Tunisian navy (1705–1881)

Last updated
A French ship attacked by corsairs (17th century) A French Ship and Barbary Pirates (c 1615) by Aert Anthoniszoon.jpg
A French ship attacked by corsairs (17th century)

Until 1815 the Beylik of Tunis maintained a corsair navy to attack European shipping, raid coastal towns on the northern shores of the Mediterranean and defend against incursions from Algiers or Tripoli. After 1815 Tunis tried, with limited success, to create a modern navy, which fought in the Greek War of Independence and the Crimean War.

Contents

The corsair age

Medallion commemorating the French victory over Tunis and Tripoli, 1728 Franzosische Bezwingung von Tunis und Tripolis 1728.jpg
Medallion commemorating the French victory over Tunis and Tripoli, 1728

Corsairing was less important to the economy of Tunis than to the other Barbary States, but under Yusuf Dey in the early seventeenth century it grew in scale, and the capture of foreign ships became a key source of income for the ruler. Each time a ship was captured it went to the Bey as booty, together with half of its crew - the remainder being divided among the corsairs themselves. [1]

To be sustainable, corsair activity needed a significant investment in shipping, skilled people and scarce resources, and these were only intermittently available in Tunis. The selling of European captives back to their countries of origin and the purchase of ship hulls from foreign ports went on continuously, but at times when the profitability of agriculture or trade rose, corsair activity tended to decline, as, for example, during the periods 1660–1705 and 1760–1792. [2] Like Algiers and Tripoli, Tunis needed to import most of the materials necessary to build and maintain a fleet, including rope, tar, sails and anchors and the wood necessary to convert captured merchantmen into warships. [3]

The Beys of Tunis sent out their fleets on their own account, but also derived income by chartering part of their navy to privateers. The Ben Ayyed family chartered 36 percent of the Tunisian corsair fleet between 1764 and 1815 (making them the second largest), paying a tithe (uchur) for the privilege, but the profits they yielded were not significant. [2]

Shipbuilding and naval organisation

Nautical chart showing Porto Farina Cap farina 1939.jpg
Nautical chart showing Porto Farina
Description of a xebec, 1764 Chebec par Nicolas Ozanne vers 1764.jpg
Description of a xebec, 1764

The Tunisian corsair fleet consisted mainly of xebecs and galiots, many of them converted merchant ships. [4] [5] In the eighteenth century the European powers abandoned the galley [6] and began building larger ships of the line. While a xebec could carry up to 24 guns, European battleships commonly carried 74 guns after 1750. [7] [8] It thus became increasingly difficult for Tunis to build, equip, man or maintain a naval force that could remain effective in the face of other modern navies in the Mediterranean. In the seventeenth century Tunis and the other Barbary states depended on Christian European craftsmen to build its ships and naval installations; this was less the case by the eighteenth century but the Tunisian navy always depended on imported finished goods. As Tunis sought to keep apace with the European fleets, it relied less on privateering and developed the infrastructure of a state navy. [9]

The main port for the corsair navy was Porto Farina, sixty kilometres north of Tunis. It offered shelter under Cape Farina from the northeast wind. It was slowly silting up as a result of the outflow of the Medjerda River, and eventually became unusable for larger ships. [10] Some galleys were maintained at Bizerte and there were also naval installations at La Goulette. [11] A naval arsenal was built in Porto Farina in 1707, but by 1769 the site seems to have been abandoned and the facility moved to La Goulette. The Venetians bombarded Porto Farina in 1784, but after this no foreign navy paid attention to it. [12]

Hammuda Pasha sought to increase Tunis’ naval autonomy by building modern naval shipyards at Porto Farina and La Goulette as well as a cannon foundry in Tunis, which employed Christian slave labour and used materials imported from Spain. [13] The harbour at La Goulette was exposed to enemy attack, so in 1818, fearing that Lord Exmouth would destroy his entire navy as he had the Algerian fleet, Mahmud Bey had the entrance to Porto Farina dredged clear do that he could move his ships back there, where they could shelter in the lagoon. [14] : 338  However, after the destruction of the Tunisian fleet in the storm of 1821, Porto Farina was effectively abandoned again. [12]

