Beginning in the 1570s and continuing for over century, the eastern half of the Mediterranean was gripped by a plague of piracy. Although the activities of North African corsairs in the western Mediterranean during this era are better known, the Ottoman Mediterranean hosted a wide variety of foreign and homegrown Christian and Muslim maritime predators and Ottoman subjects--Muslims, Christians, and Jews--were their prey. This lecture explores the reasons for and consequences of the explosion of piracy in this period and tells the stories of Ottoman subjects who were despoiled and enslaved.

Joshua Michael White is an assistant professor of history at the University of Virginia. He received his PhD from the University of Michigan in 2012. He studies and teaches the history of the medieval and early modern Middle East and Mediterranean, with a particular focus on the social, legal, and diplomatic history of the early modern Ottoman Empire.

For CMENAS students only
1:30-2 pm — CMENAS students workshop/discussion with the lecturer/professor.