When it comes to the slave trade, many people think of the "black triangle trade."
As European slave traders sold black Africans to the American market, "black slaves" became the mainstream of the slave market at that time.
But do you know that in fact, in addition to the "black slaves", there were many "white slaves" at that time.
Ironically, most of these white slaves came from "Europe", which pushed the slave trade to its peak.
Where were these enslaved white slaves sent? Who were they enslaved by? How did this dark time in Europe begin and end?
The mighty Ottoman Empire
As the leading empire in history, the Ottoman Empire once spanned three continents in Europe, Asia and Africa at its peak.
With one hand choking the throat of the East-West trade route, with strong military strength, the Ottoman Empire was once able to compete with the ancient Roman Empire.
In Europe, most of the European countries at that time were "afraid to be angry", which also laid the foundation for the slave trade in the Ottoman Empire.
Due to years of war, the territory of the Ottoman Empire expanded rapidly, and the size of the city was further increased, so the demand for population in the Ottoman Empire has always been relatively large.
This was especially true after the Black Death, which required a large number of slaves, from aristocratic farms to foreign trade fleets to the royal court.
Moreover, the Ottoman nobility also favored white slaves, which directly led to a large number of white slaves being plundered into the Ottoman Empire between the 14th and 19th centuries, becoming a "commodity" with no dignity and only price.
After being captured, the suffering of those white slaves was very tragic.
The slave girls were first stripped naked to check the "color", then graded like a commodity, and finally sent to different places.
The youngest and most beautiful female slaves were sent to the palaces of the sultans and chiefs of the empire as slaves, and the lesser female slaves were sent to the homes of the minor nobles or to brothels.
Those who are not good-looking or old and decayed will directly do the most bitter and tired handyman.
The male white slaves had to undergo more than 18 hours of heavy physical labor a day, with only a few short hours to rest.
And eat moldy food, regardless of the surrounding environment and physical condition, as long as they open their eyes is to carry out manual labor, there is no rest to speak of.
Even if you have some craftsmanship, it is only a little better in living conditions.
But he could never get rid of the lowly status of a slave, not only to be constantly monitored, but also to endure occasional scolding, and the future could be said to be dark.
So did these plundered white slaves have a chance to go home?
The answer is yes, and there are only two means to get these white slaves home, either war or redemption.
But it was the heyday of the Ottoman Empire, and the Europeans couldn't beat them, so they had to spend money to buy them back after they were robbed.
But compared to the Americans, that's fine.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the United States even had to pay 1/5 of its fiscal revenue to the Ottoman Empire for "protection", which was worthy of humiliation.
Of course, the self-proclaimed great Ottoman Empire was dismissive of such a thing as the plundering of slaves.
They usually gave this kind of thing to their two younger brothers, namely the Barbary pirates and the Crimean Khanate.
Whip of the Ottoman Empire
The Barbary Pirates sound like an unpopular organization of sea thieves, but in fact this organization has a strict national nature and is very strong in combat.
It has repeatedly defeated the European multinational coalition, beating them to the head, forcing the United States to pay protection fees, and threatening the Mediterranean region for hundreds of years.
Of course, the main reason why this organization is so strong is because it has the support of the Ottoman Empire.
As early as the 15th century, the 2 countries of Iberia completed the merger and began to conquer other countries.
When it destroyed granada, the last Islamic state, many of the local Moors had to leave Iberia and flee to North Africa, eventually becoming pirates to make a living.
With the support of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, the Kingdom of Barbary was established in 1510, opening up a pirate empire that had shook the Mediterranean for centuries.
As pirates, their income mainly comes from three parts.
The first is to force some countries to pay protection fees, such as the United States.
The second is to charge "tolls" to ships coming and going.
The third was the plundering of the European population for the slave trade.
To put it more bluntly, it was to plunder the coastal areas of Spain, Italy, Iceland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, and then snatch people and send them to the Ottoman Empire.
The Ottoman Empire also did not wrongfully punish the Barbary pirates, and gave high purchase prices for the slaves they sent.
It is said that the price of an effort at that time was between 20 and 50 gold coins, which can be said to be a million profits.
Around the middle of the 17th century, the Barbary pirates reached their peak as loyal dog legs along with the Ottoman Empire.
However, as the Ottoman Empire gradually weakened, the Barbary pirates were also separated from them and gradually achieved semi-independent status.
In the end, it was the European and American countries that could not stand it and launched a war against it, which completely destroyed this group of pirates.
However, in addition to the Barbary pirates, the Ottoman Empire also had a famous little brother, that is, the Crimean Khanate.
The Tatars of this khanate were obsessed with the slave trade more than the Barbary pirates.
How crazy is this country?
At the height of the slave trade, the country's main revenue came from looting and the slave trade, and it was difficult to leave the slave trade and even be self-sufficient.
According to historical records, the first major raid on the periphery of the Crimean Khanate was in Galicia in 1468.
In that battle, they captured 18,000 people, and after selling them as slaves to the Ottoman Empire, they reaped a rich reward.
So for the next 220 years, the country went to the surrounding areas almost every year to fight the autumn wind.
According to historical documents, they returned with at least 65 full loads, the biggest of which were Poland and Russia.
What is even more infuriating is that not only have these countries been invaded, but also that the people who have been enslaved have to be pointed out as commodities.
