The excellent location of the port of Denia, open and one of the few national Mediterranean anchorages made the city throughout history a nest of pirates since in 1012 the Taifa of Denia was founded. With the construction of a large square, the dianenses pirates sailed the Mediterranean to join the Kingdom of Denia the Balearic Islands, where they attempted the conquest of Sardinia.
After the Christian conquest of the city, in the fifteenth century, Dénia was still a place for privateers, and between the years 1406 and 1476 the Governor General of the Kingdom granted fourteen licenses to arm the corsair vessels, becoming the one that was the greater percentage of boats of corso of the Kingdom of Valencia. From the port of Dénia corsair ships departed ready to capture boats across the length and breadth of the Mediterranean, sometimes even reaching North Africa.
During the fifteenth century, as shown by different engravings and graffiti that have endured over the years, the pirate sea activity in Dénia allowed the enrichment of many people until 1448 the illegal corsair was stopped in Mediterranean waters.
In the years to come, corsair activity continued, albeit legally. D.Francisco de Sandoval y Rojas, favorite of King Felipe III and Marquis of Dénia, fortified the castle in the XNUMXth century to face the pirates and fight against the Algerian corsairs.
Today the port of Dénia has become a tourist port that allows the entry and exit of passengers from the peninsula to the Balearic Islands, leaving behind its commercial and pirate past. But the city still remembers the corsairs every August in the celebration of the festivities of Moors and Christians. Currently the festival has two rows, one male and one female, which commemorate the figure of the pirates in the city: Marins Corsaris and Barbary pirates.
