This chapter examines how a wide array of Swedish texts from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries constructed, debated, and reimagined the Barbary Coast and the experience of captivity. Drawing on an eclectic corpus—such as captivity narratives, consular memoirs, travelogues, dissertations on international law, newspapers, popular Barbary literature, adventure tales, and seamen’s ballads—the chapter explores how knowledge about North Africa circulated across genres and audiences. These texts not only mediated emotional and political responses to slavery but also engaged in broader debates about the legal and moral status of Barbary on the international stage. Writers and readers grappled with questions of legitimate warfare, neutrality, and religious difference, often positioning Barbary within a comparative framework that challenged prevailing European assumptions about freedom and sovereignty. While early depictions cast the region as a space of chaos and Islamic tyranny, later portrayals revealed increasing nuance, pragmatism, and even admiration. North Africa emerged as both a threatening ‘Other’ and a mirror through which Swedes reflected on their own values and vulnerabilities. In doing so, these diverse sources helped shape an evolving public discourse on slavery, diplomacy, and Sweden’s role in an interconnected early modern world.