When Europeans Were Slaves | History Of The Barbary Slave Trade 

After the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus around 90% of the population of the island was either killed or sold into slavery or fled to escape both. The monasteries of mount Athos became a safe haven for escapees and the Greek community of Venice bought the freedom of a big amount of Cypriots slaves

The majority of Slavic slaves who remained in the Crimea or were exported to the Ottoman Empire were probably captured during Tatar raids in the southern regions of Poland-Lithuania and Muscovy.

I read in the book 'Don Quixote' that was written by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes , he was a captain captured in Algiers by corsairs . he understood The reason why they were capturing christians Europeans and making them slaves is rooted in a sentiment of revenge for the land of Andalusia, "Spain", which they believed belonged to them and their ancestors for 7 centuries before they were expelled after the Reconquista. he noticed that Algiers was a city inhabited mostly by Muslims who were expelled from Spain (Aragon)

I can't believe that the algorithm has only just recommended your channel to me. Ive always loved history and when I was in high school during the 80's there was a tendency to ignore English history before 1066 and apart from a basic overview nothing of the Islamic World. It was only after education that through my own interest I discovered the rich history of the Middle East and North Africa. Subscribed.

Why did the Barbary Pirate's do what they did - cuz of religion or seeking plunder? Check out Nominal: nominalx.com/hikmahistory

My people were slaves for 400 years we just don't cry about it like blacks do

very interesting topic thank you

Great video!!

Thank you for the history. This is not discussed in the US.. I look forward to watching more videos to learn history not taught here .

I like that you cover history fairly. Different groups like to aggrandize themselves and demonize others, as although all the good is on their side and all the evils is outside of it....

This leads to this question: While Europe and the U.S possessed steam-powered warships and artillery shells, why the Ottoman Empire and the Barbary pirates did not adapt such important technological advancement?

Very interesting and well presented. It's interesting however, that you chose the 16th century as a start. In truth, while the activity certainly exploded during that time, it also existed earlier, a lot of records from the Iberian Peninsula (and fortifications to protect against it!) show that

The “Best Admiral” in History has many claimants, like Yi Sun-Sin, Zheng He, Nelson and De Ruyter, however, the most adventurous and successful was none other than Hayreddin Barbarossa. From a prisoner of the Hospitallers, Barbarossa had become Poseidon of the Seas. But this process was difficult and adventurous. Born the sons of an Ottoman Sipahi, the 4 Barbarossa brothers became seamen fighting the Knights Hospitallers. After Oruç, Ishaq and Ilyas were killed fighting the Spanish and Hospitallers, Barbarossa became the sole ruler of Algiers and continued to fight. In 1519, he acknowledged the Ottoman control over Algiers, and the Ottomans recognized him as its Beylerbey. From 1519 to 1522 Barbarossa’s forces constantly raided numerous cities like Provence & Toulon making him a terror in Europe and transported Mujedars in Spain to North Africa. After assisting in the Conquest of Rhodes, he continued raiding and taking major islands in the Mediterranean until 1534, whereupon he took Tunis and became Kapudan Pasha when Suleiman I recognised the need for a Navy. After war broke out, a much smaller Ottoman force annihilated a Christian fleet consisting of Venice, Genoa, and Spain in 1538. From 1538 until retirement in 1545, Barbarossa's forces won battle after battle, whether it was sacking Nice in 1543 or ravaging a Spanish fleet in Algiers, which made the Turks the principal power in the Mediterranean. After a life of hardship, Barbarossa died in 1546, one of the greatest Admirals in History. The Turkish Annals for 1546 simply record, “The King of the Sea is Dead”.

I find that the retraction of settlements further inland as a consequence of rampant piracy fascinating, mainly because my people's history. They basically cut off all contact with the outside world after the collapse of the local hegemon (Majapahit) by living deeper into the island with various local anecdotes and oral folklore describing about the lenghts they went through to avoid lanun/pirates (e.g. Aversion to making campfire, ships in general, etc)

Thank you for posting this video and preserving history..... history in itself is neither good nor bad it, is historical fact that shouldn't be viewed through the lense of today...

Thank you for educating me about how history is stranger than fiction.

A really great video! You could make a sequel about the Tatar raids and the Black Sea slave trade. Especially considering You already talked about it a little in your videos about Hurrem Sultan and the Crimean Khanate. BTW have I recommended already the paper _Slave hunting and slave redemption as a business enterprise: The northern Black Sea region in the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries_ by Dariusz Kołodziejczyk? I know I've mentioned it under some other videos of the adjacent topics like the one M. Laser made recently about the early Medieval trade of (mostly) Slavic slaves being the origin of the word "slave" itself.

