Tuesday, March 27, 2007
AFRICAN SLAVERY
Comparing African enslaved by Europeans, 12.5 million people, with Europeans enslaved in Africa (granted North Africa) of about 1.25 million over roughly the same timescale.
While 12 million Africans transported is a large number it is worth remebering that it is about 6 years of malaria deaths, something we could prevent if we wanted to.
“Much of what has been written gives the impression that there were not many slaves and minimizes the impact that slavery had on Europe,” Davis said. “Most accounts only look at slavery in one place, or only for a short period of time. But when you take a broader, longer view, the massive scope of this slavery and its powerful impact become clear.”It is politically correct to ignore this because it allows us to emote about the victimhood of blacks, but it also allows us to ignore that European culture was not always the world's dominant form.
Davis said it is useful to compare this Mediterranean slavery to the Atlantic slave trade that brought black Africans to the Americas. Over the course of four centuries, the Atlantic slave trade was much larger – about 10 to 12 million black Africans were brought to the Americas. But from 1500 to 1650, when trans-Atlantic slaving was still in its infancy, more white Christian slaves were probably taken to Barbary than black African slaves to the Americas, according to Davis.
While 12 million Africans transported is a large number it is worth remebering that it is about 6 years of malaria deaths, something we could prevent if we wanted to.
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"Slaves were still slaves, whether they are black or white, and whether they suffered in America or North Africa": that sounds a bit like wishful thinking, given the Muslim demand for eunuchs.
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