A study of the captives and slavery in Ottoman Algeria : through historical studies and the problematic of establishing objectivity

Abstract EN

The Mediterranean peoples had intensively practiced corsair during the modern era due to the Christian-Islamic conflict, « the Holy War » and both worlds have seen their cause as a fair issue.

As a result, captives in the cities of North Africa, especially Algiers, were known as war captives, but European sources considered the Christian in captivity as slaves and here we face the problematic of adjusting the terminology related to captivity and slavery, piracy and marine jihad.

As historians, we have to understand, describe and explain the practice of slavery in North Africa and not employ it to appreciate its humanity or cruelty, but to confront it openly and boldly to reach objectivity.

This can only be done by studying the activity of the Algerian navy during that period, assuming that the captive is the one who lost his freedom as result of those naval wars and what distinguishes him from the slave is his eventual return to freedom, contrary to the slave who will die in slavery; but what do we call these prisoners who have died in captivity and have not recovered their liberty?