With all the current discussion about the history of transatlantic slave trading and slavery it was interesting to see on a daily history website a reference to a slaving raid on Ireland in 1631. Of the various raids on the coasts of British Isles by Barbary pirates was the one which took most captives. There is an account of it at Sack of Baltimore.
As always with such Wikipedia entries it is worth following up the links, both in the text itself - notably that about Jan Janszoon - and in the external links given at the end. These help to indicate the vulnerability of a community of immigrant English settlers in a remote place in West Cork, with unfriendly locals on land and raiders off shore.
The horrors of slavery are not unique to any one community or time - as is pointed out slavery is still widespread in significant parts of the world today.
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