The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates

by Des Ekin

In June 1631 pirates from Algiers and armed troops of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, led by the notorious pirate captain Morat Rais, stormed ashore at the little harbour village of Baltimore in West Cork. They captured almost all the villagers and bore them away to a life of slavery in North Africa. The prisoners were destined for a variety of fates -- some would live out their days chained to the oars as galley slaves, while others would spend long years in the scented seclusion of the harem or within the walls of the Sultan's palace. The old city of Algiers, with its narrow streets, intense heat and lively trade, was a melting pot where the villagers would join slaves and freemen of many nationalities. Only two of them ever saw Ireland again.

The Sack of Baltimore was the most devastating invasion ever mounted by Islamist forces on Ireland or England. Des Ekin's exhaustive research illuminates the political intrigues that ensured the captives were left to their fate, and provides a vivid insight into the kind of life that would have awaited the slaves amid the souks and seraglios of old Algiers.

The Stolen Village is a fascinating tale of international piracy and culture clash nearly 400 years ago and is the first book to cover this relatively unknown and under-researched incident in Irish history.

Shortlisted for the Argosy Irish Nonfiction Book of the Year Award

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ireland, Pirates, Irish Literature, Africa, Historical

488 pages, Paperback

First published August 18, 2006

About the author

Des Ekin is an Assistant Editor with The Sunday World. As well as researching investigative news articles, he writes a popular column that reaches more than a million readers every weekend. He was born in County Down, Northern Ireland and spent a decade reporting on Troubles in Northern Ireland before moving to Dublin, where he now lives with his wife and three children.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though the subject of considerable attention at the time, the raid on the Irish coastal village of Baltimore on June 20, 1631 is an event that has been long overlooked by most histories of the era. Yet as Des Ekin demonstrates in this absorbing book, it is an event that offers an interesting window into life in the early 17th century. While such raids were uncommon they were not unheard of, as Barbary pirates started ranging out into the Atlantic and raiding settlements along the coast. It was one of these raids which fell upon Baltimore, sacking the village and capturing over a hundred men, women, and children. These captives were then taken to Algiers and sold into slavery, a fate from which few of them would ever escape.

Ekin’s book is an entertaining account of this traditionally obscure event. A journalist and author of two novels, Ekin conducted considerable research to underneath the lives and experiences of the Baltimore captives. Where the directly relevant sources ended Ekin turned to the accounts of others who dealt with the Barbary pirates or underwent similar experiences in an effort to understand better what life was like for the villagers of Baltimore. Though this occasionally comes across as padding, it results in a more generally informative portrait of the early 17th century, the economics of slavery, and life during those times.

Yet these strengths are offset by several problems. While his research into the village of Baltimore, the captives, and their lives is thorough, his coverage of the broader context is weaker, with descriptions of such groups as the Janissaries often dependent on a couple of sources, often dated and bearing errors as a consequence. Moreover, while Eakin claims in his preface that he has made nothing up, the text is peppered with assumptions and suppositions that strain such an assertion. Stitching all of this together is an overwrought prose style that gets in the way of a naturally exciting tale. These flaws detract from what is otherwise an interesting account of the sack of Baltimore and the fate of its survivors.

[Kavita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seventeenth century was not a safe place for anyone, especially on the high seas. Piracy was rampant, and often supported by the governments of different countries. One man's captain was very often another man's pirate. Under these conditions, the Barbary slave trade flourished in the countries that are now Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco.

The book is supposedly a narrative of a pirate raid on Baltimore in 1631. Algerian pirates, supported by the Ottoman janissaries, raided Baltimore, a small village on the Irish coast. Almost the entire village was took captive and taken back to Algiers to be sold on the slave market. This incident has been almost obscured by history and is no longer referred to when we talk of slavery.

However, there is so little information on this particular raid or the victims of it that there appears to be little purpose in writing The Stolen Village. Ekin starts off with a long-winded biography of the pirate captain in charge of the operation and then moves on to the local British and Ottoman politics. There are also long chapters on the local Baltimore politics and personalities, bearing even a remote connection to the policies concerning pirate raids on the coast.

