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The Date of Pitts's Pilgrimage to Mecca

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Extract

The date of Joseph Pitts's visit to Mecca, the first known to have been made by an Englishman, has not been satisfactorily determined hitherto. It appears from his own book that he was captured by Algerine pirates in 1678. Cruel treatment at length drove him to profess Islam. His third master took him on pilgrimage to Mecca and there gave him his freedom. Some time must have elapsed before this happened, for Pitts states: “I remain'd several Years a Slave after my Defection.” The next date he mentions is 1688, when he was at the siege of Oran.

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Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1950

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