Joachim Östlund, history, Lund University

2008-2013

The aim of the project has been to investigate Sweden's relations with the Ottoman provinces of Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers, as well as the Sultanate of Morocco during the period 1650-1760 in the context of the Swedish shipping in the Mediterranean. After an initial phase of conflict, with attacks on Swedish ships and the capturing of sailing crews, more peaceful relations were established during the first half of the eighteenth century. The project has analysed the contact with North Africa from three aspects: (I) the situation for the captives and the ransoming system, (II) the consuls' role as intermediaries in ransoming affairs and negotiations for peace in North Africa, and (III) how representations of North Africa were produced in different genres in Sweden. Regarding theoretical perspective, the project's initial use of postcolonial theory has been supplemented by a perspective that emphasize interconnectedness, together with the importance of realpolitik, European competition and cooperation between Sweden and the countries of North Africa.

The most important results of the project

1) The analysis of the ransoming system has given new perspectives on questions concerning responsibility towards captives, both from individuals, local communities and state authorities. Captive sailors and their relatives, such as mothers, wives and fathers, wrote to the king and expected help. The state responded with the production of a system of maritime security including convoys, alms collections for ransoming, insurances and Algerian passports, and also argued for agreements on reciprocal ransoming solutions. A number of state driven ransoming affairs were also carried out. This shows that the authorities did not ignore the social crises that affected families in coastal communities. A reason for this was also the importance of the import of salt from Southern Europe. Some of the Swedish captives were sold on slave auctions and became household slaves, other became state slaves serving galleys, while a third group of unfree was held as captives of war.
The project shows that alms collections in Sweden were successful during the period, even if ransoming affairs were highly complex. An important result shows that the legitimization of ransoming shifts from an act of compassion to be described as question of international law and reciprocity between states. The project could also offer a more detailed picture of the number of captives and different ransoming affairs than previous research thanks to archive findings in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland and France. Approximately 500 individuals were captured during the period.

2) The analysis of the Swedish consuls in North Africa demonstrated their importance as intermediaries in ransoming affairs concerning European states and also in economic and military collaborations with the states in North Africa. For example, the Swedish consulate in Tunis organized the ransoming of Italians and also supported Tunis in conflicts with Algiers.
As in the case with later international research, this project shows the need to revise the image of a European hegemony in the region. This study shows, for example, that the consuls were forced to follow the Ottoman diplomatic ceremony by kissing the hand of the Dey during audiences. Like other European countries Sweden also paid extensive tributes to Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers and Morocco consisting of weapons, ammunition, money and know-how. The most important result is the discovery that Swedish ships participated the Ottoman trade in African slaves, in the trans-Mediterranean slave trade, along with ships from France and Venice. This finding has not only changed the view of Sweden's eighteenth century history but also made a contribution to international research on slavery.

3) The analysis of Swedish representations of North Africa has resulted in an inventory of texts that offers new insight into the cultural impact of the Swedish presence in the Mediterranean. North African corsair raids and the enslavement of Christians were represented in a wide range of texts in Sweden. Stories in newspaper articles, state alms collections, shanties, scholarly writings, captivity literature and adventure stories created a corpus that has never been analysed before. This corpus was centred on the topics of captivity and enslavement.
The representation of the North African contact zone produced an orientalism mainly based on elements of fear and fascination of the Turk, even if friendship and respect also had its place. However, the "other", in the North African context, was also the great power of Europe and the Catholics. The pragmatic rhetoric used by state authorities in alms collections can be seen as a reflection of the close political relation between Sweden and the Ottoman Empire. Instead of spreading images of the Turk as an Arch enemy, the captives was described as important subjects. The most important outcome of these stories was the formation of a slave concept associated with Christian Europeans, and countrymen in many cases, rather than Africans transported across the Atlantic. This slave concept was faith-based and not race-based, and the slave was a victim of unfortunate circumstances. Slavery was also seen as, at best, something temporary.

New research questions generated by the project

The historiography of Sweden's relations with the Ottoman Empire has long focused on the relations with its political centre, Istanbul and the Sublime port. This project has shown that the contacts were equally intense, or even more intense, with its provinces. This highlights the need for more research about Sweden's presence in the Mediterranean in general and its contacts with North Africa in particular. Research could focus on cultural encounters, commercial networks, the daily lives of the consuls or Sweden's role during the French colonization of Algiers. Research on diplomacy could focus on the collaboration between Sweden and the United States during the late 1700s and further archive research can probably give more information about Sweden's involvement in the slave trade. On a more methodological and theoretical level, research could continue to emphasize interaction and the adaptive character of networks in the Mediterranean world and also how the events in North Africa had an impact on Swedish imagination even after the latter half of the 18th century.

International contact of the project
The research has been presented at the following international conferences:

"Cultural History of Emotions in Premodernity" in Umeå, Sweden 23-26 October 2008.

"NNRH's 4th Nordic Conference on 'The Greco-Roman Rhetorical Tradition'" in Kolding, Denmark (University of Southern Denmark) 2-5 November 2008.

"The Production of Human Security in Premodern and Contemporary History" in Bochum, Germany 8-10 April 2010.