The part where the description of the raid is given is the most interesting portion of the book. But what makes it somewhat irrelevant is that there is absolutely no information about the people actually taken away. This leads the author to make lengthy suppositions about their lives based on the accounts of other captured slaves who actually left behind such information. The description of the lives that the slaves led in Algeria was interesting, but once again, we have no clue whether any of it was the fate of the Baltimore slaves. The book was pretty well-researched and I must say that Ekin did a good job in covering all aspects of the Barbary slave trade.

My complaint is basically that the book gives out certain promises which are not upheld. I went into it expecting it to be about the raid and how the victims dealt with their lives under slavery. I certainly did not expect to read pages and pages about the pirates and the politicians. Also, I was made to believe that this book was set in Algeria, and it wasn't really. But I wouldn't call this a bad book for those who really want to learn some basics about the Barbary slave trade.

[Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fascinating book!!! I received this book as a gift from a good friend in Ireland. She knew of my interest in Irish history and she felt this was an area I would appreciate. It took me a while to get started because I was put off by the fact that it was a historical narrative. Narratives are books I read during the winter. In summer I like historical fiction or novels. But destiny had it that I started it during a flight-- I had no other books with me. I was so enthralled by it, I almost could not put it down. The author was able to tell a great story, from facts and his very intense original source research. He turned history into a "whodunit" novel! With out disrespecting the historical aspect.
This book dwells into the most dramatic and largest taking of europeans by the North african pirates. 107 Christians were kidnapped and enslaved, two were killed during the raid, that occurred in "English soil". The Barbary pirates sailed to Ireland and invaded a functioning fishermen village, of second and third generation english settlers in the southwestern coast of Ireland. This was a heavily protected area by the English navy, and a village who was also known to trade with the pirates. Modern conspiracy theories have nothing over this one. Why this town? Where was the navy? Did anyone assist the pirates? Was this a hit? Who actually benefitted from the raid? Who was this daring pirate captain?
All these questions are answered in the book and more. We are allowed on the the pirate ship, the pirates mindset and the captives upheavals. But most fascinating of all we learn about a whole new live and way of live in Northern Africa. Whilst the idea of these Christians becoming slaves, we also find out about the world they were led into. A world, demonized by the Europeans, imperfect and scary, but at times more human and full of opportunities than the home they were forced to leave behind.
Its a surprising book. At times it discussed areas I was suspicious about, leading me into further questions, but honest and well researched. A must read for lovers of history. A must read for the Irish.

[Joel Trono-Doerksen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book frustrated me on a number of levels. Firstly the author continuously refers to the Barbary corsairs as "Islamist invaders". The attempt he makes to try and link modern Muslim terrorists to the Barbary corsairs is quite pathetic. Our modern understanding of the word "Islamist" is a group of people who want to establish their idea of sharia law in a country and either use violence or politics to obtain that goal. These type of people would not appear or be successful until Khomeini's revolution in 1979 and in Afghanistan in the 1980's. Also invaders implies that one would come and conquer the land and hold it for some time. The Barbary corsairs were neither of these things. A more accurate term would be Muslim raiders. The book is not scholarly by any means and it is written more like a fiction book than actual historical facts. Unlike others this form of history does not appeal to me. It also seems that the author simply read primary sources from British archives about what happened at Baltimore and didn't bother to read any other works on the subject. He also used slave narratives from different periods in the Maghreb's history, assuming that things in North Africa were static. He also relies heavily on Pere Dan and Diego de Haedo, who were both redemptionist monks and who's interest it would have been to make the Barbary coast look as evil as possible. The author also claims that converts in the Barbary coast either converted under pain of beatings or death or converted only for their own personal gain and not for any legitimate religious reasons. Besides all the above the book was in some cases useful and not overly bias. Overall this would not be a book I recommend to anyone who wants to read about the Barbary coast.

[Frank Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

How Barbary Corsairs Sacked an Irish Village and Enslaved its People

An early example of Islamic terrorism features in a true story of Barbary pirates and white slavery by an Irish author. An enthralling book reviewed here.

The night of 20 June 1631 saw an event so extraordinary that it is surprising that more has not been written about it. In a daring act of piracy a flotilla of Corsairs from Algiers came ashore on the coast of County Cork in Ireland, set fire to a street of thatched cottages and carried off the occupants to be enslaved in Africa.

