Digital Humanities 150 Advanced Topics in Digital Humanities: Mediterranean Pirates: Perceptions Past and Present through Computational Text Analysis with Professor Sanders at UCLA Winter 2022
Piracy and corsairing are sometimes romanticized because they are synonymous with adventure, treasure, discovery, and a sentiment of excitement. However, there is a much darker side to piracy and corsairing that can often be overlooked, and that is captivity. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, piracy and corsairing in the Mediterranean resulted in the capture and enslavement of people from all over Europe, Africa, and even the Americas. These people often endure a traumatic and horrific experience in a foreign land, separated from their loved ones for years, and many are unable to escape or be rescued. Our project aims to dive into their narratives to better understand the piracy and corsairing environment of the Mediterranean between the 1500s through the 1800s, and thus ensure their voices are not lost in history. These are their stories of strength, hope, and survival.
Captives’ accounts reveal how although pirates and corsairs treated all slaves with an immense amount of cruelty, social factors did differentiate their experiences. However, social factors such as gender and religion caused a bigger difference compared to factors like nationality and existing skill sets.