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Euro-Slavery

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A 40-minute British video explores a little-remembered aspect of European history: the Muslm slave trade in northern Europeans.

A review that appeared in AR of a book on this important subject can be found here.

Original article

(Posted on November 3, 2009)

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Comments

1 — ghw wrote at 6:27 PM on November 3:

Just the other day I came across this fascinating Turkish despiction of the Ottoman fleet (in alliance with the French) attacking Nice in 1543. [By way of explanation, Nice (then Nizza) was not yet French then, but Italian.] It shows much detail. Many features of the city and landscape can still be recognized today. For nearly a thousand years the Mediterranean was tormented by Barbary pirates, just as a mangy dog is tortured by fleas.
Do note that the Turks carried off 2,500 “captives” (ie. slaves).
Note the Turkish galleys, rowed by slaves.
http://tinyurl.com/yjtp424


“In 729 the city repulsed the Saracens; but in 859 and again in 880 the Saracens pillaged and burned it, and for most of the 10th century remained masters of the surrounding country.
In 1543, Nice was attacked by the united Franco-Ottoman forces of Francis I and Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha, in the ‘Siege of Nice’. Although the inhabitants repulsed the assault which followed the terrible bombardment, they were ultimately forced to surrender, and Barbarossa was allowed to pillage the city and carry off 2,500 captives.”

2 — Whiteplight wrote at 6:58 PM on November 3:

Interesting review and book definately on my list!

Perhaps Amren might look into the current problem of White female sex slave trade? I have read elsewhere for years about this problem and even saw at least one documentary on it. I understand that an entire generation of Ukrainian women is missing, as well as many Russian women. And it appears the Turks, those would-be Europeans, are the main consumers, but certainly not the only ones.

3 — Jeddermann wrote at 7:47 PM on November 3:

This is a portion of history that the historians are loathe to cover? White people being made slaves has a certain fascination in some quarters. The Tartars and Muslims of the Ottoman Empire called it “harvesting the steppes”! Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, etc.

It was primarily the efforts of the famous Polish cavalry, the “winged Hussars” that put a stop to these razzias [raids]!

Over a period of several hundred years, about a million whites were made slaves of the Muslims. Slavs sold in the slave markets of Istanbul.

When Poland was a military superpower, using 1,000 kilometer cavalry sweeps, that is what put a stop to these predations! Cavalry carrying lance, musket, pistols, sabre, six foot long rapier, war hammer and bow and arrows!! One man-a-horse properly equipped for no-holds-barred battle.

And this sort of thing is ONLY NOW gaining a proper appreciation by the historians. Was known for a long time, but ignored.

4 — Odoacer wrote at 9:42 PM on November 3:

The Barbary States particularly incessant in their pursuit of European slaves. They did not stop until the French conquered and colonized them.

5 — John wrote at 11:03 PM on November 3:

Europe was threatened by many peoples, of different racial stocks: The Huns, the Mongols, the Turks, Arabs, Moors. Interesting though, that we hear over and over about “The White Man did this, that, and, that…” etc. etc. etc. It just goes to show that history is not about any one race, or nation, oppressing another. It is about the stronger groups oppressing the weak. And it is time for the White People of the Western nations to ask? Do we want to be among the strong, or among the weak? Do we want to depend on ourselves to defend our interests, or do we want to depend on the “fairness” and “benevolence” of the non-white peoples for our survival?

Finally, if we do not defend our own interests as a race, who will?

6 — flyingtiger wrote at 11:52 PM on November 3:

It is not just my Polish ancestors that drove the Moslems slave raiders away, but Russians and Austrians joined in the effort.
For more info of this subject read “History of the Jihad: Islam Versus Civilization.” (available at Amazon.com.
This needs to be taught to our children.

7 — Anonymous wrote at 1:37 AM on November 4:

Jeddermann wrote at 7:47 PM on November 3:

“And this sort of thing is ONLY NOW gaining a proper appreciation by the historians. Was known for a long time, but ignored.”

