“Tyran[n]ical Masters Are the Turks”

In 1785, Barbary corsairs commandeered the (schooner) Maria and her six-man crew. The crew was hauled into Algiers, where they were imprisoned for the next 11 years. In Algiers, one of the men served as an administrative slave, while the captain and mate were able to pay monthly fees that exempted them from labor. One crewman died in Algiers, but the other five were ransomed and freed in 1796. Clearly, these Americans held in Algiers did not endure lifelong, hereditary, or racial bondage focused on cash crop production, so how, then, should we label their status during their Algerian years? Opinions diverge among their contemporaries and current scholars, with some labeling their time as slavery, others calling it captivity, and still others opting for prisoners of war. Using diaries, newspapers, correspondence, official records, and a comparative approach, I situate Barbary bondage within the regional context of Mediterranean, North African, and Ottoman slaveries. These slaveries frequently featured enslavement through war, the use of elite slaves, and potential liberation through ransom. When juxtaposed with these regional practices, the Algerian bondage of Americans and Europeans emerges as part of a larger system of ransom slavery, one well-adapted to the urban environment of Algiers.

Ancient history · Archaeology · Context (archaeology) · Economic history · Elite · Geography · Political science · Politics · Ransom · Spanish Civil War · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law