A story of piracy, slavery and previously unknown details of the Cape’s links to the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century has been revealed. The recent revelations reveal the chronicles of the life of a freed slave called Carel Pelgrim. He made the first pilgrimage to Mecca from the Cape. Pilgrim thought to have been Hadje Gasanodien- the son of an Ottoman merchant captured by pirates off what is now known as Maputo, Mozambique in 1772 and was then sold into slavery.

Guest: Turkish Historian & postdoctoral research fellow in the Re-centring AfroAsia project at UCT, Dr. Halim Gençoğlu.