On the Barbary States

Barbary was the name used from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century for a stretch of the coastal regions of North Africa. It encompassed what are now the North African countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. The English term is derived, via French and Italian, from the Latin barbaria, ultimately from the Greek barbaros, meaning foreigner or outsider. In its earliest recorded usage in the Netherlands, dating from 1290, the word Barbarien already referred to this region. In Europe, the term came into general use after the Islamic conquest of large parts of Spain and Portugal in the eighth century.

A striking explanation of the name is given by the Italian Filippo Pananti in his two-volume work My Captivity and Travels in the Barbary States (1830):

“The name ‘Barbary’ has been derived from the Arabic word ‘ber’, meaning desert, but wrongly so; for this region is far from being a desert. Others maintain that the Romans gave it this name on account of the wild customs and manners of its inhabitants. Yet, although such a designation might not be entirely inappropriate today, this was by no means the case then. It is more likely that the name is derived from ‘berbes’ or ‘berberi’, referring to a people dwelling near a strait. The name ‘Moors’, which we give to the inhabitants of Barbary, is wholly unknown to them. When asked what they are called, they answer with a certain pride: ‘Muslim’, and they call their land ‘Bled Moslemin’, the land of the faithful.”

The origins of the Barbary Corsairs

The Reconquista was a period of roughly eight hundred years during which the Christian kingdoms of Spain gradually succeeded in driving out the Islamic Moors, who had conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula from 711 onwards (the Reconquista was completed in 1492 following the War of Granada). The defeated Muslims were persecuted, expelled, and driven into exile. Many fled to North Africa, where they continued the practice of taking captives and demanding ransom from their adversaries. They knew Spain and its waters well and were bent on revenge.

Thus emerged the Barbary corsair states, with port cities—Algiers, Salé, Tripoli, and Tunis—whose natural harbours and defensive geography made them ideal refuges and, in time, breeding grounds of piracy. In the sixteenth century, these corsairs transformed piracy and kidnapping into a large-scale, state-sponsored enterprise, with slavery at its core.

Their success attracted others. English and Dutch freebooters began to appear along the North African coast and quickly recognised the opportunities before them. On the sole condition that they convert to Islam, they joined forces with their Moorish counterparts, adding a new dimension to Barbary piracy: modern maritime technology and seafaring expertise. Suddenly, the corsair fleets extended their reach into the North Atlantic.

Sources: Wikipedia, Historiek, Victory of the West, 

The Moors

The inhabitants of Barbary were referred to in Europe as Moors. The origin of this name is not entirely clear, though it is generally assumed to be historically connected to the Berbers of North Africa. In Europe, the term came into use after the Islamic conquest of large parts of Spain and Portugal in the eighth century, and gradually became a general designation for Muslims of non-European origin.

The word Moor most likely derives from the Latin term Mauri, the name given by the Romans to the Berber populations of the ancient kingdom of Mauretania, the region inhabited by these peoples in North Africa. The Latin mauri in turn is derived from the Greek word mauros, meaning “dark” or “black.” The relatively dark complexion of the Moors—though by no means as dark as that of other African populations—led, in the European imagination, to their being conflated with other dark-skinned and Black peoples of Africa. As a result, Moor (or Blackamoor) came to be used as a general term for anyone who was not white.

In everyday language in the Dutch Republic from the sixteenth century onwards, Black Africans (“swarten”) were likewise frequently referred to as Moors.

The Turks

From the sixteenth century onwards, the Turkish Ottoman Empire ruled over the northern parts of Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. Its influence, however, was largely confined to the coastal regions and northern plains. The original inhabitants—the Berbers—lived in the mountains and deserts and remained largely independent.

The foundation of Ottoman Algeria was directly linked to the establishment of the Ottoman province in the Maghreb at the beginning of the sixteenth century. At that time, the inhabitants of Algiers, fearing that their city would fall into Spanish hands, called upon Ottoman corsairs for assistance. Under the leadership of Oruç Reis and his brother Hayreddin Barbarossa, they took control of the city and began expanding their territory into the surrounding regions. The Turkish Sultan Selim I (reigned 1512–1520) agreed to incorporate the Maghreb territories governed by Hayreddin into the Ottoman Empire as a province, appointing him as governor-general. The sultan also dispatched 2,000 janissaries, accompanied by approximately 4,000 volunteers, to the newly established province, with Algiers as its capital.

