Regency of Algiers

Regency of Algiers
دولة الجزائر (Arabic)
ایالت جزایر غرب‎‎ (Ottoman Turkish)
1516–1830
Equal-sized thick green layer at bottom and top, equal-sized thin yellow layer below the top and above the bottom, a maroon layer in the middle
Plain maroon field
Left: One type of Algerian Regency flag
Right: Flag of the Ottoman regent of Algiers[nb 1]
Motto: دار الجهاد
Bulwark of the Holy War[3][4]
Coat of arms of Algiers
(1516–1830)

Map of North Africa. The regency of Algiers is colored light brown, at center top, Husaynid Tunisia, maroon, and Tripolitania dark brown. The core territory of the 'Alawid dynasty at center left is dark green, and its outlying territories light green.
Overall extent of the Regency of Algiers, late 17th to early 19th centuries[5]
StatusAutonomous eyalet (Client state) of the Ottoman Empire[6][7]
De facto independent since mid-17th century[8][9][10]
CapitalAlgiers
Official languagesOttoman Turkish and Arabic (since 1671)[11]
Common languagesAlgerian Arabic
Berber
Sabir (used in trade)
Religion
Official, and majority:
Sunni Islam (Maliki and Hanafi)
Minorities:
Ibadi Islam
Shia Islam
Judaism
Christianity
Demonym(s)Algerian or
Algerine (obs.)
GovernmentStratocratic Regency
1516–1519: Sultanate
1519–1659: Pashalik
1659[12] (de facto in 1626)[13]–1830: Military republic
Rulers 
• 1516–1518
Aruj Barbarossa
• 1710–1718
Baba Ali Chaouch
• 1766-1791
Baba Mohammed ben-Osman
• 1818–1830
Hussein Dey
Historical eraEarly modern period
1509
1516
1521–1791
1541
1550–1795
1580–1640
1627
1659
1681–1688
1699–1702
1775–1785
1785–1816
1830
Population
• 1830
3,000,000–5,000,000
CurrencyMajor coins:
mahboub (sultani)
budju
aspre
Minor coins:
saïme
pataque-chique
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Hafsids of Béjaïa
Kingdom of Tlemcen
French Algeria
Beylik of Titteri
Beylik of Constantine
Western Beylik
Emirate of Abdelkader
Igawawen
Kingdom of Beni Abbas
Sultanate of Tuggurt
Awlad Sidi Shaykh
Kingdom of Kuku
Today part ofAlgeria

The Regency of Algiers[a][b] was an early modern semi-independent Ottoman province and tributary state on the Barbary Coast of North Africa from 1516 to 1830.[c] Founded by the privateer brothers Aruj and Hayreddin Reis (also known as the Barbarossa brothers), the Regency succeeded the Kingdom of Tlemcen as an infamous and formidable pirate base that plundered and waged maritime holy war on European Christian powers. Ottoman regents ruled as heads of a stratocracy—an autonomous military government controlled by the janissary corps—known as Garp ocakları (lit.'Western Garrison') in Ottoman terminology.

The Regency emerged in the 16th-century Ottoman–Habsburg wars as a unique corsair state that drew revenue and political power from its maritime strength. In the 17th century, when the wars between the Spanish Habsburgs and the Ottoman Empire, Kingdom of France, Kingdom of England and Dutch Republic ended, Barbary corsairs started capturing merchant ships and their crews and goods from these states. When the Ottomans could not prevent these attacks, European powers negotiated directly with Algiers and also took military action against it. This emancipated Algiers diplomatically and increased its autonomy.

The Regency held significant naval power in the 16th and 17th centuries and well into the end of the Napoleonic wars despite European naval superiority. Its institutionalised privateering dealt substantial damage to European shipping, took captives for ransom, plundered booty, hijacked ships and eventually demanded regular tribute payments. In the rich and bustling city of Algiers, the Barbary slave trade reached an apex. After the janissary coup of 1659, the Regency became a sovereign military republic,[d] and its rulers were thenceforth elected by the council known as the diwan rather than appointed by the Ottoman sultan previously.

Despite wars over territory with Spain and the Maghrebi states in the 18th century, Mediterranean trade and diplomatic relations with European states expanded. Bureaucratisation efforts stabilized the Regency's government, allowing into office regents such as Mohammed ben-Osman, who maintained Algerian prestige thanks to his public and defensive works which increased revenue and fended off attacks on Algiers. British tribute payments no longer insured U.S. shipping traffic in the Mediterranean after the American Revolution, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars provided an opportunity for frequent Algerian privateering. Increased demands for tribute from Algiers started the Barbary Wars at the beginning of the 19th century, when Algiers was decisively defeated for the first time. Internal central authority weakened in Algiers due to political intrigue, failed harvests and the decline of privateering. Violent tribal revolts followed, mainly led by maraboutic orders such as the Darqawis and Tijanis. In 1830, France took advantage of this domestic turmoil to invade. The resulting French conquest of Algeria led to colonial rule until 1962.

  1. ^ Agoston 2009, p. 33.
  2. ^ Cathcart & Newkirk 1899, p. 94
  3. ^ Merouche 2007, p. 140.
  4. ^ Panzac 2005, p. 22.
  5. ^ Sluglett 2014, p. 68.
  6. ^ Somel 2010, p. 16.
  7. ^ McDougall 2017, p. 37,45.
  8. ^ Naylor 2015, p. 121.
  9. ^ Ruedy 2005, p. 19.
  10. ^ Saidouni 2009, p. 195.
  11. ^ Al-Jilali 1994, p. 187.
  12. ^ McDougall 2017, p. 38.
  13. ^ Merouche 2007, p. 186.


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