Political Intrigue and Extraordinary Entrepreneurship
Des Ekins is a Journalist and author born in Northern Ireland and now resident in Dublin. His meticulously researched book explores the political background to this event and conjures a world of political intrigue, extraordinary hardship and even more surprising entrepreneurship.

He explains how in-fighting between Irish and Anglo-Irish families led to the village of Baltimore, Ireland, being abandoned until a group of Calvinist fishermen and their families from Cornwall acquired a lease. They built houses around the small harbour and established a successful fish salting business.

Algiers Based Pirates and Privateers
Meanwhile Algiers based pirates and privateers were terrorising the seaways between Africa and Europe, taking captives from Dutch, French and British ships. The British navy, despite its reputation for brilliant seamanship in the 16th century, had by now fallen pray to corruption and become ineffective at least in so far as its ability to police the waters between mainland Britain and Ireland were concerned.

The available records of the raid and the subsequent lives of the captives are few but Ekins has trawled through first hand accounts by other individuals who were similarly captured and enslaved albeit mostly from vessels at sea. He uses these to paint a vivid picture of life on board a Corsair as a hostage bound for North Africa and of the life of slaves in Algiers.

Businesses, Scams and Prosperous Lives
It is surprising to learn, for example, that slaves were granted some free time. Although in chains they were able to spend time outside the walls of their prison and some showed sufficient entrepreneurship to set up businesses – some of which might more accurately be described in modern parlance as scams – and thereby earn enough to buy their freedom.

Having done so, not all chose to travel back to their previous homes, instead making prosperous lives for themselves in Algiers. Included is the story of one young Irish slave who was apprenticed to a jeweller, bought his freedom and returned to Ireland where he created the design of the world renowned Cladagh ring. Widely believed to be of Celtic origin, this design is in fact North African.

Life in a Harem
The psychological phenomenon known as Stockholm syndrome whereby those involved in hostage situations form an emotional bond with their captors is discussed as are the lives of female slaves who became the favourites of Turkish nobles. At least one such became a notoriously tyrannical Empress. The life of a typical harem is explained and may surprise many readers.

This book is written in a style that is easy to read and contains a wealth of historical information that is by turns surprising, fascinating, inspiring and blood curdling. It is highly recommended reading for anyone interested in 17th century life in Ireland with its familial double-dealing and English indifference as its leaders became preoccupied with the build up to a civil war. It is equally enthralling for the more general reader who simply enjoys a “ripping yarn” for it is packed full of them.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gripping, well researched history of a tragic, but mostly forgotten, event in Irish history. In 1631, Barbary pirates attacked the Irish village of Baltimore, they kidnapped 109 residents who were sold into slavery in Algiers.

I found the narrative riveting while at the same time, very focused on accuracy. Ekin paints a picture of the circumstances leading up to the raid, the raid itself, the fate of the captives, English and Irish politics around the raid, the nature of the Barbary pirates, the nature of harems as well as the city of Algiers. Because information on the captives, once the pirate ships left the vicinity of Ireland , is mostly scarce, the author employs an unusual technique. Instead of explaining exactly what the captives endured, he tells of of other Barbary captives and slaves whose ordeals are well documented and points out that the Baltimore captives may have endured something similar. This technique is at times a little awkward., but at the same time it conveys a sense of the conditions surrounding Barbary slavery in general well. Thus, this book serves as a good description of Barbary slavery and its history as a whole.

At times, this work is harrowing. For instance, there are firsthand accounts of the Baltimore captives put on the auction block to be sold. Descriptions of families being separated, including eye witness accounts of screaming children being torn from their parents' arms are distributing. The book is filled with such accounts of monstrous cruelty but also cases of surprising kindness. There are also some very suprising events described here like how the raid may have been connected to Protestant/Catholic strife as well as the large number of Baltimore captives who turned down repatriation.

This is a terrific book. The reader will learn all sorts of things about Barbary Slavery as well as what can be known about the terrible but fascinating raid on the village of Baltimore.

