This is not know by enough people : the Barbary slave trade etc

[EndtheMadnessNow]

It was never mentioned when I was in HS.

A Slave To Ignorance

While all of this is fun and fascinating, as real education always is, the word that will blow the dear reader out of his or her chair is "slave".

Slave literally refers to the Slavic people of Eastern Europe.  That's right, the very word "slave" comes from a race of WHITE European people who were valued as excellent slaves as late as the 16th century.  In fact, it seems that the Romans adopted the word "sclavus" from the name of this race of people.
The origin, or etymology, of the word "slave" can be found pretty much anywhere educated people congregate.  There are extensive citations in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which is the go-to source for the history of English words.

To quote one online source, etymonline.com:

"The oldest written history of the Slavs can be shortly summarised--myriads of slave hunts and the enthralment of entire peoples. The Slav was the most prized of human goods. With increased strength outside his marshy land of origin, hardened to the utmost against all privation, industrious, content with little, good-humoured, and cheerful, he filled the slave markets of Europe, Asia, and Africa."

What is particularly notable here is that the Slavs were highly prized as slaves across three continents, including Africa.  Thus, white slaves were being traded in Africa BEFORE the first known African slaves were brought to the New World.
...

USS Enterprise (1799), a schooner that fired the first shots in the First Barbary War. She was active in suppressing pirates, smugglers, and slavers.

Ironically, there was another ship named Enterprise, a US merchant vessel in the early 19th century along the Atlantic Coast. It was a slave ship.