Jihad against Spain: Barbary galleys in the Mediterranean During most of the 16th century, maritime wars were undertaken with fleets of thirty to forty galleys. The Barbary
galleys formed the Western naval division of the
Ottoman fleets. Their special function was to harm the hereditary enemy,
Spain, by ravaging its coasts, landing unexpectedly in enemy territory, sacking villages and towns as it had at
Lipari,
Naples and
Genoa and carrying off their inhabitants into captivity. The Spanish watch towers and defense networks could not hold off the corsairs in
Cullera and
Villajoyosa, and so the
tierras maritimas (coastal lands) were abandoned. Attacks on Christian and especially Catholic shipping, with
slavery for the captured, became prevalent in Algiers and were actually the main industry and source of revenues of the Regency. Algerian corsairs provided much needed help to the attempted
rebellion of the Moriscos. In this long
war, the
raïs of Algiers had no rival; They showed incessant ardor and temerity almost always crowned with success. At a signal from the Sultan, they were seen running forward and fighting in the front ranks, as in
Bejaïa,
Malta,
Lepanto and
Tunis, where they acquired the well-deserved reputation of being the best and bravest sailors in the Mediterranean. French writer wrote:
Atlantic razzias: Hunt for enemy merchant ships (1839–1931) ''Ra'ises'' (captains of corsair ships) such as
Murat Rais the Elder in the 1580s and
Hamidou Raïs at the turn of the 19th century distinguished themselves through audacious attacks on Christian ships and bringing important prizes to Algiers. Mediterranean ships were at first the main targets of the corsairs, but the
raïs appeared in the oceans as soon as they adopted the use of round vessels. Exploring the routes of India and America, they disturbed the commerce of all enemy nations. In 1616,
Rais Mourad the Younger (Jan Janszoon) plundered the
coasts of Iceland, from where he brought back to Algiers 400 captives. In 1619 the corsairs
ravaged Madeira. In 1631, they
sacked Baltimore in Ireland, blocked the English Channel, and seized ships in the
North Sea towards the 1650s. The
raïs pushed audacity so far as to found in
Livorno, • 1556: 28 ships were captured near
Málaga and 50 others near
Gibraltar strait • 1608 - 1621: Nearly 1000 European ships were captured, among them 447 of Dutch nationality, 193 French, 120 Spanish, 60 English, and 50 from various German principalities. More than 12,000 people were enslaved. • 1619 - 1627: More than 20,000 people were captured • 1628 - 1634: 80 ships were captured during the war against France with 1331 people, which made the value of the total spoils in that war rise to about 4,752,000 pounds. Pere dan estimated the value of seized cargo at around 20,000,000 francs, and one million people enslaved. • 1737 - 1799: the
rais took 376 ships. In 1785, Genoese, Venetian and Neapolitan ships were captured, their spoils estimated at 75,000,000 francs. In 1793, 11 American ships were captured and 100 American sailors were enslaved, then 16 Portuguese ships were captured by Rais Hamidou in 1797 along with 118 prisoners. • 1800 - 1802: The spoils were estimated at 575,152 francs, and 20 ships were seized, of which 19 were Neapolitan, in addition to another Portuguese ship seized by Rais Hamidou, equipped with 44 cannons, its value estimated at 194,231.25 francs. • 1805 - 1815: The value of spoils was estimated at 8 million francs, from 1800 prisoners and 30 ships. A truce in 1810 was followed by the treaty of 1813 with Portugal, in which 541 Portuguese prisoners were ransomed for 850,000 Algerian
doro • 1825: The spoils reached eight ships, mostly Dutch, Spanish and English, with an estimated value of about 770,415.74 francs. • 1817 - 1827: the value of spoils was approximately 700,000 francs, with 26 Greek ships seized. == Corsair city of Algiers ==