[قصي بن خليفة · Rating 4 out of 5]

قصة حدثت منذ 400 عام فيها غزو وقرصنة وأسر وعبودية وتحرير وسياسة وتجارة ، بحث الكاتب عن التفاصيل والظروف المتعلقة بهذا الغزو وما بعده فأبدع وأخرج لنا كتاباً جمع بين الرواية والتاريخ
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
في ذلك الزمان كانت القوى الأوروبية تجوب البحار الغربية وتتسيدها بدون منازع سوى من نفسها. وكان ساحل البربر والجزائر موئلاً للقراصنة والمستفيدين من القرصنة وتجارة العبيد بعلم وتغاضي من الدولة العثمانية التي بدأت بالضعف ، وكتابنا هذا يدور حول قصة اختطاف قرية ايرلندية كاملة

تعلمت من هذه الأحداث ومعاناة الأسرى أن الغرب حملوا لنا حقداً وضغينة عظيمين ولكن لم يجرؤوا على عمل شيء لحضور الدولة العثمانية القوي. وتعلمت أننا المسلمين من العثمانيين وأهل الجزائر ظَلمنا الناس كثيرا ، ولم نراعي حقوق الدين إلا وفق شهواتنا. ولعل تفوّق الغرب واستعلاءهم علينا وممارساتهم البغيضة بعد ذلك هو نتيجة طبيعية لذلك الظلم

وصف الكاتب لا انسانية الأسر والعبودية ولكنه قال ان هذه الممارسات لا تمت للاسلام بصلة ، وقال في أماكن متفرقة من الكتاب أن الجزائر وعلى الرغم من فساد السلطة فيها فقد كانت مدنياً متقدمة جداً وأورد مثالا الماء العذب الذي يصل للبيوت عبر الأنابيب ، وقال أن الأوروبيين رغم قوتهم لا يحلمون بهذا. وذكر في مكان آخر أن الناس في الحضارة الاسلامية متساوون في الحقوق والواجبات وربما منها تعلم الاوربيون الديمقراطية .. عجيب! ولن أّذكر المزيد كيلا أفسد عليكم الكتاب

دور السفير الانجليزي في الجزائر كان مثيراً للاعجاب، فقد كان يؤدي واجبه بكل تفان وإخلاص. فقد كتب الرسائل المؤثرة للملك وبذل كل ما يستطيع للتخفيف عن المأسورين وحرص على التواجد في كل موقع وحدث مهم ليدون الأحداث بعد ذلك، وهو بالكاد يجد لقمة العيش

بشكل عام استطاع الكاتب أن يسرد علينا هذا التاريخ بأسلوب علمي رصين وبأدب رائع لايخلو من عاطفة

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting insights on 15th century life. A time when the last of the Celtic chiefs were loosing their land and anyone on the seas or near the seas could be captured by Moorish pirates and enslaved. The town of Baltimore was practically wiped out by this. Follow what thier lives during captivity would be like in the city of Algiers and find out why this town was probably picked as the target for the raid.

[Ida · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Elia Princess of Starfall · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the 20th of June 1631, the village of Baltimore on the seacoast of Co. Cork, Ireland witnessed a truly astounding, dramatic and almost fantastical event – a lightning fast, ruthlessly accurate slave raid carried out by the Barbary Corsairs, a ragtag band of brilliant, amoral and greed-driven Muslin and renegade pirates who were the scourge of the seas and whose home lay in North Africa. It was one of the few events of its kind, a slave raid carried out by mercenary pirates from both Europe and North Africa upon the lands of the King of England, who controlled Ireland and her people during this historical era. It was a shocking and blatant role-reversal from the norm of slave raids – white Europeans pillaging and enslaving native Africans for lives of brutal hardship and cruelty in the New World of America across the Atlantic. It was an infamous incident, one that stoked the ire of the English King Charles I and broke the hearts of the survivors of Baltimore who had been spared the raid only to discover that their entire families had been enslaved, which saw over 200 men, women and children dragged from their sleepy wooden homes, herded onto Corsair ships, sailed to the slave city of Algiers on the Barbers coast, clapped into heavy iron chains and sold in the bustling slave market to a variety of different fates, some terrible and some not so terrible.

