Sack of Naples

Map of the Bay of Naples
Date1544
Location
Naples, Italy
Result

• Capture of the Bay of Naples


• 50.000 enslaved[1][2][3]
Belligerents
Kingdom of Naples Regency of Algiers
Strength
Unknown Unknown
Casualties and losses
7,000 enslaved Unknown

The sack of Naples occurred in 1544 when Algerians captured the Bay of Naples and enslaved 7,000 Italians.

In 1544 Algerian corsairs sailed into the Bay of Naples and captured it. They then took an astounding amount of 7,000 Italian slaves.[1][3]

The number of slaves taken by the Algerians drove the price of slaves so low that it was said “you could swap a Christian for an onion”.[4][2][1] Moreover, it was said to be “raining Christians in Algiers”.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c The Barnes Review, Volume 12 TBR Company,
  2. ^ a b c Holy War and Human Bondage: Tales of Christian-Muslim Slavery in the Early-Modern Mediterranean: Tales of Christian-Muslim Slavery in the Early-Modern Mediterranean Robert C. Davis ABC-CLIO,
  3. ^ a b Imperial Ambition in the Early Modern Mediterranean: Genoese Merchants and the Spanish Crown Céline Dauverd Cambridge University Press,
  4. ^ Tragedy and Postcolonial Literature Ato Quayson Cambridge University Press,
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