Terror, kidnapping, murder, rape. Thugs using religion to mistreat their fellow man. The West terrorized by terrorists from the Middle East. All the stuff of today's headlines, right? Yes, and the headlines of 1625.
Just finished "White Gold: the extraordinary story of Thomas Pellow and Islam's One Million White Slaves" by Giles Milton. Milton gives us the history of the ejected Spanish Moors who in 1610 were expelled from Spain in the last act of the reconquista who turned to state-sponsored terrorism against the West, i.e. the Barbary pirates. The Barbary pirates took an average of 5,000 prisoners every year from Spain, France and England (even raided Cornwall).
This is an excellent short history of the terrifying years in which the Cosairs hounded Western commerce and the treatment of their prisoners. It is an excellent primer for those who are interested in learning more about a specific time (1625 until the English navy crushed the Barbary pirates in 1816 under the great [and absolutely looney] admiral Sir Sidney Smith)) about the centuries long war between the Middle East and the West.
More things change, . . . .