As the author Des Ekin points out, that despite Baltimore being on the few chronicled and known successful slave raids on Northern Europe during the 17th century by Corsair Barbers (a raid on Iceland in that same century proved just as harrowing and unexpected), it has faded from history along with the people of Baltimore and what they had gone through during what could only have been a truly terrifying and sorrowful time. This is especially unfortunate, and it is a situation that the author hopes to rectify with his book ‘The Stolen Village’. The question is though, as one finishes with the book and starts to examine it in depth, has he been successful?

From the get-go, the author is honest and upfront: he is not a trained historian or researcher, far from it. He is a journalist and writer, one that has not undertaken any training in how to research, critique and conduct a detailed and insightful study and examination of past historical events. His interest in the Baltimore raid of 1631 is both historical and social. He finds the events behind the raid and the aftermath it left in its wake in both Ireland, England and in Algiers itself intriguing and profound; this has been the driving force behind his engagement and research of the Baltimore Raid. Indeed, his boundless enthusiasm and fascination with the Baltimore Raid in all its varied and curious aspects – the Corsairs ships and pirates, the elite Janissaries and Muslim pirates, the renegade European converts to Islam, the beautiful, fiendish city of Algiers, the bustling slave markets, the various brutal or respected jobs a slave could find themselves working at and the long, arduous way back home for certain slaves – is infectious and written in a fast-paced, evocative, energetic and optimistic, very cheerful, writing style.

The Stolen Village follows both a chronological and thematic approach. Ekin starts off with the raid on Baltimore itself before ending the book with a hypothesis on what the fates of the enslaved people of Baltimore were in that most legendary North African city. He chronicles the capture of the Baltimore villagers, their arrival and enslavement in the city of Algiers, the fates that awaited the men, women and children as they started new, almost otherworldly lives of slavery and bondage in the sun-drenched Islamic Corsair capital of the North African coast, how the raid impacted Ireland and England, the efforts put in, big and small, to bring people home (if they wanted to that is) and whether or not the raid of Baltimore on that sleepy June morning had been spontaneous or planned with help from nefarious allies in Ireland or England. Ekin takes the chronological approach while documenting certain themes that the people of Baltimore would have experienced in their new lives – conversion to Islam, love and marriage in Algiers, new careers and jobs within the city and the tantalising possibility of being freed and returned home, a prospect that was not always as appealing as it might have once been alas.

All in all, this makes for an exciting and engaging book, one packed with intrigue, fascination and struggle. An epic read indeed. Yet, I have only given it 3 stars? Why is this? There are, however, flaws within ‘The Stolen Village’, some that were avoidable and others that were not. Ekin bases and examines the raid of Baltimore on primary sources, some of which concerned the villagers of Baltimore but for the most part was instead from other individuals who faced the same trials and tribulations that the enslaved villagers would have faced. This is understandable but it does detract from the main focus of ‘The Stolen Village’ which was the villagers themselves. Indeed, the book itself is not so much about the villagers themselves but rather the historical, social, political and religious landscapes and contexts they found themselves forced into when they were captured, enslaved and brought to new lives in Algiers. Again, since none of the Baltimore captives left any first-hand accounts of their experiences of life in Algiers, this is not unexpected, but it does show that the captives and their stories are very hard to truthfully tell.

Another issue with the book is that it is a book about a known and documented historical event that is focused on emotion and speculating on the ‘possible’ outcomes for the villagers of Baltimore. Ekin speculates, muses and hypothesises about what the villagers must have felt, believed or tried to do in Algiers with their lives. It makes for riveting but unobjective reading. Without first-hand sources, it is near impossible to accurately gauge the inner feelings and actions of the Baltimore villagers and historians wishing to be objective and non-biased, rarely engage in such speculation. Another aspect of the book that detracts from it is how Ekin portrays historical myths as fact – he discusses the supposed murder of Rosamunde Clifford, mistress of Henry II of England, at Woodstock, England at the hands of Henry II’s Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, he mentions the legend of Grainne O’Malley giving birth in the middle of a sea battle and talks about how a concubine of the mad Sultan Ibrahim was saved from drowning in the Bosporus and brought to Paris – these incidences will annoy readers who know these as romanticised, fictional myths and harm the book’s overall credibility.

