When you think of the slave trade I am sure you picture black Africans torn from their homes and cruelly treated in America, or maybe the Israelites in Ancient Egypt, but I don’t expect you picture the millions of white Europeans sold in the slave markets of North Africa in the 17th century. This is their story, action packed, extraordinary reading, gleaned from original diaries, journals and letters. I was surprised to discover the Moroccans invading the south coast of England in 1625 and the fact that it wasn’t until 1816 that the British fleet attacked Algiers.
In the summer of 1716, a Cornish cabin boy named Thomas Pellow and fifty-two of his comrades were captured at sea by the Barbary corsairs. Their captors – fanatical Islamic slave traders – had declared war on the whole of Christendom. Thousands of Europeans had been snatched from their homes and taken in chains to the great slave markets of Algiers, Tunis and Salé in Morocco to be sold to the highest bidder. WHITE GOLD is an extraordinary and shocking story. Drawn from unpublished letters and manuscripts written by slaves, and by the padres and ambassadors sent to free them, it reveals a disturbing and forgotten chapter of history, told with all the pace and verve of one of our finest historians.
'Milton's story could scarcely be more action packed ... If what you want from your history is violent action, exotic locations, a colourful villain and a resourceful hero, you'll find them in this book' Sunday Times
Author
About Giles Milton
Giles Milton is a writer and journalist. He has contributed articles for most of the British national newspapers as well as many foreign publications and specialises in the history of travel and exploration. In the course of his researches, he has travelled extensively in Europe and the Middle East.