In the eyes of the Tatars at that time, women in various countries at that time could be labeled differently due to differences in physical fitness.
For example, Germans and Hungarians, who are thin and weak, are not suitable for heavy physical labor, so they naturally cannot sell for high prices.
At the same time, women from Germany and Russia were also "cheap goods" at the time, but in their view the former was due to their stiff bodies, lack of femininity, and unsuitable for sending to the Ottoman Empire to fill the harem.
The latter is because it has been plundered too much, which does not meet the attribute of "rare things are precious", and at the same time, the Slavs are also in this way.
The really expensive and excellent should be the Circassians living in southwestErn Russia at that time, and there were very few people in this ethnic group.
Moreover, most of them have a docile personality, a well-proportioned and beautiful body, so their price is extremely high, selling for at least 4 times that of the Slavs.
The fall of slavery in the Ottoman Empire
However, after the transatlantic slave trade was banned, European countries, represented by Britain and France, began to put pressure on the Ottoman Empire to abolish the slave trade in this country.
At the same time, the problems caused by slavery within the Ottoman Empire were also increasing.
So external inducements combined with internal needs eventually led to the fall of slavery in the Ottoman Empire.
In 1830, the Ottoman Empire announced that Christians who had retained their faith since enslavement would be set free and free.
In 1846 the Ottoman Empire closed the slave markets of Istanbul.
So did these acts mark the end of the slave trade in the Ottoman Empire?
Of course not, as the saying goes, the worm with a hundred legs dies but is not stiff.
The Ottoman Empire had tasted the sweetness of slavery for hundreds of years, how could it be so easy to get rid of it completely?
Moreover, the slave trade, which involved all aspects of the Ottoman Empire at the time, was not so easily abolished.
Even as a result, human rights violations increased at the time, and slave traders began to use the black market to trade in order to make a profit.
Although slavery in the Ottoman Empire was eventually abolished, the country's decay was also curbed to some extent.
One might ask, slavery is such a sinful thing, full of primitive barbarism, contrary to modern values.
Why was the Ottoman Empire so obsessed and unwilling to abolish it?
In fact, the reason is simple, because at that time, Ottoman slavery was governed by Islamic law, and the rulers of the Ottoman Empire at that time were also loyal believers in Islam.
In their view, the slaves enslaved by them were not living beings or individuals, but natural resources at their disposal.
And objectively slavery also helped the Ottoman Empire to gradually reach its peak, in line with their "expectations".
In this way, it was naturally difficult to abolish the slave trade and slavery system in the Ottoman Empire, and those Ottoman people would not feel ashamed of it.
An extension of slavery in the Ottoman Empire
Although the Barbary pirates and the Crimean Khanate were also subordinate to the Ottoman Empire, the two sides were very different.
The former is more of a simple quest for wealth, while the latter is different, not only seeking wealth but also wanting to die.
The white slave trade in the Crimean Khanate was not only to meet the needs of the Ottoman nobility, but also to achieve its own ends.
Because of this, it was extremely destructive, and slavery prevailed in the country itself, and in some ways it could be an extension of slavery in the Ottoman Empire.
According to reports by Russian envoys in the mid-17th century, an ordinary Tatar had 10 to 20 slaves.
As for the tatars of higher rank, they had more slaves, and they could reach more than a hundred at any time.
Most of these white slaves were enslaved to extremely heavy work, and some were used for agricultural production.
Tracking is carried out all day and all night in the southern part of the Crimean Peninsula, some of which are used for animal husbandry and industry, grazing livestock and digging wells at the same time.
When their own slaves were too numerous to run out, slave owners would even rent out their slaves to Christians to work.
Wait until you have made enough profit to squeeze out more value, and then sell it.
In addition, Europeans did not have much to blame against the slave trade in the Ottoman Empire.
On the one hand, they also traded black slaves themselves, selling black slaves from Africa to the Americas, and in the black triangle trade, Africa lost more than 100 million young and middle-aged laborers.
On the other hand, many European countries were also "guests" under slavery.
For example, Italy had bought many slaves from the Crimean Khanate, so it was naturally difficult for them to accuse barbaric pirates of plundering them.
As for the European countries such as Italy, in fact, there are also bitter words, and in the case of the black death ravaging the population of all countries, all countries are very short of labor.
In this case, they also had to endure the invasion of barbaric pirates, the losses of years of war, and it was difficult for them to maintain the development of the country without buying slaves.
It is not difficult to explain why many European countries at that time had the embarrassing situation of being plundered on the one hand and buying slaves from other countries on the other.
So how common were slaves at the heyday of the slave trade?
Let's take, for example, Bolsa, the economic powerhouse of the Ottoman Empire, where nearly 25 percent of the town was slave, according to historians.
An additional 15 per cent of the inhabitants were also slaves before their emancipation, and some were descendants of slaves.
Therefore, if we insist on distinguishing, I am afraid that the real local population will not even account for 50%.
This is just a microcosm of the large and small towns and villages of the Ottoman Empire, which shows how popular the slave trade was at that time.
Of course, from the perspective of modern values, the slave trade is certainly full of blood and evil, and it should be resisted and condemned.
Fortunately, after russia annexed Crimea in 1783, the Tatars, the main slave supplier of the white slave trade, disappeared, which brought an end to the dark slave trade.