Regency of Algiers

Regency of Algiers دولة الجزائر (Arabic)
1516–1830
Flag (1516–1830) Coat of arms of Algiers (1516–1830)
Motto: الجزائر المحروسة Algiers the well-guarded
Overall territorial extent of the Regency of Algiers in the late 17th to 19th centuries
Status	State affiliated to the Ottoman Empire (Nominal since 1659)
Capital	Algiers
Official languages	Arabic and Ottoman Turkish
Common languages	Algerian Arabic Berber Sabir (used in trade)
Religion	Official, and majority: Sunni Islam (Maliki and Hanafi) Minorities: Ibadi Islam Shia Islam Judaism Christianity
Demonym(s)	Algerian or Algerine
Government	1516–1519: Sultanate 1519–1659: Viceroyalty 1659–1830: Stratocracy (Political status)
Pasha
• 1516–1518	Oruç Reis
• 1710–1718	Baba Ali Chaouch
• 1818–1830	Hussein Dey
Historical era	Early modern period
• Spanish conquest of Oran	1509
• Capture of Algiers	1516
• Ottoman–Habsburg wars	1521–1791
• Algiers expedition	1541
• Algerian-Sherifian conflicts	1550–1795
• Golden Age of the Barbary slave trade	1580–1640
• Turkish abductions	1627
• Janissary Revolution	1659
• Franco-Algerian war	1681–1688
• Maghrebi war	1699–1702
• Spanish–Algerian war	1775–1785
• Barbary Wars	1785–1816
• Invasion of Algiers	1830
Population
• 1830	3,000,000–5,000,000
Currency	Major coins: mahboub (sultani) budju aspre Minor coins: saïme pataque-chique
Preceded by Succeeded by Hafsids of Béjaïa Kingdom of Tlemcen French Algeria Beylik of Titteri Beylik of Constantine Western Beylik Emirate of Abdelkader Igawawen Kingdom of Beni Abbas Sultanate of Tuggurt Awlad Sidi Shaykh
Today part of	Algeria

The Regency of Algiers (Arabic: دولة الجزائر, romanized: Dawlat al-Jaza'ir) was an autonomous eyalet of the Ottoman Empire in North Africa from 1516 to 1830. It was an early modern tributary state founded by the corsair brothers Oruç and Hayreddin Barbarossa, ruled first by viceroys, which later became a sovereign military republic. The Regency was the earliest and most powerful of the Barbary states with the largest navy in North Africa. Situated between the Regency of Tunis in the east, the Sharifian Sultanate of Morocco and Spanish Oran (until 1791) in the west, the Regency originally extended its borders from the Mellegue river in the east to Moulouya river in the west and from Collo to Ouargla, with nominal authority over the Tuat and the country south of In Salah to the south. At the end of the Regency, it extended to the present eastern and western borders of Algeria.

The sixteenth century witnessed the clash between the Spanish and Ottoman empires in the Mediterranean and the rise of the Algerian regency in North Africa - a unique society ruled by both a very autonomous Ottoman Janissary army corps and a multiethnic Corsair community, supported by plunder from corsairs in a holy war against Spanish Christians. Founded by Oruç Barbarossa and his younger brother Hayreddin Barbarossa, it brought the entire central Magreb under its control.

When the war between the two empires ended in the early 17th century, Algerian pirates who refused to recognize peace found new territories when France, England and the United Kingdom of the Netherlands made peace with Spain. Soon Europe found itself embarrassed as their merchant ships and goods were captured and their subjects enslaved, and clamored for relief. The sultan could not force his vassals to cease their attacks, and the kings of France and England, were willing to deal directly with the regency. A settlement was reached after a century of negotiations and wild sea operations, but by then the pirates had expanded across the Atlantic. By 1650 there were some 25,000 Christian slaves in Algiers.

The Regency experienced several degrees of autonomy, culminating in the Janissary coup in 1659, with rulers emerging and being elected locally. However the Regency continued to pay homage to the Ottoman sultan, recognizing his spiritual authority as the Caliph — the leader of the Islamic world.

After a decline in the second half of the 18th century, linked to the consolidation of diplomatic relations with European states and the regency's attempt to better fit into Mediterranean trade, Algerian privateering, also known as the "Corso", experienced three successive bursts with the contraction exchanges during the European wars of the French Revolution and Empire: in 1793, then between 1802 and 1810 and finally after 1812, when merchant ships from Algiers, Tunisia and Tripolitania were definitively excluded from European ports. The balance between the two shores of the Mediterranean, which maintained the permanence of the corso, broke at the beginning of the 19th century. After committing to put an end to the slave trade at the Congress of Vienna and in an economic context where commercial development did not accommodate maritime insecurity, European states were acted together for the first time. As historian Daniel Panzac shows, the Anglo-Dutch expedition in 1816 under Lord Exmouth marked a decisive turning point, practically putting an end to the corso.

The Algerian state began to weaken at the beginning of the 19th century; Real economic difficulties arose, linked to the decline of the corso, decreased internal trade, impoverishment of the wealthy and the non-development of the means of communication. A drop in cereal production was caused by the disorganization of this commercial sector. All these difficulties were compounded by the stranglehold of foreigners on foreign trade and renewed European attacks, which caused the dey to be at the mercy of these interventions. In addition, a lack of cohesion between groups of different status: Ra'ya, Makhzen, vassal, allies, and independent tribes, and sometimes feudal-type entities that escaped the authority of the beylik and levied a large direct taxes for themselves, made the interior of the country shaken by a succession of revolts against the tax system and by the weakening of the central power. The main revolts were caused by religious brotherhoods, mainly the Darqawi and Tijani orders.

France took advantage of this situation to intervene, and invaded in 1830, leading to the French conquest of Algeria and eventually French colonial rule until 1962.

Toponymy

"Algeria" page in the Civitates Orbis Terrarium of 1575

The current divisions of the Maghreb go back to the three regencies of the sixteenth century: Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli. Algiers became the capital of its state and this term in the international acts applied to both the city and the country which it ordered: الجزائر (El-Djazâ'ir). However a distinction was made in the spoken language between on the one hand El-Djazâ'ir, the space which was neither the Extreme Maghreb, nor the regency of Tunis, and on the other hand, the city commonly designated by the contraction دزاير (Dzayer) or in a more classic register الجزائر العاصمة (El-Djazâ'ir El 'âçima, Algiers the Capital).

The regency, which lasted over three centuries, shaped what Arab geographers designate as جزيرة المغرب (Djazirat El Maghrib). This period saw the installation of a political and administrative organization which participated in the establishment of the Algerian: وطن الجزائر (watan el djazâïr, country of Algiers) and the definition of its borders with its neighboring entities on the east and west.

In European languages, El Djazâïr became Alger, Argel, Algiers, Algeria, etc. In English, a progressive distinction was made between Algiers, the city, and Algeria, the country. Whereas in French, Algiers designated both the city and the country, under the forms of "Kingdom of Algiers" or "Republic of Algiers". "Algerians" as a demonym is attested in writing in French as early as 1613 and its use has been constant since that date. Meanwhile in the English lexicology of the time, Algerian is "Algerine", which referred to the political entity that later became Algeria.

A French document from 1751 describes "patriots or Algerians properly so called" and adds that "the King does not complain of the Algerian nation but only of the Dey as an offender of the treaties". The terms "Algerian patriots" and "Algerian nation" should be understood in their use of the 18th century. The expression "Algerian patriots" designates the indigenous inhabitants of the country. The term "Algerian nation" refers to all the inhabitants of the country that the French report of the time wanted to differentiate from the country's leaders of Turkish origin. However the Spanish King Charles IV of Spain referred to the Dey of Algiers as a representative of the "Algerian nation" in the peace treaty of 1791.

History

Central Maghreb in the early 16th century

Conquest of Oran, 19th century painting by Francisco Jover y Casanova. Cardinal Cisneros in red

After the Emirate of Granada fell in 1492, Spain experienced significant military and economic growth, which contributed to a gradual rise of Spain and Portugal as two powerful countries. After their geographical discoveries in the Americas and the Cape of Good Hope, they shifted to the subjugation of ports along the coastlines of the Maghreb, which they planned to use as bases for ship repair and incursions into Africa. The Portuguese successfully reached the West African coast and its gold trade, through the Atlantic sea routes, diminishing the importance of the desert trade routes linking the Maghreb to Europe.

Spanish imperialism manifested through domination of the cities of the Maghreb by establishing "Presidios". Conquered ports that were transformed into strongpoints filled with garrisons and surrounded by formidable walls. This allowed the Spaniards to control waystations for caravans from western Sudan, Tripoli and Tunis in the east and Ceuta and Melilla in the west, passing through Bejaia, Algiers, Oran and Tlemcen. Control over this trade and its two main commodities, gold and slaves, became essential for the Spanish treasury. The loss of the middle Maghreb's role as a mediator of commerce between Europe and Africa - especially in gold - led to economic stagnation, decline in trading resources, and deterioration of craftsmanship in its two historical capitals, Bejaia and Tlemcen. The country subsequently entered a state of political fragmentation and weak centralization, exacerbated by the Iberian trade monopoly on its capacity to collect taxes and the activities of its merchant class.

The Maghreb became vulnerable to incursions from the north shore of the Mediterranean. Within two decades, the Spanish Empire captured multiple important cities and ports along the shores of the Maghreb. The first along the Moroccan coastline to fall was Melilla in 1497, followed by the Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera in 1508. Along the Algerian shores, the city of Mers El Kébir fell in 1505, followed in 1509 by Oran - the most important sea port directly linked to Tlemcen, capital of the Zayyanid Kingdom. Bejaia in eastern Algeria and Tripoli in Libya were taken in 1510. Other coastal cities such as Algiers and Tunis chose to submit to Spanish sovereignty through humiliating agreements.

Establishment

Oruç Raïs , Sultan of Algiers, 1590s depiction

Barbarossa brothers arrive in 1512

Beginning in 1512, Ottoman privateer brothers Oruç and Hayreddin—both known to Europeans as Barbarossa, or "Red Beard", operated successfully off Tunisia under the Hafsids and became famous for victories against Spanish naval vessels at sea and on the shores of Andalusia. That year scholars and notables of Bejaia contacted them and the Hafsid emir of Constantine, Abu Bakr, asking their help in dislodging the Spaniards from Bejaia. However, their attempt to do so failed due to the city's formidable fortifications and the Spaniards' cooperation with the princes of Beni Abbas. Oruç was wounded while trying to storm the city, and his arm had to be amputated. Oruç realized that his forces' position in the valley of La Goulette hampered their efforts against the Spaniards and moved them to Jijel, a center of trade between Africa and Italy, occupied since 1260 by the Genoese. Oruç received pleas for help from its inhabitants, and took the city in 1514, establishing a base of operations there. Oruç and his brothers began to frequent the shores of Andalusia. In view of the success of Oruç in Jijel, its inhabitants pledged allegiance to him as their prince, as did the tribal elders and the Emir of Kuku. Ahmed bin al-Qadi urged him to attack the Spaniards in Bejaia, and he embarked on a campaign against them in 1514 with a land army, besieging the city for nearly three months, ultimately to no avail. He was forced to lift the siege, but tried again in the spring of the following year with a large force. He withdrew again when his ammunition ran out and the Hafsid emir refused to provide more. He succeeded only in capturing hundreds of Spanish prisoners.

Capture of Algiers in 1516

Main article: Capture of Algiers (1516)

Old Algiers, 17th century

The occupation of Bougie and the takeover of Oran by Pedro Navarro and Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros alerted the Algerian population to the imminent threat, and unable to resist the Spanish, they agreed to submit and recognize the Catholic king Ferdinand II of Aragon as their sovereign, pay a yearly tribute, release Christian prisoners, forsake piracy, and prevent the enemies of Spain from entering their harbor (31 January 1510). A delegation of significant individuals escorted shaikh Salim al-Tumi of the Thaaliba to Spain, where he swore an oath of allegiance and presented gifts to Ferdinand. To ensure the fulfillment of the piracy requirements and to observe the residents of Algiers, Pedro Navarro captured the island of Peñon, within artillery range of the city, and built a fort there, garrisoned with 200 men. The Algerians sought to break free of the Spanish and took advantage of the excitement over the death of King Ferdinand to seek help from Oruç and his men.

New masters of Algiers

Oruç Raïs in combat, by Léopold Flameng

A delegation to Jijel in 1516 complained to Oruç of the constant distress and danger they faced. He had planned a final offensive against Bejaia, but abandoned his plans to help the citizens of Algiers. Oruç set out at the head of a land force of 5,000 Kabyles and 1,500 Turks, followed by 800 arquebusiers, while Hayreddin led a naval fleet of 16 galliots. They rendezvoused in Algiers, whose population celebrated their arrival and hailed them as heroes. Hayreddin launched a naval bombardment of the Spanish fort, and Oruç headed to Cherchell, then held by another Ottoman captain named Qara Hassan who had been cooperating with some Andalusian immigrants. Oruç eliminated him and took control of that city before returning to Algiers. Oruç's help had been sought to dislodge the Spaniards from their commanding position on the island, and although popular demand led to his intervention, the ruler of Algiers at that time - Salem al-Tumi - only acquiesced to his presence. Oruç did not possess the means to recover the Peñon of Algiers immediately, and as his presence often undermined al-Tumi's own authority, the latter eventually sought the help of the Spaniards to drive him out. In response, Oruc forced Algerian leaders to accept his authority, arresting and assassinating Salem al-Toumi. He proclaimed himself "Sultan of Algiers", and raised his banners in green, yellow, and red above the forts of the city.

The Spanish response

The Spaniards considered Oruç and his two brothers a severe threat to their interests in North Africa, and resolved to expel them. They allied with the Emir of Ténès - their subject - and wooed the followers of Salem al-Toumi and some of the leaders of neighboring tribes through their agents and spies. They sent a great force from Oran led by its Spanish governor Diego de Vera, which arrived in Algiers in late September 1516 and landed near Bab al-Oued. Oruç allowed the force to land then moved against it, taking advantage of their retreat and northern wind to drown, kill, and capture many of its men, in a total defeat for the Spaniards, and a momentous victory for Oruç, his brothers, and the residents of Algiers. This victory prompted the residents of Blida, Miliana, Médéa, Dellys and Kabylia to pledge allegiance to Oruç, further expanding his growing influence.

Campaign of Tlemcen in 1518

El Mechouar Palace (modern reconstruction) in Tlemcen, the former residence of the Zayyanids

In light of the Prince of Ténès - Hamid bin Abid - subjugation by the Spaniards and his active cooperation with them, such as his participation in the expedition against Algiers, Oruç elected to take revenge by seizing his city. He set off towards Ténès at the head of large force, vanquishing the enemy army at the Battle of Oued Djer before entering the city in June 1517, where he killed the prince and expelled the Spaniards stationed there. He then divided his newfound kingdom into two parts; an eastern part based out of Dellys to be ruled by his brother Hayreddin, and a western part centered on the city of Algiers to be ruled by him personally. While Oruç was in Ténès, a delegation from the city of Tlemcen came to him to complain about the poor conditions in their country and the growing threat of a Spanish occupation of their city, exacerbated by squabbling between the Zayyanid princes over the throne. Abu Ahmed III had seized the throne in Tlemcen by force after he expelled his nephew, Abu Zian III, and put him in prison. Oruç elected to fulfill the wishes of the delegation, and appointed his brother Hayreddin as a ruler over the city of Algiers and its surroundings.

The Death of Oruç Barbarossa

Oruç marched towards Tlemcen, capturing the castle of Banu Rashid along the way, and garrisoning it with a large force led by his brother Isaac in order to protect his rear. Oruç, along with his troops, entered the city and removed Abu Zayan from prison, restoring him to his throne, before progressing westward along the Moulouya to bring the Beni Amer and Beni Snassen tribes under his authority. Abu Zayan began to conspire against Oruç shortly after his reinstatement, plotting to assassinate him or to drive him from the country, which eventually prompted Oruç to arrest and execute him. Meanwhile, the deposed Abu Ahmed III fled to Oran to beg for help from his former enemies - the Spaniards - to retake his throne. The Spaniards chose to answer his pleas, capturing the Banu Rashid castle and killing the commander Isaac in late January 1519 with the help of a few local allies before marching against Tlemcen, which was placed under a severe siege. Oruç locked himself inside the Mechouar palace for several days to avoid a hostile populace which eventually opened the gates for the Spanish troops. Oruç attempted to flee Tlemcen under the cover of night in the direction of Bani Yazanasin near the sea coast, but the Spaniards became aware of this, pursuing him and killing him along with his Ottoman companions between Al-Maleh (Riosalado) and the corner of Sidi Musa in the same year. His head was then sent to Spain, where it was paraded across its cities and those of Europe. His robes were also sent to the Church of St. Jerome in Cordoba, where they were kept as a trophy.

