Joseph Pitts and the account of his captivity within the context of corsairs, pirates and captives in the Mediterranean

The Mediterranean, a conflict and meeting place, witnessed navigation a great number of captives captured by corsairs particularly XVI. and XVII. centuries. Some of these capitives, when they returned to their country, penned memories of captivity due to several reasons or dictated to others. These captives' narratives, living among Muslims as "others" of Europe, met great interest by the society and were published many times. Joseph Pitts' narrative of captivity, studied in this thesis, is one of the rare examples that combines three qualities in a narrative of captivity in the early modern age. These three features are narrative of captivity, travel narrative and lastly depiction of the sacred places of Islam. Because Algeria is a border society and corsairs, the prsence of captives from many countries in the world, Algeria has located in a very important place in history of the Mediterranean. In this regard, Pitts' narrative reflects this cosmopolitanism. As a sailor, captive, traveler and pilgrim Pitts, has mirrored this varieties his narrative of capitivity. Also, Pitts' narrative was very popular and in early modern age England it projected perception of Islam and contributed "as a insider" available information.