The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Book Cover for: The Forgotten Slave Trade: The White European Slaves of Islam, Simon Webb

The Forgotten Slave Trade: The White European Slaves of Islam

Simon Webb

A century before Britain became involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, whole villages and towns in England, Ireland, Italy, Spain and other European countries were being depopulated by slavers, who transported the men, women and children to Africa where they were sold to the highest bidder. This is the forgotten slave trade.

Starting with the practice of slavery in the ancient world, Simon Webb traces the history of slavery in Europe and examines the experiences of those who were forcibly taken from their homes. He describes how thousands of European boys were castrated and then sold in Africa and the Middle East, and also explains how the role of the newly-independent United States helped to put an end to the trade in European and American slaves. He also discuss the importance of towns such as Bristol, which had been an important staging-post for the transfer of English slaves to Africa over 1,000 years before it became a major centre for the slave trade in the eighteenth century.

Reading this book will forever change how you view the slave trade and show that many commonly held beliefs about this controversial subject are almost wholly inaccurate and mistaken.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Pen and Sword History
  • Publish Date: Dec 23rd, 2021
  • Pages: 208
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.20in - 6.10in - 0.70in - 0.85lb
  • EAN: 9781526797094
  • Categories: Europe - GeneralSlavery

About the Author

Webb, Simon: - Simon Webb is the author of a number of non-fiction books, ranging from academic works on education to popular history. He works as a consultant on the subject of capital punishment to television companies and filmmakers and also writes for various magazines and newspapers; including the Times Educational Supplement, Daily Telegraph and the Guardian.

Praise for this book

"In no way does he minimize or ignore what happened to Africans who became victims of the triangle trade. His primary goals are to show that slavery doesn't encompass this one period and that Europeans were also victims. He succeeds in meeting these goals, while providing the framework for why and how this came about."-- "Pirates and Privateers"
"While no one could for a minute discount the unimaginable cruelty of the African slave trade to the Americas and beyond, it is worth conceding that it is not the only such time enslavement has occurred. Webb's book does a fine job of making that point."
--Carolina Chronicles Magazine