Would I recommend this book, however? In the end, yes. In spite of its flaws, I found to be an engaging, interesting and well-written book. It is, however, a book more for the casual reader of history and not for an audience looking for a serious and objective historical study.

[Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw this book on a trip home to Cork. I have visited Baltimore a few times and like the spot, so I was surprised to here of a pirate raid in the 1600s that carried off 100+ native people to be slaves in Africa. there is a pub in town, the Algiers, that is named as a reminder of the event.

The book attempts to document what actually happened, the lead up to the raid and the people and what became of all involved . Unfortunately it appears from the historical records only 3 people of the 107 captured left Africa with their freedom and none of them left any written account of what happened to them or the fellow captives. As a result the author resorts to contemporaneous accounts of people who were subject to the same sort of pirates and slave conditions that did leave behind some written accounts. Most of the time it works, but a few cases are nearly 200 years adrift of the date in question. However the descriptions are interesting and detail a world that a north Atlantic dweller would find as alien as the surface of Mars.

All in all the book is an interesting read.

[Lela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well written and documented book about a little known incident in history. In 1631 pirates attacked the small village of Baltimore in Ireland, capturing over 100 men, women, and children. Very few of them were ever heard from again. They disappeared into the slave market in Algiers. Des Ekin uses documents from other slaves, government documents, and letters to give a picture of what these slaves may have experienced. He found documentation on a few of the inhabitants of Baltimore that tells a little of their life and what happened to them. You hear often of the slaves that were brought out of Africa, but it is rare to hear of the white slaves taken to Africa.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pirates raid and sack an entire village. Taking its inhabitants to a life of slavery in North Africa or just killing some outright. Being of Irish decent, I found this book very interesting and disturbing. Most people forget or have no idea that Africans were not the only race enslaved throughout history. The Turkish and Barbery (North African) pirates raided, destroyed and enslaved many European villages. Ireland was a popular target. Slavery was a horrible business that was going on long before the African slave trade that people are most familiar with. A good book on a awful subject.

[Sam Beaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

It takes you back to Ireland during it's "wild west" days. It paints a picture of slavery that many are not aware and puts to words how this can be a multi-cultural phenom. It is a little bit wordy, but it was an intriguing look into a long forgotten village and reading it was worthy of my time.

[Audrey Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story from a very brutal time in history.

[Cathal McGuinness · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book whose research is beyond impeccable - probably the best I've encountered in historical work - coupled with some poor writing. Worth reading for the research and story, though

[Graham Bear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deception , betrayal and enslavement.

What an amazing book . I never knew about this episode of history and it is both fascinating and tragic. It is such a terrible tale . Such were the times. Slavery in all its forms is abhorrent. We must never forget that .

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 2 out of 5]

The whole subject of white people, usually sailors or poor people living on costal areas, taken prisoner and, if not ransomed, sold into slavery by north African pirates has recently been rediscovered and attracted the attention of writers of, let us say, less then well versed in history. Not all these books are bad, this book is not - it is just not very good. If you have the patience for a lot of journalistic colour and seen setting as well as loads of reckless speculation along the lines of 'he/she must have...' then you may be able to read this book. I can't and couldn't. There may be a good book in the story of the Irish town of Baltimore but this is not it.

If you want to read something good about the fate of those taken prisoner by the Barberry pirates (but about the story of the Baltimore incident) read Giles Milton's White Gold.

