This ought to make some folks feel better
Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters
White Slavery in the Mediterranean, The Barbary Coast, and Italy, 1500-1800 Robert C. Davis
Description
This is a study that digs deeply into this 'other' slavery, the bondage of Europeans by north-African Muslims that flourished during the same centuries as the heyday of the trans-Atlantic trade from sub-Saharan Africa to the Americas. Here are explored the actual extent of Barbary Coast slavery, the dynamic relationship between master and slave, and the effects of this slaving on Italy, one of the slave takers' primary targets and victims.
There's this review in The Guardian
In the absence of detailed written records such as customs forms Prof Davis decided to extrapolate from the best records available indicating how many slaves were at a particular location at a single time and calculate how many new slaves were needed to replace those who died, escaped or were freed.
To keep the slave population stable, around one quarter had to be replaced each year, which for the period 1580 to 1680 meant around 8,500 new slaves per annum, totalling 850,000.
The same methodology would suggest 475,000 were abducted in the previous and following centuries.
"Much of what has been written gives the impression that there were not many slaves and minimises the impact that slavery had on Europe," Prof Davis said in a statement this week.
"Most accounts only look at slavery in one place, or only for a short period of time. But when you take a broader, longer view, the massive scope of this slavery and its powerful impact become clear."
The scope and powerful impact of 1,000,000 people over 300 years. 3,300 people per year. I'm not trying to compare miseries here, but there is a contingent out there that will add this to the "Africans sold their own people" (like EVERYONE ELSE didn't) and will even use the "Muslim Masters" in the title for propaganda purposes.
Just don't do it anywhere around me.