As a white American, they never told us this in school. 😮😮😮😮

Great story. Loved to watch it.

Moral of the story: we did bad things to each other cause we re all humans

Your channel is a hidden RU-vid gem. I'm usually correct

Great video! A little surprised that the Capture of Miguel De Cervantes the greatest writer of the Spanish language, by Barbary pirates was talked about..

Thanks for making this excellent video. It's very informative and to the point. I am really looking forward to more historical content from you. Would you be willing to do something on Iran? Thank you!

Very interesting video. History that should be well known.

Thank you very much. Please how can find a book for this?

I am Tunisian and I have some Greek ancestry because one of my ancestors was captured from Heraklion, Greece by pirates and he came to Tunis. A lot of Tunisians have some Greek ancestry because of this too. Great video

This is crazy! I had no clue.

Slavery was the norm in human history, Europeans were slave traders themselves, the vikings took slaves from England and Europe, and sold them to Middle Eastern slave markets.

People really need to learn about this.

It was Algeria 🇩🇿 not Morocco 🇲🇦

What a great setting for assassin's Creed black flag II

It's always weird to me that this happens at the same time that Western Europe really begins to grow into the World Dominant power.

Jan Janszoon’s story would make for a perfect pirate movie

This popped up on my feed and I have to point out a few problems with the title. 1- Europeans were slaves long before this time. Rome was a culture based on slavery with about a 1/3 of it's population being slaves throughout most of it's history. 2- If you wanted to talk about Europeans being slaves another place to point to would be the Vikings. But people don't bring them up when talking about slavery (wonder why?). 3- The Barbary pirates weren't "slaves" in the way that most seem to think of them as. They were pirates, while the often sold women into slavery their first goal was to loot ships of good and ransom the workers on said ships. They had worked out deals with European powers (protection scheme) to leave their ships along.

Wow As an African, this is fascinating 🧐

We in Algeria have large statues of barbaros oruç and barbaros hayreddin pasha, founder of early modern Algeria and first Ottoman beylerbey of Algeria, and we have a statue of the last great captain Rais hamidou who died in a naval combat against the Americans in 1815. Many governors and pasha here were of European convert origin, they were selected because they didn’t have any affiliation to local tribes and because of their long service in the marine corps.

Hi Would it be possible to share the sources used for this video? Thanks

Fascinating and surprising!

Slavery Never had anything to do with race.

REPARATIONS WHEN?

Your voice is very soothing. This is a great video.

Nice!

Would love to see a research paper about the descendants of these slaves though virtually all would probably have been assimilated into the population so a genetic genealogical approach might be the most appropriate method.

Can you do one on Jewish pirates in the area

I don't know if you have ever read any Nabil Matar, but I highly recommend him for this topic. He presents a nuanced and balanced perspective on this topic.

Somewhere in Cornwall (if is still there ! ) there is /was a memorial remembering a whole village taken into slavery by N African raiders .

Fun fact: Ex Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi is a descendant of a Sardinian boy who was captured around 300 years ago due to the Barbary slave trade. He was a slave until his conversion into Islam

So can descendants of Europeans expect reparations for their ancestors being enslaved?

I know I demand to much, but it's gonna good if put CC english in your videos 😢

Morocco’s involvement didn’t end as a result of the Barbary wars, a few years before they independently had the USA buy their way a treaty of friendship along with tribute after seizing their ships. They stopped their piracy. It would have been to hear more about their involvement in the Barbary slave trade. The pirates of Sale served the Saadis and only became a republic once Morocco was in a long period of complete anarchy, the Alawite dynasty then re-established dominion over Sale and incorporated the pirates into their navy.

John Ward a.k.a Yusif Reis ( sparrow Bird) a.k.a Jack Sparrow

Meet Hayreddin Barbarossa, the greatest naval commander in the history of Islam and the greatest pirate in the history of the world. Most of things and customs that we associate today to Pirates were actually inspired by Hayreddin and the legendary Barbary Corsairs. The character 'Hector Barbossa' in the movie series Pirates of the Caribbean was inspired by him. He is famous for winning the Battle of Preveza, the most spectacular naval victory in history, and has many war victories, and is even said by many expert historians to be the greatest admiral of all time. Some of his battle victories: Capture of Algiers (1516) Algiers Expedition (1519) Sack of Mahón Capture of Peñón of Algiers (1529) Campaign of Cherchell (1531) Conquest of Tunis (1534) Aegean Expedition (1537) Aegean Expedition (1538) Battle of Preveza Ottoman-Venetian War (1537-1540) Siege of Castelnuovo Siege of Nice Sack of Lipari

Intresting history

Show this to all those bleeding heart lefties in America please, thanks.

