Galley slave
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A galley slave was a slave rowing in a galley, either a convicted criminal sentenced to work at the oar, or a kind of human chattel, sometimes a prisoner of war, assigned to the duty of rowing. In the
A galley slave of the Venetian navy
A painting of the 1571 Battle of Lepanto in the Ionian Sea, where both sides relied on tens of thousands of slaves, prisoners or convicts as oarsmen.
A réale galley belonging to the Mediterranean fleet of Louis XIV, the largest galley force of the late 17th century; oil on canvas, c. 1694
Slavery
Barbary corsairs
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The Barbary corsairs, also known as the Barbary pirates, Ottoman corsairs, or naval mujahideen, were mainly Muslim corsairs and privateers who operated from the North African coast, known in Europe as
Galley slave
…rowers when manpower was in high demand. In the Middle Ages and the early modern period, convicts and prisoners of war often manned galleys, and the Barbary corsairs enslaved captives as galley slaves. During the 18th and 19th centuries, pirates in Asia likewise manned their galleys with captives. Ancient Mediterranean…
A Sea Fight with Barbary Corsairs by Laureys a Castro, c. 1681
An Algerine pirate ship
A man from the Barbary states
British captain witnessing the miseries of Christian slaves in Algiers, 1815