Slavic slaves Camp'' by
Sergei Ivanov (1913) The Volga trade route was established by the
Varangians (Vikings) who settled in
Northwestern Russia in the early 9th century. About south of the
Volkhov River entry into
Lake Ladoga, they established a settlement called
Ladoga (Old Norse:
Aldeigjuborg). It connected
Northern Europe and Northwestern Russia with the
Caspian Sea, via the
Volga River. The
Rus used this route to trade with
Muslim countries on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, sometimes penetrating as far as
Baghdad. The route functioned concurrently with the
Dnieper trade route, better known as the
trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks, and lost its importance in the 11th century.
Saqaliba originally was used to denote
Slavic people, however later it came to denote all European slaves in some Muslim regions like Spain including those abducted from raids on Christian kingdoms of Spain. The Franks started buying slaves from the Slavs and
Avar Khaganate while Muslims also came across slaves in the form of
mercenaries serving the
Byzantine Empire and settlers in addition to among the
Khazars. Most Slavic slaves were imported to the
Muslim world through the border between Christian and Islamic kingdoms where castration centres were also located instead of the direct route. From there they were sent into Islamic Spain and other Muslim-ruled regions especially
North Africa. The saqaliba gained popularity in Umayyad Spain especially as warriors. After the collapse of the Umayyads, they also came to rule over many of the
taifas. With the conversion of
Eastern Europe, the trade declined and there isn't much textual information on saqaliba after 11th century. The
Emirate of Bari also served as an important port for this trade. Due to the
Byzantine Empire and
Venice blocking Arab merchants from European ports, they later started importing in slaves from the
Caucasus and the Caspian Sea. The
Saqaliba were also imported as eunuchs and concubines to Muslim states. The slavery of
eunuchs in the Muslim world however was expensive and they thus were given as gifts by rulers. The
Saqaliba eunuchs were prominent at the court of
Aghlabids and later
Fatimids who imported them from Spain. The Fatimids also used other
Saqaliba slaves for military purposes.
Crimean Khanate In the time of the Crimean Khanate, Crimeans engaged in frequent raids into the
Danubian principalities,
Poland–Lithuania, and
Muscovy. For each captive, the khan received a fixed share (
savğa) of 10 percent or 20 percent. The campaigns by Crimean forces categorize into
sefers, declared military operations led by the khans themselves, and
çapuls, raids undertaken by groups of noblemen, sometimes illegally because they contravened treaties concluded by the khans with neighbouring rulers. For a long time, until the early 18th century, the khanate maintained
a massive slave trade with the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East.
Caffa was one of the best known and significant trading ports and slave markets. Crimean Tatar raiders enslaved between 1 and 2 million slaves from Russia and Poland–Lithuania over the period 1500–1700.
Caffa (city on Crimean peninsula) was one of the best known and significant trading ports and slave markets. In 1769, a last major Tatar raid resulted in the capture of 20,000 Russian and Ruthenian slaves.
Barbary slave trade Slave markets flourished on the
Barbary Coast of North Africa, in what is modern-day
Morocco,
Algeria,
Tunisia, and western
Libya, between the 15th and middle of the 19th century. These markets prospered while the states were nominally under
Ottoman suzerainty, though, in reality, they were mostly autonomous. The
North African slave markets traded in
European slaves which were acquired by Barbary pirates in
slave raids on ships and by raids on coastal towns from Italy to Spain, Portugal, France, England, the Netherlands, and as far afield as the
Turkish Abductions in Iceland. Men, women, and children were captured to such a devastating extent that vast numbers of sea coast towns were abandoned. by British artist Walter Croker According to Robert Davis, between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves in
North Africa and
Ottoman Empire between the 15th and 19th centuries. However, to extrapolate his numbers, Davis assumes the number of European slaves captured by Barbary pirates was constant for a 250-year period, stating: Davis's numbers have been challenged by other historians, such as David Earle, who cautions that the true picture of European slaves is clouded by the fact the corsairs also seized non-Christian whites from eastern Europe and black people from west Africa. Middle East expert John Wright cautions that modern estimates are based on back-calculations from human observation. Such observations, across the late 1500s and early 1600s observers, account for around 35,000 European Christian slaves held throughout this period on the Barbary Coast, across Tripoli and Tunis, but mostly in Algiers. The majority were sailors (particularly those who were English), taken with their ships, but others were fishermen and coastal villagers. However, most of these captives were people from lands close to Africa, particularly Spain and Italy. From bases on the Barbary Coast of North Africa, the