Algiers joins the Ottoman Empire (1519-1533)

Hayreddin Barbarossa, first Beylerbey of Algiers

Hayreddin was proclaimed Sultan of Algiers sometime between the end of October and the beginning of November 1519. Following a disastrous attempt by the Spanish Empire to take Algiers in 1519 led by Hugo of Moncada, an assembly made up of Algerian notables and ulemas led a delegation to present to the Ottoman Sultan Selim I a proposal to attach Algiers to the Ottoman Empire. Hayreddin became increasingly aware of the necessity of Ottoman aid as the difficulties he had faced following the defeat at the hands of the Spaniards and Zayyanids years earlier were exacerbated by the reversal of his alliance with the Kingdom of Kuku after the death of its ruler, Ahmed Belkadi the Elder, which had joined forces with the Hafsids to inflict a severe defeat on him in the Isser Wadi in 1519. These losses, along with the deterioration of various forms of support on the internal level emphasized the necessity of external support to maintain his possessions around Algiers. To the notables and the mufti who proposed to him, on behalf of the population, to stay in Algiers to continue his work, Hayreddin declared:

In such a situation I see only one course to take: Algiers (the victorious city) must be put under the protection of Allah; and after him, under that of my sovereign and master, the powerful and redoubtable Emperor of the Ottomans. Victory directs his steps everywhere, and if he deigns to receive us as subjects, he will provide us with relief in money, men and munitions of war, which will allow us to brave and defeat our enemies.

As such, the delegation was tasked with making the strategic importance of Algiers in the Western Mediterranean understood to the Ottoman Sultan. The proposal was not initially welcomed with enthusiasm by Constantinople, which found the idea of integrating a territory so distant and so close to Spain into its sphere of influence unfeasible. The idea was even considered perilous and was only definitively accepted under Suleiman in 1521. Hayreddin Barbarossa was named Beylerbey (equivalent of Emir of emirs). The important role of the regency fleet in the Ottoman maritime campaigns and this voluntary membership gave a particular character to the relations between Algiers and Constantinople. The regency was considered not a simple province but an Imperial Estate. This state was very important in the eyes of the Turks, because it was the spearhead of Ottoman power in the western Mediterranean.

Hayreddin's reconquest of Algiers

Berber Musketeer from Kabylia

After the defeat at Isser against the joined Kuku-Hafsid forces then the capture of Algiers in 1520. the conquest of the Kabyles of Kuku began a five to seven years period of rule by the Sultan of Kuku Belkadi over Algiers (1520-1525/1527). This period marked the naming of places around Algiers where a mountain is called Djebel Kuku. Hayreddin only returned to Algeria in 1521, landing at Jijel from whence he allied himself with the Kabyles of Beni Abbas, rivals of Kuku. Hayreddin continued his progress in the east: taking Collo in 1521, Annaba and Constantine in 1523, then with the support of the Beni Abbès, crossed their stronghold of the Babors and the Soummam River. The Djurdjura was crossed without incident, but at Iflissen they had to face a detachment of Belkadi, which they defeated. Belkadi then withdrew to Tizi Naït Aicha (Thénia) to block the main access roads to Algiers. Hayreddin detoured to enter the Mitidja plain. Before the final battle. Belkadi was killed by one of his soldiers, and so the debacle caused by the assassination opened the way to Algiers, where the population, which had complained about Belkadi opened the doors to Hayreddin in 1525 or 1527.

Admiralty lighthouse in the port of algiers, built on the ruins of the peñón

But Algiers was still threatened by the Spaniards on the Peñon, from which they controlled the port. Hayreddin summoned the Spanish commander, Don Martin de Vargas, to surrender with his garrison of two hundred soldiers. With this ultimatum rejected, he attacked and bombarded the Peñon and captured it on May 27, 1529. With the materials salvaged, the island was attached to the land; Thus the harbor was enlarged to what would become a major Port and headquarters of the Algerian corsair fleet. The capture of the Peñon had a huge impact in Europe and Africa. The Ottomans were firmly established in Algiers; A new destiny was about to open up in the central Maghreb, a new state to be founded there.

Expedition to Cherchell

Portrait of Andrea Doria by Sebastiano del Piombo (1485–1547)

In Spain, the last successes of Hayreddin Barbarossa left a profound repercussion, the echo of which reached Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, then occupied in concluding the convention of Augsburg with the Lutherans. From there, the Emperor sent Andrea Doria the order to make a new attempt against the Barbary. In the month of July 1531, the Admiral left Genoa with twenty galleys, carrying 1500 landing men. He landed unexpectedly at Cherchell, seized that town and freed a thousand Christian captives who were imprisoned there. But the Turks took refuge in the citadel while Doria's troops disbanded to engage in looting. Taking advantage of this disorder, the Turks sallied out, individually massacred some of the invaders and forced the others to hasten to the galleys. Some of the other Turks opened fire on the galleys, as a result Doria set sail fearing that he may see his vessels sink and understanding that his soldiers were hopelessly lost. Barbarossa, supported with 35 galleys, attacked Doria near Genoa and burnt 22 Genoese galleys.

The Morisco rescue missions

The Moriscos had many opportunities to flee the Spanish inquisition and emigrate with the marauding Muslim ships in the western Mediterranean, to the point that Hayreddin ships transported to the shores of the Maghreb about 70,000 of them. Often, the number of ships was not sufficient to carry all the refugees, so the garrison was forced to land on the enemy's coast, leaving its place to the immigrants and remaining there as a guard for the ones left behind. In Algiers they settled at the top of the city from the suburb close to the Kasbah Palace in Algiers, which is the area known today as the "Thaghriyyin" or Tagarin, while others settled in Algerian cities east and west, where they built - as Al-Hassan bin Muhammad Al-Wazzan said: "2,000 houses, and among them were those who settled in Morocco and Tunisia. the Maghreb people learned much of their craft, imitated their luxury, and rejoiced in them".

Flagship model of Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha at Istanbul Naval Museum Oct 2013

Called in 1533 by the Sultan to exercise the function of Kapudan Pasha, Hayreddin Barbarossa gave a last speech to the Algerians, which is recorded in an Arabic manuscript that is quoted by Jean Michel de Venture de Paradis (1898):

Now that there is nothing left to do for your happiness and the safety of the city, I have resolved to leave you; other works, other combats call me; I am leaving places where Christians will no longer dare to reappear and I am going to seek, under the glorious and invincible banners of the sultan, new opportunities to fight the infidels. When I came among you, you were weak, without money, without guns, without warriors; I leave you today a troop of brave men who will know how to make the Algerian name respected, and ships, munitions of war to attempt new enterprises. Your ramparts are guarded by more than four hundred pieces of cannon, which your enemies themselves brought to you and which Allah caused to fall into your hands at the moment when they were about to crush you. So here I am at peace with your fate: the time when I can leave you has finally come. Choose among you the one whom you will believe the most worthy to command and swear to obey him faithfully!.

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  Gaspar Bouttats: Portrait of Horruc (Barbarossa), etching, 1681. Inscription: "Horruc Corsair of the Turks". National Library of Spain.
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  Oruç Raïs statue in Aïn Témouchent, Algeria
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  Reproduction of Oruç Barbarossa's ship, in Jijel, Algeria
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  Flag of the Barbarossa brothers in the National Maritime Public Museum, Algiers
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  Hayreddin Barbarossa, by Algerian miniaturist Mohammed Racim

Hayreddin's successors

Shipwreck of Christian ships in the bay of Algiers, 1541

Hayreddin Barbarossa established the military basis of the regency. The Ottomans provided a supporting garrison of 2,000 troops with artillery. He left Hasan Agha in command as his deputy when he had to leave for Constantinople in 1533.

Charles V expedition to Algiers

Main article: Algiers expedition (1541)

Two years later in 1535, Charles V of Spain conquered Tunis against the troops of Hayreddin Barbarossa and established Spanish guardianship over the city. In October 1541, an expedition was led this time against Algiers to put an end to the Barbary pirates who were spreading terror in the western Mediterranean. A fleet led by Andrea Doria was dispatched with the help of the allied nations including the fleets of the Republic of Genoa, the Kingdom of Naples, the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem to transport the troops from Spain and the Netherlands. Embarked late, the fleet arrived in front of Algiers as a storm formed.

Portrait of Charles V by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz (after Titian).

The landing of the troops was delayed due to an increasing storm and extremely unfavorable conditions, the troops on the ground, exhausted, were defeated on October 25 by the Algerian defenders led by Hayreddin's deputy Hassan Agha, who personally held a brilliant defence at the gate of bab Azzoun and caused massive casualties among the Maltese knights. Meanwhile, the fleet was in great distress, Ships were thrown to the rocky coast and rescuers were unable to approach. The siege was finally lifted by order of Charles V, sounding a difficult retreat under the assaults of the enemy cavalry, the troops still managed to reach Cap Matifou where Doria awaited them with the remaining ships. After losing 12,000 men, and leaving war material, including 100 to 200 guns which would be recovered to furnish the ramparts of Algiers, the Christian ships reached Bougie after two days. Charles' army was taken prisoner in such numbers that the markets of Algiers were filled with slaves, so much that in 1541 Christians were said to have been sold for an onion per head. Hasan Agha was rewarded with the title of Beylerbey for his exploits over the Chiristian forces.

War with Spain for the Zayyanid Kingdom

Main article: Capture of Béjaïa (1555)

Main article: Expedition to Mostaganem (1558)

Christian and Islamic possessions in western mediterranean in 1559, by Homem, Diogo (1520?-1576)

In 1534, Martín Alonso Fernández de Córdoba Montemayor y Velasco, conde de Alcaudete took over the stronghold of Orán, from where successive expeditions set out to try to gain control of Mostaganem.

The first expedition was carried out in 1543, in which the Count of Alcaudete and his son Alonso de Córdoba, Count of Alcaudete mobilized an army between 5,000 and 7,000 men. They left on March 21, and first attacked Mazagrán and then besieged Mostaganem. The Turks sent six ships from Algiers, and had about 1,500 men to defend the city. The absence of artillery made it impossible to breach the city walls, and they had to lift the siege and withdraw at night. Yet the Turks were warned, and caused a large number of casualties among the Spanish troops on their return to Oran.

In 1544, Hasan Pasha, Hayreddin's son, became the first governor of the Regency of Algiers to be directly appointed by the Ottoman Sultan, according to Diego de Haëdo, he took the title of beylerbey through a demand by Hayreddin Barbarossa to the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.

In 1547, Count Alcaudete made a second expedition, arriving first at Mazagrán on August 21, and later moving on to Mostaganem. In this case, the city was defended only by forty Turks, although they later received reinforcements from Algiers. Despite the insistent artillery attacks from the Spanish, the Ottoman Algerian resistance meant that the count's troops had to retreat hastily towards Oran, again suffering significant casualties. Both defeats were caused by poor campaign planning, a shortage of ammunition, and a lack of experience and discipline among the Spanish troops.

Spanish Men-of-War Engaging Barbary Corsairs, by Cornelis Vroom (1590/1592–1661)

In 1551 Hasan Pasha, the son of Hayreddin, defeated the Spanish-Moroccan armies during a campaign to recapture Tlemcen, thus cementing Ottoman control in western and central Algeria. After that, the conquest of Algeria sped up. In 1552 Salah Rais, with the help of some Kabyle kingdoms, conquered Touggourt, and established a foothold in the Sahara. A year later, Salah Raïs expelled the Portuguese from the penon of Valez before leaving a garrison there.

In 1555, the Regency of Algiers managed to score a decisive victory against the Spanish empire in Bougie and another in Mostaganem three years later, thus cementing Ottoman control in North Africa for good. During the 16th, 17th, and early 18th century, the Kabyle Kingdoms of Kuku and Ait Abbas managed to maintain their independence repelling Ottoman attacks several times, notably in the First Battle of Kalaa of the Beni Abbes then in the Battle of Oued-el-Lhâm.

Ottoman dominance in the Maghreb

Main article: Sieges of Oran and Mers El Kébir

Ottoman Algeria in 1560

Algiers became a base in the war against Spain and also in the Ottoman conflicts with Morocco. In the west, the Algerian-Sharifian conflicts shaped the western border of Algeria. There were numerous battles between the Regency of Algiers and the Sharifian Saadi dynasty in Morocco. For example: The campaign of Tlemcen in 1551 and the campaign of Tlemcen in 1557, in which the independent Kabylian Kingdoms had significant involvement. The Kingdom of Beni Abbes participated in the campaign of Tlemcen in 1551 and the Kingdom of Kuku also participated in the Battle of Taza (1553) and the capture of Fez in 1554 in which Salih Raïs defeated the Moroccan army and conquered Morocco up until Fez, placing Ali Abu Hassun as the ruler and vassal to the Ottoman sultan. In October 1557, a Ottoman army was sent to Tuat against Mohammed al-Shaykh, the Saadi ruler of Morocco at the time, in order to lift the blockade imposed by his troops, decisively defeating his army and lifting the siege off the region.

Between April and June 1563 the Regency of Algiers launched a major military campaign to retake the Spanish military-bases of Oran and Mers el Kébir on the North African coast, occupied by Spain since 1505. Algiers, the Principalities of Kabylia (Kuku and Beni Abbes), and other vassal tribes combined forces as one army under Hasan Pasha, and Jafar Catania. The Spanish commander brothers, Alonso de Córdoba Count of Alcaudete and Martín de Córdoba, managed to hold the strongholds of Oran and Mers El Kébir, respectively, until the relief fleet of Francisco de Mendoza arrived and successfully caused the attackers to rout.

Barbary corsairs in the Battle of Lepanto (1571), by Laureys a Castro

After the failed Ottoman siege of Malta in 1565 and the revolt of the Moriscos in 1568, the Beylerbey of Algiers, Uluç Ali, set off over land toward Tunis with 5300 Turks and 6000 Kabyle cavalry. Uluç Ali defeated the Hafsid Sultan at Béja, and conquered Tunis without suffering great losses. He then brilliantly led Algerian corsairs on the left wing of the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, where he managed to vainquish the Christian right wing led by Giovanni andrea doria and his Maltese Knights before saving what remained of the defeated Ottoman navy. Meanwhile, Mulay Ahmad III was forced to take refuge in the Spanish presidio of La Goleta in the bay of Tunis. The Christian forces were able to recover Tunis in 1573. However, the Ottoman forces under Uluç Ali conquered Tunis yet again in 1574.

A miniature depicting Ramazan Pasha, the beylerbey of Algiers entering Fez in 1576

The Kingdom of Kuku provided Zwawa troops for the capture of Fez in 1576 in which Abd al-Malik was installed as an Ottoman vassal ruler over the Saadi dynasty by Caïd Ramazan pasha of Algiers. In 1578 an army corps of the Regency was sent to help the inhabitants of Tuat once again against the Saadis and allied tribes from Tafilalt, this army corps did not return to Algiers until it had completed its mission and sent "a written warning to the assailants". In the same year, Spain would send an embassy to Constantinople in 1578 to negotiate a truce, leading to a formal peace in August 1580 since the Regency of Algiers was a formal Ottoman territory at that time, rather than just a military base in the war against Spain.

Relations with Ottoman empire worsen

16th century copy of the 1569 Capitulations between Charles IX and Selim II.

After the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, the Ottoman hold over Algiers weakened; The Pasha, representative of Isbanbul, did not in fact have full authority, over time, the corsair captains, commonly known as "Raïs", and Janissaries who made up the "Odjak", acted only according to their interests as Imperial fleets left the waters for intense piracy. In the early 17th century, European nations signed peace treaties that ended hostilities with the Ottoman Empire, including Austria (1606) and the Netherlands (1612). Spain made peace with France (1598), England (1604), and the Netherlands (1609). Before that, France and Great Britain concluded so-called Capitulations treaties with the Ottoman Empire in 1536 and 1579 respectively. These capitulations gave extraterritorial rights to foreigners living in the Ottoman Empire. They were originally intended to encourage trade, but were gradually used by Europeans to establish spying networks in the Ottoman Empire. Algiers disapproved of Constantinople's foreign policy, which it believed gave too many privileges to foreigners.

