During the early decades of the seventeenth century, Morocco was convulsed by a violent civil war. In 1603, the Sa’adi[…]
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Month: January 2021
EXCERPTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF ALBERT RUYL – PART 2
Albert Ruyl, remember, had come from the Netherlands to Morocco in 1622 at the request of Moulay Zayday, the Moroccan[…]
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NOTHING WAS SIMPLE
The relationship between the North African Barbary corsair states and European countries was, of course, an adversarial one. The borders[…]
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THE PROBLEM WITH RANSOMS: THE TANGLED WEB OF POLITICS AND INFLUENCE
Ransoming captives from North Africa wasn’t a simple process. The logistics could be fiendishly complicated and difficult, and, as we[…]
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THE PROBLEM WITH RANSOMS: THE CORRUPTING POWER OF LARGE SUMS OF READY CASH
Being captured by Barbary corsairs and sold into slavery like a beast of burden was a devastatingly traumatic experience. Everything[…]
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