Barbary pirates raided ships traveling through the Mediterranean and along the northern and western coasts of Africa, plundering their cargo and enslaving the people they captured. From at least 1500, the pirates also conducted raids along seaside towns of Italy, Spain, France, England, the Netherlands and as far away as Iceland, capturing men, women and children. On some occasions, settlements such as
Baltimore, Ireland, were abandoned following the raid, only being resettled many years later. Between 1609 and 1616, England alone had 466 merchant ships lost to Barbary pirates. While Barbary corsairs looted the cargo of ships they captured, their primary goal was to capture people for sale as slaves or for ransom. Those who had family or friends who might ransom them were held captive, but not obliged to work; the most famous of these was the author
Miguel de Cervantes, who was held for almost five years. Others were sold into various types of servitude. Attractive women or boys could be used as
sex slaves. Captives who converted to Islam were generally freed, since enslavement of Muslims was prohibited; but this meant that they could never return to their native countries. Moroccan Sultan
Moulay Ismail Ben Sharif controlled a fleet of
corsairs based at
Salé-le-Vieux and
Salé-le-Neuf (now Rabat), which supplied him with Christian slaves and weapons through their raids in the Mediterranean and all the way to the
Black Sea. Moulay Ismail was nicknamed the 'bloody king' by the Europeans due to his extreme cruelty and exaction of summary justice upon his Christian slaves. He is also known in his native country as the "Warrior King". 16th- and 17th-century customs statistics suggest that Istanbul's additional slave import from the
Black Sea may have totaled around 2.5 million from 1450 to 1700. The markets declined after the loss of the
Barbary Wars and ended in the 1830s, when the region was
conquered by France.
Christian slavery in Muslim Iberia delivering Christian captives in Algiers after the
Bombardment of Algiers (1683) During the
al-Andalus (also known as Islamic Iberia), the
Moors controlled much of the peninsula. Muslim Spain imported Christian slaves from the 8th century until the
Reconquista in the late 15th century. The slaves were exported from the Christian region of Spain, as well as from Eastern Europe, sparking significant reaction from many in Christian Spain and many Christians still living in Muslim Spain. Soon after, Muslims were successful, taking 30,000 Christian captives from Spain. In the eighth century, slavery lasted longer due to "frequent cross-border skirmishes, interspersed between periods of major campaigns". By the tenth century, in the eastern Mediterranean Byzantine, Christians were captured by Muslims. Many of the raids designed by Muslims were created for a fast capture of prisoners. Therefore, Muslims restricted the control in order to keep captives from fleeing. The Iberian peninsula served as a base for further exports of slaves into other Muslim regions in Northern Africa.
Ottoman slave trade Slavery was a legal and a significant part of the
Ottoman Empire's economy and society. The main sources of white slaves were
Ottoman wars into Europe and organized enslavement expeditions in Eastern Europe,
Southern Europe, the
Balkans,
Circassia and
Georgia in the Caucasus. It has been reported that the selling price of slaves fell after large military operations. Enslavement of Europeans was banned in the early 19th century, while enslavement of other groups was permitted. Even after several measures to ban slavery in the late 19th century, the practice continued largely unabated into the early 20th century. As late as 1908, female slaves were still sold in the Ottoman Empire.
Sexual slavery was a central part of the Ottoman slave system throughout the history of the institution.
Nafisa al-Bayda, meaning "Nafisa the White-skinned", was a
Circassian or
Georgian woman who was enslaved and became the "most famous
Mamluk woman in 18th-century Egypt", being a wife of Mamluk leaders of Egypt
Ali Bey al-Kabir and
Murad Bey.
Spanish slaves in Araucanía In the
Arauco War (1550–1662), a long-running conflict between Spanish and
Mapuches in Chile, both sides engaged in slavery of the enemy population, among other atrocities. Indeed, with the
Destruction of the Seven Cities (1599–1604) Mapuches are reported to have taken 500 Spanish women captive, holding them as slaves. in what is described as the most brutal forced coexistence resulting in children of "
mixed blood". A report dating from 1863 said that her captors, fearing vengeance from Spaniards, sold her to the warlord
Calfucurá in
Puelmapu for a hundred mares, but that she had died after three years. ==European slavery==