Most of pre-Frank settlements who borded the sea in Occitania are still inhabited because of the frequent raid on the population till the XIX century.

You missed some details: First off, no mention of Sayyida al Hurra, the queen of Tétouan, and more importantly one of the first pirates in the area. She took up piracy as payback for Spain taking Grenada. Genuine badass. It was Sweden and the USA who fought the Barbary pirates in 1801 - 1805. This led to the first treaty which didn't last long. The 1st Barbary war had Stephen Decatur sneaking aboard the captured USS Philadelphia and setting it on fire, thus removing it as a gun platform after it had been captured by Tripoli (Lord Nelson pronounced it “the most bold and daring act of the age”. Decatur was made captain at the age of 25. He was the youngest person ever promoted to Captain in the US Navy). And of course the march from Alexandria, Egypt to Derna (also known as Derma), Libya, led by US Army Lieutenant William Eaton (self-promoted to General and Commander-in-Chief) and eight Marines, and a whole lot of mercenaries. Derna was taken after the gunnery crew of the one artillery piece left the cannon ramrod in the barrel and fired it downrange, leading to a charge instead. Tobias Lear crafted a peace treaty, thoroughly pissing Eaton off, and that was the end of the 1st Barbary war. The USA was distracted by english-speaking pirates for awhile, and had to take a break from dealing with the Barbary Coast pirates between 1812 and 1815. But the US Navy came back in 1815 and Algiers in short order saw things our way and signed a peace treaty on July 3rd, 1815 aboard the USS Guerriere (a recent gift from the British Navy). The following year the Dutch and the Brits offered Algiers a peace treaty that Algiers turned down. So the next day Algiers got the pudding blasted out of them. And Britain offered the same treaty as before, which all of a sudden looked like a much better deal "and I therefore offer you the same terms of peace which I conveyed to you yesterday in my Sovereign's name". Shoulda took him up on that... This didn't quite put an end to things, the ultimate victor was France who simply took the area starting in 1830, and put it up under new management.

We all are the Slaves of God almighty.

Wow, what an eye opener. How come this was never taught in schools?

What about Treller(Vikings taking slaves)?

It is important to remember the Venetian and other Christian trading states did not want Spain and Portugal creating a monopoly in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean and worked actively with the Ottomans . Peace ✌ ☮

Many slaves from Eastern Europe rose to high office as slave officials in Byzantium and in the Ottoman empire . Others became soldiers , workers and artisans . Many Slavic women became concubines . Nomads from Central Asia regularly raided Slavic areas for slaves until states developed .

Salam Alaikum; Hope you are doing well. I have something that will be of interest to you. Its a plan, a roadmap of sort that you can benefit your channel here goes - Already people are mentioning a video on Nasser but let me say that why not put videos in demand with certain goals? Like Subgoals? you can save the demanded videos for the right time to create. I myself have few suggestions as well. Sadat is one. Although the entire Cold War era is a good source for countless videos. Suez Canal is another one.

They still have a place to call home! It’s not like they got kicked out of Europe and having some other race of people claiming to be them!

Selim the Grim had high regard for Barbarossa and gave him any support possible had he only lived longer the duo could've conquered at least one of the peninsulas of Italy and Iberia

It feels like this is something you guys are proud of

Amazing work as always Tariq! Also where's Syawish gone? I've heard that he's been picked up by the government for being a commie 😆

5:20 arches and Checkerboard floors….

I have never seen anything where we call pirates "Christian Pirates " ... pirates are just pirates

Why didn’t we learn about this in school?! Frfr

is arab spring too modern topic to cover? I would love to see your take on it.

So Europeans sold their own🤔hmmm human beings are very weird

Excellent video 📹 Super historic 🖼 art. Parallel slavery. Barbary slavery moving slaves one way European slavery moving slaves the opposite way. American navy is proud of attacking Barbary slaves but their slaves in the plantations languish.

Almost everybody used slaves, fought to have as many slaves as possible BUT Europeans Christians fought to end slavery !

