REBEL NEWS: The forgotten history of Ireland: Muslim slave traders emptied an Irish village in a night in 1631 🇮🇪 More than 100 villagers were captured during the Sack of Baltimore and sold into North African slave markets as part of a wider era of Muslim raids across Europe’s coasts that have been ongoing throughout history.

The forgotten history of Ireland: Muslim slave traders emptied an Irish village in a night in 1631 🇮🇪 More than 100 villagers were captured during the Sack of Baltimore and sold into North African slave markets as part of a wider era of Muslim raids across Europe’s coasts that have been ongoing throughout history. On June 20, 1631, the small harbour village of Baltimore in County Cork, Ireland, was devastated when Muslim slave traders descended on the community and carried off its people. During the attack known as the Sack of Baltimore, men, women and children were captured by Muslim pirates operating from the Barbary Coast and transported to slave markets in Algiers. Some captives were eventually ransomed, but most disappeared into forced labour, domestic servitude or sexual slavery. The raid was part of a broader campaign of slave-taking carried out by Muslim raiders between the 16th and 19th centuries. Historians estimate that more than a million Europeans were captured in coastal attacks stretching from Ireland to Iceland and throughout the Mediterranean. The threat became significant enough that the Barbary Wars were later fought by the United States to protect its ships and citizens from the same Muslim slave raiders. Today, Baltimore has been rebuilt as a fishing and tourism village. A memorial plaque marks the tragedy, though the story remains little known outside historical circles. The past shouldn’t be weaponized or erased, and the Sack of Baltimore is a reminder that Europe’s history includes both outward conquest and vulnerability at home

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) March 1, 2026

This book was referenced, The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates, Des Ekin, 2008.