General

In the Barbary slave trade (1500 - 1800) it is estimated that one to one and a quarter million Europeans were enslaved by North Africans. They were kidnapped from coastal towns from Italy to the Netherlands, to Ireland and South West England - decimating these communities, capturing men, women and children. Many new slaves were required annually to replace those who died, escaped or converted to Islam. Istanbul's additional trade of white European slaves may add an additional two and half million to this number (1450-1700). The kidnapping and enslavement of Russians, Ukrainians and Poles add another two million (1468-1694). And this slave trade grew out of a region that had for a long time had an internal slave trade. Indeed, it did not fully cease until the start of colonialism when the Europeans began to take control of the regions that had once enslaved them.

By Angela Abraham, @daisydescriptionari, September 24, 2020.