In 1671 the taifa rebelled, killed the agha, and placed one
of its own in power. The new leader received the title of dey. After 1689 the
right to select the dey passed to the divan, a council of some sixty notables at
first was dominated by the ojaq, but by the 18th century it had become the
dey's instrument. In 1710 the dey persuaded the sultan to recognize him and his
successors as regent, replacing the pasha in that role. Although Algiers
remained a part of the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman government, ceased to have
effective influence there. The dey was in effect a constitutional autocrat. The
dey was elected for a life term, but in the 159 years (1671-1830) that the
system survived, fourteen of the twenty-nine deys were assassinated. Despite
usurpation, military coups, and occasional mob rule, the day-to-day operation
of government was remarkably orderly. Although the regency patronized the
tribal chieftains, it never had the unanimous allegiance of the countryside,
where heavy taxation frequently provoked unrest. Autonomous tribal states were
tolerated, and the regency's authority was seldom applied in the Kabylie.
The Barbary pirates preyed on Christian and other
non-Islamic shipping in the western Mediterranean Sea. The pirates forced the
people on the ships they captured into slavery; the pirates also attacked
coastal villages in southern and Western Europe in order to enslave the inhabitants.
They often made raids, called Razzias, on European coastal towns to capture
Christian slaves to sell at slave markets in places such as Turkey, Egypt, Iran,
Algeria and Morocco.
In 1558, Barbary corsairs captured the town of Ciutadella
(Minorca), destroyed it, slaughtered the inhabitants and took 3,000 survivors
to Istanbul as slaves. Barbary pirates often attacked the Balearic Islands, and
in response many coastal watchtowers and fortified churches were erected. The
threat was so severe that the island of Formentera became uninhabited. Between
1609 to 1616, England lost 466 merchant ships to Barbary pirates. In the 19th
century, the pirates forged affiliations with Caribbean powers, paying a
"license tax" in exchange for safe harbor of their vessels. One
American slave reported that the Algerians had enslaved 130 American seamen in
the Mediterranean and Atlantic from 1785 to 1793.
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