One of the noteworthy aspects of how the Tunisian navy was organised was that for many decades it was the charge of one man, Mohamed Khodja  [ fr ]. He was originally appointed by Ali Bey in around 1780 as commander of the maritime fort of Bizerte. The commander of the ships themselves was first admiral Mustapha Raïs, and after 1825, Mohamed Sghaïer, and Hammuda Pasha soon appointed Mohamed Khodja as director of the naval arsenals (amin el-tarsikhana). After 1818 Mohamed Khodja had the task of reforming the Tunisian navy and reconverting the corsairs and their ships. He remained in post even after the defeat at Navarino, and served until his death in 1846 in a role which came to resemble that of a modern Minister of the Marine. One of his sons Ahmad, who predeceased him, was commander of Porto Farina while another, Mahmoud, succeeded him in his role as amin el-tarsikhaneh. [15] : 60 

Treaties and conflict (1705–1805)

When the Husainid dynasty took power in Tunis in 1705, piracy and privateering had long been part of the country's economy. [14] : 121  Over time, various maritime countries signed treaties with Tunis, agreeing to make gifts and payments in return for security against attack and enslavement. [16] [17] For example, the 1797 treaty with the United States assured a payment to Tunis of $107,000 in return for not attacking American shipping. [18] : 52  [14] : 236  An offer from Sweden in 1814 worth 75,000 piastres to the Bey, with regular payments every three years to secure the safety of its shipping was considered inadequate and not accepted. [14] : 296–7  In 1815, the Netherlands offered the Bey half a million francs in presents to ensure the free movement of its ships. [14] : 303 

Having secured these subsidies with the threat of piracy, Tunis and the other Barbary states did not always adhere to their obligations, and at times they still seized shipping from countries with which they had treaties. In 1728 the French, in exasperation, decided that a show of force was necessary. On 19 July 1728 a naval force under Etienne Nicolas de Grandpré  [ fr ] consisting of two ships of the line, three frigates, a flute, three bomb galiots and two galleys left Toulon. [19] : 206  [20] When this fleet appeared off La Goulette the Tunisian navy did not oppose it and the Bey quickly agreed to France's terms. (Tripoli refused them, and was bombarded for six days). [19] : 206 

By the late eighteenth century the Tunisian fleet was no longer capable of posing a threat to the major European naval powers. [21] When a dispute over Corsican shipping and the rights to coral fishing in Tabarka led to the outbreak of war with France in June 1770, the Tunisian fleet did not attempt to engage the French navy, which was able to bombard Porto Farina, Bizerte and Sousse with impunity. [14] : 170–185  In 1784 a dispute with the Republic of Venice led to war; on 1 September a Venetian fleet of three ships of the line, a frigate, two xebecs and a galiot appeared off Tunis. Supported by two British frigates, this force sailed to Porto Farina, bombarding it repeatedly between 9–18 September. Sailing back, the Venetians then bombarded La Goulette from 30 October - 19 November. They returned in 1786, bombarding Sfax repeatedly from 18 March - 8 May, Bizerte in July and Sousse in September. In no case did any Tunisian fleet put to sea or offer resistance - the country relied entirely on shore batteries for defence. [14] : 200–215 

If the Venetian bombardment showed that Tunis was no longer a major naval force, it could still pose a threat to its neighbours. Thus in 1799 a fleet of twelve corsairs under the command of Mohammed Rais Roumali raided San Pietro Island off Sardinia, carrying its entire population away into slavery. [14] : 237  [22]

The Barbary Wars and war with Algiers (1805–1815)

In 1804 Tunisian naval power consisted of one thirty-six gun frigate with another under construction, 32 xebecs with between 6 and 36 guns, thirty armed galleys and ten gunboats. That year Tunis attempted, unsuccessfully, to secure the delivery of another frigate from the United States as the price of maintaining the peace. [18] : 52  Hostilities were threatened during the First Barbary War when the USS Constitution seized a Tunisian corsair and its prizes that were attempting to run the US blockade of Tripoli. When the USS Vixen appeared off Tunis in July 1805, a Tunisian gunboat opened fire on her and gave chase. The Vixen continued on her way into port, and neither she nor Stephen Decatur, aboard the USS Congress , returned fire. [23] During the Second Barbary War the United States demanded compensation for two American vessels that had been seized by the British in the War of 1812 and held in Tunis as prizes. To secure peace, Tunis agreed to pay compensation, reversing thirty years of established practice whereby the USA maintained peace by paying the Barbary States. [24]

The Regency of Tunis fought a protracted conflict with the Regency of Algiers over many years, almost entirely on land. However, in May 1811 an Algerian fleet entered Tunisian waters and engaged a Tunisian force off Sousse. The Algerian squadron consisted of six large ships and four gunboats under the command of Raïs Hamidou; the Tunisian of twelve warships under Mohammed al-Mourali. Fighting was confined to the two flagships but after six hours of combat Mourali was compelled to strike his colours and surrender. The rest of the Tunisian fleet took shelter in Monastir while the Algerians sailed home with their prize. This was the first serious naval engagement the two regencies had ever fought, costing 230 Tunisian and 41 Algerian lives. [14] : 268  In 1812 the Algerians returned, and blockaded La Goulette with nineteen ships from 24 July to 10 August. Both sides were careful to avoid escalation, so neither opened fire on the other. [14] : 284–5 

