Libertalia

**Libertatia** (also known as **Libertalia**) was a purported anarchist colony founded in the late 17th century in Madagascar by pirates under the leadership of Captain James Misson (last name occasionally spelled "Mission", first name occasionally "Olivier").

Whether or not Libertalia actually existed is disputed. It is described in the book *A General History of the Pyrates* by Captain Charles Johnson, an otherwise unknown individual who may have been a pseudonym of Daniel Defoe. According to Johnson's description, Libertalia lasted for about 25 years. The precise location is not known; however, most sources say it stretched from the Antongil Bay to Mananjary, Fianarantsoa, including Île Sainte-Marie and Mahavelona. Thomas Tew, Misson and a Dominican priest named Signor Caraccioli were involved in founding it.[1]

## Description:

Libertalia was a legendary free colony forged by pirates and the pirate Captain Misson, although some historians have expressed doubts over its existence outside of literature. Historian and activist Marcus Rediker describes the pirates as follows:

*These pirates who settled in Libertalia would be "vigilant Guardians of the People's Rights and Liberties"; they would stand as "Barriers against the Rich and Powerful" of their day. By waging war on behalf of "the Oppressed" against the "Oppressors," they would see that "Justice was equally distributed."[2]*

Although the existence of Libertatia is contested, the radical ideas that it represented were very common in various pirate-era events. After the American Revolution, pirates fleeing from England were wrecked on an island and set up their own Libertatia. They called their new island "the Republic of Spensonia", after a fictional Utopian country created by the English author and political reformer Thomas Spence. According to A. L. Morton, it "looks backward to the medieval commune and forward to the withering away of the state."[3]

The pirates were against the various forms of authoritarian social constructs of their day, monarchies, slavery, and capital. The pirates practiced forms of direct democracy, where the people as a whole held the authority to make laws and rules, and used systems of councils with delegates, who were supposed to think of themselves as "comerads" of the general population, and not rulers. The pirates created a new language for their colony and operated a socialist economy.[4]

Misson's crews often were half white and black. The pirates have been reported to have freed enslaved people because the idea of slavery went against their own ideals of freedom.

The pirate utopia's motto was "for God and liberty," and its flag was white,[1] in contrast to a Jolly Roger. They were anarchists, waging war against states and lawmakers, attacking their ships, sparing prisoners, and freeing slaves. They called themselves *Liberi*, and lived under a communal city rule, a sort of worker owned corporation of piracy. They had articles (shared codes of conduct), and used elected systems of re-callable delegates.

Misson was French, born in Provence, and it was while he was in Rome on leave from the French warship Victoire that he lost his faith, disgusted by the decadence of the Papal Court. In Rome he ran into Caraccioli - a "lewd Priest" who over the course of long voyages with little to do but talk, gradually converted Misson and a sizeable portion of the rest of the crew to his way of thinking:

Embarking on a career of piracy, the 200 strong crew of the Victoire called upon Misson to be their captain. They shared the wealth of the ship, deciding "all should be in common."[1] All decisions were to be put to "the Vote of the whole Company." Thus they set out on their new "Life of Liberty." Off the west coast of Africa they captured a Dutch slave ship. The slaves were freed and brought aboard the Victoire, Misson declaring that "the Trading for those of our own Species, cou'd never be agreeable to the Eyes of divine Justice: That no Man had Power of Liberty of another" and that "he had not exempted his Neck from the galling Yoak of Slavery, and asserted his own Liberty, to enslave others." At every engagement they added to their numbers with new French, English and Dutch recruits, and freed African slaves.

While cruising round the coast of Madagascar, Misson found a perfect bay in an area with fertile soil, fresh water and friendly natives. Here the pirates built Libertalia, renouncing their titles of English, French, Dutch or African and calling themselves Liberi. They created their own language, a polyglot mixture of African languages, combined with French, English, Dutch, Portuguese and native Malagasy. Shortly after the beginning of building work on the colony of Libertalia, the Victoire ran into the pirate Thomas Tew, who decided to accompany them back to Libertalia. Such a colony was no new idea to Tew; he had lost his quartermaster and 23 of his crew when they had left to form a settlement further up the Madagascan coast. The Liberi - "Enemies to Slavery," aimed to boost their numbers by capturing another slave ship. Off the coast of Angola, Tew's crew took an English slave ship with 240 men, women and children below decks. The African members of the pirate crew discovered many friends and relatives among the enslaved and struck off their fetters and handcuffs, regaling them with the glories of their new life of liberty.

The pirates settled down to become farmers, holding the land in common - "no Hedge bounded any particular Man's Property." Prizes and money taken at sea were "carry'd into the common Treasury, Money being of no Use where every Thing was in common."

## Existence:

The consensus of modern scholarship is that Libertalia (or Libertatia) was not a real place.[6] Journalist Kevin Rushby toured the area seeking descendants of pirate inhabitants but declined to search the jungles for Libertalia, noting “others have tried and failed many times.”[7] There were pirate settlements on and around Madagascar, on which Libertalia may have been based: Abraham Samuel at Port Dauphin, Adam Baldridge at Ile Ste.-Marie, and James Plaintain at Ranter Bay were all ex-pirates who founded trading posts and towns. These locations appear frequently in official accounts and letters from the period, while Libertalia appears only in Johnson’s *General History, Volume 2*.[8] Johnson’s “Libertalia” has been treated as completely fictional[9], as apocryphal[10], or as a utopian commentary.[11] The inclusion of fictional accounts such as Misson's in *A General History* has caused some modern scholars to discount the entire work as a reliable source, though other portions of it have been at least partially corroborated by various sources.[12]

## Libertalia in popular culture:

### Literature:

* William S. Burroughs
	+ *Cities of the Red Night*, 1981
	+ *Ghost of Chance*, 1991
* Daniel Vaxelaire *Les mutins de la liberté*, 1986
* Johnson, Charles. *A General History of the Pyrates*, 1724 (in Volume 2)
* *Libertalia, une utopie pirate* (French extract of "Histoire générale des plus fameux pirates", L'Esprit Frappeur
* Marcus Rediker. "Libertalia: The Pirate's Utopia," in *Pirates: Terror on the High Seas from the Caribbean to the South China Sea*.
* Peter Lamborn Wilson *Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs & European Renegadoes, 1995*
* *Pirates of the Caribbean: Legends of the Brethren Court: Wild Waters*, 2009

### Film:

* *Against All Flags* (1952)
* *The King's Pirate* (1967)

### Video games:

* *Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag* (mentioned only)
* *Uncharted 4: A Thief's End* (2016)
* *Fallout 4* (2015) (has a Raider-controlled dockyard location named "Libertalia")

### Music:

* *Ye Banished Privateers: The Legend of Libertalia* (album, 2014)[13]
* *Jake and the Infernal Machine: Libertalia* (album, 2014)[14]

## References:

1. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** ***c***
2. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Rediker, Marcus (2004), *Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age*, Beacon Press, Beacon, Massachusetts. ISBN 0-8070-5024-5.
3. **^** Morton, A. L. (1952), *The English Utopia*, Lawrence & Wishart. ISBN 0-85315-185-7.
4. **^** Cordingly, David (1996), *Pirates: Terror on the High Seas from the Caribbean to the South China Sea*, 9th ed, World Publications. ISBN 1-57215-264-8.
5. **^**
6. **^**
7. **^**
8. **^**
9. **^**
10. **^**
11. **^**
12. **^** Kuhn, Gabriel (2010). *Life Under the Jolly Roger: Reflections on Golden Age Piracy*. Oakland CA: PM Press. ISBN 9781604860528. Retrieved 4 October 2017.