Capture of Peñón of Algiers (1529)

Capture of Algiers
	Part of the Ottoman-Habsburg wars
Date	29 May 1529
Location	Algiers
Result	Ottomans Algiers victory
Belligerents
Spanish Empire Kabyle soldiers	Regency of Algiers; Arab irregulars
Commanders and leaders
Don Martin de Vargas	Hayreddin Barbarossa
Strength
200 soldiers	2,000 janissaries
Casualties and losses
175 dead; 25 prisoners	Unknown

The capture of Peñón of Algiers was accomplished when the beylerbey of Algiers, Hayreddin Barbarossa, captured the fortress called Peñón of Algiers, on a small islet facing the Algerian city of Algiers from the Habsburg Spaniards.

Background

In 1510, the Spaniards had established themselves on a small island off Algiers, and forced the local ruler Sālim al-Tūmī (Selim-bin-Teumi) to accept their presence through a treaty and pay tribute.^[1]^[2] Fortifications were built on the islet, and a garrison of 200 men was established.^[2] Sālim al-Tūmī had to go to Spain to take an oath of obedience to Ferdinand of Aragon.^[2]

In 1516 however, the amir of Algiers Sālim al-Tūmī invited the corsair brothers Aruj and Khair ad-Din Barbarossa to expel the Spaniards. Aruj, with the help of Ottoman troops,^[1] came to Algiers, ordered the assassination of Sālim because Sālim was conspiring with the Spaniards against the pirates and Aruj,^[3] and seized the town. Spanish expeditions were sent to take over the city, first in 1516 under Don Diego de Vera, and then in 1519 under Don Ugo de Moncada, but both expeditions ended in failure.^[2]

Khair ad-Din, succeeding Aruj after the latter was killed in a battle against the Spaniards at the Fall of Tlemcen (1517). The capture of Algiers in 1516 had been made possible with the support of the Ottoman Sultan Selim I. This support was discontinued with Sultan Selim's death in 1520, causing Barbarossa to lose the city to a local kabyle chieftain in 1524,^[2] and to retreat to his fief of Djidjelli.^[4]

Reconquest

When Suleiman the Magnificent declared war on Emperor Ferdinand I in January 1529, he also wished to go on the offensive in the western Mediterranean, and therefore renewed Ottoman support for Barbarossa.^[5]

Barbarossa received from the Ottoman Empire 2,000 janissaries, artillery, and important financial support.^[4] Through bribery Barbarossa first obtained a change in the allegiance of the supporters of the Algiers sheikh.^[4] After taking power in the city, Barbarossa then lay siege to the El Peñón de Argel, the Spanish fortress at the entrance of the harbour.^[4] After 22 days enduring artillery fire without help from the Spanish mainland the Spanish under Don Martin de Vargas finally surrendered on 29 May 1529, with only 25 men left.^[2]^[4] Vargas was cudgelled to death, the fortress was dismantled, and the stonework used to build a seawall using Christian slaves as manpower.^[2]^[4]

Aftermath

Over the following years, Barbarossa used Algiers as a major base for launching raids from the Barbary Coast.^[6] The huge Algiers expedition undertaken by Charles V in 1541 to retake Algiers ended in failure.^[2] Algiers remained under Ottoman rule for three centuries,^[1] until the French Invasion of Algiers in 1830.

Historic map of Algiers by Piri Reis.

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c International Dictionary of Historic Places: Middle East and Africa Trudy Ring p. 54 [1]
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936 by Martijn Theodoor Houtsma p. 258 [2]
^ Meynier, Gilbert (2010). L’Algérie, cœur du Maghreb classique. Paris: La Découverte. p. 313. ISBN 9782707152312.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Garnier, p. 20
^ Garnier, pp. 19–20
^ Garnier, p. 21

References

Garnier, Edith L'Alliance Impie Editions du Felin, 2008, Paris ISBN 978-2-86645-678-8 Interview

[Ring-1] International Dictionary of Historic Places: Middle East and Africa Trudy Ring p. 54 [1]

[Houtsma-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936 by Martijn Theodoor Houtsma p. 258 [2]

[Meynier313-3] Meynier, Gilbert (2010). L’Algérie, cœur du Maghreb classique. Paris: La Découverte. p. 313. ISBN 9782707152312.

[Garnier_20-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Garnier, p. 20

[5] Garnier, pp. 19–20

[6] Garnier, p. 21

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v t e Major sieges involving the Ottoman Empire by century
13th-14th	1285 Kulaca Hisar 1326 Bursa 1328–1331 Nicaea 1333–1337 Nicomedia 1360s Adrianople 1385 Sofia 1393 Tarnovo 1394–1402 Constantinople
15th	1411 Constantinople 1422 Constantinople 1422–1430 Thessalonica 1428 Golubac 1440 Belgrade 1440–41 Novo Brdo 1448 Svetigrad 1450 Krujë 1453 Constantinople 1455 Berat 1456 Belgrade 1461 Trebizond 1462 Mytilene 1463 Jajce 1464 Jajce 1466–67 Krujë 1467 Krujë 1470 Negroponte 1474 Scutari 1477–78 Krujë 1478–79 Scutari 1480 Rhodes 1481 Otranto 1484 Chilia
16th	1500 Cephalonia 1517 Cairo 1521 Belgrade 1522 Knin 1522 Rhodes 1529 Peñón of Algiers 1529 Vienna 1531 Diu 1532 Güns (Kőszeg) 1532 Maribor 1533–34 Coron 1534 Tunis 1534 Baghdad 1537 Klis 1537 Corfu 1538 Diu 1539 Castelnuovo 1541 Buda 1543 Nice 1543 Esztergom 1548 Aden 1548 Van 1551 Tripoli 1552 Muscat 1552 Hormuz 1552 Temesvár 1552 Eger 1556 Oran 1559 Bahrain 1563 Oran 1565 Malta 1566 Szigetvar 1570–71 Famagusta 1574 Tunis 1578 Gvozdansko 1592 Bihać 1593 Sisak 1596 Eger
17th	1601 Nagykanizsa 1621 Khotyn 1638 Baghdad 1663 Uyvar 1664 Novi Zrin 1648–1669 Candia 1672 Kamenets 1683 Vienna 1684 Buda 1684 Santa Maura 1685 Érsekújvár 1686 Buda 1686 Pécs 1688 Negroponte 1688 Belgrade 1690 Belgrade 1695 Azov 1696 Azov
18th	1711 Brăila 1715 Nauplia 1716 Corfu 1716 Temeşvar 1717 Belgrade 1733 Baghdad 1734–35 Ganja 1737 Ochakov 1739 Belgrade 1788 Ochakov 1788 Khotin 1789 Belgrade 1789–90 Izmail 1799 El Arish 1799 Jaffa 1799 Acre
19th	1801 Cairo 1806 Belgrade 1821 Patras 1821–22 Acropolis 1821 Tripolitsa 1822 Missolonghi 1823 Missolonghi 1825–26 Missolonghi 1826–27 Acropolis 1828 Kars 1828 Varna 1854 Calafat 1854 Silistra 1854–55 Sevastopol 1855 Kars 1877 Plevna
20th	1912–13 Scutari 1912–13 Adrianople 1915 Van 1915–16 Kut 1916–1919 Medina
Ottoman defeats shown in italics.