The History of Slavery, Part 3: Christian Slaves and Muslim Masters—Barbary Pirates in the Mediterranean, 1500-1800

The History of Slavery, Part 3: Christian Slaves and Muslim Masters—Barbary Pirates in the Mediterranean, 1500-1800

As the trans-Atlantic slave trade from sub-Saharan Africa to the Americas began to grow in the 1500s, there was another slave trade that operated on an even larger scale in the same time period. It was the capture of Europeans by north-African Muslims. Barbary Pirates enslaved an estimated 1 million Europeans in the period from 1500 to 1800.




Enslavement was a real possibility for anyone who traveled in the Mediterranean or who lived along the shores in places like Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, and even as far north as England and Iceland. In 1632, pirates captured the Irish city of Baltimore. They and others were snatched from their homes, taken in chains to the slave markets of Algiers, and sold to the highest bidder. Some spent the rest of their lives rowing galleys. Others toiled in quarries or on farms. Attractive women were sent to harems and became a pasha's concubine.




This episode looks at a little-known chapter in the history of slavery. Although few know the stories of these captives, the threat of piracy on the Mediterranean had a huge impact on the Western World. Thomas Jefferson developed the U.S. navy to eliminate the Barbary Threat. Miguel de Cervantes spent years in North Africa. Even John Smith of Pocahontas fame was a slave in Istanbul.




Learn about this strange period in history and how it all came to an end in the early 1800s.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jaksot(1075)

A Utah Indian Chief Controlled the 1800s Mountain West Through Slave Trading, Building Pioneer Trails, Horse Stealing, and Becoming Mormon

A Utah Indian Chief Controlled the 1800s Mountain West Through Slave Trading, Building Pioneer Trails, Horse Stealing, and Becoming Mormon

The American Indian leader Wakara was among the most influential and feared men in the nineteenth-century American West. He and his pan-tribal cavalry of horse thieves and slave traders dominated the ...

20 Marras 20251h

Why Did Rome Fall? Wrong Question. How Did it Last 2,000 Years Despite Changing its Religion, Language, and Government?

Why Did Rome Fall? Wrong Question. How Did it Last 2,000 Years Despite Changing its Religion, Language, and Government?

Rome began as a pagan, Latin-speaking city state in central Italy during the early Iron Age and ended as a Christian, Greek-speaking empire as the age of gunpowder dawned. Everything about it changed,...

18 Marras 202553min

The Real Deadwood: A Gold Rush Town Built in a War Zone but Obliterated in an Inferno

The Real Deadwood: A Gold Rush Town Built in a War Zone but Obliterated in an Inferno

Gunslinging, gold-panning, stagecoach robbing, whiskey guzzling – the myth and infamy of the American West is synonymous with its most famous town: Deadwood, South Dakota. The storied mining town spra...

13 Marras 202537min

America's Pacific Dawn: The Spanish-American War Ushered In Global Reach and Savage Conflict

America's Pacific Dawn: The Spanish-American War Ushered In Global Reach and Savage Conflict

Clara Barton, the founder of the Red Cross, was in Havana in 1898, investigating the terrible conditions endured by Cubans whom the Spanish government had forced into concentration camps, where an est...

11 Marras 202555min

The Unhealed Wounds of WW2 POWs and Combat Veterans

The Unhealed Wounds of WW2 POWs and Combat Veterans

Nearly 16.4 million Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces in World War II, and for millions of survivors, the fighting left many of them physically and mentally broken for life. There was a 25% de...

6 Marras 202550min

Robert McNamara Thought Enough Data Could Win Any War. Instead, It Led America to the Vietnam Quagmire

Robert McNamara Thought Enough Data Could Win Any War. Instead, It Led America to the Vietnam Quagmire

Robert S. McNamara, who was Secretary of Defense during JFK and LBJ’s administrations, and one of the chief architects of the Vietnam war, made a shocking confession in his 1995 memoir. He said “We we...

4 Marras 20251h

The Philistine Connection: Do the Roots of October 7 Go Back 3,000 Years?

The Philistine Connection: Do the Roots of October 7 Go Back 3,000 Years?

The October 7th attacks of Hamas on Israel were an unprecedented, surprise incursion by land, sea, and air that stunned the world and prompted Israel to declare war. The attacks, which included massac...

30 Loka 202536min

The Thucydides Trap: How A Rising Athens Made The Peloponnesian War Inevitable

The Thucydides Trap: How A Rising Athens Made The Peloponnesian War Inevitable

The Peloponnesian War is considered one of the most famous wars of the ancient world not only because it was a massive and devastating conflict that reshaped the Greek world, but also because its thor...

28 Loka 202546min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

olipa-kerran-otsikko
sita
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
kaksi-aitia
i-dont-like-mondays
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
uutiscast
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
rss-nikotellen
kolme-kaannekohtaa
mamma-mia
rss-murhan-anatomia
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
aikalisa
meidan-pitais-puhua
rss-haudattu
loukussa
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
mystista