The White slave trade of the Arabs

Whilst the Arabs have been acknowledged as a prime force in the early usage of slaves from Africa, very little has been written about their usage of White slaves, whether they were part of the Russian slave trade or those kidnapped by Arab pirates. However, in recent years, the research of some authors has been bringing this issue to light.[5 ! "avid #rion "avis, in The New York Review of Books, e$plains that %&he origins of African slavery in the 'ew World cannot be understood without some knowledge of the millennium of warfare between (hristians and )uslims that took place in the )editerranean and Atlantic and the piracy and kidnapping that went along with it. *n +,- pirates from the #arbary (oast of 'orth Africa raided distant *celand and enslaved nearly four hundred astonished residents. *n + - )uslim pirates, having long enslaved (hristians along the coasts of .pain, /rance, *taly, and even *reland, captured ,,00 men and women in 1ortuguese )adeira. "own to the +20s, there were many more 3nglish slaves in )uslim 'orth Africa than African slaves under 3nglish control in the (aribbean. *ndeed, a +,2 parliamentary proclamation estimated that the #arbary states held at least ,500 3nglish slaves, mostly sailors captured in the )editerranean or Atlantic.%[5,! 1rofessor Robert "avis, in his book Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast, and taly, !"##$!%##, estimated that million to .,5 million White people were enslaved by 'orth African pirates between 540 and -50. 'orth African pirates abducted and enslaved more 3uropeans from coastal villages and towns. *taly, .pain, 1ortugal and /rance were hardest hit but the raiders also sei6ed people in #ritain, *reland and *celand. &hey even captured 40 American seamen from ships that they boarded in the Atlantic and )editerranean between -55 and -74.[54!

Arab pirates and White Slaves

*nterest in the Arab slaving of 3uropeans was rekindled in the 770s by the discovery of the site of a #arbary (oast shipwreck at )oor .ands on the .outh "evon coast in 3ngland. *con /ilms produced a documentary on the sub8ect, and published some of their findings. &'or (n)land after !*+" there were )reat ,eriods, ,arti-ularly in .evon and Cornwall, .orset, even around Bristol, where shi,s -ouldn/t leave ,ort0 The first of the Muslims showed u, in !*+" it -aused enormous ,ani-0 t was the suddenness0 t was a sur,rise, the fa-t that there was so many of them and the fa-t that the (n)lish had a -oastline whi-h was virtually un,rote-ted0& 1"23

&4fter lookin) at some do5ens of ,o,ulation estimates from a number of different kinds of sour-es we have an avera)e, year in year out, es,e-ially between the years !"%# and !*%# of about 6",###, 62,### slaves at any )iven time0 Well, knowin) this it then be-omes a 7uestion of estimatin) sim,ly how many slaves it would be ne-essary to be taken every year to kee, that number0 /ve have estimated overall that between !"6# and !8%#, that is about two and a half -enturies, somethin) of the order of a million to a million and 7uarter white (uro,eans were enslaved and taken to Barbary0& 1""3 &4rab ,irates ,la)ued the south west -oast of (n)land and reland throu)hout the seventeenth -entury, but the hei)ht of this a-tivity was around the !*6#s, when (n)land/s navy was at its weakest0 While anythin) of value was fair )ame, their main 7uarry was slaves0 n the be)innin) they tar)eted the -rews of West Country fishin) boats, but as the ,irates )rew bolder they -ame ashore to find vi-tims, su-h as the entire -on)re)ation of a villa)e -hur-h in Cornwall and most of the inhabitants of Baltimore in Southern reland0 4 su--essfully ransomed sailor re,orted & f the hands be smooth, they was ransomed, but if the hands be rou)h, they was sold as slaves&0 9e told that a slave would fet-h :2#, a ransomnable -a,tive :%# and a fair maiden u, to :6##0 By !*+; west -ountry mer-hants were losin) so many shi,s that <ames !st was for-ed to send a fleet to North 4fri-a to demand the return of the -a,tives0 t failed -om,letely, but 4dmiral Mansell stated on his return that he believed there were between +" and 6#,### Christian slaves in -a,tivity0&[5+!

White Slaves, African Masters

Reviews have praised White Slaves, 4fri-an Masters: 4n 4ntholo)y of 4meri-an Barbary Ca,tivity Narratives, a book that has revealed the slavery of 'orth American colonists by #arbary privateers. &Some of the most ,o,ular stories in nineteenth$-entury 4meri-a were sensational tales of whites -a,tured and enslaved in North 4fri-a0 White Slaves, 4fri-an Masters for the first time )athers to)ether a sele-tion of these Barbary -a,tivity narratives, whi-h si)nifi-antly influen-ed early 4meri-an attitudes toward ra-e, slavery, and nationalism0 Thou)h Barbary ,rivateers be)an to sei5e North 4meri-an -olonists as early as !*+", Barbary -a,tivity narratives did not be)in to flourish until after the 4meri-an Revolution0 .urin) these years, stories of Barbary -a,tivity for-ed the =0S0 )overnment to ,ay humiliatin) tributes to 4fri-an rulers, stimulated the

drive to -reate the =0S0 Navy, and brou)ht on 4meri-a/s first ,ost$revolutionary war0 These tales also were used both to >ustify and to vilify slavery0&[5-!

Slavery Under Islam

#ooks such as slam/s Bla-k Slaves: The ?ther Bla-k .ias,ora by Ronald .egal and Ra-e and Slavery in the Middle (ast: 4 9istori-al (n7uiry by #ernard 9ewis have made available a wider knowledge on Arab slavery. &The author 1Bernard @ewis3, a venerable authority on the Near and Middle (ast, usin) many 4rab and Aersian sour-es in the ori)inal lan)ua)es, tra-es the -onneBion between slavery and status, both in theory and ,ra-ti-e, in the slamiworld from the 8th -entury to the ,resent0 =ntil 7uite late in the !;th Century, when the Russians -losed the Cau-asus route, white slaves were im,ortedC after this, bla-k slaves be-ame ,re,onderant0 ?n the whole @ewis demolishes the somewhat idealised Dand )uilt$)eneratedE Western ,er-e,tion of slami- slavery as bein) more beni)n that its Western -ounter,art and its -ulture non$ra-ist0 9e demonstrates that freed bla-ks rarely rose to hi)h ,ositions and 7uotes anti$bla-k o,inions about it when they did0&[55! Arab rulers even had white eunuchs :slaves with their testicles cut off;. *n slam/s Bla-k Slaves, Ronald .egal reveals that the (aliph in #aghdad at the beginning of the tenth century had seven thousand black eunuchs and four thousand white ones in his palace. *bn Haw<al, writing in the 7-0s, remarked that &amon) the most famous eB,orts 1from al$4ndalus to other Muslim lands3 are -omely slaves, both male and female from 'rankish and Fali-ian re)ions& and that &all Slavi- eunu-hs on earth -ome from al$ 4ndalus, be-ause they are -astrated in that re)ion&.[57! &hese are 8ust a few e$amples of information available on the Arab trade in White slaves= however, this information rarely comes to light in biased )ulticulturalist education systems, as they prefer to concentrate on the issue of #lack slavery to the e$clusion of all other types of slavery. *n pushing a guilt comple$ upon white children, as part of their ideological fight to promote )ulticulturalism and attack %White racism%, activist teachers would be aware that telling the truth about widespread White slavery would not be helpful in their promotion of )ulticulturalist propaganda. http>??www.ironbarkresources.com?slaves?whiteslaves0-.htm