In August 1815 the Tunisian fleet made ready to face another incursion by the Algerians, An Algerian naval fleet attacked a Tunisian fleet but failed in front of a Tunisian fleet. Muhammad|Mahmud Bey]] dispatched eight Corsair ships under Moustafa Reis to pillage the coasts of Italy, hoping to amass both slaves and treasure. After several fruitless raids over six weeks, the fleet attacked Sant'Antioco in Sardinia, seizing 158 slaves before returning to La Goulette in October loaded with booty. [14] : 305–6  [22] This was the last major raid undertaken by the Tunisian fleet, and it was instrumental in bringing about an end to its historic activities. [25]

The end of the corsair age (1815–1821)

After the final defeat of Napoleon in Europe in 1815, the powers gathered at the Congress of Vienna to agree a new political order. One of the questions they considered was the slave trade and the continuing depredations of the Barbary corsairs. Sardinia in particular urged the powers to take decisive action to free the captives from Sant’Antioco and from previous raids, and to prevent any other attacks in future. To resolve these matters Britain dispatched a fleet to the Barbary states under Lord Exmouth, who carried authority to negotiate an end these practices from a number of European powers, including Great Britain, Hanover, Sardinia and Naples. [26] [27]

Exmouth's force of eighteen warships appeared off La Goulette on 10 April 1816. The Tunisian fleet made no attempt to resist it. [28] Mahmud Bey agreed to Exmouth's terms, and a treaty was signed with the European powers on 17 April 1816. [29] [30] As a result of Exmouth's expedition, 781 slaves and prisoners were redeemed from Tunis (along with 580 from Tripoli and 1514 from Algiers). [31]

In 1820 the Tunisian navy had three 48-gun frigates, and this sizeable force was deployed to attack Algiers, which had violated its peace agreement by attacking Tunisian shipping. The Tunisian navy set off to make a show of force off Algiers at the end of October, and did manoeuvre between Algiers and the Balearic Islands, but based itself in Livorno to be safe against any counterattack. Towards the end of December it returned to La Goulette, having exhausted its supplies. [14] : 341 

It remained at La Goulette when a huge storm blew up on 7–9 February 1821, driving 21 ships aground in the Gulf of Tunis and damaging many others. [22] : 418  Among the ships lost were the Bey's three frigates, together with three corvettes, a brig, a schooner and a xebec. This loss had serious consequences for Tunis, leaving it unable to prosecute the war with Algiers and destroying the naval superiority it then enjoyed with its neighbour. Tunis therefore agreed to accept the Sublime Porte’s offer of mediation, and signed a peace agreement with Algiers in March. It also left Tunis unable to provide immediate naval assistance to the Ottomans in the Greek War of Independence. [22] : 419  [32] [14] : 342–4 

Defeat at Navarino (1821–1837)

The Ottoman fleet at Navarino, which included a Tunisian squadron Navarino.jpg
The Ottoman fleet at Navarino, which included a Tunisian squadron

As well as destroying ships, the storm of 1821 also carried away all their crews - around two thousand seamen with the skills and experience to sail them. To maintain a first-rate navy, Tunis could not rely on locally-built ships and needed to purchase vessels from the leading European naval yards. In March 1821 Mahmud Bey sent Mourali and other agents to Marseilles, Trieste and Venice to see whether any warships could be purchased, as well as to Istanbul to recruit new experienced crews. [22] : 419  [32]

To replace the ships lost, two frigates, the Hassaniya and the Mansoura, [32] two corvettes and a brig were ordered from the shipyards at Marseilles while three vessels were purchased at La Goulette. As soon as they were delivered, the frigates were sent to support the Ottomans in Greece. [22] : 420 

In March 1827 Sultan Mahmud II requested additional Tunisian naval support in Greece. Husayn Bey responded by sending a flotilla to the Morea that consisted of two frigates, two corvettes and two brigs. [22] : 420  (A different account says two frigates and one brig). [33] : vii–viii  [34] : 143  In October 1827 the Tunisian ships were surprised along with the rest of the Ottoman navy and completely destroyed at the Battle of Navarino, leaving Tunis obliged to rebuild its navy from scratch for a second time in six years. In May 1828 two new brigantines had been built at La Goulette - these remained the only effective warships in Tunis until 1830. When the Ottoman government made a fresh request for warships in 1829, the Bey declined to send them. These ships were insufficient force prevent the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from blockading Tunis in 1833, forcing the Bey to sign a favourable commercial treaty. As before, Tunis did not want to risk losing its warships by giving battle. [22] : 420–421 

