libertatia
There is a piece of land in the North of Madagascar where, at the beginning of the 18th Century, people of different race and origin shared the same rights, where all monies were equally shared out amongst everybody and where a language born of the mixing of French, English, Dutch and Portuguese was spoken. Libertatia was its name and this is the story of the man who founded it: Captain Misson. Captain Misson was born in the French region of Provence. Different authors give him different names (Bartolomé, Olivier or James), and though they may disagree on this point, on another they all say the same thing. Captain Misson, as well as being a pirate, was also one of the men who planted the seeds of the French Revolution. Though Misson was educated in the sciences, he also inherited his father’s love of the sea. When he asked his father if he could go to sea, his father didn’t really have an option. He signed up for the warship Victoire. While they were berthed in Naples he traveled to Rome and met Dominican priest Caraccioli. Misson became interested in Caracciolli’s socialist theories and the dominic priest left the priesthood and joined as a member of crew of the Victoire on hearing Misson’s tales of adventure on the high seas. The captain of the Victoire was killed whilst engaging the English warship Winchester in battle, but the battle was won by the French. The crew elected Misson as captain and they also decided that their boat would sail under a black flag, representative of the sea republic they had established on their ship. Caraccioli quickly changed the color as he unfurled a white flag emblazoned with the word ‘Libertas’.
They were strange pirates under a strange flag. They stole no more than they needed and they never killed anybody. They attacked Dutch and Portuguese boats carrying slaves, freed them and dressed them in their “owners” clothes. Many of the freed slaves decided to stay with Misson. Their numbers grew so much that the three boats that sailed together couldn’t hold them all. They sailed to the north of Madagascar and set up their base in Anjouan. Once there, Misson and many of his sailors married local women and they founded their utopia, a colony called Libertatia. A socialism based on Caracciolli’s theories became their ideology and they came up with an Esperanto-like language, a mix of the different languages spoken by the pirate crew of multiple origin. Misson eta Caraccioli’s dream lasted 25 years. Until the Island Indians wiped it out. Caraccioli died there and Misson escaped to sea. However, his boat was sunk in a storm and Misson disappeared in the depths of the seas he loved so much. So how do we know about the Libertatia colony? Why did we begin this story by saying these people were the very ones to light the fuse of the French Revolution? Well, the answer lies with one of the sailors who lived in Libertatia: Tew. He managed to escape from the island with many documents and scrolls and he eventually made his way to France. On arriving in France he published them and Capitan Misson’s theories caused a huge reaction in the press. Many contemporary philosophers held Libertatia up as an achievable model to follow and they soon set about stoking up the fires of revolution to achieve it themselves...
They were strange pirates under a strange flag. They stole no more than they needed and they never killed anybody. They attacked Dutch and Portuguese boats carrying slaves, freed them and dressed them in their “owners” clothes. Many of the freed slaves decided to stay with Misson. Their numbers grew so much that the three boats that sailed together couldn’t hold them all. They sailed to the north of Madagascar and set up their base in Anjouan. Once there, Misson and many of his sailors married local women and they founded their utopia, a colony called Libertatia. A socialism based on Caracciolli’s theories became their ideology and they came up with an Esperanto-like language, a mix of the different languages spoken by the pirate crew of multiple origin. Misson eta Caraccioli’s dream lasted 25 years. Until the Island Indians wiped it out. Caraccioli died there and Misson escaped to sea. However, his boat was sunk in a storm and Misson disappeared in the depths of the seas he loved so much. So how do we know about the Libertatia colony? Why did we begin this story by saying these people were the very ones to light the fuse of the French Revolution? Well, the answer lies with one of the sailors who lived in Libertatia: Tew. He managed to escape from the island with many documents and scrolls and he eventually made his way to France. On arriving in France he published them and Capitan Misson’s theories caused a huge reaction in the press. Many contemporary philosophers held Libertatia up as an achievable model to follow and they soon set about stoking up the fires of revolution to achieve it themselves...
