Enslaved Icelander Describes Horror of Barbary Pirate Raid (1627) // Diary of Ólafur Egilsson

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Extracts taken from The Travels of Reverend Olafur Egilsson: The Story of the Barbary Corsair Raid on Iceland in 1627.
by Olafur Egilsson (Author), Karl Smari Hreinsson (Translator), Adam Nichols (Translator)

Thumbnail Art and Art by Alex Stoica.
Stock footage taken from Videoblocks and Artgrid.
Music from Epidemic Sound and Artlist.

Image Credits:

[Joefest]

There is a sense of vindication in the fact that this amazing man’s story was heard by over a million people centuries later. God bless his soul and that of his family.

[bellagia]

Broke my heart when his 11 year old son was taken away from him and he said, "I shall never forget him as long as I live".

[charleslathrop]

I can't tell you how many times I have told people that the Muslims and Turks raided for slaves all over Europe, but people always argue with me like I don't know anything. It's incredible people's ignorance of this subject.

[Dayne]

As a man of Icelandic blood, I demand reparations!

[TheZapan]

There's still a commemorative plaque in the port of Reykjavík that claims the Ottoman killed more than a third of the island population during this series of raids.

[shaiaheyesc]

The first time I heard about how the Ottoman pirats had taken as much as 1/10 of the Icelandic population as slaves, I was in shock on why these stories had never been thought. God bless this man and his whole family, and thank you for making his and others stories more known.

[ArakeenArchivist]

The part where the father is torn from his son and begs him, no matter what, not to forsake his faith, is truly heartbreaking.

[etienneterblanche]

They were mainly Barbary pirates, from what is today Morocco and Algeria. There's a book titled "White Gold", well researched and worthwhile reading!

[Eddijon]

I myself am from this island, this is widely taught in our schools. Finally someone noticed some of our past history.

[sfyrisvasileios]

Piracy was one of the reasons that the main cities of the Greek islands were built in the mainland instead of the coast and usually in a spot that could provide ample view of any incoming ship. Also the traditional settlement architecture (narrow curved streets, many terraces and narrow windows) is meant to allow city defenders to block attackers by not allowing them to freely employ their numbers.

[phil]

At roughly the same time. The Ottoman pirates came to my country (Faroe Islands). Two ships with a crew of 500 each. They raided our southernmost island. Took all the women and killed most of the men. Some managed to hide away. When they returned, they could not bury the dead because everything of value, even the shovels, had been stolen.

A danish guy, I do not remember if he had been a crew member on board one of the ships or sent from the danish crown to pay ransom money, said that the pirates intended to go north and raid all our islands, which would have meant the end of my people. But there was a terrible storm and one of the ships was sunk. This made them change their minds and the remaining ship returned south.

[glennmeade]

This happened in Ireland as well, a whole town vanished over night

[BT_Spanky]

I’ve never been much of a history buff when it comes to learning about the various slave trades throughout the ages. Me being American of African descent of course I learned about the Atlantic slave trade of the predominantly sub Saharan Africans in school but I was actually an adult when I first heard about the enslavement of the Irish. Decided to do some research on it and I was very surprised by how much I didn’t know when it came to the slave trade of Europeans. I also found out during that research that the Arab slave trade of both black Africans and Europeans was around approximately 2, 000 years before Europeans and black Africans themselves would greatly participate in various slave trades as well.

[davidnunez]

It's insane how hard life was like before 1900 (for the most part) any complaints of the modern world are made almost insignificant

[ionidhunedoara]

The US marine anthem mentions "shores of Tripoli" where they dealt with the Barbary pirates in 1803.

[hannahstenstrom]

Thank you for sharing this. I really wish more people took the time to learn world history & not just isolate to one region, country or time period. It's so important to understand as many of our ancestors stories, cultures, struggles, triumphs, loses, tragedies & issues. Well done with the reading, tone is spot on.

[hlmoore]

I wonder how much longer they lived. As for his wife being returned to her husband - to me - is a miracle in and of itself.

[tedblackburn]

The saddest thing about this poor man's experience is that nothing has changed. There's still slavery in that part of the world and its not even hidden or shunned.

[victorbukowsky]

Russians suffered from this as well. From about 1550's until about 1680s( Peter the Great days) these raids were a menace. Russians protected their southern border with Zaseka lines( just defensive lines, in depth) with Cossacks and reconnaissance units being in the vanguard. It was quite effective. Russia suffered something like 1-2 million sold into slavery, over that period. But it gradually decreased to zero, after southern border of the Muscovite Rus was pushed south. Grim page in our history, full of grim pages. But entire Europe suffered from this as well, a lot more, in many cases. We had a massive Russian Steppe, as a barrier. And many Zaseka lines. And even a special tax - to buy slaves back. Etc. This topic needs to be discussed more, I can't believe this is being ignored. We OWE IT to these poor people, to remember them, to tell their stories. And to remember who was responsible for all this.

[bioemiliano]

Damn, that part of the father asking the son not to forsake his faith really touched me