Just like it was known for a long time, but ignored, that it was a Polish king (Jan III Sobieski) leading 37,000 heavy armed Polish cavalry & foot soldiers, joined up with and led tens of thousands of Austrian and German soldiers to utterly route the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Vienna in 1683.

This decisive battle turned the tide of Turkish expansion into Central Europe, just as the third Battle of Lepanto (1571), in which a pan-European navy comprised mainly of Southern Europeans, destroyed forever Turkey’s plans for the Meditteranean. Again, known, but ignored.

8 — Southern Hoosier wrote at 6:20 AM on November 4:

I doubt if this video will bring much protest from the Muslim world. This seems to show a world that Muslims are proud of. It was a time when Islam was strong and Europe was weak. This was a time when the Turks kept the teachings of Mohammad and attacked the Infields for slaves and other booty. Unlike the Western nations, the Muslims seem to show no shame in there bloody and violent past. Even today slavery continues in Africa. I think the Muslims look forward to the days when they can again bring White slaves out of Europe.

9 — Irish in Paris wrote at 7:33 AM on November 4:

The North Africans themselves have largely occulted this long period from their history. Their dilemma is that whilst it gives them the huge satisfaction of having humiliated and terrorised the Kuffar for centuries, it also means that many, many of them probably carry the blood of slave ancestors, such was the scale of the concubinage of female slaves. It is more difficult to take pride in who you are if you are descended from slaves.

The history also conflicts with their self-image as noble victims, whose current problems are caused by Europeans and entitle them to apologies and financial compensation ( especially Algeria with France and Libya with Italy )

How then do Magrebins explain to themselves the fact that so many of them could pass as Europeans? ( “pas typé” as they say in France? ) Why, they will tell you absolutely sincerely and with obvious delight, their European traits are from the Vikings! (- a few of whom did indeed voyage as far as North Africa.) And who would not take pride in Viking blood?

Their whole culture is schizophrenic.

10 — Sardonicus wrote at 7:48 AM on November 4:

“I understand that an entire generation of Ukrainian women is missing, as well as many Russian women. And it appears the Turks, those would-be Europeans, are the main consumers, but certainly not the only ones.” Whiteplight

I would include the Albanians and men from Kosovo, along with the Turks, among the most predatory pimps. Organized gangs, of mostly Muslims, control much of this so called “white slavery” in Eastern Europe.

11 — q wrote at 9:23 AM on November 4:

Who our ancestors eventually fought off, our elitist dregs now want to welcome with open arms.

Can anybody say “treason?”

Isn’t that a hanging offense?

12 — EEuro wrote at 9:50 AM on November 4:

Most of you are ignorant of the Ottoman Empire, most of the slaves were taken from Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Greece.

The turks used to massacre whole villages and take the girls as sex slaves and the boys were raised as muslims to be soldiers.

13 — Jasper wrote at 10:27 AM on November 4:

Some of those White slaves became the backbone of the Turkish Empire. The feared Janissaries were primarily made up of White Christians from Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Romania, Georgia, Poland, Ukraine, and Russia. The sinister Turks used the superior fighting ability of Whites against the White nations themselves. Disunity among Europeans was perhaps a bigger threat to our ancestors than any non-White power. Instead of fighting against each other we should have united and destroyed the Turkish menace forever. If the British, French, Prussian, Spanish, Polish, Austrian, Swedish, Russian, Dutch etc… would have joined forces and attacked the Turkish empire, Istanbul would be Constantinople again today. White disunity has been our biggest weakness.

14 — Anonymous wrote at 11:12 AM on November 4:

How many of these muslim conquers were actually white? I’d venture to say many…

15 — Anonymous wrote at 11:24 AM on November 4:

It goes on today as well, there are tons of beatiful Slavic and Romanian sold into sex slavery in Turkey and the rest of the ISLAMIC world.