Flag of Tunisia Flag of Tunisia.svg
Flag of Tunisia

The defeat at Navarino prompted Husayn Bey to decide that his warships needed to fly under a distinctive flag so as to distinguish themselves from other squadrons in the Ottoman fleet. This was the origin of the flag that later became the national flag of Tunisia. The flag was officially adopted in 1831. [35] [36]

Tunisian forces played no part in the conflict between France and Algiers between 1827 and 1830; [37] indeed the losses from Navarino were not fully replaced until 1834 when a 44-gun frigate and two corvettes were commissioned in Marseilles. The order was for ships with flat bottoms which could safely enter the harbour at La Goulette, which was sanding up. [22] : 429  The first of the new frigates was launched on 3 November and named Husayniyya. [33] : 54  By this time the French conquest of Algeria had prompted the Ottomans to re-occupy Tripoli and consider invading Tunis as well. [37] : 127–8 

Ahmed Bey and the Crimea (1837–1855)

An 1839 French consular report lists the Tunisian navy as comprising: [34] : 144 

By 1840 all of the world's major navies had built or were building large steam-powered warships. [33] : v  Tunisia's first steamship was bought in 1841 but unfortunately sank in less than a year. The Dante, a 160-ton steamship was presented by the French government to Ahmed Bey in 1846 after it took him to France on his state visit. Unfortunately the Dante ran aground in a storm off La Marsa and had to be decommissioned. Around a year later France replaced it with a second vessel the Minos, in 1848. It remained stationed in Tunisia under a French captain until the death of Ahmed Bey; his successor Mohammed Bey requested its withdrawal as an economy measure. [34] : 301  [38]

In the meantime Tunis was building and purchasing other ships to strengthen its naval capacity. Work began building a new frigate, the Ahmadiya in La Goulette in 1841. The channel connecting the basin with the sea was not wide enough to accommodate a ship of its size, but the Bey was convinced that it could be modified once the warship was built. The ship was launched on 2 January 1853 but remained marooned in the pool for years, unable to sail out because the widening had not been undertaken. Eventually it was broken up, having never reached the sea. [34] : 302  [38]

Ahmed Bey also bought craft such as the aviso Essed and the frigate Sadikia as well as other modern ships, the Béchir and Mansour. The Bey's plan was for this fleet to be based in Porto Farina where new port installations had been built. However, the silting up of the harbor of Porto Farina by the Medjerda River prevented this project from coming to fruition. [39]

Following the death of Mohamed Khodja in 1846, Ahmed Bey appointed his son fr:Mahmoud Khodja to succeed him as Minister of the Marine. In 1853 he brought engineers from France and Italy to rebuild the arsenal at La Goulette arsenal as well as various coastal forts. [15] : 102  In the same year the Ottoman government expressed surprise that the Bey of Tunis, as a loyal subject, had not offered to assist against Russia on the event of war. The Bey responded that he was ready to assist, possibly because a show of loyalty to the Ottomans would undermine the French policy of treating Tunis as independent when pressing its own demands. Mahmoud Khodja was responsible for chartering more than sixty ships to transport the 14,000 Tunisian troops who were sent to support Turkey. They mostly served in the garrison at Batum where their numbers were thinned by epidemics. [37] : 217–222 

Hayreddin Pasha and the French invasion (1857–1881)

In 1857 Muhammad Bey reorganised his government along modern ministerial lines and following the death of a Mahmoud Khodja made Hayreddin Pasha Minister of the Marine, a post he occupied until 1862. The ministry figured in Tunisia's first ever national budget, for 1860–61. The amount allocated, 754,000 piastres, was only half of what Hayreddin had requested as necessary to keep the navy fed and supplied. During the time he was minister the Tunisian navy consisted of two frigates, five old steamships and ten sailing ships of various sizes. They were all in a poor state of repair and in October 1862 only one frigate was capable of leaving port. It was useless as a military force and its main activity was transporting livestock to keep the troops in the south supplied with meat, but in March 1862 the fleet was in such poor condition that the government had to charter foreign ships for the task. Hayreddin's main purpose was to modernise and fit out the port of La Goulette so that it could serve as a safe winter port for the fleet; as it could no longer accommodate ships of any size, the navy was obliged to shelter in the roads off Sfax. [38]