Why is the title, a suprised one? Europeans have been slaves for thousands of years, that’s where the name for an ethnicity of Eastern Europeans, “Slavs” comes form because so many were slaves. Europeans have been slaves longer than Africans, unless you count North Africa such as Egypt.

moral of the story. never forget and never befriend these people

In the past, Muslims were pirates, and now they call them terrorists because they slap back

They were not pirates, they were privateers. They served under Ottoman empire against enemy shipping.

Good, this helps redress the balance of slavery all round

Everyone said I was dumb or stupid because I said we whites were slaves for decades by others. Probably why we go so hard today!

I want reparations from the Vikings too

I would like to know how the heck some historians came up with the number of 1 million European slaves. It sure seems like an over-estimate.

Many of the actual ships involved, along with their Captains, were actually west and northern European, especially the English.

Servus Schlavus = Latin meaning “servant Slavic.” There were so many Slavic (Schlavus) people taken as slaves that they just dropped the “servus,” and went to “Schlavus” and finally “slave.” The term for slave in Italian is still “schiavo,” in Spanish “esclava,” and in French “esclave.”

I absolutely dont mean it in any bad way but black people shouldnt think they were the only enslaved people and people can only be racist against them. Slaves were all over the world and it was all types of ethnicities. Its disrespectful to the people that were enslaved in the past to be arguing about who you can be racist about and who not. Racism is still racism no matter what history or what race you are.

Is there any doubt that to practice science is to measure how much one has not [ever] managed to intend to commit crimes (or rather, "to do whatever may/will result in one assessing oneself, at a future point in time, as guilty")? Is there any doubt that it is my name AND religion to legally, AND AS FATALLY AS POSSIBLE, bully members of the lower socioeconomic class[es] in America (assuming that there are more parties in America apart from the ...perhaps Putinists or Jong-Unists or... Who else? {Basically one example of such parties]? Is there any doubt that the only story in the universe for non-savages is about being the father of a Greenlander-Japaner-American Native by mistake and then drowning the child immediately after we found out that the child was not a male/didn't get a Y-Chromosome from us? Is there any doubt that it's a biological revolution that in court, suddenly everybody says that he or she herself is "[rather] not a drug dealer"©️; however, it is apparent that other revolutions should be taking [1st] priority due to the reality that we exist at this particular point in time? Is there any doubt that if I befriended you more, we would create the possibility of me being the father of your next child?

People tend to overlook the Berbers weren't all Muslim. Actually most of them have a different religious background...

This video is so appropriate for Europeans

Yes because slavery isnt about skin color. It’s about having free labor. These days our free labor comes from east asia, africa, and south america.

Roman slavery be like

"this is what i do in every universe i conquered" -👨🏿 (Kang the Conqueror)

I want reparations now

You have to remember, slavery treatment in the Middle East was not the same in the America’s. The slave was a part of the household. They walked freely throughout the cities, and were quite comfortable compared to slaves in other places. Yes it’s wrong, but don’t think that slaves were being whipped and stepped on. You can convert and climb up the social ladder as mentioned in the video. Slaves in America couldn’t vote until 100 years after they were freed

The black people will be happy when they will hear this

Interesting topic. Pity the author failed to give an objective narrative. Worst is the huge number of mistakes and confusions.

Well to explain that he converted Islam in other words, "he turns turk" made me proud of my nation thanks to my religion

THANK YOU WE NEED EQUAL REPRESENTATION FOR ALL RACES EVERYONES ANCESTORS HAVE STRUGGLED IM NOT GOING TO SIT HERE AND BE TOLD WHO I **MUST** BE SYMPATHETIC TOWARDS. We live in the here and now stop holding grudges which have been hammered into you by others we are here to live as one people and succeed together.

Do the "Arab Slave trade" of East Africa

That's nothing compared to White Christian slavery from Africa to the America's numbering well over 12 million including the Native American slave trade, numbering in the tens of millions from the arrival of Columbus down to the British colonial Colonizers architects of Native American genocide. I have myself a direct descendant of both ethic groups.

Of course during most of this time period Europeans enslaved each other on as great a scale. Within the Mediterranean all nations used slaves to man navies made up of galleys which needed many rowers. The only record we have of a galley slave was from a survivor from the French navy, European navies also raided north African coast and shipping.

Now tell us who financed the ships, also the number was upwards over 4 million, as the “Barbary” Berber slave was in constant full swing since the 8th century Berber Moor invasion of Spain. The slave trade was constantly happening for over 1000 years.