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)