Adam Nichols
Adam Nichols is a Professor Emeritus with the University of Maryland. He taught for the university for nearly four decades: ten years with their European division in England, Scotland, Iceland, and Germany; another ten years downrange on military installations (the University of Maryland has a contract with the US military to provide education for active duty troops) in Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, and Afghanistan; and the rest stateside. He has also lived and worked in Norway, Australia, China, and Canada. He now lives in the US.
Adam’s academic focus is Barbary corsairs (North African pirates), especially in the seventeenth century. His latest book on this subject is Corsairs and Captives: Narratives from the Age of the Barbary Pirates. He has also written a series of books with an Icelandic colleague, Karl Smári Hreinsson, about a pair of Barbary corsair raids on Iceland in the summer of 1627.
Adam maintains a popular blog on the subject of Barbary corsairs: Corsairs & Captives.
Latest Book
Corsairs and Captives: Narratives from the Age of the Barbary Pirates
Corsairs & Captives Blog
Corsairs & Captives is a blog about seventeenth-century piracy, coastal raids, and the lives of the people caught in between.
Barbary Corsair Raids on Iceland
Karl Smári Hreinsson & Adam Nichols
Translations
Karl Smári Hreinsson & Adam Nichols
- De reizen van Ólafur Egilsson: een 17e-eeuwse Ijslander ontvoerd door moslimpiraten
- Schiavi dal Nord: L’incursione dei pirati barbareschi in terra d’Islanda – Grindavík 1627
- Vite Rubate: L’incursione dei pirati barbareschi in terra d’Islanda – Heimaey 1627
- Τα ταξίδια του αιδεσιμότατου Όλαφουρ Έγκιλσον
- La Razzia Septentrionale : L’histoire des raids corsaires barbaresques de Salé et d’Alger sur l’Islande en 1627 (translated by Adam Nichols)
- Les voyages du Révérend Ólafur Egilsson (translated by Adam Nichols)
Articles
Adam has published multiple articles related to the Barbary corsair raid on Iceland and to Barbary corsairs in general.
With Karl Smári Hreinsson
- “Sjórævivgjaforinginn Jan Janszoon van Harlem – öðru nafni Morath Reis” (“The naval Commander Jan Janszoon van Harlem – Otherwise Known as Morath Reis”).Sjómannadagsblað Grindavíkur (The Grindavík Seamen’s Journal) 2023.
- “Um reisubók séra Ólafs Egilssonar” (“About the Travelogue of Reverend Ólafur Egilsson”). Heima er bezt, September 2019.
- “Á þrælamarkaði Algiersborgar: Algiersborgar á tíma Tyrkjaránsins” (“In the Algiers Slave Market: Algiers at the time of the Turkish Raid”). Vestmannaeyjabær í 100 ár (Westman Islands Township – for 100 Years). Commemorative publication for the centenary of the incorporation of the town of Heimaey, on the Westman islands, July 2019.
- “Tyrkjaránið í Grindavík 1627 og afdrif Járngerðarstaðafólksins” (“The Turkish Raid on Grindavík and the fate of the folk from Járngerðarstaðir”), Sjómannadagsblað Grindavíkur 2019 30 ára (30 year commemorative publication of The Grindavík Seamen’s Journal), June 2019.
- “Afdrif Járngerðarstaðafolks í Tyrkjaáninu 1627” (“What Happed to the People of Járngerðarstaðir During the Barbary Corsair Raid of 1627”) Heima er bezt, (Icelandic monthly magazine) November 2018.
Articles written by Adam
- “Elizabeth Marsh: The Corsairs’ Captive.” BBC History Magazine, Christmas edition, 2025. https://www.historyextra.com/membership/in-1756-a-young-englishwoman-was-taken-hostage-by-barbary-pirates-this-is-her-story
- “Atlantic Raid: The Unexpected History of the Barbary Corsair Raid on Iceland.” Ernest Journal, Issue 6, November/December, 2017.
- “Icelandic Captives in Early Seventeenth Century Algiers.” Maghreb Revue (peer-reviewed academic journal, published quarterly). Volume 42, No. 4, 2017. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/457/article/863982/pdf
- “When Britons were slaves in Africa.” BBC History Magazine, Vol. 18, no. 1, January, 2017. https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/when-britons-were-slaves-in-africa
- “Jan Janszoon Van Haarlem: Privateer, Corsair, Statesman.” History Magazine, October/November, 2016. “Kidnapped in Iceland.” BBC History Magazine, Vol. 12, no. 2, February, 2011. https://www.historyextra.com/period/modern/barbary-pirates-kidnapped-in-iceland
Articles written by Adam in French
- “Les identités des capitaines corsaires qui ont mené les raids sur l’Islande en 1627” (“The Identities of the Barbary Corsair Captains Who Led the Raids on Iceland in 1627”). Hespéris-Tamuda LVII (1) (2022), 325-341. https://www.hesperis-tamuda.com/Downloads/2022/fascicule-1/17.pdf
- « Le raid corsaire barbaresque sur l’Islande en 1627 : une leçon sur l’importance des documents de source primaire. » (“The Barbary Corsair Raid on Iceland in 1627: A Lesson on the Importance of Primary Source Documents”). Archives du Maroc No. 2, décembre, 2017. https://bibliopiaf.ebsi.umontreal.ca/bibliographie/42DFJEQL/download/9JGPXIIR/2017%20- %20Archives%20du%20Maroc%2C%20N°%2022017.pdf
Summary chapter in English for a Norwegian book devoted to the Barbary corsair raids on Iceland in 1627
Torbjørn Ødergaard. De Fangene i Tyrkiet Vedkommende Kilder til Løskøp av Noeske, Danske og Islandske slaver fra Algier 1635-1636 (Prisoners in Turkey: Sources Regarding the Sale of Norwegian, Danish, and Icelandic slaves in Algiers, 1635-1636). Kystforlaget, 2022 (pp. 114-117). https://marinehist.dk/orlogsbib/oe/Oedegaard-FangeneiTyrk.pdf
Dutch Television Documentary
NTR (Netherlands Television & Radio) produced a four-part documentary on Jan Janszoon van Haarlem — also known as Morad Reis — the Barbary corsair captain who led one of the 1627 raids on Iceland. The documentary, titled Jan Janszoon: Piraat van de Wereld (“Pirate of the World”), aired in the Netherlands in February 2024.
Adam was interviewed (in English) throughout the documentary as a subject-matter expert. He is currently writing a full-length biography of Jan Janszoon.
Fiction
While living in Europe, Adam published five epic fantasy novels with Orion/Gollancz, U.K.
- The War of the Lords Veil
- The Pathless Way
- The Paladin
- The Songster
- The Curer