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Bou Regreg Republic | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1627–1668 | |||||||||
.svg) | |||||||||
 Rabat-Salé, where the republic was located. | |||||||||
| Status | Under the suzerainty of theZawiya Dila'iya (1641–1661) | ||||||||
| Capital | Kasbah | ||||||||
| Common languages | Arabic Berber Spanish Spanish-based lingua franca[1][2] | ||||||||
| Government | Corsairrepublic | ||||||||
| Commander | |||||||||
• 1627–1641 | Sidi al-Ayachi | ||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||
• 1651–1661 | Abdullah ibnMohammed al-Hajj | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | 1627 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1668 | ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
| 1624–1668[3] | 0.91 km2 (0.35 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
| 13,000 | |||||||||
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| Today part of | Morocco | ||||||||
TheRepublic of Salé, also known as theBou Regreg Republic and theRepublic of the Two Banks, was acity-state maritimecorsairrepublic based atSalé inMorocco during the 17th century, located at the mouth of theBou Regreg river. It was founded byMoors[5] andMoriscos from the town ofHornachos, in westernSpain. The Moriscos were the descendants of Muslims who were nominally converted toChristianity, and were subject to mass deportation duringPhilip III's reign, following theexpulsion of the Moriscos decrees. The republic's main commercial activities were theBarbary slave trade andpiracy during its brief existence in the 17th century.[4][6] A Moorish republic, it was culturally Arabic, Andalusian, and Berber.[7]
The republic traces its origins back to the beginning of the 17th century, with the arrival of approximately 3,000 wealthyMoriscos fromHornachos inExtremadura, who anticipated the 1609expulsion edicts ordered byPhilip III of Spain.[8] After 1609, approximately 10,000 down-and-out expelled Moriscos arrived fromSpain.[9] Cultural and language differences between the native Salétin people and the Morisco refugees led the newcomers to settle in theold medina ofRabat, on the opposite bank of theBou Regreg.[10][4]
In 1614Brahim Vargas [ar] became the first governor of the Republic of Salé,[11] a famous corsair who made the old medina of Rabat rich and prosperous by engaging in piracy and trade with Spain and other countries bordering the Mediterranean, for which he had a powerful fleet of galleons (feared by many at the time).[12] Pirates based on the western bank thrived and expanded their operations throughout the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean.[13] In 1624, theDutchmanJan Janszoon, also known as Murad Reis, became the "Grand Admiral" of the Corsair Republic of Salé.[14] He hired a fellow countryman fromthe Netherlands, Mathys van Bostel Oosterlinck, who would serve as his Vice-Admiral.[15] TheSaadi SultanZidan Abu Maali acknowledged Janszoon's election by formally appointing him as his ceremonial governor.[15]
In April 1627, with the support ofSidi al-Ayachi, the Hornacheros expelled the Sherif's governor and constituted themselves a virtually independent republic.[16] The English diplomatJohn Harrison negotiated a treaty with Sidi al-Ayachi in May, a month after theircoup d'état.[16] After Janszoon leftSalé in 1627, the Moriscos ceased to recognize the authority of the Sultan Zidan Abu Maali, and refused to pay histithe on their incomes.[17] They proclaimed a republic, in the image of medievalItalian city-states likeVenice orGenoa,[18] ruled by a council orDiwan, a sort of government cabinet formed by 12 to 14 notable people whose members annually elected a Governor and aCaptain General of the Fortalesa during the month of May. In the early years of the republic, between 1627 and 1630, theDiwan was controlled only by the Hornacheros, whose grip on power was resented by the growing population of non-Hornachero Moriscos, calledAndalusians.[19] After bloody clashes in 1630, an agreement was reached: the election of aQaid by Andalusians and a newDiwan of 16 members of whom 8 were Andalusians and 8 Hornacheros.[20] The members of the Divan elected a governor or captain general of the fortress every May. All of its documentation was done in the Spanish of the time.
It is in this context of internal confrontation that the initiative of the Hornacheros to hand over the republic to the Hispanic Monarchy of Philip IV must be placed. The Hornacheros sent the draft treaty in 1631 to the Duke of Medina Sidonia so that he could convey it to the king. In it they proposed, "because of the great love they have for Spain, since they have longed for it since they left," to hand over the city with the following conditions:[21]
Let them return to Hornachos, taking charge of compensating the neighbors who had replaced them.
