Slavery, the reprehensible capturing and selling of human beings as property, is an ancient practice that predates Rome and is found in even the most primitive and isolated societies. Not surprisingly, slavery is generally the result of brute force or of war and of deep-seated prejudice. Ancient Rome not only turned the citizens of Civilizations it conquered into slaves, but it also forced its own Jewish population into slaves. Roughly two thousand years later, nations began to reject the institution that treated humans as property. In 1803, Denmark began the abolition of trading slaves. By the end of the 19th century, most nations had ended slavery.