Throughout the 16th to 19th centuries, the Barbary States sent pirates to raid nearby parts of Europe in order to capture Christian slaves to sell at slave markets in northern Africa throughout the Renaissance period. According to Robert Davis, from the 16th to 19th centuries, pirates captured 1 million to 1.25 million Europeans as slaves. These slaves were captured mainly from the crews of captured vessels and from coastal villages in Spain and Portugal, and from farther places like Italy, France, or England, the Netherlands, Ireland, the Azores Islands, and even Iceland.