The Full Story
The Barbary slave trade is one of history's forgotten chapters. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, North African pirates operating from ports in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya captured and enslaved Europeans on a vast scale. The historian Robert Davis estimated 1 to 1.25 million between the early 16th and mid 18th centuries, a figure other historians treat as an upper bound.
British coastal communities lived in fear. Raiders struck at sea and on shore, carrying captives off to be sold in the slave markets of Algiers, Tunis, and Salé. Men were sent to row galleys. Women and children were sold into households. Many never saw home again.
The village of Baltimore in Ireland was raided in 1631. Around 107 people taken in a single night. Fishermen and sailors from the South West of England were taken from their boats, and ships in the Channel were boarded and their crews enslaved.
Britain eventually ended this threat through naval power and diplomatic pressure, culminating in the Anglo-Dutch bombardment of Algiers in 1816, after which around 1,200 captives were released at Algiers and roughly 3,000 across 1816 as a whole. But for two centuries, British people knew what it meant to fear slavers. Because they were the victims.
Why This Matters
This history complicates simple narratives about slavery. British people were both perpetrators and victims of the slave trade. Understanding the Barbary slave trade helps explain why abolition found such passionate support in Britain.
Key Facts
- ⚠Correction: the video presents over 1 million Europeans enslaved between 1600 and 1800 as settled fact; the figure is Robert Davis's contested estimate of 1 to 1.25 million for roughly 1500-1800, which other historians treat as an upper bound (Ohio State University, Wikipedia Barbary slave trade).