anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
writer Peter Lamborn Wilson, who coined the term in his 1995 book ''Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs & European Renegadoes'', as secret islands once used for supply purposes by
pirate
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...
s. Wilson's concept is largely based on speculation, although he admits to adding a bit of fantasy to the idea. In Wilson's view, these pirate enclaves were early forms of autonomous proto-anarchist societies in that they operated beyond the reach of
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
s and embraced unrestricted
freedom
Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws".
In one definition, something is "free" i ...
.
On the Barbary Coast
Located on the
Barbary Coast
The Barbary Coast (also Barbary, Berbery, or Berber Coast) were the coastal regions of central and western North Africa, more specifically, the Maghreb and the Ottoman borderlands consisting of the regencies in Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, a ...
Algiers
Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...
, and
Tunis
Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...
), these bases were havens for renegade
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
pirates from the 16th to the 18th century. The pirates, dubbed "
Barbary Corsairs
The Barbary corsairs, Barbary pirates, Ottoman corsairs, or naval mujahideen (in Muslim sources) were mainly Muslim corsairs and privateers who operated from the largely independent Barbary states. This area was known in Europe as the Barba ...
Wilson writes about the large influx of Europeans converting to Islam, forming the "Renegados" and joining the pirate holy war. He then takes an interesting approach regarding 17th century Europeans and their opposition to Islam. He asks if Europeans were opposed to Islam or if Islam had a "positive shadow" that made it so attractive for pirates? Was there something that was intriguing to a pirate about Islam, or was there a change in belief that many Europeans experienced? Wilson goes on to write that these men and women were not only apostates and
traitors
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its di ...
, as they were considered in their homelands, but their voluntary betrayal of
Christendom
The terms Christendom or Christian world commonly refer to the global Christian community, Christian states, Christian-majority countries or countries in which Christianity is dominant or prevails.SeMerriam-Webster.com : dictionary, "Christen ...
can also be thought of as a praxis of social resistance.
Libertatia
Libertatia, also known as Libertalia, was a possibly fictional anarchist colony founded in the late 17th century in
Madagascar
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
by
pirate
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...
s under the leadership of Captain James Misson. Whether or not Libertatia actually existed is disputed.
Captain Charles Johnson
Captain Charles Johnson was the British author of the 1724 book ''A General History of the Pyrates, A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates'', whose identity remains a mystery. No record exists of a captain b ...
describes Libertatia in his book ''
A General History of the Pyrates
''A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates'', or simply ''A General History of the Pyrates'', is a 1724 book published in Britain containing biographies of contemporary pirates,Bay of Antongil to Mananjary, including ÃŽle Sainte Marie and Foulpointe. Thomas Tew, Misson, and an Italian Dominican priest named Caraccioli were involved in founding it.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...
's novel '' Treasure Island''. Libertalia is also a central plot element and setting in the video game '' Uncharted 4: A Thief's End''; however, in this interpretation, Libertalia was founded by the pirate
Henry Avery
Henry Every, also known as Henry Avery (20 August 1659Disappeared: June 1696), sometimes erroneously given as Jack Avery or John Avery, was an English people, English pirate who operated in the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic and Indian Ocean, Indian ...
and others including Tew, Anne Bonny, and Edward England.
The 2015 video game '' Fallout 4'' features an area in the game called "Libertalia". The area is a series of off-shore platforms (made of various debris) that has become home to a large gang of raiders. British Author Warren Ellis writes in Bruce Sterling's book ''Pirate Utopia'' about Libertalia and negatively appraising its existence.
Utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...