Cervantes' Five-Year Captivity In Algiers

In 1575, long before he published Don Quixote, Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes was sailing home from Naples when corsairs seized his ship near Barcelona. They took him to Algiers and held him for ransom, but his family could not afford his release. Cervantes made four escape attempts during nearly five years of captivity. In 1580, the Trinitarians, a religious order dedicated to ransoming captives, secured his freedom.

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