Slaves in the Atlantic region were mistreated to every degree and de-moralized everyway possible, while in the Ottoman Empire, slaves were able to become part of their society and gain respect and education. One factor that made the Ottomans kinder to their slaves was the way the slaves were able to choose if they wanted to be a Janissary or as a member of the Harem. Atlantic slaves were terribly dealt with terribly and forced to suffer through harsh and grueling work in the fields. .
In the 16th century, slavery had begun to be introduced into the New Americas. The main reason was because of the lack of native people to enslave. As encounters such as the Columbian Exchange happened, new diseases caused hundreds and even thousands of indigenous Indians to die off. Therefore slaves were brought over from various areas and countries to harvest the crops that were the hardest to work; sugar and cotton being the most common among the many crops. Many times, people attacked many other villages to enslave many Africans, after realizing how much profit the trading of slaves would bring to them. Although not all slaves were exported for hard labor conditions like these for the Atlantic region; the Ottoman Empire retrieved slaves for a much different reason. The slaves were generally young Christian boys who showed great athletic abilities and ended up in authority most of the times; guarding the Sultan or teaching younger slaves because they too had received a free education by the government. This right was given to them so that they would be loyal to the king and to make sure that they would learn the various languages of the tribes that surrounded them. Often the slaves were able to choose between joining the Janissaries or becoming members of the Harem. .
The Janissaries were mostly the Christian boys who had been converted to Islam and trained in the ways of war for the Sultan's special missions.