16 — Whiteplight wrote at 1:38 PM on November 4:

10 — Sardonicus wrote at 7:48 AM on November 4:
“I understand that an entire generation of Ukrainian women is missing, as well as many Russian women. And it appears the Turks, those would-be Europeans, are the main consumers, but certainly not the only ones.” Whiteplight

“I would include the Albanians and men from Kosovo, along with the Turks, among the most predatory pimps. Organized gangs, of mostly Muslims, control much of this so called “white slavery” in Eastern Europe.”

> Yes, that is right. I was being breif, but the entire picture is much larger. I lived in the Balkans while this sex slave trade was beginning. It happens that UN Peacekeepers in Bosnia and Kosovo have been among the pimps best clients. Also, this slave trade and trafficking of humans has gone as far as London and even to our own shores.

17 — Anonymous wrote at 1:55 PM on November 4:

4 — Odoacer wrote:
“The Barbary States were particularly incessant in their pursuit of European slaves. They did not stop until the French conquered and colonized them.”

Yes, but that conquest was brief. In the context of history, French rule lasted merely a century (for Morocco, less than half a century, just 44 yrs.). Now, the tables are reversed and North Africa is again invading and terrorizing France! There is no resistance.

From the native French, intimidated with hate-speech laws and anti-racism propaganda, hardly a peep is heard, and no significant objections or complaints are allowed under penalty of law.

Their post-WW2 rulers are determined to get them “diversified”. The disempowered French people are helpless to resist because they are betrayed from above by their own rulers.

18 — crazyhorse wrote at 4:32 PM on November 4:

I have been aware of this subject for many years,and especially the steps taken by T.Jefferson to stop this slave trade.Where can this movie be obtained….
“Baltimore is a good book to read on this subject. Janisaries is the name of the elite military forces which were largely made up of white captives-children trained to be loyal to saladin.This a worthy subject to research.
I have a think that many of the young children,and women that dissapear today wind up in soddie arabia etc.There ara a lot of Iranian girls who dissapear also.

19 — Southern Hoosier wrote at 4:36 PM on November 4:

I doubt if this video will bring much protest from the Muslim world. This seems to show a world that Muslims are proud of. It was a time when Islam was strong and Europe was weak. This was a time when the Turks kept the teachings of Mohammad and attacked the Infields for slaves and other booty. Unlike the Western nations, the Muslims seem to show no shame in there bloody and violent past. Even today slavery continues in Africa. I think the Muslims look forward to the days when they can again bring White slaves out of Europe.

20 — crazyhorse wrote at 4:56 PM on November 4:

I am waiting for the white slaves held by Japan during WW-2 be known,and how these people were swept under the carpet after the war.There were thousands used in Japanese industry.No reparations have been paid,as has been done by Germany..I wonder why..

21 — ATBOTL wrote at 4:58 PM on November 4:

“How then do Magrebins explain to themselves the fact that so many of them could pass as Europeans?”

The indigenous, pre-Arab North Africans were largely descended from the same group of people that Europeans are, although the two groups split apart about 10,000 years ago.

22 — Deniz wrote at 6:19 PM on November 4:

EEuro wrote at 9:50 AM on November 4:

Most of you are ignorant of the Ottoman Empire, most of the slaves were taken from Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Greece.

The turks used to massacre whole villages and take the girls as sex slaves and the boys were raised as muslims to be soldiers.

___

You are right. Most of the people here don’t know anything about Ottoman Empire.

Slaves were taken from the Balkans, not from Russia or Poland or Ukraine. Boys, mostly Albanians, went to the army, girls to the palace.

Those personal soldiers (Janissaries which means “New Soldier”) were raised by Turkish families in Anatolia and those who survived all wars, assimilated into the society by marriage.

A Turkish guy.

23 — ghw wrote at 6:36 PM on November 5:

“Slaves were taken from the Balkans, not from Russia or Poland or Ukraine. Boys, mostly Albanians, went to the army, girls to the palace.”
………………….

You should have said “most” slaves were taken from the Balkans. That would be probably true. But there were plenty taken from elsewhere…all the way from Iceland to Nubia. And MANY from the Ukraine/Russian steppes, the Crimea and Caucasus.

