Captivity narrative facts for kids

Captivity narratives are true stories or fictional tales about people who were captured by groups they considered enemies. These stories often describe their experiences while being held captive.

Historians, who are people who study the past, are very careful when they use these stories as sources. This is because many of them were not written from a neutral point of view. They might show only one side of the story. Some historians who study Native American cultures are especially careful when using these narratives.

Captivity narratives became very popular in North America during the 1700s and 1800s. They are an important part of English literature. Similar stories were also written in places like India and East Asia later on.

Why Were People Captured?

During the 17th and 18th centuries, colonists living in New England were sometimes captured. This often happened during conflicts with people from New France (which is now part of Canada) and their Native American allies. Both sides captured people during these times of rivalry.

It's hard to know the exact number of people captured between the 1400s and 1800s. For example, during King Philip's War in 1675, about 1,641 New Englanders might have been taken captive. Later, in the mid-1800s, hundreds of women and children were captured during conflicts between white settlers and Native American groups.

Images for kids

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  Hannah Duston by Junius Brutus Stearns

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  John Payzant (1749–1834) – captive taken at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

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  British captain witnessing the miseries of Christian slaves in Algiers, 1815