IV ICIA Lecture - The Maritime Commitment of Lagos and the Rescue of Portuguese Captives in Algiers

The Ibero-Atlantic Culture Institute (ICIA) will host the fourth lecture of the ICIA 2026 series – Journey of Memory, Identity, and Power, curated by Maria Graça Ventura, on 24 October at 17:00 at the Portimão Museum (training room). The session, titled The Maritime Commitment of Lagos and the Assistance to the Last Rescue of Portuguese Captives in Algiers (1810), will be led by António Jorge Afonso (ICIA/CH-ULisboa) and will take the audience through a little-studied but significant episode in the history of the Algarve within the Mediterranean context. It concerns the role of Algiers as a centre of corsairs that, until 1810, ravaged the region's coasts. Between 1778 and 1812, more than six hundred Portuguese captives remained in the Regency of Algiers, including over a hundred from the Kingdom of Algarve, who, in a mix of misery and courage, sought the southern Spanish ports of the Peninsula in search of enticing freight for transporting salt from Cádiz to northern Spain. Victims of injustices and unequal treatment compared to their compatriots from the Navy ships, especially the elite of their officers, they turned to the organisations that supported them in the Kingdom and to which they contributed: the Maritime Commitments. The Maritime Commitment of Lagos played a crucial role in assisting the 26 locals from the city who, in 1808, became easy prey for the Algerian corsairs, exemplifying the significant supportive role of these organisations. In addition to locals from Lagoa, captives from Alvor, Ferragudo, Olhão, and Tavira were also rescued.

About the speaker António Jorge Afonso holds a PhD in the History of Discoveries and Expansion from the University of Lisbon, with a thesis on Portuguese captives in Maghreb baths (1769-1830): Islam, corsairs, and geostrategy in the western Mediterranean. He is a researcher at the Centre for History of the same university and an associate of ICIA. His studies focus on the relationships between the People of the Book (Christians, Jews, and Muslims) in the Maghreb space, as well as the main political realities of that territory. He has participated in numerous colloquia in Portugal and Morocco and is the author of studies published in specialised journals. Source: https://vivaportimao.pt/a-nao-perder/evento?idEvento=3191