The Ottoman Capitulations to France

The Janissaries who were stationed in and paid by Algiers, started to disregard the sultan's orders. They decided sovereignly on war operations through their military council, also known as "Diwan", taking into account neither the capidji (Imperial envoy) sent by the sultan nor the alliances concluded by Istanbul. The Sublime Porte renewed the treaty in 1604 giving even more privileges to France in total ignorance of Algerian interests. Clause 14 of the treaty, for example, authorized the French king to use force against Algiers in case the treaty was not respected. This prompted Khider Pasha of Algiers to attack a French trade center in eastern Algeria known as the Bastion of France, the pasha himself seized 6,000 sequins which the sultan Ahmed l had sent to French merchants to compensate them for losses caused by the raid on the Bastion an act for which the Sultan ordered Khider pasha hanged up, even after the nomination of a new pasha, the French could not rebuild this Bastion: the diwan of the Janissaries opposed it and decreed that whoever undertook it would be punished by death. The diwan even refused to receive the French envoy accompanied by a representative of the sultan. It's quite simply that relations with France were seen in a diverging way by Algiers and by Istanbul.

Ali Bitchin Raïs

Battle of Vlorë in 7 august 1638, by Antonio Landi

The Raïs, who formerly responded to the sultan's slightest appeal, would soon discuss his orders. They began by demanding compensation when they were asked for a ship; they even demanded that any indemnity be paid in advance. In 1638, they felt they had been betrayed by Istanbul. They had been called by the sultan Murad IV to fight Venice, but a storm having forced them to take shelter in a port, the Venetians attacked them there and destroyed part of their fleet in Valona. The sultan refused to compensate the corsairs for their losses. Then, Venice having bribed the vizier, peace was made to the great anger of Algerian corsairs.

A raïs, Ali Bitchin, head of the tai'fa (community of Corsair captains) from 1630 to 1646, became, at that time, the main character in Algiers. Admiral of all the galleys, head of the corporation of corsairs, he was immensely rich: having two palaces in Algiers, a mosque built by himself, nearly 500 slaves in his private prisons, not counting those who rowed on his galleys. Married to a daughter of the King of Kuku, thus benefiting from the sympathy of the Kabyles, relying on the Koulouglis, counting on his friend Ali Arbadji pasha of Tripoli, Ali Bitchin wanted to be the chief of Algiers and pursue an independent policy, as he refused to answer positively to sultan Ibrahim IV's request to join the Cretan war. Fearing to see an autonomous power assert itself, the sultan sent in 1645 to Algiers two chaouch to bring him the head of Ali Bitchin and those of four other heads of the tai'fa. But at the call of Ali Bitchin, the population rose up and the Pasha of Algiers, accused of being the instigator of these schemes, was arrested. The diwan of the militia had tolerated Ali Bitchin's insubordination, but in return demanded that he pay the Janissaries' salaries. Ali Bitchin took refuge in Kabylia, stayed there for nearly a year, then returned in force to Algiers. He reigned there as a true master, claimed the official title of pasha and claimed from the sultan Mehmed IV, in 1649, 60,000 golden soltanis for the dispatch of 16 galleys. The sultan then appointed another pasha, and when the latter arrived, Ali Bitchin died suddenly, possibly poisoned.

Relations with the Kingdom of France

The Bastion de France trade center

Bastion de France in the 18th century

In 1561, two merchants from Marseilles, Thomas Linchès and Carlin Didier, joined hands to trade with the tribes of the Algerian coast and founded, to the east of Bône, a trading post and a station for fishing coral, under the name of the Bastion de France. The concessions carried on a great trade in grain; in ordinary times the authorities of Algiers saw no harm in it, but in the event of famine they did not allow the export of wheat.

In 1604, Khider Pasha attacked the Bastion of France in clear defiance to the Ottoman capitulations to France; King Henry IV envoy came to Algiers accompanied by a capidji from the Porte with a firman from the sultan Ahmed I ordering the release of the French captives and the rebuilding of the Bastion, yet the Janissary Aghas revolted, their diwan refused to authorize the reconstruction of the Bastion and agreed to hand over the French captives only on condition that the Muslims detained in Marseilles were to be released.

The missions of Sanson Napollon and Sanson Le Page (1619-1637)

Battle of a French ship of the line and two galleys of the Barbary corsairs by Théodore Gudin (1802–1880)

France then decided to negotiate directly with Algiers. Negotiations began in 1617 but soon reached an impasse. Part of the trouble stemmed from the question of the return of two Algerian cannons seized by the Dutch corsair Zymen Danseker when he left the Algerian navy in 1607 and given to the Duke de Guise, governor of Provence. Two years later, a treaty was concluded in 1619.

Algerian authorities completely ignored the Franco-Ottoman alliance; One of their corsair captains had allegedly hijacked a provincial ship, and the Algerian delegation was massacred in Marseilles, nevertheless, the corso against French vessels continued, causing considerable losses. Louis XIII of France sent Captain Sanson Napollon to Algiers, who, seeing that the real power was not in Istanbul, preferred to come to an understanding with the representatives of the Raïs and the Janissaries. The latter demanded, above all, the release of the Turks of Algiers detained in the galleys of Marseilles. The King of France ordered the release of 200 Algerians and the return of the two Algerian bronze cannons in 1626, in addition to pay 16,000 pounds. Sanson therefore succeeded in obtaining a peace treaty in 1628, upon which the Algerians undertook to :

• Respect the French coast and vessels,
• Prohibit in their ports the sale of goods seized on French ships,
• French traders could reside safely in Algiers,
• French concessions of the Bastion were recognized and protected,
• Trade in leather and wax allowed.

Sanson Napollon, who had been appointed chief of the Bastion de France, was able to offer Marseille all the wheat it needed. However, Marseilles captured fifteen Turks whose boat had separated from their ship and who, in application of the signed peace, were to be repatriated: they were all massacred. In 1629, an Algerian ship was docked near the French Salé: the whole crew was put on the benches of the schooner and the raïs taken prisoner to France.

Map from 1633 representing the balance of power in the Mediterranean in the 17th century: a Moorish archer (the "Sultan of Algiers") threatens the King of Spain Philip IV with his bow while Louis XIII, King of France, watches over them. Illuminated manuscript from the National Library of France.

The Raïs resumed the corso against the French; In 1634, the King of France charged Sanson Le Page with a new mission in Algiers. He promised to exchange eight captives in Marseilles for 342 Frenchmen held in Algiers. But his mission failed. In 1637, Sanson Le Page, brought with him the Turks claimed by Algiers; but he could not land at Algiers. The same year, Ali Bitchin razed the French fortress and the diwan decided that "never the said Bastion would recover, neither by request of the King of France, nor by command of the Grand Sultan, and that the first who would speak of it would lose his head". But three years later, in 1640, a new treaty restored to France its establishments in Africa, and French merchants received authorization to trade in Bone and Collo; the coral fishermen obtained on their side assistance and security. In exchange for these advantages, the merchants promised to pay the Pasha a sum equivalent to nearly 17,000 pounds.

African campaigns (1663-1665)

Main article: Djidjelli expedition

Engraving from 1664, depicting the French landing and the provisional capture of Djidjelli by a French squadron commanded by the Duke of Beaufort

In 1650, the Raïs operated in the very waters of Marseilles, and ravaged Corsica; in 1651 they landed near Civitavecchia and took many prisoners in the Roman countryside. The goods taken by the Algerians were sold by the merchants of Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Genoa and Livorno, who became the corsairs' brokers. Spain was powerless, Sicily and the small islands of Italy were incapable of opposing the raïs any longer, France was engulfed in the wars of Fronde. However, the reaction of the Europeans was not long incoming: British Admiral Blake, the French Levant fleet, the Dutch with Michiel de Ruyter, and the Knights of Malta resumed their offensives against the Algerian fleet. In 1658, Cardinal Mazarin even gave the order to reconnoitre the Algerian coasts with a view to a permanent installation; he was advised on Bone, Jijel and Collo. So it was suggested to First minister of State Jean-Baptiste Colbert in 1662 the occupation of Collo and Jijel, so he mobilized large forces and directed them to occupy Collo in the spring of 1663, but the expedition ended in a failure. In July 1664, King Louis XIV directed another military campaign against Jijel, which was occupied for nearly three months, but it also ended in a defeat. Despite a minor victory against Algerian vessels near Cherchell in 1655, France was forced to negotiate with Algiers and sign the May 7, 1666 agreement, which stipulated the implementation of the 1628 agreement, the release of prisoners from both sides, and the safety of the ships of both sides at sea. After the conclusion of the treaty, there was relative calm between the two countries, due to the intervention of other forces in the conflict.

Franco-Algerian war (1681-1689)

Main article: Franco-Algerian war (1681–1688)

View of the Fort of Tamentfoust near Algiers

King Louis XIV sought to have the French flag respected in the Mediterranean, to preserve the economic advantages already obtained, and to play the role of "Most Christian King" (Rex Christianissimus) against Islamic powers, while seeing to the maintaining the French alliance with the Sublime Porte. France tried to settle the question of the Bastion, and the Spaniards of Oran tried to occupy Tlemcen and the English fleet threatened Algiers. But Algiers did not yield to these intimidations: any concession was refused to the French, the Spaniards were pushed pack to Oran in 1675, and the raïs dispersed the English ships which in 1678 threatened the city of Algiers.

German engraving of Mezzomorto Hussein Pacha, 1687

In 1677, following an explosion in Algiers and several attempts on his life, Dey Mohammed Trik escaped to Tripoli, leaving Algiers to Baba Hassan. Just one years into his rule he was already at war with one of the most powerful countries in Europe, the Kingdom of France. In 1682 France bombarded Algiers for the first time. The Bombardment was inconclusive, and the leader of the fleet Abraham Duquesne failed to secure the submission of Algiers. The next year, Algiers was bombarded again, this time liberating a few slaves. Before a peace treaty could be signed though, Baba Hassan was deposed and killed by a Raïs called Mezzo Morto Hüseyin. Continuing the war against France, the bombardments resumed, killing many victims. Mezzomorto threatened, if the firing did not cease, to put the Christian captives at the mouths of the cannons, still the bombardments continued. So he carried out his threats.

Portrait of Abraham Duquesne by Antoine Graincourt

Despite this, the bombardments continued until October, but the defenders of Algiers held firm, and Duquesne had to return to Toulon. In 1684, Louis XIV sent Duquesne, then Dussault to find an agreement; he had written to the sultan, who dispatched a delegation to the French squadron. After almost a month of negotiations, a treaty was signed in April 1684 which provided for numerous provisions: freedom of trade between the two countries, liberation of slaves, respect of the free passage for naval vessels, free exercise of the Christian religion, establishment of lists of products that are negotiable between the two countries, and assurance given to the Dey that his ambassador in Paris could ensure compliance with the treaty.

The reverse legend of this Dutch medal can be translated as the friend of the Turks, the friend of the Algerians, the friend of the Barbarians, hateful enemy of the Christians while on the right Louis XIV kneels before the Ottoman Sultan and the Dey of Algiers

Dutch medal titled : The humiliation of Louis XIV for the French-Algerian peace and the restitution of Avignon to Pope Alexander VIII, 1689

But the agreement was not respected: French corsairs, encouraged by Marseille merchants, again attacked Algerian ships. The Dey retaliated by arresting French nationals and even the consul, without however denouncing the treaty in 1686. The King of France supported the Marseillais and sent Marshal d'Estrées to Algiers with more than forty ships in June 1688; The bombardment lasted several days, a good part of the city was destroyed, yet the Algerian artillery sank several French ships. Hadj Mezzomorto killed more than forty Christians by cannon and the French responded by executing Muslim hostages on board, yet resistance in Algiers forced Marshal d'Estrées to withdraw his fleet. The Ottoman Sultan Suleiman II, at the request of the king of France, sent a new pasha to Algiers, but Mezzomorto did not let him disembark. In the end, however, the Janissaries revolted against Mezzomorto, whom they held responsible for the misfortunes of Algiers, and forced him to flee. The Dey Hadj Chaban who replaced him sent a plenipotentiary to Versailles; Stadtholder of the United Provinces William of Orange who was Louis XIV's most bitter personal enemy. Having become William III of England, immediately aroused a general coalition in Europe against the Sun King. The latter was then reduced to putting an end to the disputes which then opposed him to Pope Alexander VIII as well as to the Dey of Algiers. A peace treaty was finally signed in 1690.

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  The French fleet in front of Algiers in 1682.
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  Bombardment of Algiers by the squadron of Abraham Duquesne in 1682.
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  Alger que les Français bombardent en 1682. Dutch engraving from 1689.
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  Torment of the consul of Algiers, Jean Le Vacher, in retaliation for the bombardment of Algiers by Duquesne on July 26, 1683.
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  Liberation of Christian captives in 1683 after the bombardment of Duquesne.

Maghrebi Wars (1678-1707)

Algeria's relations with the rest of the Maghreb countries were mediocre for several historical reasons. Algiers considered Tunis a dependency by virtue of the fact that it was the one that expelled the Spaniards from it and annexed it to the Ottoman Empire which made the appointment of its pashas the prerogative of the Algerian beylerbeys, and on this basis Algiers was constantly trying to make this dependence a tangible reality. Tunis rejected this and saw that, like Algiers, it was subordinate to Constantinople. Tunisia also had ambitions in the Constantine region inherited from the Hafsid era. As for Morocco, it resisted from the beginning, and with determination, the Turks that sought to control it. It began to view Algiers as a danger hanging over it and therefore it must be avoided by all means, including conspiring with any foreign power. More than this, Morocco had ancient ambitions in western Algeria and Tlemcen in particular, and its sultans did not hide this desire. On this basis, relations between Ottoman Algeria and its neighbors were troubled most of the time.

Tunisian campaigns

Main article: Tunisian–Algerian War (1694)

Main article: Battle of Jouami' al-Ulama

Coat of arms of the Muradids in 1620

Tunis adamantly refused subordination to Algeria. Since 1590, the Diwan of Tunisian Janissaries revolted against Algiers, and the country became a vassal of Constantinople itself. In 1675, Murad II Bey died. This unleashed a twenty years civil wars between his sons. Dey Hadj Chaban would take this opportunity to lead victorious invasions in Tunis, such as the Battle of Kef, and the conquest of Tunis. Fed up with this situation, the Tunisians revolted and signed an alliance with the sultan of Morocco, which would soon culminate in the Maghrebi war (1699-1701).

In 1700, The Maghrebi war started. Murad III Bey of Tunis took the city of Constantine. It was not long before the regency of Algiers regained the upper hand and 7000 Tunisians were killed in the Battle of Jouami' al-Ulama. Ibrahim Cherif, the Agha of the Tunisian spahi cavalry, put an end to the Muradid regime, he was named Dey by the militia and made pasha by the Ottoman sultan. However, he did not manage to put an end to the Algerian and Tripolitan incursions. Finally defeated by the Dey of Algiers in 1705 near Kef on 8 July 1705, he was captured and taken to Algiers.

Vassalisation of the Tunisian Regency

Main article: Capture of Tunis (1756)

In 1705, Hussein I ibn Ali Bey founded the Husainid dynasty of Tunis. After a failed revolt, Abu l-Hasan Ali I Pasha took refuge in Algiers where he managed to gain the support of the Dey Ibrahim Pasha. Hassan Bey of Constantine dispatched a force of 7,000 men led by Danish slave Hark Olufs to invade Tunis in 1735 and install Ali Pasha there as its Bey, who recognised himself as a vassal of Algiers and paid an annual tribute to the Dey.

Another campaign was directed against Tunis in 1756. Taken prisoner by the Algerians, Ali I Pasha was deposed, brought to Algiers in chains, and was strangled by supporters of his cousin and successor Muhammad I ar-Rashid on September 22. Algiers imposed a tribute on Tunis, the latter had to send oil to light the mosques of Algiers each year. Tunis had become a tributary of Algiers and continued to pay an annual tribute and recognise Algerian suzerainty for more than 50 years.

