A Day In The Life Of A White Slave In The Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire is one of the largest and longest-running empires in history, spanning 623 years from 1299 to 1922 and three continents, including the Balkans in southeastern Europe, Arabia, Central Asia, and coastal northern Africa. Like many great empires that came before it, the Ottoman Empire was based on slavery, but unlike most examples of slavery, in the Ottoman Empire slaves were white. The Ottoman slave trade spanned the entirety of the empire’s existence, even after attempted abolishments in the late 19th century. Particularly during the earlier centuries of the empire, slaves were taken during war raids or politically organized expeditions ordered by the sultan across southern and eastern Europe, the Balkans, and the Caucasus, with a large percentage shipped to the capital Constantinople, nowadays known as Istanbul, and later from the 16th to 19th centuries, a huge number of Europeans—hundreds of thousands—were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves to the Ottoman empire, although the Ottomans themselves did not participate in these raids. It’s estimated at its heights one in five residents of Constantinople were slaves, which was not dissimilar to the Roman empire.

The Ottomans replaced this as the largest example of white slavery in history, although comparatively lesser study has been done on this than the African-American slave trade. Much like the infamous Christian Crusades led by kings like Richard the Lionheart, who journeyed across Europe to forcefully convert people to Christianity and take over their land, the Ottoman empire did much the same, but was Muslim-led and instead captured Eastern Europeans and young Christian boys to convert them and enlist them in a special branch of the Ottoman army known as the Janissaries—more on them later. And although religion and payback played their own part in the Ottoman raids, financial reasons provided a far greater motive for enslaving those from conquered countries. At least we can conclude we’re all as bad as each other. Most sources available on slavery in the Ottoman empire come from white Christians, western Europeans, and those removed from the actual empire’s existence. As such, we cannot qualify the accuracy of these accounts, being that they are told through the lens of people who did not experience the empire themselves and have many cultural biases in their reporting.

The few accounts from within the empire give us some rare insights into how slavery was viewed through the lens of the Ottomans themselves. First, it’s important to know that Muslims held a very different view on slavery to other nations and religions involved in slave trades. The Quran suggests that slaves should be treated with kindness and encourages manumission, the freedom of slaves who have proved their loyalty. The Quran also teaches that slaves are of equal moral standing to their masters, but lower legal status, and not legally differentiated by their skin color. Despite this though, those with disabilities and darker skin tones coming from the sub-Saharan regions of Africa often sold for a much smaller price than their fit, healthy, and white counterparts. All Ottoman slaves were expensive, usually owned by high-ranking officials who paid the most for virgin or European girls aged between 13 and 25 and healthy teenage boys. But despite their expense, court records have shown that it wasn’t just high-ranking officials who owned slaves; they were widespread in Ottoman society and worked domestically, agriculturally, in trade, and in the military, or forced into sexual slavery. White women held positions in the household, usually seeing to higher-profile tasks around the home and caring for the ladies of the house, in contrast to their African counterparts who usually received the more menial of tasks. Meanwhile, the men often worked as laborers or farmhands. Domestic and labor slaves rarely remained slaves their whole lives and could use their years in slavery to socially mobilize themselves further. Court records show that citizens of the Ottoman empire lived by certain Islamic ideals with regards to slavery and that they often freed their slaves upon their the masters’ deaths, or in many cases before. Many experienced slavery for around seven years if they were Black and nine years if they were white to prove their loyalty before they were freed, and usually moved up the ladder in their field of work to become foremen or overseers, where they would become slaves with contracts, clients of their former masters, and receive wages. Evidence from sharia court records showed these newly freed slaves were usually readily and willingly accepted into Ottoman society, particularly in smaller towns, and enjoyed a large degree of economic and social independence. Let’s talk about the darker part of slavery in the Ottoman empire because slavery in general isn’t dark enough: the sexual slave trade.

The sexual slave trade in the Ottoman empire can be divided into two categories: young girls taken during war raids or sold to slavery by their impoverished families, and those who resided in the imperial harem. The lesser fortunate female sex slaves were expected to be freely sexually available to their male master—although not the husband of a female master—and often lived in part of a harem, but they did have certain rights not afforded to other women in slavery—lucky them. If a harem slave were to find herself pregnant, she could not be sold into further slavery and would be freed upon her master’s death, and any child born was born free and could not be sold or given away. Young boys were also victims of sexual slavery, although they usually worked in bath houses or coffee houses. What may seem strange to modern-day sensibilities is that being sold into sexual slavery wasn’t necessarily considered a bad thing. In fact, although many were tragically sold out of desperation and poverty, even more were sold with the intention of utilizing the upward social mobility that came with a position as a sex slave, especially if you managed to secure a position in the imperial harem. Most sources regarding the imperial harem are sensationalist, written with a high degree of exaggeration and not much proof of the truths behind the tales, particularly in the case of western writers. This is because many Ottoman citizens themselves did not know of the goings-on in the imperial harem, with all those contained within kept separate from society and sworn to silence of its secrets. Slaves within the imperial harem, known as concubines, used their position for social mobility and often had greater freedom and luxuries than many free people. They were guarded 24/7 by Black eunuch slaves and enjoyed positions of power, the ability to become wed to a high-ranking official or even one of the sultan’s wives, whereby, particularly in the period 1533-1636, they wielded great political power, having the ears of many influential men.

However, they were still slaves, forced, however visually willingly, to submit to the men around them whenever they desired and without choice of their suitor. Limited sources suggest very few harem slaves were ever freed from their concubine positions. Let’s go back to the 14th century and the young boys who served in the Ottoman military branch, the Janissaries. The Janissaries were young boys taken as blood tax, or devshirme, at the end of battles and assimilated into the elite Ottoman army. Their taking was justified by the sultan as part of the Islamic law that said the sultan was entitled to one-fifth of booty collected in battle, beginning with the third sultan, Murad the First, who believed humans were a valid part of this booty. After their capture, the boys were forcibly circumcised, converted to Islam, and became part of an intense slave soldier regiment where they were subjected to extreme discipline, becoming highly focused elite soldiers. The Janissaries were forbidden to grow beards or marry before age 40 and expected to show complete and utter loyalty to the emperor.

They received wages, were supported in battle, and became one of the first regiments to train in the use of firearms in the later centuries of the empire. In some cases, officials were even bribed by parents to take their children in the hopes of improving their socio-economic status. By the 1600s, the need for Janissary troops outweighed the number of boys drafted, and devshirme-only conscription to the Janissaries was abolished, allowing freeborn Muslims to join their ranks and capitalize on the potential to improve their socio-economic status. White slavery in the Ottoman empire is not as black and white, but not intended as it seems in other areas and periods of time. Our lack of sources paints an incomplete picture of slavery and how slaves were treated in the empire, but what we do know creates a multifaceted and not wholly negative picture as it does in the transatlantic slave trade. Enjoy learning about slavery and other dark parts of history; like and subscribe for more weird and wonderful content.