Back

Slavery on the Barbary Coast

The slave market of Algiers in the early 17th century.

Slavery on the Barbary Coast refers to the enslavement of people taken captive by the Barbary corsairs of North Africa.

According to Robert Davis, author of Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters, between 1 million and 1.2 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves in North Africa and The Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 19th centuries.[1]

From bases on the Barbary coast of North Africa, the Barbary pirates raided ships traveling through the Mediterranean and along the northern and western coasts of Africa, plundering their cargo and enslaving the people they captured. From 1500 onward, pirates also conducted raids along seaside towns of Italy, Spain, France, England, the Netherlands and as far away as Iceland, capturing men, women and children. On some occasions, settlements such as Baltimore, Ireland were abandoned following Barbary pirate raids, only being resettled many years later. Between 1609 and 1616, England alone lost 466 merchant ships to Barbary pirates.[2]

  1. ^ "When Europeans Were Slaves: Research Suggests White Slavery Was Much More Common Than Previously Believed". news.osu.edu. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University. 7 March 2004. Archived from the original on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  2. ^ Davies, Rees (1 July 2003). "British History in depth: British Slaves on the Barbary Coast". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 25 March 2024.