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

ownership of sailing vessels because it was a very attractive activity and “was
likely to satisfy a man’s desire for piety and profit at the very same time.” 125
The 17 th century was the golden age of corsairing; it was during this
period that the corsairs reached the highest point of their power in terms of
prizes and captives. It was also during this period that the corsairs’ cruisers
reached as far as Madeira, archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean (1617), Plymouth,
on the English Channel (1625), Reykjavik, Iceland (1627), and Baltimore,
Ireland (1631). 126 Laugier de Tassy, a French diplomat who visited Algiers
between 1724 and 1725, even recorded that the corsairs had been as far as
Newfoundland, Canada. 127 This pace of growth would be sustained until the
end of the century; by then, new political developments and naval technologies
were going to alter Algerian supremacy irreversibly.
Conclusion
A series of Spanish conquests of Algerian coastal cities, with which
violence and brutality were so intimately associated, led to the establishment of
Ottoman rule in North Africa. The city and regency of Algiers then emerged as
a strong Mediterranean power that played an important role in the struggle
which opposed Muslims to Christians, a struggle which origins go back to the
crusades of the medieval ages. During the three hundred years of its existence,
Algiers resisted continuous Christian attacks. Between 1505 and 1541, the
125 Earle, Pirate Wars, p. 43.
126 Lane-Poole, Barbary Corsairs, pp. 107-108.
127 Tassy, Royaume d’Alger, p. 266.
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