Barbarian Cruelty: Narrative of Thomas Troughton, One of the Millions of White Slaves in Africa

Barbarian Cruelty; or, an Accurate and Impartial Narrative of the unparallelled Sufferings and almost incredible Hardships of the BRITISH CAPTIVES belonging to The Inspector Privateer, Capt. Rd. Veale, During their Slavery under Muley Abdullah, Emperor of Fez  and Morocco, from Jan. 1745-6, to their happy Deliverance, by the Bounty of King George II. Administered by William Latton, Esq. Ambassador to Morocco, in December, 1750.       

This summary of one man's enslavement for almost five years in Morocco, Africa, is offered on this Blog devoted primarily to the American Civil War because it deals with the all-important subject of human slavery. In the 17th through the 19th centuries, Americans were fully aware that slavery was practiced on all continents and among all races. This isn't so well known today. As a former Social Studies Coordinator for two large school districts in Florida for over three decades, I was responsible for textbook purchases that amounted to tens of millions of dollars. Without exception, the books our students read de-emphasized the enslavement of Europeans and Americans by various groups of what today are known as "people of color." Rather, through the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion mandates of all levels of government they often only heard about the evil effects of "white privilege."  Few students today are aware that for hundreds of years Europeans and Americans were seized in raids and taken as slaves to Africa. Our ancestors, however, were quite familiar with the narratives of those white slaves who returned home and wrote about their experiences. We tend to forget today that the main characters in the first novels in the English and Spanish languages--Daniel DeFoe's Robinson Crusoe and Miquel Cervantes' Don Quixote--both spent time as slaves in North Africa. This narrative of Thomas Troughton was republished in 1785 and represents only one a many such examples. Robert Davis, author of Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters, estimates that upwards of 1.3 million white Christians were sent to the Barbary States of North Africa during the 16th to 19th centuries. This number, however, does not include those seized in raids starting in the 8th to 16th century--times when hundreds of thousands were killed or seized in endless slaves raids. Very likely the number of Europeans killed or enslaved during these eight centuries ran into the millions as well. Nor does the figure produced by professor Davis include the vast numbers seized by the Sultanate of Morocco or the millions of Eastern Europeans who seized as slaves by the Ottoman Empire--both over many, many centuries.
     This narrative is posted here in the hope that the stories of these countless victims of human slavery will not be forgotten.   

To access and/or download a nine-page summary of this book, go HERE.

To access a complete copy of this book from the Open Archive Internet Library, go HERE.   

The writer has been a social studies educator, founder of Rho Kappa -- the National Social Studies Honor Society -- past president of the Florida Council for the Social Studies, and a former Elementary School Principal of the Year in Lee County, Florida. He may be reached at: jsbovee@aol.com.