European slaves were common during the reign of Ancient Rome and were prominent during the Ottoman Empire into the early modern period.
The phrase “white slavery” was used by Charles Sumner in 1847 to describe the chattel slavery of Christians throughout the Barbary States and primarily in the Algiers, the capitol of Ottoman Algeria. It also encompassed many forms of slavery, including the European concubines often found in Turkish harems.
During the Al-Andalus (also known as Muslim Spain or Islamic Iberia), the Moors controlled much of the peninsula. They imported white Christian slaves from the 8th century until the Reconquista in the late 15th century.