Moroccan campaigns

Main article: Battle of Moulouya

Main article: Siege of Oran (1693)

Main article: Battle of Chelif

Ismail Ibn Sharif, the second Alaouite Sultan

In 1678, Moulay Ismail mounted an expedition to Tlemcen. He assembled his contingents in the Upper Moulouya, joined by the tribes of Orania (Segouna, Hamiane, Hashem) and advanced as far as the Chelif region to fight battle there. The Turks of Algiers brought in the artillery, which terrified the auxiliary tribes of the Moroccan sovereign, who then broke away from him. thus Moulay Ismail ended up negotiating with Dey Chaban and fixing the border on the Moulouya, which throughout the Saadian period, had separated the two countries. In 1690-1691, Moulay Ismail resumed his project and launched a new offensive against Orania. To the 22,000 Moroccan soldiers, the Dey Chaban opposed 10,000 Janissaries and Zouaoua contingents. He defeated the Moroccans on the Moulouya and forced them to accept the Treaty of Oujda which confirmed the Moulouya river as the border.

In 1694, the sultan of Istanbul invited that of Morocco to cease his attacks against Algiers.

Moulay Ismail's Oranian debacle

Map of Orania and the western province of the regency of Algiers, by Thomas Shaw (–1751)

In 1700, after coming to an agreement with the Tunisian Muradids who were to simultaneously attack Constantine, the Moroccan sovereign launched a new expedition against Orania with an army composed mostly of Black Guards. But, Moulay Ismail's 60,000 men were beaten again in the Chelif river by the Dey Hadj Mustapha, who brought back to Algiers an enormous booty. The regency of Algiers, occupied by the siege of Oran in the hands of the Spaniards, did not pursue hostilities, even if relations remained very tense. In the following years Moulay Ismaïl led Saharan incursions towards Ain Madhi and Laghouat without succeeding in settling there permanently. Following these expeditions, the Dey of Algiers, Moustapha II then wrote to Moulay Ismaïl about the attachment of the Algerians and their territory to the power of the regency of Algiers.

As the Algerian assault on Spanish Oran was imminent, Moulay Ismail made one last attempt to capture Oran in 1707, which didn't bring a different outcome from previous encounters with the Algerians. Moulay Ismail's army was almost entirely destroyed, yet the Moroccans had still been able to preserve the independence of their country, but by renouncing any project of expansion towards Orania.

War with Spain in the 18th century

The capture of Oran in 1708

View of Oran in 1732, by Homann Heirs

Taking advantage of the War of the Spanish succession, Dey Mohamed Bektash sent 8500 regular soldiers and many volunteers against Spanish Oran. The battalions went out on board the ships, led by Hassan Uzun, the son-in-law of the Dey, on 2 June 1707. At the head of the army was Bey "Bouchelaghem" Mustafa bin Youssef Al-Masrati, the ruler of Mazuna. The city of Oran was besieged by Bouchelaghem bey's forces and the two towers defending it were overrun on 20 January 1708 after 400 Spanish soldiers surrendered. The Algerian assault kept the pressure on the Spaniards this time in Mers El Kebir. Despite heavy fighting the Algerians captured the city and took 2000 captives, among them French officers and Maltese volunteers.

The military success of the Algerians surprised the Spanish government but also all of the European states at that time. In the Muslim world it was seen as a victory over Christianity. The city of Oran was repopulated with people from all over the western beylik with an influx, in particular, of craftsmen and traders. It opened a first period, from 1708 to 1732, where the city was in the hands of the regency of Algiers before the Spaniards recovered it in 1732.

Spanish reconquest of Oran in 1732

Main article: Spanish conquest of Oran (1732)

Don José Carrillo de Albornoz, Duke of Montemar, leader of the expedition against Oran

On June 15, 1732, a Spanish campaign under José Carrillo de Albornoz, 1st Duke of Montemar set sail for Oran. Mustapha Bouchelaghem, conqueror of Oran and its Bey since 1707, decided to withdraw from the city and evacuate its inhabitants and defenders after joining a massive battle, as he saw that the means of defense in his hands could not at all enable him to confront the huge Spanish numbers. The Spaniards entered the city on the eve of the first of July 1732.

As soon as news of the fall of the city reached Algiers, a wave of grief and worry gripped it, and Dey Abdi Pasha refrained from eating out of grief and distress, until he died at the age of 88. The Spaniards could not move into the interior, and returned most of their forces to Spain, leaving the two cities with enough men to defend them. The Algerians attacked the city on the 12th of December then on June 10 in 1733 without notable success. In 1734, Bouchelaghem attacked the center of El-Ayoun around Oran and reached the gates of the city, but was unable to occupy it. Oran and Mers-el-Kebir remained under tight siege for more than fifty years.

Spanish–Algerian war (1775–1792)

Main article: Invasion of Algiers (1775)

Main article: Bombardment of Algiers (1783)

Main article: Bombardment of Algiers (1784)

Algiers under fire from Spanish and Maltese Men o’War in 1784, British School, 18th Century

In 1775, a Spanish Expedition intended to reduce the pirates of the Mediterranean was ordered by the Irish admiral Alejandro O'Reilly, resulting in a heavy failure of the attackers; 8000 Spaniards were killed, and the Algerians lost 300 soldiers. The assault was a spectacular failure and the campaign a humiliating blow to the Spanish military reorganisation. Overwhelmed, the Spaniards took advantage of the night to embark, abandoning 17 copper guns and other equipment.

From August 1 to August 9, 1783, a Spanish squadron of 25 ships bombarded Algiers, but failed to overcome the defenses of the city. The Spanish squadron, composed of four ships of the line and six frigates, did not inflict significant damage on the city and had to withdraw.

The commander of this fleet and that of 1784 was Spanish Admiral Antonio Barceló. A European league uniting the Spanish Empire, the Kingdom of Portugal, the Republic of Venice and the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem and composed of one hundred and thirty ships began to bombard Algiers on July 12, 1784. This bombardment was a failure, and the Spanish squadron fell back against the defense of the city. The Dey Mohamed ben-Osman asked for an indemnity of 1,000,000 pesos to conclude a peace in 1785. This was followed by a period of negotiation (1785–87) to achieve a lasting peace between Algiers and Madrid.

The Spanish expeditions having almost all experienced a catastrophic outcome, the Algerians use the term "Spagnolata" in Lingua franca to designate a poorly conceived military enterprise, executed without art or energy.

Recapture of Oran and Mers el-Kébir: End of 300 years war between Spain and Algiers

The Spanish-Algerian Peace Treaty of 1791, according to which Mers-el-Kebir and Oran once again became the property of the Algerian state, ending almost 300 years of war between the two states.

In 1791, the reconquest of Oran and Mers el-Kébir began. Oran, then under Spanish domination, was a concern for the Spanish court. In the 18th century. The Spaniards swung between two imperatives: preservation of their presidency and maintaining a fragile peace with Algiers. The Spanish representative asked the Dey for a truce while he consulted the Council of State in Madrid, in order to study a proposal for the transfer of the two cities. A truce of one month was granted on March 20, 1791. However certain guarantees requested by the Spaniards (concerning the corso and the demolition of the Spanish forts) were considered an offense by Algiers, which ordered the resumption of hostilities in May 1791. Mohamed el Kebir Bey needed artillery to remove the Spanish defences, so the Dey of Algiers dispatched reinforcements.

The death of Mohamed Ben-Osman, and the election of Sidi Hassan, his first Secretary of State as Dey, once again gave Spain some respite. As negotiations resumed with Count Floridablanca: Spain undertook to restore "freely and voluntarily" the two cities. In exchange, it had the exclusive right to trade certain agricultural products in Oran and Mers-el-Kébir. The peace treaty was signed in Algiers on September 12, 1791 by Dey Hassan Pasha and ratified in Madrid, on December 12 of the same year, by King Charles IV. On February 12, 1792, the Spanish soldiers evacuated the city, and Mohammed el Kebir Bey entered Oran.

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  Entrance to the Mosque of Hassan Pasha, Oran
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  Santa Cruz church, Oran
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  Ramparts of the Fort of Santa Cruz, Oran
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  The gate of Spain, Oran

Barbary diplomacy with European powers

The Barbary States, by Anthony Finley (1824)

International recognition

European authors continued to view the Ottoman Regencies as 'dens of pirates' and their actions as "African banditry", but France, the Dutch Republic and England all concluded peace treaties with the North African Regencies in the 17th century. These treaties prompted legal theorists in Europe to change their views about the general status of the regencies. Hugo Grotius would implicitly admit that Algiers exercised the Jus ad bellum of a sovereign power through its corsairs. The treaties were also influential in the development of the law of the sea and The Law of Nations.

Irish lawyer Charles Molloy wrote in 1682 regarding those shifts in dealing with : "Pirates that have reduced themselves into a Government of State, as those of Algier, Sally, Tripoli, Tunis, and the like" and should not "obtain the rights of solemnities of war." He added:

Tunis and Tripoli and their Sister Algier do at this day (though Nests of Pirates) obtain the right of Legation' demonstrated by the treaties concluded by Britain with Tunis and Tripoli. This makes them not Pirates (enemies of mankind) but gives them the status of enemies (in war): So that now (though indeed Pirates) yet having acquired the reputation of a Government, they cannot properly be esteemed Pirates but Enemies.

In 1737, Dutch jurist and legal theorist Cornelius van Bynkershoek wrote:

The peoples of Algiers, Tripoli, Tunis, and Salee are not pirates, but rather organized states, which have a fixed territory in which there is an established government, and with which, as with other nations, we [i.e. the Staten-General] are now at peace, now at war. Hence they seem to be entitled to the rights of independent states.

Foreign policy

A View of the Country House of John Falcon Esq., H. M. Consul General at Algiers

In light of Algiers refusing to abide by the Capitualtions treaties bounding the Sublime Porte with European states in the 17th century, Europe negotiated with Algiers through its admirals. Treaties would be concluded about commerce, tribute payment and redemption of slaves. Algerian relations with European powers were based on averting any coalition that could pose a serious threat to it. Therefore It played off adversaries that could have outmatched the Regency in case they united against it. As such, The Deys negotiated numerous treaties with European countries, often thereby asserting their independence in matters of foreign policy. Very cleverly, they tried to deal with each country separately, while negotiating with the French to better attack the English or the Dutch, and vice versa, giving a fine example of how useful this technique could be in the international relations of states. And so Algiers was declaring war against every country with which it did not conclude treaties, foremost of which was Spain. When a European nation was at war with Algiers, it almost inevitably meant that its shipping could not compete with other shipping in the region whose the home nation was at peace with the North African Regency. In fact only ships from European countries that were at peace with Algiers could expand the handling of merchant shipping in the Mediterranean, now called cabotage. European vessels carried Passports issued by the their diplomatic mission in Algiers to protect them from Algerian cruisers and also to resolve disputes over prizes.

For three centuries, Algerine foreign relations were conducted in such a manner as to preserve and advance the state's interests in total indifference to the actions of its adversaries, and to enhance Ottoman interests in the process. Algerine foreign policy was flexible, imaginative, and subtle; it blended an absolute conviction of naval superiority and belief in the permanence of the state as a vital cog in the political community of Islam, with a profound understanding of the fears, ambitions, and rivalries of Christian Europe.

— William Spencer, Algiers in the Age of the Corsairs

Britain

Main article: English expedition to Algiers (1620–1621)

HMS Mary Rose in battle with seven Algerine pirate ships on 28 December 1669, by Willem van de Velde the Younger

Treaty of peace and trade between England and Algiers on April 23, 1662

In 1621, English admiral Robert Mansell took part in an expedition during which he sent fireships (old burnt ships) against the pirate fleet moored in the bay of Algiers. This expedition was a failure and Mansell had to withdraw, he was recalled to England on May 24, 1621.

James I negotiated directly in Constantinople in 1622 with the Pasha of Algiers, who happened to be visiting there. Until 1662, no country succeeded in permanently holding the "free ship and free goods" principle from the Algerian Pirates. When England received the clause that year, the situation changed radically. Britain introduced a series of anti-counterfeiting and mandatory 'Algerian Passports' on its southbound merchant ships, guaranteeing each ship's authenticity in case it encountered Algerian pirate vessels. Faced with the subsequent strong growth of the British fleet in the Mediterranean, the Algerians broke the peace twice in the following years (1668-1671, 1677-1682) and privateered wars against the British, who reacted strongly every time. Two wars ended with mixed results for Algiers, the first of which led to a regime change in the Regency. Yet the second one witnessed Algiers forcing the English monarch Charles II to recognise his subjects as slaves in Algiers. When Algiers faced dangerous French attacks in the 1680s, Algiers finally opted for a lasting peace with England that would last more than 140 years.

Dutch Republic

Main article: Dutch-Barbary war (1618-1622)

Main article: Dutch-Algerian War (1716-1726)

View of Algiers with de Ruyters ship 'De Liefde', 1662, by Reinier Nooms (1623/1624–1664)

The Dutch recognized the impact of the Anglo-Algerian peace on their own shipping activities. Various reports of Armenian merchants arriving at The Hague, from the courts of Madrid or from Messina, all indicated that goods were being transferred from the Dutch to the British. Thus, from 1661 to 1663, the Republic, under the command of Michiel de Ruyter, sent without success several squadrons of warships to settle the matter and force the Algerians to accept a treaty of permanent peace.

Peace treaty between Algiers and the Dutch Republic on 8 September 1726

From 1679 to 1686, the Republic was able to maintain an uneasy peace with Algiers thanks to the skills of the Dutch diplomat Thomas Hees, thus securing a significant share of peaceful trade with southern Europe, in return for sending cannons, gunpowder and naval stores in form of tribute, which sucited vivid condemnations from France and England. Yet the peace didn't last, and between 1714 and 1720, 40 ships were made prizes and 7500 seamen were reduced to slavery.

Finally, the Dutch achieved the peace they had longed for after much negociations. In his first letter, the new Dutch consul in Algiers, Ludwig Hameken, asked for a Mediterranean passport because Algerians "can't tell a Dutchman from a hamburger", and agreed to pay a yearly tribute for a whole century. When Britain went to war with Spain (1727-1729), the Dutch managed to stay ahead of their main rivals. But after the war, the British shipping industry in the Mediterranean flourished, while the Dutch never kept up the competition.

Scandinavian countries

Kingdom of Sweden

Treaty of peace and trade, between the Kingdom of Sweden, and the Republic of Algiers, 1729. (left), Peace articles between the King of Denmark and the Dey of the Republic of Algiers, 1746. (right)

Sweden's contact with Algiers was a desire to prevent it from attacking Swedish merchant ships in warm waters. The solution to protect its economic security was to follow the path of other European countries, and to offer a proposal to sign a peace treaty between the two countries. This done in 1729. Thus, Algiers obtained a new financier for its fleet with marine construction materials, and Sweden entered the club of tax-paying countries for Algiers, and established - following the example of the French, the English and the Dutch - a consulate in Algiers, which was the first Swedish consulate in the entire Islamic world. George Lugie, the first Swedish consul in Algiers, wrote in a letter to the Swedish Chamber of Commerce dated 13 October 1738: "I can find no other way in which Algiers will be more useful to Sweden than by keeping the peace with it. Peace with Algiers gives our ships the freedom to sail safely to the Spanish and Portuguese shores as well as the rest of the mediterranean ports"

Kingdom of Denmark

Main article: Danish–Algerian War

In the mid-1700s Dano-Norwegian trade in the Mediterranean expanded. To protect the lucrative business against piracy, Denmark–Norway secured a peace deal with the states of the Barbary Coast. It involved paying an annual tribute to the individual rulers and additionally to the states.

In 1766, Algiers had a new ruler, Dey Baba Mohammed ben-Osman. He demanded that the annual payment made by Denmark-Norway be increased, and that he receive new gifts. Denmark–Norway refused the demands. Shortly after, Algerian pirates hijacked three Dano-Norwegian ships and allowed the crew to be sold as slaves. The Danes threatened to bombard the Algerian capital if the Algerians did not agree to a new peace deal on Danish terms. Algiers was not intimidated by the fleet, which was of two frigates, two bomb galiots and four ships of the line.