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nhw.livejournal.com/1147446.html[return][return]On 20 June 1631, pirates from Algiers descended on Baltimore in County Cork and kidnapped over a hundred of its inhabitants, most of the population, bringing them back to Africa and selling them into slavery. Ekin describes this as 'the most devastating invasion ever carried out by the forces of the Islamist jihad on Britain or Ireland', and while I regret that he asserts the jihadism of the pirates, who were clearly less interested in religion than, say, Sir Francis Drake or Oliver Cromwell, you can see what he means.[return][return]Yet in fact very little of this is quite as it seems. The leader of the pirates was a Dutch renegade whose sons settled in New Amsterdam (or as we now call it, New York), and whose descendants include, for instance, Caroline Kennedy. The kidnapped villagers were a small Calvinist colony in a hostile territory; Ekin makes a good case against a local Irish Catholic dignitary for having organised the pirates' raid in the first place, and makes it quite comprehensible that when the opportunity of ransom came aroud fifteen years later, only two of the hundred-plus former villagers of Baltimore chose to go home. Algiers had a decent health service, running water in the houses and a decent climate; Baltimore is still lacking in some of these respects and certainly lacked all of them in the seventeenth century. (I was there when I was nine, but did not check the water or the health service; the weather, however, was poor.)[return][return]Ekin is a journalist rather than a historian, and has got perhaps a bit carried away by his research into what life was like for the slaves of Algiers, his description of which occupies most of the book. (Having said that, his attitude is properly sceptical and his documentation scrupulous; my criticism is of his structure, not his methods.) He also doesn't appear to have visited Algiers personally, which is not a criticism, it's just a shame that he doesn't give us the benefit of today's perspective.[return][return]Even so, the story is a fascinating insight into the world of seventeenth-century maritime commerce linked by the Atlantic Ocean: New Amsterdam at one end, Don Quixote and Zoraida at the other. The fact that Algiers and New Amsterdam were such cosmopolitan places, with people moving pretty freely between them and Western Europe, makes it rather difficult to justify describing one city as 'Islamic' or indeed the other as 'Christian'. (And makes his choice of words to describe the raid even more regrettable.)[return][return]Anyway, fascinating stuff.

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this “novel” a couple years ago, before I succumbed to an incurable addiction to historical fiction. At the time I read mostly historical non-fiction and the occasional philosophy. Needless to say I was a stickler for historical accuracy. Because of that, this book gave me immense pleasure. The author held himself to the highest standard for accuracy, never once embellishing but, instead, providing multiple narratives for what possibly could have happened and for what the real-life figures could have experienced. It was refreshing. I admire the author for that because there are very few novels out there like that.

BUT, the reason for the scarcity of completely historically accurate novels is a good one: it’s less enjoyable to read. I disagree with some other reviewers that the book wasn’t written well. I believe it was written quite well but that the author was limited by his ambition to remain completely accurate about this historical event. He invented no characters or storylines. He offered multiple explanations for unexplained events but was always very careful to point out that “we can never know.”

It is not the easiest of novels to get through for this reason but I highly recommend this for historians who, like me, put the utmost importance on the consideration of factual evidence when interpreting history. It is a refreshing way to read history and I hope that I can find more histories like it in the future.

[John Dwyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting account of a little known event in Irish history when Barbary pirates stormed the fishing village of Baltimore in Ireland and enslaved over one hundred men, women and children. I found the most interesting part of the book was the description of white slave trade, something that I hadn't been aware of. The author also gives a well researched account of what life was like for those slaves in north Africa, some of whom rose to become wealthy and prosperous. An entertaining and informative read.

[Amber]

This is a fantastic historical fiction about a village in Ireland ransacked by pirates from the Middle East. Ekin does a great job using the documentation available to retell the story of Baltimore, its people and how their lives were impacted.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly gripping read and a fascinating history that is so often overlooked. I did not know piracy and slavery were so rife along the English, Irish and American coastlines at that time. The insight given into Arab life and also the early Irish settlements is very interesting as well.

[Susanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the Goodreads title above has the title wrong (it's Barbary Pirates, not Prinates), this is one of those remainder-table treasures.

[Frank Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

More fun than expected, with an special surprise at the end.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative - I learned a lot. It was not easy living in the 1600s.

[Bernadette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating period of history that I knew nothing about.

[Ciara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read! Well-researched. You do not need to know Irish history or be into history as a subject to read this book. It reads like a fact-based novel.

[ParisianIrish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Des Ekin’s The Stolen Village is a gripping and deeply moving account of one of the most extraordinary and overlooked events in Irish history—the 1631 raid on the coastal village of Baltimore, when Algerian pirates kidnapped almost the entire population and sold them into slavery in North Africa. With meticulous research and a flair for narrative, Ekin brings this harrowing episode to life, blending historical rigor with a storytelling style that keeps the reader enthralled from beginning to end.

