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

1. 3. 2. Crusades in North Africa
The plans of conquest Isabella elaborated were executed speedily. De
Cordova orchestrated a wave of conquest that swept the Algerian shore starting
from 1505 onwards. Cardinal Ximenez headed an expedition to Oran under the
banner of the Cross and the sword of Navarro, slaughtered and pillaged, and
returned with “a small train of camels, led by African slaves, and laden with
gold and silver plate from the Mosques of Oran, and a precious collection of
Arabian manuscripts, for the library of his infant university of Alcala [de
Henares].” 48 The sole expedition against Oran resulted in 4000 dead and a
further 5000 taken to Spain as slaves with a booty totaling half a million ducats
(gold coins). 49 The impact of the fall of Oran was such that a number of other
cities, including Dellys, Algiers, Cherchell, Ténès, and Mostaganem dispatched
peace delegations to Oran. To save their cities from destruction, the Muslim
rulers signed treaties in which they accepted sovereignty of the Spanish King
and paid him annual tributes. Once the coast had been occupied, the Spaniards
built military fortification, or presidios, from which they launched raids against
the nearby areas and interior lands. The primary responsibilities of those
bastions were to control the coastline, commerce, and kingdoms in the area.
The Presidios intervened in local politics by playing one tribe against another
but also ensured an interior slave trade, which supplied Mediterranean markets
with Algerian captives. Spanish barbarism was accompanied by looting; whole
48 Prescott, Ferdinand and Isabella, p. 282; Primaudaie, “Commerce et navigation,” pp. 249-54;
Grammont, Histoire d’Alger, p. 13.
49 Fisher, Barbary Legend, p. 34; Prescott, Ferdinand and Isabella, p. 278-79.
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