Algerian trade issues in the 18th century

Ex Voto of a Naval Battle between an Algerian vessel and a ship of the Order of Malta under Langon 1719

The Foreign trade was in the hands of foreigners. Algiers had no merchant navy: the Christians forbade it, not wanting direct trade between Muslims and Christians at any price. Throughout the 18th century, the armed corsairs of Malta had the mission of threatening trade with the Maghreb, of maintaining permanent insecurity against it and of defending the Christian monopoly. These corsairs were encouraged by The main task of the order which was: "to prevent the Turks from loading their goods on the ships of their nation and to keep them under European dependence".

Jewish hegemony on Algerian foreign trade

Jewish man from Algeria

The Jews of Algiers became an economic power, eliminating many European houses from the Mediterranean, which deeply worried the Marseillais, who sought to defend their threatened monopoly. The French consuls resented the Jews almost violently and urged their King to pass ordinances that would prevent these favored Jews from trading in French ports. It was no use; the Jewish merchants had contacts, they dealt in prize goods from the corsairs as well as in more regular merchandise, and they were essential to the dey's government. Their economic power enabled them to play an important role in the internal and external policy of the Algerian State. The Jews were very skillful in mixing their personal affairs with the interests of the Algerian State, as they were at the origin of various Algerian disputes with Spain and especially with France. The Chamber of Commerce of Marseilles complained in a memoir in 1783:

Everything announces that this trade will one day imperceptibly be of some consideration, because the country has by itself a capital fund which has given the awakening to the peoples who live there, and that nothing is so common today, to see Algerians and Jews domiciled in Algiers coming to Marseilles to bring us the products of this kingdom.

French commercial barriers

Entrance of the Port of Marseille, by Joseph Vernet (1714–1789)

The French king was obliged to make good the losses to avoid further difficulty, for the French king's government established rules, port regulations, and tariff duties that made it practically impossible for a Muslim merchants to trade in French harbors. Thus, the Algerians could not actually carry their own cargoes of wool, hides, wheat, wax, honey, and other such commodities to the French market. The Marseillais wanted, for example, to prohibit the Algerian Jews from residing more than three days in their port, they appealed to the Dey to induce him to prohibit the Jews from going to trade in Marseilles. The Muslim merchants, who had their cemetery in Marseilles, also wanted to build a mosque, but they were refused. Moreover, the raïs, especially Christian converts to Islam, did not dare to land on Christian land, where they risked imprisonment and torture. Port regulations practically prevented them from trading with Europe in their own ships.

Unable to have commercial vessels, nor therefore to transport their goods themselves to Europe, the Algerians were forced to use the services of foreign intermediaries and to fall back on the Corso again to compensate for the lost money.

Barbary Wars with the United States of America (1785-1815)

The Bombardment of Algiers in 1816, by Martinus Schouman

During the early 19th century, Algiers again resorted to widespread piracy against shipping from Europe and the United States of America, mainly due to internal fiscal difficulties, and the damage caused by the Napoleonic Wars. This in turn led to the First Barbary War and Second Barbary War, which culminated in August 1816 when Lord Exmouth executed a naval bombardment of Algiers, the biggest, and most successful. The Barbary Wars resulted in a victory for the American, British, and Dutch navies since it culminated in the weakening of the Algerian navy and the liberation of 2000 Christian slaves.

United States Mediterranean policy

Main article: Algerian–American War (1785–1795)

Brigantine Polly of Newburyport Captured by Algerine Pirates, 1793

After Spain concluded a peace treaty with the Algiers in 1785, the Algerian corsair captains entered the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and attacked American ships, refusing to release them except after paying large sums of money. Two American ships, the schooner Maria, and Dauphin were captured by Algerian pirates in July 1785 and the survivors forced into slavery, their ransom set at $60,000. A rumor that Benjamin Franklin, who was en route from France to Philadelphia about that time, had been captured by Barbary pirates, caused considerable upset in the U.S.

Thomas Jefferson, who was elected to the presidency twice, was inclined to the idea of confronting Algiers with force. He wrote in his autobiograhpy:

I was very unwilling that we should acquiesce in the European humiliation of paying a tribute to those lawless pirates and endeavored to form an association of the powers subject to habitual depredations from them.

Map of Algiers during the Barbary wars, by Samuel Dunn (1794)

A proposal was given to put up a coalition of naval Warships from nations that were at war with the Barbary States, provided that naval operations would be directed against Algerian vessels in particular, and then impose a maritime Blockade on North Africa. When this proposal was presented to the concerned countries, France refused, and Spain apologized for not accepting it, because of its recent treaty with Algiers, and was favored by Portugal, Malta, Naples, Venice, Denmark and Sweden. But the project failed when the US Congress objected it for fear of its high financial costs, and more Algerian ships were attacking American ships because of their lack of association with Algiers by any treaty in this period. Thus, in February 1, 1791, the US Congress was forced to allocate 40,000 dollars to free American captives in Algiers. But two years later, it issued the "Naval Act of 1794"; A decision stipulating the need to establish a defensive naval fleet, but it stipulated in one of its articles that the project be stopped if an agreement was reached with Algiers.

During the presidency of George Washington (April 30, 1789 – 1797), and after America failed to form an American-European alliance against the Maghreb countries, the U.S. announced its desire to establish friendly relations with Algiers in February 1792, and reported this to the Dey Hassan III Pasha, just like the Kingdom of Great Britain, which used to buy peace and security for its ships with money.

United States pays tribute to Algiers

Treaty of Peace and Amity between the United States of America and Hassan Pasha Dey of Algiers, his diwan, and his subjects: a scan of the original document handwritten in Osmanli, signed September 5, 1795 in Algiers

When the American government began negotiating with Algiers, the Dey asked for 2,435,000 dollars as the price for the peace contract and the ransom of the prisoners, then reduced the amount to 642,500 dollars except for 21,000 dollars as the price for military equipment that is presented to Algiers every year. Reconciliation took place between the two parties, and the Dey pledged to mediate with Tunisia and Tripoli, so they would also sign this treaty, and peace would be achieved for America in the entire Mediterranean basin. On September 5, 1795, American negotiator Joseph Donaldson signed a peace treaty with the Dey of Algiers, and it included 22 articles that included an upfront payment of 642,500 dollars in specie (silver coinage) for peace, the release of American captives, expenses, and various gifts for the Dey's royal court and family. America suffered another humiliation when it sent tribute carried by a large armed frigate "USS George Washington (1798)" to Algiers; Dey Mustapha Pasha forced US commodore William Bainbridge to hoist an Ottoman Algerian flag over his warship before sailing to Constantinople carrying a tribute to the Ottoman sultan in 1800.

Stephen Decatur's Conflict with the Algerine at Tripoli, during the boarding of a Tripolitan gunboat on 3 August 1804

Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) started a campaign in 1801 to besiege Tripoli after its Emir Yusuf Pasha Al-Karamanli (1795-1832) declared war against America, claiming that the tribute paid to him was small, and this campaign did not succeed except in inspiring the Maghreb regencies stimulating more solidarity and interdependence among themselves. In accordance with the treaty that was concluded Between them, on June 30, 1805, America paid Algiers 60,000 dollars as a ransom for the prisoners, and agreed to continue sending gifts to the Dey and replace its consul with another one, then withdrew its fleet from the Mediterranean in 1807. As Lieutenant and consul William Eaton informed newly appointed Secretary of State John Marshall in 1800, "It is a maxim of the Barbary States, that 'The Christians who would be on good terms with them must fight well or pay well.'"

America paid to Algiers during the presidency of George Washington and his successor, John Adams (1797-1801), 1,000,000 dollars or a fifth of the government's annual budget then in tribute.

Second Barbary war

Main article: Second Barbary War

Commodore Decatur and the Dey of Algiers Haji Ali Pasha

When the war broke out between America and Britain in 1812, the regent on the British throne George III sent a letter to the Dey Haji Ali Pasha (1809-1815) confirming to him the bonds of friendship that united the two countries and declaring his country's readiness to defend Algiers against every aggressor as long as these ties remained. By that he intended to win over Algiers to Britain against America, or at least convince Algiers to adopt a position of neutrality. Thus, the countries of Europe and the United States of America failed to find an alliance or joint solidarity against the countries of the Islamic Maghreb and Algiers in particular, and the matter remained like that until the Napoleonic wars ended in 1815. President Madison recommended that Congress declare the "existence of a state of war between the United States and the Dey and Regency of Algiers." While Congress did not formally declare a state of war, they did pass legislation, enacted on March 3, 1815, that authorized the president to use the U.S. Navy, "as judged requisite by the President" to protect the "commerce and seamen" of the United States on the "Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and adjoining seas." Congress also authorized the president to grant the U.S. Navy the ability to seize all vessels and goods belonging to Algiers. The legislation also authorized the president to commission privateers for the same purpose.

Commodore Decatur's Squadron capturing the Algerian pirate ship Mashuda, on 17 June 1815. Mashuda, flagship of the Algerian Navy

During the reign of the Dey Omar Pasha (1815-1817), the American-Algerian relations worsened when the Dey began to demand an increase in the annual tribute. The Americans went to the waters of Algiers to fight under Commodore Stephen Decatur, which culminated in the Battle off Cape Gata and the death of the famous Corsair captain Raïs Hamidou. A letter to the Dey followed on April 12, 1815 informing him of America's decision to enter into war against him and giving him the choice between peace and war after reminding him of the horrors of war and the advantages of peace and understanding. In the year 1816, Dey Omar answered this letter and offered America the renewal of the previous treaty concluded during the reign of Hassan Pasha (1791-1798). American President Madison answered him immediately on August 21 of the same year and asked him to resume negotiations, which were renewed and ended with a peace agreement in favor of America. The Dey was forced to pay 10,000 dollars in compensation and to renounce all that America had been paying him.

French invasion

Main article: Invasion of Algiers in 1830

Landing at Sidi Fredj

During the Napoleonic Wars the Regency of Algiers had greatly benefited from trade in the Mediterranean, and the massive imports of food by France, largely bought on credit. In 1827, Hussein Dey, Algeria's ruler, demanded that the restored Kingdom of France pay a 31-year-old debt contracted in 1799 for supplies to feed the soldiers of the Napoleonic Campaign in Egypt.

The French consul Pierre Deval refused to give answers satisfactory to the Dey, and in an outburst of anger, Hussein Dey hit him with his fan. King Charles X used this as an excuse to break diplomatic relations and to start a full-scale invasion of the Algerian Regency on 14 June 1830: Algiers capitulated to the French on 5 July 1830 and Hussein Dey went into exile in Naples. Charles X was overthrown a few weeks later by the July Revolution and replaced by King Louis Philippe I.

Political status

Flag of the Barbarossa brothers

State of Algiers founded in 1516

Aruj's government

Aruj Barbarossa, a corsair chief, a skilful politician as well as a warrior, feared by the Christian armies in the Mediterranean, nevertheless tried, even at the expense of the Maghreb principalities, to build a powerful Muslim state in the center of the Maghreb. Fray Diego de Haedo, a Spanish Benedictine from Sicily, wrote between 1577 and 1581: "Aruj effectively "began the great power of Algiers and the Barbary".

Aruj sought the support of religious authorities, in particular of maraboutic and sufi orders. Exploiting the popularity of the marabouts for the benefit of his policy, he conveyed to them the idea of the form of government he was considering, called the "Odjak of Algiers". Everything depended on a sort of a military republic, analogous to that of the island of Rhodes occupied by the Christian Knights Hospitaller.

This constitution and the new power of Aruj, with religious sanction and the support of the scimitars of Turks and Christian renegades, allowed him a power freely accepted by the military, making his authority was absolute, accepted without resistance by the population. Power was in the hands of the soldiers of the Odjak, and native Algerians and Kouloughlis were excluded from high government positions. However, the split between the "imported" ruling elite and indigenous populations was not as significant, and should not be understood as disregard of the civilian, tribal and religious Moorish elite, as more complex divisions were also more important. The rule was never about the perpetual servitude of millions of "natives" by a few thousand "foreign" Janissaries. Aruj therefore left to his brother Khair ad-Din a heavy inheritance, "the core of an empire" well in the ground to produce the expected fruit of the new and modern policy of the south of the Mediterranean and of the central Maghreb, called "El-Djazair"(Algiers).

Khair ad-Din's consolidation

Portrait of Sultan Charardin of Algeria, Called Barbarossa, by Lorenzo de Musi (Italian, active c. 1535)

Khair ad-Din Barbarossa inherited his brother's position without opposition. To contain the revolts of his opponents and fight the Spanish Empire, he pledged allegiance to the Sublime Porte, and had himself recognized as sovereign by the Sultan with the title of beylerbey:. The new pasha of Algiers in fact designed the strategy for the existence of the Algerian state. To govern the country, discuss and manage state affairs, he relied on a Council, the Diwân, of carefully-chosen members. Eventually, the members of the Diwân were elected and for the most part came from the corps of janissaries, as in Constantinople. They became, if even they reflected the Ottoman ruling class, "the Algerians" of the state, hence their distinctive designation of "Turkish Janissaries of Algiers".

Ottoman Viceroyalty of Algiers (1519-1659)

Main article: Viceroy

Beylerbeylik of Algiers under the Ottoman Empire with the Saadi Dynasty of Morocco in 16th century

After 1516, Algiers became the center of Ottoman rule in northwest Africa, because the governor of Algiers controlled the Magreb under their rule. It was also a center of piracy for Muslims who attacked the ships of Christian countries; the island of Malta served Christian pirates in the same way. The Regency was the headquarters of the Algerian Janissary force, probably the greatest in the empire outside of Istanbul. With these powerful forces, Algiers quickly became a bastion of the Islamic world as the West competed with the Ottoman Empire for control of the Western Mediterranean. Until the mid-17th century, power formally rested in the hands of governors sent from Istanbul and replaced every few years. The corsair captains, however, were virtually outside their control, and the janissaries' loyalty was limited by their ability to collect taxes and pay their salaries.

Corsair Kings: Beylerbeylik period (1519-1587)

Uluç Ali Pasha (Occhiali), Beylerbey of Algiers

Between 1519 and 1659, the rulers of the Regency of Algiers were chosen by the Ottoman sultan. In the first few decades, Algiers completely aligned with the Ottoman Empire, since the full authority of the country and the management of its affairs were in the hands of the Beylerbey (Turkish: Prince of princes). The beylerbeys were from the sect of Riyas al-Bahr or the corsairs, most of whom were companions of Khair ad-Din Barbarossa himself, and the Ottoman Sultan appointed them over whomever the corsairs suggested as viceroys. Often one remained in power for several years. A number of them were also transferred to Constantinople to assume the position of captain pasha or to the Ministry of the Navy because of their experience commanding naval fleets, such as Khair ad-Din Barbarossa, his son Hassan Pasha, and Uluj Ali Pasha.

In this period, Algiers achieved regional and political unity because the beylerbeys wanted to extend their influence and control to the east, west and south, as they eliminated emirates and local sultanates such as the Zayyanid state in Tlemcen and the Hafsid emirates in Bani Abbas, Constantine, and Annaba, and subjugated the Kingdom of Kuku in Kabylia. Saleh Raïs was considered a hero for achieving this unity.

However, the beylerbeys were autonomous despite aknowledging the suzerainty of the Ottoman sultan; Spanish Benedictine and historian Diego de Haedo called them "Kings of Algiers", mainly because the "Timar" system was not applied in Algiers, and the beylerbeys would instead send an annual tribute to Istanbul after meeting the expenses of state. Also, the Algerian corso aroused diverging internal and external interests of Algiers and Istanbul, with the latter unable to control it, which eventually led Muhammad I Pasha to unify the corsairs and the janissaries into a single military institution, allowing it to act so independently that it could refuse orders from the sultan or even send back an appointed pasha.

Triennial mandate: Pashalik period (1587-1659)

The arrival of the new pasha, Viceroy of Algiers sent from by the great lord (Ottoman Sultan), by Jan Luyken (1684)

Fearful of the growing independence of the rulers of Algiers, the Ottoman Empire abolished the beylerbeylik system in 1587, and established in its place the pashalik system, as it divided the Maghreb countries under its dominion into three separate regencies: Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli. The rule of the pashas lasted nearly 72 years, in which twenty-seven pashas successively ruled, some of whom returned to power as many as four times. This period was known for turmoil, chaos and political instability. Yet it was also considered the "Golden Age of Algiers" due to the riches that filled the coffers of the regency thanks to intensified privateering.

