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

egency of Algiers. After early vicissitudes, Khayreddin set out to lay the
foundations of a state that were to last for the 300 years to come.
By 1525, Khayreddin reinforced his control over Algiers and converted
it into a powerful naval base; hence strengthening Ottoman presence in the
western Mediterranean in the way. 76 He transformed this Ottoman province to a
busy construction yard. Along the coast, from Churchill to Tlemcen he built
new garrisons or reinforced existing ones. With the Arab tribes of the interior,
he concluded alliances while to the east he sent troops that conquered major
cities such as Constantine, Collo, and Annaba. In 1529, he decided to give
Algiers a free port, unhindered by the Spaniards. He besieged the Penon before
cannonading it “day and night for fifteen days” until reduced to mere rubble. 77
Soon after, he ordered the construction of a mole large enough to harbor his
flotilla. For the next two years, the Christians who were made prisoners at the
fall of the Penon were employed in the work of demolishing the whole islet. 78
The debris was used to build the breakwater that forms the inner harbor of
Algiers today. 79 During the next three centuries, the port was aggrandized by
different Turkish rulers.
76 Tal Shuval, “Remettre l’Algérie à l’heure Ottomane : Questions d’historiographie,” Revue du Monde
Musulman et de la Méditerranée, 95-98 (2002), p. 426.
77 Lane-Poole, Barbary Corsairs, pp. 58-9.
78 To Christian’s dismay, to the loss of the fort to Algiers was added another one: a full convoy,
composed of 9 galleys, 27,000 men, and ammunitions destined for the fort which had just disappeared,
was captured by the Algerian corsairs. Ibid., pp. 60-1.
79
The structure of the port as conceived five centuries ago remains unchanged today. The
infrastructure—shelters for vessels and fortifications—had remained unaltered until after 1830; then,
they were degraded by the French. For a full description of the mole and its degradations see Tassy,
Royaume d’Alger, pp. 36-42 and Rang, Régence d’Alger, pp. 415-16, 368-70 respectively; also see
Kaddache, L’Algérie Ottomane, p. 12.
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