Joseph Pitts was an English sailor who was captured by Barbary pirates, and sold into slavery in Algiers in 1678. Forced to convert to Islam, he was the first known Englishman to undertake the ḥajj or Muslim pilgrimage, when, as a slave, he accompanied his Muslim master to Mecca and Medina in 1685 or 1686. Having escaped from Algiers and returned to England between 1694 and 1695, he published in 1704 a memoir of his experiences in Algiers including a substantial description of the pilgrimage ceremonies.
- Occupation
- sailor, domestic worker, travel writer, slave
- Citizenship
- Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Great Britain, Regency of Algiers
- Born
- 1663
- Died
