Ottoman Algeria in Western Diplomatic History with ... - Bibliothèque

that were miserably armed, its commerce was at the hands of Jews and
Christians, and its littoral transformed to European concessions. Yet, European
powers continued to nourish the myth of an alarming naval power first to
justify repeated attacks against Algiers and second to scare their competitors,
American chiefly, out of Mediterranean trade. Paradoxically, the Americans
depicted irreversible weaknesses in Algiers’ fortifications and fleet, a reason
which caused them to attack it.
In fact, all these elements were ingredients of corsairing but the practice
in itself when put into its true historical, legal, and diplomatic contexts is more
complex and subject to alternate assessments and accordingly conclusions. This
research work has re-examined relations between Algiers and the western
countries from what one may perhaps call a trans-Mediterranean-Atlantic
approach and has come out with a number of conclusions which are presented
here in a chronological order. Initially, between Algiers and Christian countries
corsairing was adopted as a mode of warfare in a centuries-long Muslim-
Christian conflict which origins go back to the crusades of the medieval ages.
The conflict was revived at the completion of Spanish Reconquista in 1492 and
was brought to the shores of Algiers in the form of conquest starting from
1505. At that time, on both sides of the Mediterranean corsairing was perceived
as a holy war against infidel enemies and the prevailing conflict was
characterized by reciprocal animosity. Therefore, according to western legal
thought, a ‘lawful enemy’ and a ‘state of war’ existed between Algiers and the
Christian countries. This, in fact, is one of two conditions which permitted
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