"Challenging the Human Rights Tradition, Rights Discourses in Early Modern Europe" in Lund, Sweden 4-5 October 2011.

"Persistent Piracy: Historical Perspectives on Maritime Violence and State Formation", in Stockholm, Sweden, 3-5 maj 2012.

"Changing Notions of Citizenship", Workshop Series Humanities and Social Sciences - Swedish Institute Alexandria & Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, Büyükada, in Istanbul, Turkey 23-25 May 2012.

"Datini Institute, the Forty-Fifth Annual Study Week on 'Serfdom and Slavery in the European Economy, 11th-18th Centuries'" in Prato, Italy 14-18 April 2013.

The project has contributed to a collaborative archive research project between the National Archives of Sweden and the National Archives in Algiers. Three meetings have been organized: a workshop in Algiers from 30 June to 5 July 2012 and a follow-up workshop for an Algerian archives delegation in Stockholm on 27-30 November 2012, and an international conference in Algiers with the participation of ambassadors and executives from various national archives (including Turkey), 12-14 March 2013.

The project has resulted in an invitation to participate in an application to ERC Synergy Grant 2013 (Nice, Stockholm), "The challenge of globalization. Actors' adaptability in Western Mediterranean shipping and trade, 1715-1850".

The project's two main publications

Östlund, Joachim, "Swedes in Barbary Captivity: The Political Culture of Human Security, circa 1660-1760," in Historical Social Research Vol. 35, 2010, Nr. 4. Open access.

Östlund, Joachim, "The Swedish Involvement in the Trans-Mediterranean Slave Trade", conference publication "F. Datini" International Institute of Economic History. Forthcoming.

The first article discusses how the Swedish authorities developed a security doctrine in response to the capture of Swedish sailors. Special attention was given to the diplomatic conflict between Sweden and Hamburg about the ransoming of Swedish sailors captured when serving on ships from Hamburg. With arguments referring to international law, and not only compassion, Swedish negotiators changed the meaning of ransoming affairs drastically. The second article was a contribution to the research on the trans-Mediterranean slave trade. The article describes the Swedish entrance in the eastern Mediterranean and the competitive advantages it had over other European maritime nations. The Swedish shipping of slaves from Tripoli (including Algiers) was presented along with an analysis of unique Swedish-Tripolian slave trading contracts. Both studies have contributed to international debate.

Project publishing strategy
The project's most important publication is the upcoming monograph currently planned to be published by Nordic Academic Press or by Atlantis Förlag. The script will be submitted in autumn 2013. Results from the project have been published continuously in the form of lectures and presentations on radio and TV (Danish documentary, DR), at conferences, workshops and seminars in and outside of Sweden.

Publications

2008: ”Ethos i vetenskapen. Vetenskapliga hållningar i Michael Enemans Resa i Orienten 1711-12”, i Förmoderna livshållningar. Dygder, värden och kunskapsvägar från antiken till upplysningen, (red.) Marie Lindstedt Cronberg, Catharina Stenqvist, Lund. ISBN: 978-91-85509-06-5.

2010: ”Dygdens prövning. Europeiska slavberättelser om livet i marockansk ofrihet” i Dygder och odygder. Förmoderna perspektiv på tillvaron (red). Catharina Stenqvist & Marie Lindstedt Cronberg, Lund. ISBN: 978-91-85509-44-7.

2010 (tillsammans med Annika Sandén), 2010: ”Medkänslans makt och gränser: Nya linjer i känslornas långa historia” i Historisk tidskrift (La longue durée – revisitée, Historisk tidskrifts temanummer 2010:4), Referee-granskad.

2010: “Swedes in Barbary Captivity: The Political Culture of Human Security, circa 1660-1760”, i Historical Social Research Vol. 35, 2010, Nr. 4. Referee-granskad.

2010: Dissertation académique traitant brièvement de LA MAURÉTANIE ou des royaumes DE FÈS, DE MAROC et D´ALGER. Auteur: Johannes Helding, Stockholm 1699, Introduction par Joachim Östlund, Fredrikstad 2010.

2010: Mémoire universitaire sur LA PIRATERIE. Autour: Magnus Thelaus, Uppsala 1716, Introduction par Joachim Östlund, Fredrikstad 2010.

2011: ”När svenskar var slavar i Nordafrika. Det svenska slavbegreppet och dess koppling till en tidigmodern globaliseringsprocess” i Historielärarnas förenings årsskrift 2011.

2012: “A Lutheran in the Holy Land: Michael Eneman´s Journey, 1711-12” i Through the Eyes of the Beholder: The Holy Land 1517-1714 (Eds.) Judy Hayden and Nabil Matar, BRILL, 2012.

2013: "Historical relations between Algeria, Scandinavia and Holland from the 16th to the 19th century, Alger, 12-13 mars 2103", konferensrapport i Historisk tidskrift 2013:4, kommande.

"The Swedish Involvement in the trans-Mediterranean Slave Trade", conference publication "F. Datini" International Institute of Economic History. Forthcomming

"Sverige och Nordafrika. Fångenskap och friköpningsslaveri i Medelhavsvärlden 1650-1760", manus klart för inläming hösten 2013

Länk till hemsida: http://www.hist.lu.se/person/JoachimOstlund