November 5, 2024

18th ICA Conference Digital Approaches to Cartographic Heritage

Bologna, 23-25 October 2024

Είχα την χαρά και την τιμή να παρουσιάσω την εισήγησή μου με τίτλο: “Mapping Pirate Strongholds in the Eastern Mediterranean during the 16th and 17th Centuries: A Digital Interactive Visualization” στο πολύ ενδιαφέρον συνέδριο “18th ICA Conference Digital Approaches to Cartographic Heritage” που διεξήχθει στο ιστορικό Πανεπιστήμιο της Bolonga στις 23-25 Οκτωβρίου του 2024.

Mapping Pirate Strongholds in the Eastern Mediterranean during the 16th and 17th Centuries: A Digital Interactive Visualization

Piracy in the Eastern Mediterranean during the 16th and 17th centuries flourished. Almost every island and coastal settlement was for a short or long time a port that hosted pirates, which could be called as a pirate stronghold. Few have attempted to visualize these pirate strongholds, which are referred in historical sources. Pirates and their actions affected not only the local population, but also the way the coastal settlements were developed. That’s because some settlements made peace with pirates allowing them to use the port as a stronghold, sell their loots and even operate slave markets. Many locals became pirates as well. Therefore, we created a digital interactive map to include the strongholds of the 16th and 17th centuries in the Eastern Mediterranean. This map is based on a geodatabase in which all data are categorized according to the century and the religion of the pirates. In the final cartographic creation, red color is used for Christian pirates and green for the Muslim ones, according to the flags they usually used. Pop-ups are used to the points that represent the strongholds, giving information and providing further details, such as the name of the port, the origin of the pirates, the maps that were created during that time period etc. The digital interactive map is hosted on the website www.piratecartography.com, in an attempt to combine cartography with the phenomenon of piracy using applications of geoinformatics.