However, with the introduction of a more hostile immigration policy, some of those who thought they were British but had never applied for a passport or other form of digital ID in their lives, suddenly found that they had lost their jobs, rented accommodation and were deemed illegal immigrants. Unless of course they could provide at least four pieces of admissible paperwork for every year that they had lived here.
The issue, reported on by the Guardian and other newspapers, came to a head today with Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, apologising to parliament. This was for the appalling and heartless treatment of individuals approaching retirement age, some of them pillars in their community, who were now at risk of deportation. Indeed some had already been deported.
The real worry for EU citizens in the UK, currently without settled status, is that the problems with the immigration system, and its treatment of 'Windrush' individuals, possibly presages how they could be mistreated after Brexit. EU Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt echoed their concerns.
Spring continues to warm Milton.
A chance comment by Jane about the reverse slave trade from Europe to Aftica led to a search that revealed a history that I had hitherto been unaware of.
With a decline in the centralised power of the Ottoman empire, piracy grew rapidly with bases in Tunis and on the Barbary coast. Raiding ships were not only a hazard to European ships at sea but also to coastal village communities in Cornwall, Ireland. Raids even reached Iceland. The raids grew in audacity in the 1600's and continued right into the early 1800's, till US and British naval attacks on Tunis and other Barbary ports made slave piracy impossible. Until then, the main treasure for any pirate was capturing sailors rather than treasure. These could be sold on as galley slaves if they were poor, or could be ransomed if they had connections.
Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote was himself held to ransom by pirates. He had served in the Spanish infantry fighting against the Turks when he was captured by pirates in 1575 and taken to Algiers. He was kept as a slave for five years before regaining his freedom with a ransom raised by Trinitarian friars from the convent where he would be buried later. He wrote his novel upon his return.
Estimates go as high as 1 to 2 million Christians being enslaved over a period of 200 years. The village of Baltimore in Ireland was completely depopulated and people also moved away from coastal villages on the Mediterranean to avoid the pirates. There was a simple way to escape slavery, convert to Islam. Unfortunately, this meant that it was impossible to return home. The punishment for apostasy could be death.
A chance comment by Jane about the reverse slave trade from Europe to Aftica led to a search that revealed a history that I had hitherto been unaware of.
With a decline in the centralised power of the Ottoman empire, piracy grew rapidly with bases in Tunis and on the Barbary coast. Raiding ships were not only a hazard to European ships at sea but also to coastal village communities in Cornwall, Ireland. Raids even reached Iceland. The raids grew in audacity in the 1600's and continued right into the early 1800's, till US and British naval attacks on Tunis and other Barbary ports made slave piracy impossible. Until then, the main treasure for any pirate was capturing sailors rather than treasure. These could be sold on as galley slaves if they were poor, or could be ransomed if they had connections.
Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote was himself held to ransom by pirates. He had served in the Spanish infantry fighting against the Turks when he was captured by pirates in 1575 and taken to Algiers. He was kept as a slave for five years before regaining his freedom with a ransom raised by Trinitarian friars from the convent where he would be buried later. He wrote his novel upon his return.
Estimates go as high as 1 to 2 million Christians being enslaved over a period of 200 years. The village of Baltimore in Ireland was completely depopulated and people also moved away from coastal villages on the Mediterranean to avoid the pirates. There was a simple way to escape slavery, convert to Islam. Unfortunately, this meant that it was impossible to return home. The punishment for apostasy could be death.
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