The exceptionally large number of Turks had a profound influence on the character of the city of Algiers and the province as a whole. In 1587, the region was divided into three distinct provinces, from which the modern states of Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia would eventually emerge. Each of these provinces was governed by a pasha appointed from Constantinople for a term of three years. The pasha was assisted by a dey, an administrative authority, and a bey, the military commander and head of the Ottoman janissaries.

During the seventeenth century, the power of the pasha declined while that of the dey increased. As the Ottoman Empire gradually weakened, the firm control of the central government diminished. In 1671, the last dey appointed by the Ottomans was murdered by local power holders—corsairs—and replaced by an elected corsair captain. Although the Turkish-Algerian elite remained an important political force, the effective dominance of the Ottoman sultan had come to an end.

The lifestyle, language, religion, and origins of the Ottoman elite created notable differences between the Algerian-Ottoman ruling class and the indigenous population. Most members of the elite came from non-Arab regions of the empire. Moreover, they spoke Ottoman Turkish, whereas the local population spoke Algerian Arabic. From its inception, the military-administrative elite sought to sustain itself by recruiting volunteers from non-Arab regions of the Ottoman Empire, primarily from Anatolia. This recruitment policy continued until the fall of the province in 1830.

Until well into the eighteenth century, the Turkish militia maintained strict rules regarding marriages between its members and local women. A soldier who married would lose his right to reside in one of the city’s eight barracks, as well as his daily rations. This policy can be understood as part of the Ottoman elite’s effort to preserve its Turkish identity and maintain separation from the wider population.

It is estimated that even today, approximately 5 to 25 percent of Algerians are of Turkish descent. Since the Turks primarily settled in the coastal regions, their descendants are still largely found in the major cities.

The Janissaries

The Janissary corps was an elite, highly trained military force within the Ottoman Empire. Young boys were recruited as a form of taxation (devşirme) from the Balkan regions (approximately every four years, one in five boys between the ages of six and nine was taken from a Christian family). Separated from their families and cultural background, they were converted to Islam.

From the seventeenth century onwards, the Janissaries developed into a significant political force, and in Algiers they became an influential faction, operating largely independently of the representative of the Ottoman sultan.

The Jews

The Jews have a long history in Algeria. Early accounts mention their presence during the Roman Empire, and even as far back as the destruction of the Temple of Solomon around 586 BC. Several centuries later, Jewish writings from Cairo recorded the existence of numerous Algerian Jewish families. In the seventh century, Jewish settlements in North Africa were further strengthened by immigrants who had fled persecution under the Visigothic king Sisebut and his successors. They escaped to the Maghreb and settled in territories of the Byzantine Empire, where they would later live under Islamic rule.

There was, however, a marked difference in status between these virtually indigenous Jews and a separate group that settled in Algiers during the fifteenth century. When Spain expelled all Jews in 1492, these new refugees gathered in the port cities of North Africa, where they formed large communities. According to tradition, Sultan Bayezid II expressed astonishment at the folly of King Ferdinand: “By expelling the Jews, he impoverished Spain and enriched Turkey.” For more than a hundred thousand Jews, the Ottoman Empire became a haven after their painful and humiliating expulsion from Spain.

The Ottomans understood the value of the Sephardim (Sepharad meaning Spain): they were often successful merchants with influential commercial networks across Europe (including Amsterdam, Antwerp, London, and the Italian trading cities), and were therefore allowed to live in relative freedom. With the rise of the Barbary corsairs, they came to play an important role in the financing of captured goods and enslaved people, as well as in diplomacy between the corsair governments and the Dutch Republic, England, and France.

There was, however, little intermingling with the original Jewish population. Owing to their international connections, the Sephardim enjoyed a much higher status than the indigenous Jews, who were held in low regard by the Moors and Turks and possessed few rights. Nevertheless, they remained dhimmis—that is, followers of other (non-Islamic) faiths—and were tolerated only as second-class subjects.