What sets The Stolen Village apart is its ability to humanize an event that could easily have been reduced to dry historical fact. Ekin skillfully weaves together the personal stories of those affected, creating a vivid picture of the villagers’ lives before the raid and the unimaginable terror they experienced as they were torn from their homes. His portrayal of the captives' fate in the slave markets of Algiers is both chilling and heart-wrenching, yet never sensationalized. Ekin’s empathy for these long-forgotten victims shines through, making their plight deeply relatable, even across centuries.

The book is more than just a recounting of the raid, though—it’s also a fascinating exploration of the broader geopolitical and cultural dynamics of the time. Ekin deftly places the raid within the context of the Barbary Coast’s thriving slave trade, European colonial ambitions, and the complex relationship between Christian Europe and the Muslim world. His insights into how Irish, English, and Mediterranean politics intersected during this period add rich layers of understanding to the story.

Ekin’s writing style deserves particular praise. He manages to strike a perfect balance between scholarly precision and accessible prose, making The Stolen Village a compelling read for both history enthusiasts and casual readers alike. His descriptions are vivid, and his pacing is masterful—whether he’s detailing the chaotic attack on Baltimore or the diplomatic wrangling that followed, the book never loses momentum. Ekin also brings the lesser-known corners of history into sharp focus, giving voice to those often forgotten in the grand narratives of empire and conquest.

Beyond its historical importance, The Stolen Village is a story of human endurance, cultural clash, and the resilience of the human spirit. Ekin not only brings attention to a dark chapter in Irish history but also draws broader parallels to the universal experiences of captivity, displacement, and survival.

In conclusion, The Stolen Village is a tour de force of historical writing. Des Ekin has delivered a book that is both meticulously researched and powerfully told, offering a poignant and enlightening look at a forgotten tragedy. This is history at its finest—engaging, thought-provoking, and deeply affecting. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in Ireland’s past or the wider history of European and Mediterranean relations.

[Sevket Akyildiz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Des Ekin’s The Stolen Village is a good popular history based upon archival material and thoughtful analysis.
Ekin’s writing style is readable and straightforward—he’s a trained journalist.
Arguably, in the genre of corsair pirates of North Africa, this book is one of the better studies on the market.
I did enjoy reading it.
I felt that Ekin is trying to make an honest and fair attempt to understand why the raid took place and who was behind it. And more importantly, how it impacted on the lives of the innocent English captives.
Ekin’s work is balanced and extensive – the story moves from southern Ireland to Morocco and Algiers, and Holland to Istanbul –, and his arguments are reasonable and considered (including the conspiracy theory view noted in the final chapter).
The author covers the motivations of the (ethnically diverse) pirates, renegade seamen, the Irish Catholic elites, the Protestant settlers in Baltimore, Ireland, the English elites, and the slave dynamics of the 17th century.
He emphasises the multicultural and multilingual nature of Algiers and seeks to capture the spirit and politics of Muslim society in North Africa (and to a lesser extent in the Ottoman metropolis of Istanbul).
His conclusions are established upon plausible arguments and he highlights the complexity of the ‘stolen village’ story.
His research is more than adequate for the task at hand.
We can only feel empathy for the English settlers torn way from their homes and families.
The main characters from all sides are discussed and their personal and political histories considered. Irish and English national and local histories of the period are reviewed too.
There are some very engaging accounts of individuals in this book; the author displays an ability to recreate events and to provide a human element to the narrative.
The explanations of the pirate legacy in North America, and particularly New York, are fascinating to read.
I have some critical points to note concerning Ekin’s work.
While he makes a good attempt at linking the events of June 1631 CE with contemporary politics and criminal actions, I am not totally convinced that some of the language used was suitable, its rather speculative and emotive, and might be deployed in the wrong context; furthermore, the author fails to define his terminology. This leaves the book, in places, open to an ambiguous interpretation. For instance: “Islamist jihad” (p. 9); “endless jihad” (p. 10); “Islamist empire” (p. 10); “invasion” (p. 10); “ethnic cleansing” (p.10); “Islamist invasion” (p. 118).
Also, some of the language used is arguably orientalist: “curved slippers”; “the plumes” (p. 19); “crescent moon” (p. 23).
Nonetheless, I repeat myself here, I did enjoy reading this book; Ekin explores ideas and concepts freely and does not stifle debate.