由巴巴利海賊的擄贖行為談關於歐洲的想像

Imagining Europe through Barbary Captivity

所謂巴巴利地區，指的是當時為鄂圖曼帝國勢力範圍的阿爾及利亞、突尼斯與的黎波里三者，加上獨立的摩洛哥王國等區域。自十六世紀起，巴巴利地區便橫行著許多得到王室特許的私掠者及非法的海賊，為時數百年之久。這些私掠者與海賊攻擊基督教歐洲各國所屬的船艦、侵擾沿岸土地、奪取船載貨物，並擄押船員為奴。從十七世紀中至十八世紀初，法國為此先後向北非派遣了兩支十字軍部隊：第一次是為了贖回一批天主教農民，第二次則是為了解救歐洲各國遭押的奴隸。十字軍部隊成立最初的目的在於從事宗教性的任務，其後卻產生轉變，越來越強調世俗性的任務；這便賦予了法國派遣十字軍出兵阿爾及利亞進行侵略的正當性。然而，在歐洲企圖根絕巴巴利海賊擄贖行為的努力過程中，關於「法蘭西」的屬性不僅逐漸被定義，更劃出了關於「歐洲」的明確疆界。

For hundreds of years, state-sponsored corsairs and petty maritime bandits from 'Barbary'—comprised of the Ottoman regencies of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, and the independent kingdom of Morocco—preyed on Christian Europe's ships and shores, carrying away cargo and human beings. Between the mid seventeenth and the early nineteenth century, France pursued what it cast as two crusades against captivity in North Africa: the first to redeem Catholic countrymen; the second to liberate white Europeans. The transposition of a religious quest onto a secular undertaking helped justify the invasion of what became the nation of Algeria. And efforts to reverse and then eradicate Barbary slavery helped both to define the attributes of French belonging and demarcate the boundaries of Europe.