Albanians, being Moslems, did NOT become slaves! A Moslem could not enslave another Moslem. Albanians helped their Turkish overlords to “harvest” the Christian Serbs and others — which is why they’re hated by their neighbors to this day.

24 — Deniz wrote at 5:11 AM on November 6:

Dear ghw:

Albanians, being Moslems, did NOT become slaves!

Albanians (who are most probably descendants of ancient Illyrians) were forcibly (sometimes voluntarily to become more powerful) converted by Turks. They are originally not of Muslim origin. And today, 70% of Albanians are no more Muslims.

And Ottoman slavery was very different from its western counterpart. A slave could become a army general, a statesman (most of Sadrazams were of foreign origin). Some poor families gave their children freely to let them become powerful individuals in the state. The system favored converts over the Ethnic Turks, so by the end of 15th century all the elite ruling class of the Ottoman Empire was of convert origin. Taking into account of origins of Sultans who were mostly mothered by foreign women, the empire was far from being ethnically Turkish.

See devsirme for further information.


all the way from Iceland to Nubia.

Barbary pirates weren’t Turks but mostly Arabized Berbers (who can pass for Europeans). Although they were subject to Ottoman Empire, they practiced their “jobs” freely. And yes, a pirate is a pirate no matter what religion he’s got, like the European pirates whose jobs were not different. A Turk could mean everyone who is Muslim at that time.

And MANY from the Ukraine/Russian steppes, the Crimea and Caucasus.

Crimea was home of the Tatar population. A number of Turkic peoples, now collectively known as the Crimean Tatars, have been inhabiting the peninsula since the early Middle Ages. The ethnicity of the Crimean Tatars is quite complex as it absorbed both nomadic Turkic and European components (in the first place, the Goths and the Genoese) which is still reflected in their appearance and language differences.

Tatar invasions was just a response to Russian Imperialism. Note the Muslims (although most of them are not religious) in the Russian proper are not immigrants, they’ve been living there for over 1000 years.

After the treaty of Kücük Kaynarca in 1774, Crimean Tatars became “independent” from Ottoman Empire which of course meant they were going to be invaded by Russians (and they got annexed by 1783).

Russian Imperialism in the Caucasus was little different from Crimea. From 1763 to 1864, the Circassians fought against the Russians in the Russian-Circassian War. Afterwards, large numbers of Circassians were exiled and deported to the Ottoman Empire; others were resettled in Russia far from their home territories.

I agree that Ottoman Empire was far from being innocent but some facts should not be twisted to play the victim role.

25 — Anonymous wrote at 8:25 AM on November 6:

People also forget that Black africans were orginally enslaved by Muslims raids in the early Middle Ages. No mention of this, only American slavery. I also don’t see Muslims feeling the least bit guilty or anyone trying to make them feel guilty, like they do with Whites in America.

26 — John de Nugent wrote at 11:25 AM on November 6:

In 1996 I taught English to the children of very wealthy Istanbul Turks in a summer program on the campus of Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts. Having seen so many swarthy Turks whihle in Germany and Austria, I was STUNNED at the blond and blue-eyed upper-class Turks I encountered. Facially they looks like what they aparently are: Slavs mixed with “real” Turks — and always with wide cheekbones.

27 — Anonymous wrote at 6:07 PM on November 6:

It is a largely ignored fact that the word slave comes from Slav.

28 — Deniz wrote at 7:15 AM on November 7:

Having seen so many swarthy Turks whihle in Germany and Austria, I was STUNNED at the blond and blue-eyed upper-class Turks I encountered. Facially they looks like what they aparently are: Slavs mixed with “real” Turks — and always with wide cheekbones.
_________________________

Sorry John but you are wrong, too. I posted it here many times but seems that I have to repeat it:

At least 50% of “Turks” in Germany or Austria aren’t Turks but Kurds, Arabs, Armenians, etc..