Aversion to the Sublime Porte increased in Algiers, mainly because Khider pasha encouraged the corsairs to attack the French commercial center on the coast of El-Kala and Annaba in 1604, and enslave the people there. When the Ottoman Empire demanded the release of the French captives, the Janissary Odjak strongly opposed the order of the Ottoman sultan, thus weakening the prestige of the sultan in Algiers. This intensified the political conflict between the corsairs and the Odjak. Much like the corsairs, the Odjak grew stronger and expanded its influence very autonomously. Already in 1596, Khider Pasha tried to get rid of the Odjak with the help of the population and Koulouglis who suffered from its tyranny. A revolt sparked in the city of Algiers, and spread to neighboring towns, but the attempt failed.

Map of North Africa. Relief shown pictorially. Boundaries hand-colored. circa 1650, by Jan Janssonius (1588–1664)

The latter pashas of Algiers were constantly lost between the demands of the corsairs and the Odjak, or with the population, since they were working to multiply their treasures as quickly as possible while waiting for the end of their three-year term in office. As long as this was the main goal of the pashas, governance became a secondary issue, and little by little actual rule was transferred to the Janissary diwan. The pashas in Algiers, however, lost all influence and respect. The breaking point was reached when Ibrahim Pasha took a deduction from the money that the Sultan sent to the corsairs to compensate their losses and join the Ottoman fleet. This caused a major riot in Algiers that reached the point of kidnapping the Pasha and threatening him with death. He ended up being put in prison.

Sovereign Military Republic of Algiers (1659-1830)

Main article: Stratocracy

Banner of the Dey of Algiers, Victor Hugo museum, Paris

The Regency was described by some contemporary observers as a "republic". According to priest and historian Pere dan (1580 –1649): "The state has only the name of a kingdom since, in effect, they have made it into a republic." Algiers showed characteristics of a more "horizontal" and "egalitarian" structure than the European powers which steadily succumbed to the absolutism of the monarchs.

It was unique among Muslim countries, and unusual even in 18th-century Europe, in having its rulers elected through limited democracy. This was even praised by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Algiers was not a modern political democracy based on majority rule, alternation of power, and competition between political parties. Instead, politics was based on the principle of consensus (ijma), which was legitimized by Islam and by jihad.

In principle, any member of the Janissary Odjak or the corsair captains could aspire to become Dey of Algiers through a system of "democracy by seniority." Any new recruit can rise up through the ranks at the rate of one every three years. Over time, he would serve as commander-in-chief or "Agha of Two Moons" for a two months period. He would then serve in the Divan or great council of government with a vote on all important matters and elections. However, the ruler was elected for life and could only be replaced after his death. Opponents could thus only gain power by overthrowing the current leader, leading to violence and instability. This volatility led many early 18th-century European observers to point to Algiers as an example of the inherent dangers of democracy.

American consul in Algiers William Shaler would describe the Algerian regency's government as following:

The merits of this government have been proved by its continuance, with few variations in it forms of administration, for three centuries. It is in fact a military republic with a chief elective for life, and upon a small scale resembling that of the Roman Empire after the death of Commodus. This government ostensibly consists of a sovereign chief, who is termed the Dey of Algiers, and a Divan, or great Council, indefinite in point of number, which is composed of the ancient military who are or have been commanders of corps. The divan elects the Deys, and deliberates upon such affairs as he chooses to lay before them

— William Shaler, Sketches of Algiers, 1826

Janissary revolution: Agha regime in 1659

Main article: Odjak of Algiers Revolution

Corsair captain of Algiers. (left), Janissary of the Odjak of Algiers. (right)

At the end of Pasha Ibrahim's reign (1656-1659), a massive revolution arose against him, led by the Raïs (Corsair captains) on the one hand and the Janissary soldiers on the other. As for the Raïs, they revolted because Pasha Ibrahim had deprived them of the sums of money allocated to them by the Sublime Porte as compensation for their losses in the Adriatic. And his payment of bribes to the statesmen in Constantinople to keep him in office. For this reason, the corsairs attacked his palace, arrested him, and imprisoned him. As for the Janissary soldiers, they were constantly trying to seize opportunities to assume power, and they found in this incident an opportunity for them, so they carried out a sudden coup against the ruler.

In this year the commander-in-chief of the Janissaries stationed in Algiers Khalil Agha usurped supreme authority, accusing the pashas sent from the Sublime Porte of being mostly corrupt and their government behaviour hindered the regency's affairs with European countries. The Janissaries effectively eliminated the authority of the pasha, whose position became only ceremonial, and they agreed to assign executive authority to Khalil Agha (who inaugurated his rule by building the iconic "Djamaa el Djadid" mosque), provided that the period of his rule does not exceed two months, then they put the legislative power in the hands of the Diwan Council. The Janissaries forced the Sultan to accept their new government under duress, but the Sultan stipulated that the Diwan pay the salaries of the Turkish soldiers. Thus began the era of the Aghas, and the pashalik became a military republic.

During this period a form of dual leadership was in place, The Pasha continued to keep both his honorary titles and his private income, but his intervention in the government was limited to a mostly fictitious control; his presence in the diwan or council of government was no longer required except on great occasions, and he scarcely appeared there except to sanction, by his approval, measures to which, in fact, he remained almost completely foreign.

The French historian Pierre Boyer describes the short period of the Agha regime as following:

With hindsight, the reign of El Hadj Mohamed Et-Triki appears as a transition at the end of a period during which three different forms of government were successively attempted, the system of Triennial Pashas having failed:

• Direct government of the elders of the Odjaq under Khelil and Ramdan,
• Government of the Divan in the hands of subordinate cadres,
• Dictatorship with a remarkable personality, which ends up cutting itself off from its natural support and which succumbs to an improvised riot by disgruntled soldiers.

Military chiefs elective: Deylik period (1671-1830)

English fireship sent on seven captured ships in Béjaïa in 18 May 1671, by Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633-1707)

The government of the regency underwent another change in 1671 when the destruction of seven Algerian ships by a British squadron commanded by Sir Edward Spragge occasioned a rebellion of the Corsairs and the assassination of Agha Ali (1664–71), the last of four janissary chiefs to rule the country since 1659, all of whom were killed. In place of the agha of the Janissaries, the Corsairs chose as ruler of the regency an officer to whom they gave the titles of 'Dey' (maternal uncle) and 'Doulateli' (head of state) and 'Hakem' (military ruler) respectively, which had been used in Tunisia since the rebellion of the Ottoman troops there in 1591 for the officers chosen by them to rule the country. Thus, after 1671, the Deys became the main leaders of the country.

Hadj Mohammed Trik (1671 – 1681), first dey of Algiers

However, Pierre Boyer indicates that de Grammont's theory of the triumph of the Ta'ifa of Raïs over the Odjak must be nuanced. He puts forward the following hypothesis: the death of Ali Agha caught the leaders of the Regency unawares. The Odjak in rebellion tries to pursue the experiment of sovereign Aghas, but the designated candidates recuse themselves one after the other. Under these conditions, the Odjak of Algiers, with the agreement of the Ta'ifa of Reïs, resurrected the project of the late Ali Bitchin Raïs and resorted to an old expedient, already in use in 1644-45, which consisted in entrusting the destiny of the Regency, and the charge of the payroll, to a Raïs reputed to be solvent, an old Dutch renegade, "Hadj Mohammed Trik", The choice of this reïs, proves that it is not a question of a "seizure of power", in the dictatorial sense of the term. Which is why in 1689, even though the Dey came to be elected by the Odjak again, the Agha ceased to be ex officio the ruler of Ottoman Algeria.

The Deys-Pashas in the 18th century

Mohamed ben Hassan Pasha-Dey giving audience to the King of France's envoy Mr Dusault in 1719

The Pashas skilfully tried to regain some of their lost authority, and intrigued in the shadows, stirred up conflicts and fomented sedition to overthrow the unpopular Deys. From 1710 on, the Deys assumed the title of Pasha at the initiative of Dey Baba Ali Chaouch (1710-1718) and no longer accepted a representative of the sultan at their side, thus confirming their independence vis-à-vis the Sublime Porte. For example: In 1725, the Dey Kurd Abdi (1724-1732) refused to respect the agreements between the sultan and the European countries. In 1730, the dey again dismissed the delegates of the Sublime Porte who had come to present him with a new pasha. When an Ottoman envoy claimed that the Ottoman Padishah was the king of Algiers, Dey Kurd Abdi shouted at the envoy "King of Algiers? King of Algiers? If he is the King of Algiers then who am I?".

The Deys also imposed their authority on the Raïs and the Janissaries. The former did not approve of the provisions which restricted the corso, their main source of income, as they remained attached to the external prestige of the Regency, the latter did not admit military defeats and delays in the payment of their pay. But the Deys ended up triumphing over their revolts. The raïs lost the importance they had had in the 17th century; European reactions, new treaties guaranteeing the safety of navigation and the slowdown in shipbuilding considerably reduced its activity. The Raïs were very unhappy with this situation, but they no longer had the strength to oppose the government. Their revolt of 1729 failed. They had risen up against the Dey Mohamed ben Hassan whom they accused of favoring the Janissaries to their detriment and killed him. The new Dey, Kurd Abdi (1724-1732), quickly restored order and severely punished the conspirators.

Decline of the Dey regime

Dey Omar Agha receiving the representative of Lord Viscount Exmouth after the bombardement of Algiers in 1816

The rule of the military class and its monopoly on power spread strife and civil unrest among the population watching events and repeated assassinations among the Deys and the soldiers, especially among the residents of the capital. Also, the repeated attempts of the Ottoman porte to interfere in the affairs of the Algerian state had negative effects on the political stability of the state and motivated hostile factions to rebel and disobey more often, causing in turn a severe reduction of the population and decline in trade.

Frequent European raids on coasts with a desire to take revenge on Algerian maritime power and its corso, especially by the Spaniards, the French and the English, resulted in an almost consent state of war. The military leadership used this to justify to imposing more taxes on the people who often were exhausted and prompt to disobey and rebel. The Deys confronted them with brute force. Algeria's hostile position towards Tunis, the Sharifian Empire, and sometimes Tripoli was a factor encouraging the Europeans to attack it, because when the countries of the Maghreb were in a state of harmony and concord, their joint forces did much against European attempts against them as was the case in the first barbary war.

Lastly, what added to the internal hardships of Algiers during this period was the destructive earthquakes in 1716, 1717, and 1755, the occurrence of epidemics in the years 1752, 1753, and 1787, and the occurrence of drought in other years, led to the death of thousands, and the spread of poverty and misery. The lack of supplies and agricultural crops also caused popular anger and discontent.

Popular revolts

Armed Koulougli of Algiers

Since the authorities burdened them with heavy taxes and fines without taking into account their input or financial condition, the people of Algiers were ready to respond positively to every call for disobedience and rebellion. A number of rebellious movements emerged throughout the era. In 1692: The inhabitants of the capital and the neighboring tribes tried to get rid of Ottoman rule while the Dey Chaban was campaigning in Tunisia. The attempt led to setting fire to the port facilities and some of the ships anchored in it.

The Koulouglis of Tlmecen rebelled against Dey Ibrahim kuçuk and expelled the Turkish garrison from the city and tried to connect with the Koulouglis in Algiers to spread the movement remove Ottoman rulers. But the Dey, aware of the attempt, put an end to it.

The inhabitants of Iflissen in the major tribes staged a rebellion in 1767 that lasted for nearly seven years. Their forces marched to the outskirts of the capital itself and pursued the forces of the Dey in the villages of Metija. Before the disobedience of Iflissen, the population revolted in Blida, Al-Houdna and Isser, and in some oases of the south and Al-Nammasha in the Aures.

Darqawiyyah revolt

In 1792, incidents in Constantine led to the killing of popular Saleh Bey, a prominent administrative figure in the eastern Beylik. Algiers lost a political man and a seasoned military and administrative leader. At the start of the 19th century, intrigues from the Moroccan court in Fez inspired the Zawiyas to stir up unrest and revolt. Where Muhammad ibn Al-Ahrash, a marabout from Morocco and leader of the Darqawiyyah-Shadhili religious order, led the revolution in eastern Algeria, well aided by his Rahmaniyya allies. The Darqawis in western Algeria joined the revolt and besieged Tlemcen, and the Tijanis also joined the revolt in the south. But the revolt was defeated by the bey Osman, who in turn was killed by Dey Hadj Ali.

Administration

Djenina Palace in Algiers, former residence of the Deys

The organizations upon which the administrative apparatus of Ottoman Algeria relied were a mixture of borrowed Ottoman systems and local traditions inherited from previous stages of Islamic rule in the Maghreb, especially from Almohad ones, which were adopted by the courts of the Marinids, Zayyanids, and Hafsids. Hence, the Regency of Algiers was represented by an Ottoman styled administrative apparatus influenced by the remains of the Almohad regimes. This was maintained through the regular recruitment of military elements from Ottoman lands in exchange for sending tribute to the Porte.

Algerian Stratocratic institution: The Diwan

Courtyard of the Divan of Algiers, which became later the Palace of the Deys at the Casbah, also known as "Pavilion of the Fan" after the French conquest.

The Diwan of Algiers was established in the 16th century by Hayreddin Barbarossa and seated first in the Jenina Palace then in the Casbah citadel. This assembly, initially led by a Janissary Agha, soon evolved from a means to administer the Janissary Odjak of Algiers to a primary institution of the country's administration. Beginning around 1628, the Diwan expanded into two subdivisions, one called the private (Janissary) Diwan (diwan khass), and the public, or Grand Divan (diwan âm). The latter was composed of Hanafi scholars and preachers, the Raïs, and native notables. It numbered between 800 and 1500 people. But was still less important than the private Divan of the Janissaries. When Algiers was ruled by Aghas, the president of the Diwan was also the leader of the country. The Agha called himself "Hakem" (Ruler).

In the 18th century, the Grand Diwan remained a large council of senior officials, notables, ulamas and senior officers of the Janissary militia, with a total of nearly 700 members. It was this assembly that elected the Dey of Algiers. At the beginning of their mandate, the Deys consulted the divan on all important questions and decrees were deliberated. This council met in principle once a week, but this depended on the Dey, who could ignore the diwan whenever he felt powerful enough to govern alone.

With the growing power of the Deys and the measures taken to protect themselves from the intrigues of the Janissaries of the diwan, these large assemblies gradually lost their influence and only met sporadically by the beginning of the 19th century.

Justice

It is within the powers of the President of the Diwan to administer justice in his locality on the Turks and Koulouglis who have failed in discipline or who have broken the laws. Therefore they cannot enter any prison, except that of the diwan. In cases falling within the ambit of military usages and regulations, the judges of any criminal or correctional litigious dispute, may contact the "Qadi" for his opinion and for the application of the laws; If there is some penalty to be inflicted, it is the president of the diwan who orders its execution, which must take place in the room of the diwan. This gives compulsory force to the decisions of the Qadi, who addresses himself to the diwan to have his judgments executed, since regular soldiers were never judged by civil laws like the moors, but by military laws.

Ministries

The Dey, along with the Diwan, also appointed and relied on five ministers to govern Algiers. These were the:

• Khaznadji, similar to the position of prime minister. The Khaznadji also took care of the treasury.
• Agha al-Mahalla, or supreme chief of the army, minister of internal affairs, was also responsible for governing the Dar as-Soltan region of Algiers
• Khodjet al-Khil, was responsible for managing fiscal responsibilities, and collecting taxes. They also had the ceremonial role of "secretary of horses". They were assisted by a "Khaznadar".
• Wakil al-Kharadj, or minister of the navy of Algiers and foreign affairs.
• Bait al-Maldji, responsible for managing the tribes of the Makhzen of Algiers

These ministers were picked by the Dey of Algiers.

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  Admiralty of Algiers in 1880, seat of Captain Raïs, harbor master and Wakil al-kharadj (minister of the navy)
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  Palace of Mustafa Khodjet al-Khil (secretary of horses)
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  Inside Ahmed bey Palace, last governor of the eastern Beylik
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  Headquarter of the Janissaries by Henri Klein (1910)

Territorial management

Main article: Makhzen (Algeria)

Ottoman Algeria

By the end of the 16th century, Algiers reached its frontiers which it secured until 1830. The Regency was composed of various beyliks (provinces) under the authority of beys (vassals):

• The Beylik of Constantine in the east, with its capital in Constantine
• The Beylik of Titteri in the centre, with its capital being Médéa
• The Beylik of the West, with its capital being Mascara and then Mazouna and then Oran

The administration of the western Beylik was established in 1563. The capital was moved to Mazouna in 1710, then to Oran in 1791. The emirate of the southern Beylik was established in 1548, with the capital in Médéa; it was called the Beylik of Tetri. The center of the eastern beylik was the city of Constantine. The central Beylik included the city of Algiers with some nearby ports. As for El Kala, Sebaou, Blida (Bahr al-Azzun), they were called the Black Country and independent leaders were appointed for them. As for Tlemcen, it was given a special status. Sometimes Ténès and Bejaia were linked to the southern Beylik, and sometimes they were considered separate provinces.

