A million White Europeans enslaved

Ron from Republican Trekker Volk (highly recommended) benignantly forwarded links to a few subjects that are not widely known but are desperately needing publishing to bring rationality to a debate that rages to this day. Just how much do the actions of ancestors affect those alive today?

We are reminded ad nauseum how slavery and colonialism (which ended decades and centuries ago) still influences the actions of the black race today, a precept I find utterly preposterous as all races have suffered some form of oppressive subjugation in the past and yet do not feel the same need to seek excuses from the past to justify their failings today.

By publishing articles such as White Slavery: The Slaves That Time Forgot and today's posting, we must ask two things. Why have whites, arabs, orientals etc whose cultures and societies thrive not turned out the same way as their black counterparts having endured similar ill-treatment in the past (to be fair, I must stress, that there are many black people who live respectable lives enjoying the freedoms that modern democracies offer etc and do not use the past to explain away the failures of their culture, such as the disproportionate tendency to commit crime, youth delinquency, etc) but others do, blacks and whites alike, and importantly, does this premise not constitute the highest form of racism, in effect stating patronisingly that blacks are incapable of controlling their behaviour, their urges, due to their ancestors having been maltreated? It's akin to saying, my grandparents drank beer and that's why I'm an alcoholic today so I cannot be blamed.

I think Ron again puts it succinctly in an comment (edited) he made: "The reason for these articles is to show that white people were also used as slaves in early America and this fact must be used to balance a debate with skewed assertions.

The notion of white guilt is used as part of a device to advance a narrow one dimensional agenda without taking into account that white people were slaves as well.

The whole notion of demanding that one particular group - ie: white people in general - must be made to feel guilty for the actions of an elite is ridiculous when factoring in the fact that this elite actually enslaved numerous white peoples as well. It is very similar to how the Boers are often made to feel guilty just for being in Africa. The Boer people emerged as a product of circumstances which were beyond their control. What is often overlooked is that white people in general have been equally victimised by the various rulers."

Published by Reuters

An American historian says that more than a million Europeans were enslaved by North African slave traders between 1530 and 1780, a time of vigorous Mediterranean and Atlantic coastal piracy.

The number of white European slaves is only a fraction of the trade that brought 10 million to 12 million black African slaves to the Americas over a 400-year period, historian Robert Davis says, but his research shows the slave trade was more widespread than commonly assumed.

The impact on Europe's white population was significant.

"One of the things that both the public and many scholars have tended to take as given is that slavery was always racial in nature -- that only blacks have been slaves. But that is not true," said Mr. Davis, an Ohio State University professor.

"Enslavement was a very real possibility for anyone who travelled 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 a new book, "Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast, and Italy, 1500-1800," Mr. Davis calculates that between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by pirates called "corsairs" and forced to work in North Africa during that period.

The raids were so aggressive that entire Mediterranean seaside towns were abandoned by frightened residents. "Much of what has been written gives the impression that there were not many slaves and minimizes the impact that slavery had on Europe.

"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 pirates, sailing from such cities as Tunis and Algiers, raided ships in the Mediterranean and Atlantic as well as seaside villages to capture men, women and children, he says. They were put to work in quarries, in heavy construction and as oarsmen in the pirates' galleys.

Mr. Davis calculated his estimates using records that indicate how many slaves were at a particular location at a single time. He then estimated how many new slaves it would take to replace slaves as they died, escaped or were ransomed.

"It is not the best way to make population estimates, but it is the only way with the limited records available."

(Hat tip: Ron)