After Hayreddin Pasha Tunis had Navy Ministers who served only brief terms, Ismail Kahia (1862-3), General Rashid (1862-5), Mohammed Khaznadar (1865–72), Mustapha Ben Ismaïl (1873-76) and finally, on the eve of the French occupation, Ahmed Zarrouk (1876–81). In 1877, at the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War, the Ottoman government asked Tunisia for assistance once again, but Tunisia did not have the financial means to assist. [40]

During the French invasion of Tunisia in 1881, the Tunisian navy offered no opposition. [41]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xebec</span> Mediterranean sailing ship

A xebec, also spelled zebec, was a Mediterranean sailing ship that was used mostly for trading. Xebecs had a long overhanging bowsprit and aft-set mizzen mast. The term can also refer to a small, fast vessel of the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, used almost exclusively in the Mediterranean Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbary Wars</span> Wars in coastal North Africa, 1801, 1815

The Barbary Wars were a series of two wars fought by the United States, Sweden, and the Kingdom of Sicily against the Barbary states and Morocco of North Africa in the early 19th century. Sweden had been at war with the Tripolitans since 1800 and was joined by the newly independent US. The First Barbary War extended from 10 May 1801 to 10 June 1805, with the Second Barbary War lasting only three days, ending on 19 June 1815.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Barbary War</span> 1815 war between Algiers and the United States

The Second Barbary War (1815) or the U.S.–Algerian War was fought between the United States and the North African Barbary Coast states of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers. The war ended when the United States Senate ratified Commodore Stephen Decatur's Algerian treaty on 5 December 1815. However, Dey Omar Agha of Algeria repudiated the US treaty, refused to accept the terms of peace that had been ratified by the Congress of Vienna, and threatened the lives of all Christian inhabitants of Algiers. William Shaler was the US commissioner in Algiers who had negotiated alongside Decatur, but he fled aboard British vessels during the 1816 bombardment of Algiers. He negotiated a new treaty in 1816 which was not ratified by the Senate until 11 February 1822, because of an oversight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbary pirates</span> Pirates based in North Africa

The Barbary pirates, Barbary corsairs, or Ottoman corsairs were mainly Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from the Barbary states. This area was known in Europe as the Barbary Coast, in reference to the Berbers. The main purpose of their attacks was to capture slaves for the Barbary slave trade. Slaves in Barbary could be of many ethnicities, and of many different religions, such as Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. Their predation extended throughout the Mediterranean, south along West Africa's Atlantic seaboard and into the North Atlantic as far north as Iceland, but they primarily operated in the western Mediterranean. In addition to seizing merchant ships, they engaged in razzias, raids on European coastal towns and villages, mainly in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, but also in the British Isles, the Netherlands, and Iceland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Occhiali</span> Ottoman commander

Occhiali was an Italian farmer, then Ottoman privateer and admiral, who later became beylerbey of the Regency of Algiers, and finally Grand Admiral of the Ottoman fleet in the 16th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bombardment of Algiers (1816)</span> 1816 anti-slavery conflict

The Bombardment of Algiers was an attempt on 27 August 1816 by Britain and the Netherlands to end the slavery practices of Omar Agha, the Dey of Algiers. An Anglo-Dutch fleet under the command of Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth bombarded ships and the harbour defences of Algiers.

The Battle of Porto Farina took place at Porto Farina on April 4, 1655 in northern Tunisia, when an English fleet under Robert Blake destroyed the vessels of several Barbary corsairs. Blakes fleet destroyed two shore batteries and nine Algerian ships in Porto Farina, the first time shore batteries had been taken out without landing men ashore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regency of Algiers</span> 1516–1830 Autonomous Ottoman State in North Africa

The Regency of Algiers was an autonomous eyalet of the Ottoman Empire in what was known as the Barbary coast of North Africa from 1516 to 1830. It was an early modern tributary state founded by the corsair brothers Oruç and Hayreddin Barbarossa, ruled first by viceroys, which later became a sovereign military republic. The Regency was infamous for its Barbary corsairs, making it a formidable pirate base for maritime Holy war and plunder against Christian powers. It was also the strongest Barbary state. Situated between the Regency of Tunis in the east, the Sharifian Sultanate of Morocco and Spanish Oran in the west, the Regency originally extended its borders from the Mellegue river in the east to Moulouya river in the west and from Collo to Ouargla, with nominal authority over the Tuat and In Salah to the south. At the end of the Regency, it extended to the present eastern and western borders of Algeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghar el-Melh</span> Place in Bizerte Governorate, Tunisia