“Real Turks” in your sense were never Mongloid, too. Note the very strong growth of beard (that’s completely absent or weak in Mongols). Most of them are dark, like Greeks or other Middle Easterners but I am a Turk with two blond haired light eyed grandfathers with not a single foreigner up to 6th generation. Have you ever been in Anatolia? Have a look at them:

http://tinyurl.com/yey3c4h
http://tinyurl.com/y8sketg
http://tinyurl.com/y9palku

These people never intermarried with “Slavs” or another people in the near as they rarely come to the cities.

29 — ghw wrote at 9:40 PM on November 7:

And MANY from the Ukraine/Russian steppes, the Crimea and Caucasus.

Crimea was home of the Tatar population. A number of Turkic peoples, now collectively known as the Crimean Tatars, have been inhabiting the peninsula since the early Middle Ages. The ethnicity of the Crimean Tatars is quite complex …
After…774, Crimean Tatars became “independent” from the Ottoman Empire which of course meant they were going to be invaded by Russians (and they got annexed by 1783).

“Russian Imperialism in the Caucasus was little different from the Crimea. From 1763 to 1864, the Circassians fought against the Russians in the Russian-Circassian War. …
I agree that Ottoman Empire was far from being innocent but some facts should not be twisted to play the victim role.”

…………………………………………..

No facts were “distorted”. I am well aware of all the above, and that The Tatars and Circassians were not Turks, ethnically; but I did not go into more detail for the sake of brevity. However, they were subservient client states of the Turks, and were acting on their behalf. The fact remains that they did not keep those slaves for themselves or sell them to each other! They sold those slaves to the Ottomans in Istanbul which was the big market. Without the great demand for slaves that existed in Turkey, there would have been little or no market to buy them, and therefore no drive to capture them.

The same holds true for the Barbary pirates who, though often semi-independent, were essentially protectorates or client states of the Ottoman Empire, and many of their captives ended up in Turkish territories or harems After all, it was the Turks who had the money and the power at that time, and they were the major buyers. Even in places like Egypt, Greece, Arabia, and Syria, the rulers were Turks.

PS. — I repect your facts and don’t disagree with them. You are knowledgeable, I realize that. But there are different ways of looking at the same thing.

30 — ghw wrote at 11:14 PM on November 7:

“Sorry John but you are wrong, too. I posted it here many times but seems that I have to repeat it:
At least 50% of “Turks” in Germany or Austria aren’t Turks but Kurds, Arabs, Armenians, etc..”
…………………………….

Deniz, you have mis-read John de Nugent. He did NOT say these Turks were in Germany/Austria, but were in Massachussets, USA.
____________________________________

The famous Sultana, Roxelana, was a harem girl captured in Ruthenia (then in Poland-lithuania), daughter of a Ukranian priest. She was known to Europeans as “La Rossa” (the “red-head” in Italian).

“Roxellana was born in the town of Rohatyn, near Lvov, then part of the Kingdom of Poland. She was captured by Crimean Tatars during one of their raids into this region and taken as a slave, first to the Crimean city of Kaffa, a major centre of the slave trade, then to Istanbul, and was selected for the harem of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent’. [Wiki] ]]

“In 1520 Roxolana, a native of Rohatyn, was captured here by the Tatars and sold to the Turkish sultan. Rohatyn was later annexed by Austria. Still later by the Soviet Ukraine.” http://tinyurl.com/ykmjlmb [statue of Roxolana in Rohatyn]

The daughter of an Orthodox Ukrainian priest, she was enslaved and rose through the ranks of the Harem to become Suleiman’s favourite wife.

Her son became the Sultan Selim II. He also was fair, with blue eyes and red/blond hair. Because of his blond hair he was often called “Selim theYellow”. http://tinyurl.com/yfebzeb [picture]

However, the most powerful woman in Ottoman history was Kösem Sultan, another daughter of a priest. She became Valide Sultan (Queen Mother) from 1623 to 1651 and en effect ruled when her two sons Murad IV and Ibrahim I and her grandson Mehmed IV (1648-1687) reigned as sultans. She was a prominent figure during the sultanate of the women — a 130-year period when the women of the Imperial Harem exerted extraordinary political influence. Many of the Sultans during this period were minors and their mothers, leaders of the Harem,
effectively ruled the Empire.

