Albanian piracy

A period of Albanian piracy (Albanian: Piratëria shqiptare) occurred from the 15th to the 19th centuries, during which Albanian pirates plundered and raided ships. These pirates were based mainly in Ulcinj, but were also found in Bar and Ragusa (now Dubrovnik), and had connections with North Africa.^[1]

They plundered European ships mainly for the Ottoman Empire, disrupting the Mediterranean economy and forcing European powers to intervene. Some of the pirate leaders from Ulcinj, such as Lika Ceni and Hadji Alia, were well-known during this period. The Porte gave the name "name-i hümayun" ("imperial letters"),^[2] bilateral agreements to settle armed conflicts.^[3] The Ottoman Empire was also known to hire these pirates during periods of war.^[4] Some of the most famous barbary pirates of the Mediterranean Sea were the Ottoman Barbarossa brothers Oruç and Arnaut Mami.

The pirates of Ulcinj, known in Italian as lupi di mare Dulcignotti (Alb. ujqit detarë Ulqinakë, 'Ulcinian sea wolves'),^[5] were considered the most dangerous pirates in the Adriatic.^[6] They were not poor and violent criminals, but rather well-paid and established professionals; they were tactical merchants, traders, transporters, smugglers, diplomats and pirates whenever it suited them. They alternated between piracy and trading depending on season, enemies or local conflicts. Indeed, the captain of the Venetian galleys Alvise Foscari (1675–1751) wrote:^[7]

The Dulcignotti are not like the other corsairs who mostly compose their crew of miserable and hungry people. They are all well-off, established in this fortunate condition with the traffic after peace, so that a sinister accident would strike them, and put the present licentiousness in check. It's hard to catch them. With agile but small boats, they don't trust to stay too much on the sea, and after a rapid raid in Apulia, they return in Albania, equipped with more available hiding places which provide them asylum and security.
— Alvise Foscari, Dispacci 1708-1711, n. 44, 7 October 1710.

A 1569 nautical map of the Mediterranean Sea illustrating the Gulf of Venice (Golfo di Venetia) with the Albanian coast between Dalmatia and Greccia (top); Albanian coast (bottom)

^ Malcolm, Noel (2015). Agents of Empire Knights, Corsairs, Jesuits and Spies in the Sixteenth-Century Mediterranean World (PDF). Oxford University press. p. 149. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-10-12. Retrieved 2019-04-04.
^ Maria Pia Pedani. The Ottoman-Venetian Border (15th-18th Centuries). p. 46
^ Gábor Ágoston; Bruce Masters (2010). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Infobase Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 9781438110257.
^ ATVIJA KEROVI] Lektura: ZUVDIJA HOD@I] SULJO MUSTAFI], Izvr{ni direktor (2009). Osniva~ i izdava~ UDRU@ENJE "ALMANAH" PODGORICA (PDF) (Osniva~ i prvi urednik "Almanaha" ed.). Podgorica: Urednik [ERBO RASTODER Redakcija: ZUVDIJA HOD@I], ATVIJA KEROVI], MILIKA PAVLOVI], [ERBO RASTODER, ASIM DIZDAREVI], SENAD GA^EVI], ESAD KO^AN, SULJO MUSTAFI], ADNAN ^IRGI]. p. 155.
^ "Varri i Marës, çërnojeviqet dhe shqiptarët në mesjetë". Konica.al. 10 August 2019.
^ Beach, Frederick Converse; Rines, George Edwin (1903). The Americana : a universal reference library, comprising the arts and sciences, literature, history, biography, geography, commerce, etc. of the world. New York : Scientific American Compiling Dept. Retrieved 18 November 2019. Dulcigno, dool-chen'yo, Montenegro, a small seaport town on the Adriatic. The habitants, formerly notorious under the name of Dulcignottes, as the most dangerous pirates of the Adriatic, are now engaged in commerce or in the fisheries of the river Bojana. Pop. 5,102.
^ Foscari, Alvise (2006). Fausto Sartori (ed.). Alvise Foscari, Capitano in Golfo (PDF). Venezia La Malcontenta. p. XIII. Retrieved 18 November 2019.

[1] Malcolm, Noel (2015). Agents of Empire Knights, Corsairs, Jesuits and Spies in the Sixteenth-Century Mediterranean World (PDF). Oxford University press. p. 149. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-10-12. Retrieved 2019-04-04.

[2] Maria Pia Pedani. The Ottoman-Venetian Border (15th-18th Centuries). p. 46

[3] Gábor Ágoston; Bruce Masters (2010). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Infobase Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 9781438110257.

[4] ATVIJA KEROVI] Lektura: ZUVDIJA HOD@I] SULJO MUSTAFI], Izvr{ni direktor (2009). Osniva~ i izdava~ UDRU@ENJE "ALMANAH" PODGORICA (PDF) (Osniva~ i prvi urednik "Almanaha" ed.). Podgorica: Urednik [ERBO RASTODER Redakcija: ZUVDIJA HOD@I], ATVIJA KEROVI], MILIKA PAVLOVI], [ERBO RASTODER, ASIM DIZDAREVI], SENAD GA^EVI], ESAD KO^AN, SULJO MUSTAFI], ADNAN ^IRGI]. p. 155.

[5] "Varri i Marës, çërnojeviqet dhe shqiptarët në mesjetë". Konica.al. 10 August 2019.

[6] Beach, Frederick Converse; Rines, George Edwin (1903). The Americana : a universal reference library, comprising the arts and sciences, literature, history, biography, geography, commerce, etc. of the world. New York : Scientific American Compiling Dept. Retrieved 18 November 2019. Dulcigno, dool-chen'yo, Montenegro, a small seaport town on the Adriatic. The habitants, formerly notorious under the name of Dulcignottes, as the most dangerous pirates of the Adriatic, are now engaged in commerce or in the fisheries of the river Bojana. Pop. 5,102.

[7] Foscari, Alvise (2006). Fausto Sartori (ed.). Alvise Foscari, Capitano in Golfo (PDF). Venezia La Malcontenta. p. XIII. Retrieved 18 November 2019.

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