Ghar el-Melh, the classical Rusucmona and Castra Delia and colonial Porto Farina, is a town and former port on the southern side of Cape Farina in Bizerte Governorate, Tunisia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angelo Emo</span> Venetian admiral (1731–1792)

Angelo Emo was a Venetian noble, administrator, and admiral. He is notable for his reforms of the Venetian navy and his naval campaigns, being regarded as the last great admiral of the Venetian Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beylik of Tunis</span> North African monarchy (1705–1881)

The Beylik of Tunis was a largely autonomous beylik of the Ottoman Empire located in present-day Tunisia. It was ruled by the Husainid dynasty from 1705 until the establishment of the French protectorate of Tunisia in 1881. The term beylik refers to the monarch, who was called the Bey of Tunis. Under the protectorate, the institution of the Beylik was retained nominally, with the Husainids remaining as largely symbolic sovereigns.

Siemen Danziger, better known by his anglicized names Zymen Danseker and Simon de Danser, was a 17th-century Dutch privateer and Barbary corsair based in Ottoman Algeria. His name is also written Danziker, Dansker, Dansa or Danser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action of 28 November 1751</span>

The action of 28 November 1751 was a naval engagement off Cape St. Vincent between a squadron of two Spanish ships of the line under captain Pedro Fitz-James Stuart and an Algerine squadron of two ships of the line under corsair Mohammed Chirif, which was fought from November 28 to December 2, 1751, and resulted in a victory for the Spanish fleet. The Algerine ships had come from the port of Algiers, and were acting as corsairs, conducting commerce raiding against Christian merchant ships and enslaving their crews. This was part of the Barbary slave trade, where the Barbary states, autonomous vassals of the Ottoman Empire, raided Christian settlements and merchant vessels for slaves to sell in their own cities. The corsairs targeted Spain, a Christian country, and the Spanish Navy was sent to track down the formidable Algerine force of two ships of the line, which posed a significant threat to any Christian vessels in the region. When the fleets sighted each other on November 28, 1751, they found that they were evenly matched with their opposition; both fielded two ships of the line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raïs Hamidou</span>

Hamidou ben Ali, known as Raïs Hamidou, or Amidon in American literature, born around 1770, and died on June 17, 1815, near Cape Gata off the coast of southern Spain, was an Algerian corsair. He captured up to 200 ships during his career. Hamidou ensured the prosperity of the Deylik of Algiers, and gave it its last glory before the French invasion. His biography is relatively well known because the French archivist Albert Devoulx has found important documents, including a precious register of prizes opened by the authorities of the Deylik in 1765. Songs and legends have also taken hold of this charismatic character.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottoman Tunisia</span> Semi-autonomous state affiliated with the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Tunisia, also known as the Regency of Tunis, refers to the Ottoman presence in Ifriqiya from the 16th to 19th century, when Tunis was officially integrated into the Ottoman Empire as the Eyalet of Tunis. Ottoman presence in the Maghreb began with the takeover of Algiers in 1516 by the Ottoman Turkish corsair and beylerbey Aruj, eventually expanding across the entire region except for Morocco. The first Ottoman conquest of Tunis occurred in 1534 under the command of Khayr al-Din Barbarossa, the younger brother of Aruj, who was the Kapudan Pasha of the Ottoman Fleet during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. However, it was not until the final Ottoman reconquest of Tunis from Spain in 1574 that the Turks permanently acquired the former territories of Hafsid Tunisia, retaining it until the French occupation of Tunisia in 1881.

Usta Murad was a corsair captain and later Dey of Tunis from 1637 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venetian bombardments of the Beylik of Tunis</span>

The Venetian bombardments of the Beylik of Tunis were a series of naval bombardments of the capital and various port cities of the Beylik of Tunis by the Venetian navy in order to force Bey Hammuda ibn Ali to resume the treaty that protected Venetian-flagged shipping from harassment by Barbary pirates. The campaign lasted from 1784 to 1786, with the Venetian navy under Angelo Emo bombarding the harbour towns of Tunisia. The conflict dragged on until 1792, but no major naval actions were undertaken after the winter of 1786/87.

