“North African pirates abducted and enslaved more than 1 million Europeans between 1530 and 1780 in a series of raids which depopulated coastal towns from Sicily to Cornwall, according to new research.” American historian Robert Davis’ work revises the estimate dramatically upward, although still small in comparison to the 12 million or so Africans captured by European slavers. Yet it paints a picture of European coastal towns at the mercy of Barbary Coast pirates. “In comments which may stoke controversy, he said that white slavery had been minimised or ignored because academics preferred to treat Europeans as evil colonialists rather than as victims.” Davis’ methodology and his numbers are disputed by a number of other historians in the field. —Guardian.UK [thanks, walker]
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