Another was Nurbanu Sultan, a Sephardic woman of Venetian birth, who became the most favored wife of Selim II, and the mother of Sultan Murad III. She was the niece of Dona Gracia Mendez, (also known by her Christian name, Beatriz de Luna Miques, 1510-1569), one of the wealthiest Jewish women of Renaissance Europe, who had married into the eminent international banking and finance dynasty of Mendes. [Wiki] http://tinyurl.com/yzvw3p6

Note that none of these women had been born Moslems!


31 — Deniz wrote at 10:43 AM on November 8:

ghw:

I only want to emphasize two points. First of all, -of course- the victorious against the vanquished rule.

After the Norman Conquest of Sicily, Arab males became enslaved and Norman soldiers mostly married their daughters. During the crusades, thousands of women were raped by European soldiers in Anatolia and Middle East. No, don’t worry, I won’t claim any reparations for Muslims :)

Secondly, the Ottoman Sultans were discouraged from marrying Muslim girls (especially from the upper class Turkish families) to prevent interventions from the family and therefore by the middle of 15th century, most of the noble Turkish families lost their power and influence.

Marrying a non-Muslim girl, separated from her family was thought to be safer, however -as your post states- some of them became very powerful in the stagnation times.

In Turkey, Kösem Sultan is still a highly regarded (and hated at the same time, some think Ottoman Empire got weakened by her) individual. Powerful women are sometimes called by her name.

32 — Deniz wrote at 11:02 AM on November 8:

The Tatars and Circassians were not Turks, ethnically.
——

It largely depends how you define “Turkish”. A Turk is someone who calls himself/herself Turkish and speaks Turkish. It’s impossible to determine how many non-Turkish people live in Turkey as the census don’t include the ancestry.

The Tatars are Turkic speaking people who are extremely mixed. Some of them look very Nordic while a tiny portion of them have significantly Mongloid ancestry. Their ultimate origin is unknown. Many of them emigrated to Turkey (mostly from Crimea) and merged with the local population.

Circassians are Caucasian people who are racially (not ethnically!) very related to Anatolian Turks. Like the Tatars, they integrated well, became politicians, soldiers, etc…

33 — Giuseppe Verdi wrote at 7:05 PM on November 8:

“I am a Turk with two blond haired light eyed grandfathers with not a single foreigner up to 6th generation…These people never intermarried with ‘Slavs’ or another people in the near as they rarely come to the cities.”

Deniz, you misunderstand. Nobody is talking about recent Slavic immigrants to Turkey. We are thinking about all the admixture from thousands upon thousands of Slavs and other Europeans brought as slaves from the Middle Ages up to the 1800s. Do you expect us to believe that none of these hundreds of thousands of people over the centuries ever had children? The pictures you provide actually are good proof that this admixture did indeed occur. Considering the sheer number of foreign slaves in Turkey, the relative freedom many of them enjoyed, and their significant integration, it is very likely that most Turks now have a least some ethnic European blood, even darker ones. I know that I’ve always thought that Kemal Ataturk looked pretty much 100% European. I’m not at all surprised that he wanted to Westernize Turkey.

34 — browser wrote at 10:58 PM on November 9:

It largely depends how you define “Turkish”. A Turk is someone who calls himself/herself Turkish and speaks Turkish.

That sounds very much like the French notion of identity today: anyone can be “French” who wants to be and says he is.

Apparently the Turks, like the French, also have a very weak sense of who they are — the inevitable result of empire. That’s the cost they pay. Look at today’s confused British. Even the Romans. In gaining empire, they lost their identity! All of them. They became just anybody and everybody, a mixture of everything, a genetic tossed salad. But when you’re everybody in general, you’re nobody in particular.


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