The Battle of Cape Palos was a naval engagement that took place between 9 and 10 June 1758, during the Spanish-Barbary Wars. A Spanish squadron of three warships intercepted an Algerian squadron of two warships escorting a prize ship. After a prolonged fight, the Algiers flagship surrendered. His consort eluded the battle, but wrecked and the prize ship escaped. Algiers flagship sank from the damage, but there were several prisoners and Christian slaves released.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corsairs of Algiers</span> 1516–1830 unit of the Algerine army

The ta'ifa of raïs or the Raïs for short, were Barbary pirates based in Ottoman Algeria who were involved in piracy and slave trade in the Mediterranean Sea from the 16th to the 19th century. They were an ethnically mixed group of seafarer, including mostly "Renegades" from European provinces of the Mediterranean and the North Sea, along with a minority of Turks and Moors. Such crews were experienced in naval combat thus making Algiers a formidable pirate base. Its activity was directed against the Spanish empire, but it did not neglect the coasts of Sicily, Sardinia, Naples or Provence. It was the Taifa which, through its captures, maintained the prosperity of Algiers and its finances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bombardment of Tripoli (1728)</span> Military operation by Kingdom of France

The Bombardment of Tripoli is a military operation of the Kingdom of France which took place between July 20 and July 27, 1728 against the current city of Tripoli, in Libya.

