributary state in order to continue to profit by the slave trade to the Caliphate,[13] but it resulted in Volga Bulgaria converting to Islam in the 920s and becoming directly aligned with the Caliphate.