Algerian Spahis cavaliers (19th century)

Ottoman Algerian administration relied on makhzen tribes. Under the Beylik system, the Beys divided their Beyliks into chiefdoms. Each province was divided into outan, or counties, which were governed by caïds (commanders) under the authority of the Bey to maintain order and collect taxes from tributary regions. Thus the Beys were empowered to exercise a mini administrative system, and succeeded in managing their Beyliks with the help of their commanders and governors among the Makhzen tribes, in return, these tribes enjoyed special privileges including exemptions from paying taxes. This system allowed the state of Algiers to expand its authority over the north of Algeria for three centuries. Despite this, society remained divided into tribes and was dominated by maraboutic brotherhoods and local djouads, or nobles. As a result, certain regions only loosely acknowledged the authority of Algiers, leading to numerous revolts, confederations, tribal fiefs, and sultanates that contested the regency's control. The Bey of Constantine relied on the strength of the local tribes, and at the forefront of those tribes were the Beni Abbas in Medjana and the Arab tribes in Zab region and Hodna, and the chiefs of these tribes were called "the Sheikh of the Arabs".

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  City of Oran, capital of the western beylik, by Léon Galibert (1844)
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  City of Medea, capital of Titetteri beylik, by Léon Galibert (1844)
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  City of Constantine, capital of eastern beylik, by Léon Galibert (1844)

Armed forces

Corsairs of Algiers

This section is an excerpt from Corsairs of Algiers.[edit]

The ta'ifa of raïs (Arabic: طائفة الريس, community of corsair captains) or the Raïs for short, were Barbary pirates based in Ottoman Algeria who were involved in piracy and the slave trade in the Mediterranean Sea from the 16th to the 19th century. They were an ethnically mixed group of seafarers, including mostly "renegades" from European provinces of the Mediterranean and the North Sea, along with a minority of Turks and Moors. Such crews were experienced in naval combat, making Algiers a formidable pirate base. Its activity was directed against the Spanish empire, but it did not neglect the coasts of Sicily, Sardinia, Naples or Provence. It was the taifa which, through its seizures, maintained the prosperity of Algiers and its finances.

The corsair taifa of Algiers reached the zenith of its power in the first half of the seventeenth century as an Ottoman military elite, theoritically. Up until 1626, the Algerian corsair admiral (Kapudan-rais) was invested by the Ottoman sultan and subordinate to the

Kapudan Pasha of the Ottoman empire. Often former Christian slaves were promoted up the ta'ifa chain of command, the admirals and their corsairs were a powerful military and political force in the regency of Algiers, and could even challenge the authority of the Pasha and the Odjak Janissary corps.

Odjak of Algiers

This section is an excerpt from Odjak of Algiers.[edit]

The "Odjak of Algiers" (also spelled Ujaq) was a unit of the Algerian army. It was a highly autonomous part of the Janissary Corps, acting completely independently from the rest of the corps, similar to the relationship between Algiers and the Sublime Porte. Led by an Agha, they also took part in the country's internal administration and politics, ruling the country for several years. They acted as a defense unit, a Praetorian Guard, and an instrument of repression until 1817.

The Odjak of Algiers was a faction in the country which encompassed all Janissaries. Its main institution was the diwân of Algiers which was established in the 16th century by Hayreddin Barbarossa and seated first in the Djenina Palace, then at the kasbah citadel. This assembly, initially led by a janissary Agha, evolved from a military body, the Odjak of Algiers, into the country's primary administrative institution. The diwân held true power in the Regency, and by the mid-17th century elected the head of state.They also often controlled the country, for example during the period of Aghas from 1659 to 1671.

Economy

Monetary system

Algerian money, and some copper household items

Algiers initially used various forms of Ottoman and old Zayyanid and Hafsid coins such as the mangır (a sub-unit of the akçe), then developed its own monetary system and minted its own coins at the Casbah of Algiers and Tlemen. The "central bank" of the state was located in the capital, and known locally as the "Dâr al-Sikka".

In the 18th century the currencies produced locally and accepted in Algiers were:

• Algerian mahboub (Sultani), a gold coin weighing about 3.2g, with an inscription detailing the year it was produced and the year it would be decommissioned. Its was discontinued under Baba Ali Bou Sebâa (1754-1766)
• Algerian budju, and piastres, two types of silver coin, the most widely used currency in Algeria. A budju was worth 24 mazounas and 48 kharoubs and was further divided into "rube'-budju" (1/4 boudjous} and "thaman-budju" (1/8 budju)
• minor conversion coins made of copper or billon, such as mazounas or kharoubs
• minor coins of small value such as the saïme or pataque-chique

Algiers also had some European (mainly Spanish) and Ottoman coins in circulation.

Mandatory royalties and gifts

The Algerian state imposed royalties on the European countries that dealt with it commercially in exchange for allowing them freedom of navigation in the western basin of the Mediterranean. Thus giving the merchants of those countries special privileges, including significant reductions in customs duties. This prevented the character of banditry, piracy, or assault on the freedom of global trade from the part of the Algerian navy. These royalties differed according to the relationship between those countries and Algiers, and the conditions prevailing in that period had an impact on determining the amounts of these royalties, and this is shown in the following table:

Royalties imposed by the Regency of Algiers in late 18th century - early 19th century

Country	Year	Value
Spanish Empire	1785 -1807	After signing the armistice of 1785 and withdrawing from Oran, it was obliged to pay 18,000 francs. It contributed 48,000 dollars in 1807.
Grand Duchy of Tuscany	1823	Before 1823, it was obligated to pay the value of 25,000 doubles (Tuscan lira) or 250,000 francs.
Kingdom of Portugal	1822	It was obligated to pay the value of 20,000 francs.
Kingdom of Sardinia	1746 - 1822	Following the treaty of 1746, it was forced to pay 216,000 francs up by 1822.
Kingdom of France	1790 - 1816	Before the year 1790, it paid 37,000 pounds, and after 1790, it pledged to pay 27,000 piasters, or 108,000 Francs. And in 1816, it committed to pay the value of 200,000 francs.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland	1807	It pledged to pay 100,000 piasters, or 267,500 francs, in exchange for some privileges.
Kingdom of the Netherlands	1807 - 1826	After the treaty of 1826, it committed itself to paying 10,000 Algerian sequin, and in 1807, it paid the value of 40,000 piasters, or 160,000 francs.
Austrian Empire	1807	The value of the royalties paid in the year 1807 was estimated at 200,000 francs.
The United States of America	1795 - 1822	Captain William Bainbridge paying tribute to Mustafa Pasha, dey of Algiers in 1800 Paid in 1795 the value of 1,000,000 dollars, of which 21,600 dollars were in the form of equipment in exchange for special privileges. In the year 1822, it committed itself to paying 22,000 dollars.
Kingdom of Naples	1816 - 1822	Paid a royalty estimated at 24,000 francs. In 1822, a royalty of 12,000 francs was paid every two years.
Kingdom of Norway	1822	Paid a royalty of 12,000 francs every two years.
Kingdom of Denmark	1822	Paid a royalty of 180,000 francs every two years.
Kingdom of Sweden	1822	Paid a royalty of 120,000 francs every two years.
Republic of Venice	1747 - 1763	Since 1747, it has paid a royalty of 2,200 Gold coins annually. In 1763, the value of the royalties imposed on it became estimated at 50,000 riyals (Venetian lira).

In addition, royalties were imposed on some other countries, which must be paid on some occasions, and they were applied to the states of Bremen, Hanover, and Prussia, in addition to the Papal States.

Taxation

The taxes levied by the rulers of the regency included some subject to Islamic law, including the cushr (tithe) on agricultural produce, but added various aspects of extortion. Periodic tithes could only be collected on private land near the town where the crops were grown. But instead of tithes, the inhabitants of mountainous and nomadic tribes had to pay a fixed tax, called garama (compensation), based on a rough estimate of their wealth. In addition, the rural population had to pay a tax known as lazma (obligation) or ma'una (support), designed to help Muslim armies defend the country from Christians. City dwellers had to pay other taxes, including artisan guild dues and market taxes. In addition, the beys also collected gifts (dannush), every six months to the Deys and their chief ministers. Every bey had to personally bring dannush every three years. Meanwhile, his khalifa (deputy) took it to Algiers.

The arrival of a bey or khalifa in Algiers with dannush was a notable event governed by a set protocol governing how he was to be received and when his presents were to be given to the Dey, his ministers, officials and poor people. The honors that the bey received depended on the value of the gifts he brought. Al-Zahar reported that the chief of the western province was expected to pay more than 20,000 doro in cash, half that in jewelry, four horses, fifty black slaves, woollen Tilimsan garments, Fez silk garments, and twenty quintals each of wax, honey, butter, and walnuts . Dannush from the Eastern Province was larger and included Tunisian products such as perfumes and clothing.

Agriculture

Kabyle Shepherd, by Eugène Fromentin (1820–1876)

Agricultural production benefited the regency even more than corsairing at some point. Fallowing and crop rotation were the most common techniques. Agricultural products were varied: wheat, corn, cotton, rice, tobacco, watermelon and vegetables were the most commonly grown. Allowing for exports and local consumption, cereals and livestock products constituted much of the country's resources (oil, grain, wool, wax, leather). On the outskirts of the towns, the very rich lands (fahs) provided various fruits, vegetables, vines, rice, cotton, blackberries used for breeding silkworms. Grapes and pomegranates were also cultivated. In the mountains, fruit trees, figs and olive trees grew. European travelers, at different times, such as Léon Africanus, Marmol, Haedo, Rotalier all left with a very strong impression of a very rich country.

This wealth came first of all in the quality of the cultivated land, but also in the agricultural techniques which used all the means of the time (ploughs, plows dragged by oxen, donkeys, mules, camels) and in a period of progress in agriculture, particularly in terms of irrigation (timed watering according to surface area) and ingenious water supply supplying small collective dams. Mouloud Gaid attests: "Tlemcen, Mostaganem, Miliana, Médéa, Mila, Constantine, M'sila, Aïn El-Hamma, etc., were always sought after for their green site, their orchards and their succulent fruits."

Milk was not often consumed and did not form a major part of the Algerian cuisine. The price of meat was low in Algeria before 1830, and many tribes brought in large amounts of income solely through the sale of cattle leather, although after the collapse of the Deylik and the arrival of the French the demand for cattle meat rapidly increased. Wool and lamb meat were also produced in very large quantities.

The majority of the western population south of the Tell Atlas and the people of the Sahara were pastoralists who lived from date cultivation and the products of sheep, goat and camel breeding. Livestock breeding was also the main activity of nomads and semi-nomads who sold their products each time they went north (butter, wool, skins, camel hair), while the population in the north and east settled in villages and practised agriculture. The state and urban notables (mainly Arabs, Berbers, and Kouloughlis) owned lands near the main towns, cultivated by tenant farmers under the "khammas" system. Inside the country, the large "melk" properties, belonging to local feudalism, represented the country's main wealth: vast areas of Algeria's best lands reserved for monoculture (wheat, barley, grazing). Due to the feudal nature of this regime, the distribution of usufruct was not always equitable and certain ousted members found themselves de facto excluded from their land by the tribe.

Manufacturing and craftsmanship

Ottoman Algerian cannon founded in 1581

Manufacturing was poorly developed and restricted to shipyards which built frigates of 300 to 400 tons of oak wood from Béjaïa and Djidjel. The small ports of Ténès, Cherchell, Dellys, Béjaïa and Djidjel, were called upon to build shallops, brigs, galiots, tartanes and Xebecs used in fishing and the transport of goods between Algerian ports. Several workshops supported repairs and rope-making. The quarries of Bougie, Skikda and Bab El-Oued extracted stones which served as raw material for buildings, dwellings and fortifications of the Regency. Cannons of all sizes manufactured at the Bab El-Oued foundries were ordered by the Algerian navy for its warships. These cannons were also used for fort batteries and field artillery.

Gift of pistols presented by the dey of Algiers to the Prince Regent (the future George IV of Great Britain) in 1811 and 1819, evidence of the high esteem in which these coral-decorated firearms were held.

Craftsmanship was rich and was present throughout the country. Cities were centers of great craft and commercial activity. Urban people were mostly artisans and merchants, notably in Nedroma, Tlemcen, Oran, Mostaganem, Kalaa, Dellys, Blida, Médéa, Collo, M'Sila, Mila and Constantine. The most common crafts were weaving, woodturning, dyeing and production of rope and tools. In Algiers, a very large number of trades were practiced, and the city was home foundries, shipyards, workshops, shops, and stalls. Tlemcen had more than 500 looms. Even small towns where links to the rural world remained important had many craftsmen.

Algerian products were still outcompeted by European products, especially after the industrial revolution began in the 1760s. Modern industry was first introduced in the 1820s by Ahmed Bey ben Mohamed Chérif, who opened many manufactories in the east of the country, mainly focused around military production.

Infrastructure

The road system throughout Algeria was poorly developed, and often used neglected Roman roads. Generally transport and trade happened on the back of mules, donkeys, and camels. Rural roads controlled by autonomous Makhzen sheikhs were often unpredictable and sometimes dangerous thanks to bandits, although a few main roads often based on old Roman ones were regularly policed and protected by authorities, such as the main road passing along the coast all the way to Tunis, and another one passing through the main cities of the inland regions.

Algiers possessed its own, very well developed sewage system based on ones found in Constantinople and Iberia.

Trade

Representation of Dutch shipping off the harbour and city of Algiers by Reinier Nooms (1623/1624–1664)

Internal trade was extremely important, especially thanks to the Makhzen system, and large amounts of products needed in cities such as wool were imported from inner tribes of the country, and needed products were exported city to city. Foreign trade was mainly conducted through the Mediterranean Sea and land exports to other neighbouring countries such as Tunisia and Morocco. When it came to land trade (both internal and external) transport was mainly done on the backs of animals, but carts were also used. The roads were suitable for vehicles, and many posts held by the Odjak and the Makhzen tribes provided security. In addition, caravanserais (known locally as fonduk) allowed travelers to rest.

Although control over the Sahara was often loose, Algiers's economic ties with the Sahara were very important, and Algiers and other Algerian cities were one of the main destinations of the Trans-Saharan slave trade.

Society

Djenina place of Algiers

Turks made up the ruling class of Algerian society, and included in its ranks senior officials, politicians, administrators, and soldiers. However there were no Harems in Algiers since the elected rulers were often politically challenged. the In addition, society included Kouloughlis and indigenous Algerians, Blacks, and urban arrivals from Andalusia, and a Jewish minority. Muslims, who mostly followed the Maliki school of thought, represented 99% of the population. Most of them engaged in farming and livestock breeding, while the minority engaged in craft and commercial activities. A bourgeois class lived in the coastal cities and owned the best homes and lands. Urban residents represented only 6% of the population but lived in cities equipped with public facilities such as springs, fountains, cafes, bathrooms, restaurants, hotels, and shops. Algiers alone had 60 cafes. The city of Algiers closed its gates at nightfall, and its residents slept at nine o’clock at night and woke up in the morning. Religious and weekly holidays were Islamic holidays and Friday, and the public business was transcribed in Arabic and Osmanli.

Feast at Tlemcen - Detail of a miniature, by Bachir Yellès

The particular social formations

In precolonial Algeria and more broadly in the precolonial Maghreb, the tribe was one of the main political organizations. It could be the central power itself (reigning dynasty), linked to it (makhzen system) or independent in a dissident territory (siba). This system persisted under the regency regime. Indeed, the weakening of the previous states (Zayyanids, Hafsids, Merinids) in the Maghreb. The weakening of agriculture (and therefore of the peasantry) and the slowdown in trade until the sixteenth century failed to transform the tribal system and its chiefdoms into a feudal system. In the regency period, a complex link developed between tribes and the central state, with adaptations by the tribe to central pressure.