References

  1. ↑ Kevin Shillington (2013-07-04). Encyclopedia of African History 3-Volume Set. Routledge. p. 219. ISBN   978-1-135-45669-6.
  2. 1 2 Boubaker, Sadok (2003). "Trade and Personal Wealth Accumulation in Tunis from the Seventeenth to the Early Nineteenth Centuries". Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine. 50 (4): 29–62. doi: 10.3917/rhmc.504.0029 . Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  3. ↑ Michael Russell (1835). History and Present Condition of the Barbary States: Comprehending a View of Their Civil Institutions, Antiquities, Arts, Religion, Literature, Commerce, Agriculture, and Natural Productions. Oliver & Boyd. p. 404.
  4. ↑ United States Naval Academy (1981-04-01). New aspects of naval history: selected papers presented at the Fourth Naval History Symposium, United States Naval Academy, 25-26 October 1979. Naval Institute Press. ISBN   9780870214950.
  5. ↑ James Hingston Tuckey (1815). Maritime geography and statistics, or A description of the ocean and its coasts, maritime commerce, navigation, &c.
  6. ↑ Antonicelli, Aldo (4 May 2016). "From Galleys to Square Riggers: The modernization of the navy of the Kingdom of Sardinia". The Mariner's Mirror. 102 (2): 153. doi:10.1080/00253359.2016.1167396. S2CID   111844482.
  7. ↑ "oxfordreference.com". Oxford Reference. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  8. ↑ David Steel (1812). The Elements and Practice of Naval Architecture; Or: A Treatise on Ship-building, Theoretical and Practical, on the Best Principles Established in Great Britain. With Copious Tables of Dimensions, &c. Illustrated with a Series of Thirty-nine Large Draughts, ... Steel and Company. p. 176.
  9. ↑ Clark, G.N. (1944). "The Barbary Corsairs in the Seventeenth Century". The Cambridge Historical Journal. 8 (1): 27, 34. doi:10.1017/S1474691300000561. JSTOR   3020800.
  10. ↑ Friedrich Rühs; Samuel Heinrich Spiker (1814). Zeitschrift für die neueste Geschichte die Staaten- und Völkerkunde. p. 136.
  11. ↑ The Little Sea Torch: Or True Guide for Coasting Pilots: by Which They are Clearly Instructed how to Navigate Along the Coasts of England, Ireland ... and Sicily. Debrett. 1801. p. 110.
  12. 1 2 Molinier, J. "Porto Farina" (PDF). mash.univ-aix.fr. Bulletin Economique et Social de la Tunisie. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  13. ↑ Jean Batou (1990). Cent ans de résistance au sous-développement: l'industrialisation de l'Amerique latine et du Moyen-Orient face au défi européen, 1770–1870. Librairie Droz. p. 147. ISBN   978-2-600-04290-1.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Rousseau, Alphonse (1864). Annales tunisiennes, ou, Aperçu historique sur la régence de Tunis. Algiers: Bastide Libraire-Éditeur. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  15. 1 2 Ibn Abi Dhiaf (1990). Présent des hommes de notre temps. Chroniques des rois de Tunis et du pacte fondamental, vol. VIII. Tunis: Maison tunisienne de l'édition.
  16. ↑ Windler, Christian (March 2001). "Diplomatic History as a Field for Cultural Analysis: Muslim-Christian Relations in Tunis, 1700–1840". The Historical Journal. 44 (1): 79–106. doi:10.1017/S0018246X01001674. JSTOR   3133662. S2CID   162271552.
  17. ↑ Woodward, G. Thomas (September 2004). "The Costs of State–Sponsored Terrorism: The Example of the Barbary Pirates" (PDF). National Tax Journal. 57 (3): 599–611. doi:10.17310/ntj.2004.3.07. JSTOR   41790233. S2CID   153152236.
  18. 1 2 Spencer Tucker (2013-12-15). Stephen Decatur: A Life Most Bold and Daring. Naval Institute Press. ISBN   978-1-61251-510-6.
  19. 1 2 Paul Chack (2001). Marins à bataille. Le gerfaut. ISBN   978-2-901196-92-1.
  20. ↑ Alfred Graincourt (1780). Les hommes illustres de la marine française, leurs actions mémorables et leurs portraits. Jorry. p. 243.
  21. ↑ "Great Britain and the Barbary States in the Eighteenth Century". Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research. 29 (79): 87. May 1956. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2281.1956.tb02346.x . Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Sforza, Arturo (September 1987). "La Ricostruzione della Flotta da Guerra di Tunisi (1821–1836)". Africa: Rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione dell'Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente. 42 (3): 418. JSTOR   40760173.
  23. ↑ Robert J. Allison (2007). Stephen Decatur: American Naval Hero, 1779–1820. Univ of Massachusetts Press. pp. 72–3. ISBN   978-1-55849-583-8.
  24. ↑ Frank Lambert (2007-01-09). The Barbary Wars: American Independence in the Atlantic World. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 194. ISBN   978-0-374-70727-9.
  25. ↑ Daniel Panzac (2005). The Barbary Corsairs: The End of a Legend, 1800-1820. BRILL. p. 273. ISBN   90-04-12594-9.
  26. ↑ Patricia Lorcin (2 October 2017). The Southern Shores of the Mediterranean and its Networks: Knowledge, Trade, Culture and People. Taylor & Francis. p. 33. ISBN   978-1-317-39426-6.
  27. ↑ Martti Koskenniemi; Walter Rech; Manuel Jiménez Fonseca (2017). International Law and Empire: Historical Explorations. Oxford University Press. p. 214. ISBN   978-0-19-879557-5.
  28. ↑ Julia A. Clancy-Smith (4 November 2010). Mediterraneans: North Africa and Europe in an Age of Migration, c. 1800–1900. University of California Press. p. 22. ISBN   978-0-520-94774-0.
  29. ↑ Charles F. Partington (1836). The British Cyclopaedia of Literature, History, Geography, Law and Politics. p. 781.
  30. ↑ The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and Its Dependencies. Black, Parbury, & Allen. 1816. p. 613.
  31. ↑ Brian E. Vick (13 October 2014). The Congress of Vienna. Harvard University Press. p. 390. ISBN   978-0-674-72971-1.
  32. 1 2 3 Buonocore, Ferdinando (June 1968). "DUE TRAGICI AVVENIMENTI NELLA REGGENZA DI TUNISI ALL'INIZIO DEL XIX SECOLO: Visti attraverso il carteggio del Consolato delle Due Sicilie conservato nell'Archivio di Stato di Napoli". Africa: Rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione dell'Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente. 23 (2): 183–190. JSTOR   40757811.
  33. 1 2 3 Haughton, John (2012). The Navies of the World 1835–1840. Melbourne: Inkifingus. ISBN   978-0-646-57760-9 . Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  34. 1 2 3 4 Leon Carl Brown (2015-03-08). The Tunisia of Ahmad Bey, 1837–1855. Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-1-4008-4784-6.
  35. ↑ Harbaoui, Zouhour (3 June 2018). "Une Modernité Tunisienne 1830–1930 (Première partie): Souvenirs du passé pour prévenir l'avenir…". Le Temps. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  36. ↑ Bourial, Hatem (20 October 2016). "Le drapeau tunisien a 189 ans : Une étoile et un croissant dans un disque blanc…". Tunis Webdo. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  37. 1 2 3 Raymond, André (October 1953). "Introduction" (PDF). British Policy Towards Tunis (1830–1881) (PhD). St. Anthony’s College, Oxford. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  38. 1 2 3 G. S. van Krieken (1976). Khayr al-Dîn et la Tunisie: 1850–1881. Brill Archive. pp. 30–36. ISBN   90-04-04568-6.
  39. ↑ Bourial, Hatem (9 March 2017). "" Dante ", Minos ", Mansour " : la marine d'Ahmed Bey en 1846". webdo.tn. Tunis Webdo. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  40. ↑ Arnoulet, François (1988). "Les rapports tuniso-ottomans de 1848 à 1881 d'après les documents diplomatiques". Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée. 47: 143–152. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  41. ↑ Operations of the French Navy during the recent war with Tunis. U.S. Office of naval intelligence] Information from abroad. [War series, no. 1. HathiTrust Digital Library. 1883. Retrieved 29 February 2020.{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.