Want to listen to an intriguing story of an emperor beyond comparison? Want to listen to the lamentations of a millions souls? Its a story about Moulay Ismail, sultan of Morocco, ruling the northwest of Africa and the neighbouring sea, trying to build a monstrous palace that should stretch for more than 300 miles. Moulay Ismail had just in the capital of his empire an army of more than 150,000 men at his disposal and his armada of Barbary ships terrorized the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea and frightened coast dwellers all over Europe and North America.
"But how does it relate to me?" you might ask. Because overlooked in our history is the fact that not only europeans made a fortune in slavery. Moulay Ismail and his Barbaries turned the tables, enslaving more than a million european coast dwellers and seamen to build on their backs one of the most powerful and dreadful empires in the history of mankind. Moulay Ismail had a harem of more than 4,000 women. More than 25,000 slaves were at all times working on his palace, and his palace stables offered space for more than 12,000 horses. Moulay Ismail was so mighty, he sent letters to european kings and ridiculed them. He probably was twice as rich as Sun King Louis XIV.
Instead of the black gold that the New Colonies in America were built on, the sultan of Morocco relied on white gold. Giles Milton wrote a book about eleven year old Thomas Pillow who after his first voyage on a ship became a slave at the court of sultan Moulay Ismail. Its an interesting story about a part of history Europe tries hard to forget. Its name is White Gold and I can recommend it for its a fantastic read.