White slavery (also white slave trade or white slave trafficking) refers to the enslavement of any of the world's European ethnic groups throughout human history, whether perpetrated by non-Europeans or by other Europeans. Slavery in ancient Rome was frequently dependent on a person's socio-economic status and national affiliation, and thus included European slaves. It was also common for European people to be enslaved and traded in the Muslim world; European women, in particular, were highly sought-after to be concubines in the harems of many Muslim rulers. Examples of such slavery conducted in Islamic empires include the Arab slave trade, the Barbary slave trade, the Ottoman slave trade, and the Black Sea slave trade, among others.
Many different types of white people were enslaved. On the European continent under feudalism, there were various forms of status applying to people (such as serf, bordar, villein, vagabond, and slave) who were indentured or forced to labour without pay.
During the Arab slave trade, Europeans were among those traded by the Arabs.[1] The term Saqaliba (Arabic: صقالبة) was often used in medieval Arabic sources to refer specifically to Slavs being traded by the Arabs, but it could also refer more broadly to Central, Southern, and Eastern Europeans who were also traded by the Arabs, as well as all European slaves in some Muslim-controlled regions like Spain, including those abducted from raids on Spanish Christian kingdoms.[2][3] During the era of the Fatimid Caliphate (909–1171), the majority of slaves were Europeans taken from European coasts and during conflicts.[1] Similarly, the Ottoman slave trade that included European captives was often fueled by raids into European territories or were taken as children in the form of a blood tax from the families of citizens of conquered territories to serve the empire for a variety of functions.[4] In the mid-19th century, the term 'white slavery' was used to describe the Christian slaves that were sold into the Barbary slave trade in North Africa.
According to research by historian Robert Davis, "white slavery," particularly the enslavement of European Christians by North African Muslims along the Barbary Coast, was significantly more widespread than previously believed, with estimates suggesting that over a million Europeans were captured and enslaved between 1530 and 1780; this is a much higher number than previous historical estimations.
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