That the municipal authorities be from the same nation, "so that they do not receive the wrongs that they have received in other times."That there were no more old Christians among them than the priests and friars necessary to indoctrinate them; and that the Inquisition does not punish for twenty years those who were born in Barbary and are not imposed on the Catholic religion.That the old privileges they had will be preserved, without making a difference between them and the other vassals in matters of tribute. Their estates would be respected, giving them certificates about it, and the same assurances would be given to the other Andalusians who wanted to return, "because there are many in Tetouan and Algiers who, knowing that they can come, will come." To verify that they were Christians, they would send information supported by Christian captives about how many Moriscos had been martyred and killed for the faith of Christ.They offer to reach Seville with their privateering ships, which will remain the property of H.M. They asked for the return of the children that had been taken from them as a result of the expulsion.They offered to deliver the fortress of Salé with its 68 cannons, for which it would be enough to send a company of one hundred men. They would also deliver the correspondence they had exchanged with the king of England...; also the papers they had from the burgomasters of Amsterdam."Before departure they will strip the Jewish quarter, which is very rich, waiting for the time when the Cafilas and the Jews from Flanders come with very interested ships, and they will hand everything over to Your Majesty; and the other estates of Dutch and French merchants, which are usually of consideration". In exchange for this loot and their ships the king would give them 200 pounds of gold.
The document was signed by four main horncheros who, in Moorish style, mixed Christian and Arabic names: Mahamet ben Abdelkader, governor of the Kasbah, the caid Bexer Brahin of Bargas and the scribes Mumamet Blanco and Musa Santiago.
Negotiations were initiated but these did not prosper, among other reasons because in 1636 internal fighting returned, in which the kingdom of England intervened, whose ships bombarded the Kasbah in 1637 in support of the indigenous faction of the Marabutus. After 1640 the republic fell under the control of the Dilaites, Berbers from the upper Muluya valley.[21]
In 1641 theZawiya Dila'iya, which controlled much ofMorocco, imposed a religious hegemony over Salé and its parent republic.[22] By the early 1660s the republic was embroiled in war with the Zawiya, and eventually, in June 1668, SultanMoulay al-Rashid of theAlaouite dynasty, which still rules Morocco into the 21st century, vanquished the Dilaites andKhadir Ghaïlan's influence and ended the republic's independence.[23]
Piracy inSalé began with the arrival of theMoors fromSpain, whose wealth allowed them to acquire some ships. With them they traveled the seas, approaching mainly Spanish ships, giving 10% of their loot (both riches and captives) to theSaadians, before they successfully rebelled against the authority of the Emperor of Morocco.[24]
Murad Reis led an expedition into theEnglish Channel in 1622.[25] In 1625 theSalé Rovers carried off captives fromPlymouth inEngland;[26][27] in 1626 five ships were seized off the coast ofWales;[26][27] in 1627 they reachedIceland and sacked the city ofReykjavik[26][28] and raided the fishing village ofGrindavík, in what is known as theTurkish Abductions.[29] Their ships then sailed toBessastaðir, home of theDanish-Norwegian governor of Iceland, to raid but were unable to make a landing.[30] They also captured the island ofLundy in theBristol Channel and held it for five years, using it as a base for raiding expeditions.[31] A great deal of activity was centered in the waters between England andIreland.[27] In theNewfoundland banks the Salétin fleet captured more than 40 fishing vessels in the space of two years, and in 1624 a dozen or so ships from Salé appeared on the coasts offAcadia orNova Scotia.[26][32] In 1631 Murad Reis led theSack of Baltimore in Ireland.[33]
European agents, sent mostly to deal with questions arising from piracy or connected with commerce, dealt directly with the Andalusians, From 1643 there was aDutch consul in Salé, and in 1648 theFrench government appointed a substantive consul to reside there, after having been satisfied since 1629 with having a merchant living inMarseille act as consul while having an agent in Salé.[34]
Piracy, although in decline as was the commercial activity of the city, remained in Salé long after the republic ceased to exist.[35] The attempt ofSidi Mohammed III (1757–1790) to officially revive piracy only accelerated the decline of the city and its corsair activity. The foundation ofMogador in 1760, as a better equipped city to the needs of modern piracy, was a fatal blow to the port of the Bou Regreg.[36] In 1818 SultanMoulay Slimane officially renounced the holy war and liquidated theSherifian Navy, definitively putting an end to Salé as a corsair city.[36]
The descendants of Brahim Vargas are the current Bargach of Rabat, which was, and continues to be, an influential family in the Moroccan capital.[12] The Vargas/Bargach saga has remained linked to the government of Rabat for nearly four hundred years.[11]
The characterRobinson Crusoe, inDaniel Defoe's novel of the same name, spends time in captivity of the local pirates and at last sails off to liberty from the mouth of the Salé river.[37]
Theanarchist writerPeter Lamborn Wilson devotes to the Republic of Salé a major part of his 1995 bookPirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs & European Renegadoes.[38] In Wilson's view, such pirate enclaves as Salé were early forms of autonomous proto-anarchist societies in that they operated beyond the reach of governments and embraced unrestricted political freedom.[citation needed]
The truth soon emerged and he was hanged from the cliff top outside the village for his conspiracy
34°02′22″N06°49′29″W / 34.03944°N 6.82472°W /34.03944; -6.82472