Arabs hunting heron, Algeria, by Eugène Fromentin (1820–1876)

Central authority was sometimes necessary for the consolidation of the tribe. These relations even seemed complementary. Indeed, the Makhzen tribes derived their legitimacy from their relationship to the central power. Without it, they were reduced to relying on their own strength. The rayas (paying the tax) and siba tribes seemed to be more in conflict with the tax (reducing the productive surpluses they generate) than the notion of authority itself and depended on access to the market organized by the authorities and makhzen tribes. Even in dissent, tribes often organized themselves in the form of another authority, which made the markets outside the territories dependent on the central powers managed by the marabouts or the maraboutic lineages. The latter, in the absence of the central authority, very often acted as guarantors of tribal order.

The tribes were often dependent and in search of a legitimate political authority. This authority might have come from the power in place or from a religious lineage. From the 17th to the 19th century, Ouled Sidi Cheikh tribes put the western Sahara under their authority. It was described as a principality of Ouled Sidi Cheikh. However, it was not a central power (because it was held by the regency of Algiers), nor a dynasty, but a political confederation headed by a riyasa (a chieftaincy) in the hands of the maraboutic tribes of the Ouled Sidi Cheikh and the brotherhoods.

Another scenario was the "Berber city of the Maghreb", which the ethnologist Masqueray (19th century) compared to the city-state of Antiquity. Depending on the region (Mozab, Aurès, Kabylie...) these cities or villages articulated their own organization within the tribal system and confederations they composed. These cities, made up of families, left more room for individuality. Although dependent on a tribal society, the cities already distance people from tribal ways. However, the tribe did not disappear, it adapted to the village framework and its weight varied. It remained relatively important in the Aurès, for example.

Aristocratic castes

Ali bin Hamet, khalifa(deputy) of Constantina and chief of the Haracta tribe

Society had three forms of aristocracy: the djouads (a kind of warrior nobility), the charifs (religious nobility who claimed to be descended from the Prophet Muhammad) and marabouts. The djouads often headed powerful tribes or tribal confederations that retained their autonomy, like the Mokrani or Ben Gana in the western beylik to which Ahmed bey of Constantine was related. They were often seen as "allies" by the regency. Two types of aristocracy were often opposed in the regency. In the west of the regency, religious and brotherhood elements were dominant, while in the east the great families of djouads dominated society. The tribal organization of society did not structure the feelings of belonging of individuals in an exclusive way. There was a feeling of belonging to the Muslim community and, from the eighteenth century, in a way associated with an imperial community. However, this was not an obstacle to territorial awareness, since the 17th century many texts have spoken of watan al jazâ’i (country of Algeria), supplementing it with the term "our homeland". These elements suggest an intermediate situation between the modern nation and "tribal dust".

Demography

The total population of the Regency of Algiers is a highly debated subject. The best estimates put it between 3,000,000 and 5,000,000. Algerian dignitary Hamdan Khodja estimated the total population of Algeria to be about 10,000,000 before the French invasion in his book written in 1833. In 1830, there were about 10,000 'Turks' (including people from Kurdish, Greek and Albanian ancestry) and 5,000 Kouloughli civilians (from the Turkish kul oğlu, "son of slaves (Janissaries)", i.e. creole of Turks and local women). By 1830, more than 17,000 Jews were living in the Regency. According to Moritz Wagner, the Arabs formed the great majority of the population of the Regency of Algiers. The city of Algiers held 100,000 to 125,000 people in the 17th century. The French historian Jacques Heers's recalls:

More than any other Mediterranean port, Algiers surprised and astonished. It was crowded with all manner of people and with social and ethnic groups distinguishable from each other through dress, language, physical characteristics, and even hairstyle.... The population was often swamped and enlarged by waves of new arrivals.... Authors and witnesses couldn't help being dazzled and confused by the diversity which pervaded every street, alley, or stairway; they emerged charmed but a little breathless.

• 
  A Turk, a Berber, and an Arab
• 
  Berber men
• 
  Arab woman in indoors clothing and Arab man with burnous
• 
  A Moorish man and woman and a Chaouch (Police)
• 
  Urban Moors
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  Algerian Jews
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  Kouloughli man and Moorish woman
• 
  A Black man and woman

Culture

Opening of a school commissioned by Dey Baba Ali Chaouch in 1713

Intellectual life in Algeria before French occupation did not lack institutions or organization, but did require innovatiton and educational reform. This can be deduced from the large number of schools, more than Europe, but which differed in the quality of their teaching. The lower quality of education stemmed from the dominance of an otherworldly religious ethos. Religious studies focused too much on tradition and neglected the sciences.

Imbalance between military doctrine and culture

Complacent reiteration of past historical achievements prevailed among the intellectual elite. The lack of modernization was not the only reason for the decline of the intellectuals, as the dominant political culture also played a large role in the decline of Algeria. Strongly influenced by a belief that northern Christendom needed to be countered and prevented from military expansion into the Maghreb, the military-naval character of Ottoman Algeria hampered the development of learning and further pushed advanced intellectual culture to the margins.

In addition, cultural blindness prevailed among most segments of the Ottoman military elite, influencing their attitudes toward education and intellectual institutions. Historical sources show little evidence that the Ottoman ruling elite had any interest in building or maintaining schools, as they were just as interested in building forts, navies, and castles. This cultural imbalance largely justified the traditional reliance of educational institutions on waqf for funding and hindered any reform of curriculum and intellectual life. The ruling class saw anything from the North as a looming threat that must not be trusted, even useful or practical knowledge or a product of science.

Education

Letter of invitation from Salah Bey ben Mostefa to teacher Ibn al Fara al Baghaoui to teach in the university (madrasa) of Constantine

Education in Algeria was done mainly through small primary schools focused on teaching reading, writing, religious basics and other such skills, in rural areas especially. Most education came from local Imams, zawiyas, marabouts, and elders. Secondary and tertiary education could be pursued in various madrasas located mainly in larger cities of the country, often maintained through waqf and Islamic donations from the central government. The levels of these madrasas varied; the largest offered both secondary and tertiary teaching. Algiers alone had several madrasas, zawiyas, and midrashims (Jewish schools), and also very famous bookstores (warraqates). These madrasas depended on the local authorities. Initially, western Algeria, especially Tlemcen, was the main center of learning in the country, but due to negligence, these schools and universities declined and Abu Hammu II's madrasa especially fell into complete ruin. The decline only ended when Mohammed el Kebir, Bey of Oran, made a significant investment into the complete renovation and rebuilding of several places of education throughout the region, although many of these centuries-old madrasas, such as Tashfiniya Madrasa fell into ruin and neglect under French rule, and many were demolished by the French. Most major mosques of the country also had Quranic schools.

Sufism

Further information: sufism in Algeria

Zawiya (shrine) of Sidi Abder Rahman, in the Casbah of Algiers

The coalition between the Ottoman elite and the Sufi masters (Shuyukh) led to the remarkable spread and dominance of Sufi thought, which in turn attracted the migration of Eastern and Western Sufi groups under Ottoman rule. In addition to the Qādiriyah Sufi order (founded in Baghdad in 1198 by Abd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī), the Shadhiliyah order also entered common thought and practice in Algeria. At the end of the 19th century, an attempt to record the number of Sufis in the region found that 13 of the original 16 sects were of Shadhiliyah origin. The spirit of Sufism dominated scientific life in Algeria, leading to an increase in Sufist scholarship. Thus, many books, letters, and poems dealt with this subject in the form of Virtues, and Sermons. In addition to interpretations of Sufi poetry and prophetic praises with spiritual and Sufi visions. It was also limited to explaining previous works until the work is almost far from the originality. Authors of Sufism include Sermons, Adhkar, Wirds, and other elements of Sufism cultivated by Sufi ascetics, most notably Ahmad Bin Yusuf Al-Miliani, Ahmad Ahmad Al-Buni and Yahia Chaoui, "Sweet Nobility" and "Urjuza" by Muhammad bin Azuf al-Burji, and "The Letter of the Merid" and "Rahmaniyya Poem" by Abdurrahman Bash Tarzi.

Architecture

Further information: Architecture of Algeria § Ottoman rule

Djamaa el Djedid and Djamma el Kebir mosques in Algiers, by Niels Simonsen (1843)

During this period Algiers developed into a major city and witnessed regular architectural patronage, and as such most of the major monuments from this period are concentrated there. By contrast, the city of Tlemcen, the former major capital of the region, went into relative decline and saw far less architectural activity. Mosque architecture in Algiers during this period demonstrated the convergence of multiple influences as well as peculiarities that may be attributed to the innovations of local architects. Domes of Ottoman influence were introduced into the design of mosques, but minarets generally continued to be built with square shafts instead of round or octagonal ones, thus retaining local tradition, unlike contemporary architecture in Ottoman Tunisia and other Ottoman provinces, where the "pencil"-shaped minaret was a symbol of Ottoman sovereignty. The oldest surviving mosque from this era is the Ali Bitchin (or 'Ali Bitshin) Mosque in Algiers, commissioned by Ali Bitchin in 1622. The most significant mosque of this era is the New Mosque (Djamaa el-Djedid) in Algiers, built in 1660–1661 by al-Hajj Habib, which became one of the most important Hanafi mosques in the city.

Algiers was protected by a wall about 3.1 kilometres (1.9 mi) long with five gates. A citadel, the qasba (origin of the name "Casbah"), occupied the highest point of the town. By the end of the 18th century, the city had over 120 mosques, including over a dozen congregational mosques.

Interior of Dey Hassan III Pasha Palace (1791)

The lower part of the city, near the shore, was the center of the regency administration, containing the most important markets, mosques, wealthy residences, Janissary barracks, government buildings like the mint, and palaces. The residential palace of the ruler in Algiers, the Janina or Jenina ('Little Garden'), was situated at the center of a larger palatial complex known as the Dar al-Sultan in the lower part of the city. This complex served as the ruling palace until 1816, when the Dey Ali Khodja moved to the Palace of the Dey in the qasba, following a British bombardment of the city that year. The only example of architecture from the Dar al-Sultan complex that is still preserved today is the Dar 'Aziza Bint al-Bey, believed to have been built in the 16th century.

Arts

Due to the three centuries of Ottoman influence in Algeria, today many cultural elements of Algeria are of Turkish origin or influence. Lucien Goldvin, lists the following popular arts and crafts:

• Brassware: most of the copperware made in Algiers, Constantine, Tlemcen, cauldrons, bath buckets, trays, ewers, lanterns, etc., was clearly inspired by oriental models, probably imported by the Janissaries. The decorations that adorn them: tulips, carnations, cypresses, spreading flowers, are found almost everywhere, whether on chiseled or incised brass.
• Bronzes: Tlemcen executed magnificent door knockers until around 1930. Fez constituted relays, while Algiers and Constantine had adopted more flexible forms, in loops, well known in Turkey.
• Saddlers-embroiderers make saddles covered with velvet embroidered with gold, silver or silk thread, bridles, cast iron, saddle cloths, riding boots and belts, etc. Decorated in the same way as the elements of the decoration being pure Ottoman tradition
• Carpenters-cabinetmakers knew how to make large leaves with small panels assembled in uprights in balustrades with refined decoration, small cupboard doors, etc. The painted ceilings bear more of the mark of Italy.
• Guergour rugs with a large central diamond medallion (mihrab), bordered by bands with floral compositions. The elements of the decor, as well as the compositions, recall the carpets of Ghiordés or Kula.
• Male clothes of the various personages, Janissaries, Deys, high civil and military and religious dignitaries, were related to those known in Turkey.
• Women's costume was inspired of Turkish women's fashion.
• Embroideries of Algiers, the stitches executed in Algiers under the authority of a ma'allema (teacher) on a horizontal loom (gargaf) were well known in Turkey.
• Embroideries from Bône and Djidjilli, polychrome and dots flat, were similar to the embroideries executed in Turkey.
• Algerian lace, Chebika, is similar to what was made in Turkey.
• Jewellery, silver and gold adornments (head jewellery, ear jewellery, adornment jewellery, bracelets and anklets) were inspired by models from Turkey.
• The illumination: the motifs of the decoration, framing of arabesques with fleurons and palmettes or supple flora, garland of carnations among others, seemed related to Turkish illumination.

• 
  Guergour carpet
• 
  Chandelier in a patio (casbah of Algiers).
• 
  Dinandier in Casbah of Algiers
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  Algerian Assabah is a jewel that Algerian women wear on their forehead in several events
• 
  19th century Algerian caftan, exhibited at the Bardo National Museum in Algiers.

Healthcare

Hospital of the Dey in Algiers

Several hospitals were present throughout the bigger cities in Algeria, especially Algiers. The first hospital was built by Hassan Veneziano in the 1570s to treat military personnel. Just before the French invasion, the city of Algiers itself housed two Military hospitals one known as the "Hospital of the Dey" capable of housing 2,000 sick, and another called the "Mustapha hospital" capable of housing 800. Cities known to have hospitals were Algiers, Oran, Constantine, Tlemcen, Médéa, Béjaïa, and many more.

Algerian administration donated under charities to existing small infirmaries and hospices. it designated several lands in cities under the law of Waqf (known as hubous locally), for use of public baths, water fountains, schools and hospices and asylums for the sick and vulnerable, along with sometimes distributing corsair loot to such establishments. Many infirmaries, hospitals and hospices were directly tied to mosques under waqf designation, operating next to them, or sometimes inside of them. The largest of which was the Sidi Ouali Dada hospice in Algiers, which was directly tied to the Sidi Ouali Dada mosque.

There existed a Christian hospital operated by the Lazarist society used to treat Christians (both free and enslaved) in Algeria and European diplomats, along with a small hospital financed by the Kings of Spain and Portugal and operated by priests for treating, taking care of, and burying Christian slaves. The authorities of Algiers allowed this institution to exist for a sum of $40,000/year, although they personally never invested into the building of edifices made for taking care of Christians. The city of Tlemcen possessed 12 hospitals in total, 4 of which were "Moor" hospitals (some of which were built by the Zayyanid dynasty) made for taking care of the urban Muslim population, 2 of which were Christian hospitals maintained by the Venetians and the Republic of Genoa, and 6 of which were smaller hospitals for "foreigners" (such as merchants, local tribesmen, etc.) and Jews.

Legacy

View of the city of Algiers in 1828

Historian John Baptist Wolf argues that France brought Western civilization to Algeria and had a lot to offer it in the years it ruled there. Although the process sometimes disrupted ancient tribal customs and seemed to impose French civilization on an unwilling people with bayonets and rifles, this Western civilization was a modern economic order, more rational urbanization, expanded education and public health services and greater respect for the rule of law. Historian Mahfoud Kaddache writes that the evolution of Algeria, its state and its nation, were stalled by the French intervention of 1830 and the reformist ideas of Emir Abdelkader (1808–1883), Ahmed Bey ben Mohamed Sherif (1784–1850), Hamdan ben Othman Khodja (1773–1842) and Ahmad ben mohammed Al-Annabi (1775–1851) could not come into fruition in time, making the country the first victim in the Western Mediterranean of European colonization. Thus, Algiers was remembered as "the center of pirate activity" and a fearsome enemy that captivated european imagination, mainly through enslaving Christians and "subjecting to the humiliation of an annual tribute three quarters from Europe to the United States of America", in addition to alledged political anarchy. However American History professor William Spencer wrote on the Regency of Algiers:

Algiers' status in the Mediterranean world was merited by its contributions as well as the exploits of the corsairs. Through the medium of Regency government, Ottoman institutions brought stability to North Africa. The flow of Anatolian recruits and the attachment to the Porte introduced many elements of the eclectic Ottoman civilization into the western Mediterranean. Corsair campaigns produced a fusion of Ottoman with native Maghribi and European styles, social patterns, architecture, crafts, and the like. A regular system of revenue collection, an efficient subsistence agriculture, and a well-established legitimate commerce along with corsair profits brought to the Regency a high standard of living. Its lands, while they never corresponded to the total territory conquered by France and incorporated into French Algeria, were homogeneous, well managed, and formed of an effective and collaborating social mixture the exact opposite of the situation which prevailed during the one hundred and thirty years of French control.

Timeline

See also

• Hayreddin Barbarossa
• Raïs Hamidou
• List of Ottoman governors of Algiers
• Makhzen (Algeria)

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