Between seas and otherness

A Moor in disguise in 16th century Portuguese galleys

Abstract

In this article we investigate the history of a moor privateer Amet and his misfortunes in the face of the portuguese Inquisition in 1656. Taking Amet’s inquisitorial process as a guiding thread and crossing it with other sources, we conect the Portugal’s criminal history to the history of the privateer in the Mediterranean, reflecting on the relations between otherness and Empire. We also trace elements of the history of portuguese galleys – where Amet was sent – in his daily life, forced labours, punishments, food and clothing. As our methodology, we use Fernand Braudel's long-term proposal for the Mediterranean, the recent contributions from Atlantic history to think the connections provided by the sea, as well as the reflections from Michel de Certeau's daily history.