North African Piracy on the Coasts of Spain in the Seventeenth Century: A New Perspective on the Expulsion of the Moriscos

Abstract

In recent years many Spanish historians have directed their attention to the expulsion of the Moriscos (converted Muslims) from Spain between 1609 and 1614. The focus of their studies has been the direct economic and demographic effect of the expulsion in various regions, in an attempt to evaluate its overall impact. One result of the expulsion which has hitherto been neglected was its effect on Spain's security. From the second decade of the seventeenth century, North African piracy against the Spanish coasts expanded both in amount and geographical extent, and much of it can be attributed to the expulsion of the Moriscos. In the seventeenth century, aggression against Spain by Muslim corsairs was not a new phenomenon. Spanish coasts and shipping had been plagued by North African corsairs for the previous hundred years. Although Spain hoped to alleviate this problem through the offensive of 1571, in fact the effects on these corsairs of the Christian victory at Lepanto were negligible. During the decade after Lepanto, their activity continued at a high rate. Nor was the situation altered by the formal peace of 1580 between Spain and the Porte. On the contrary, the HispanoTurkish truce seems to have preceded a new offensive against the Spanish coasts by the North African corsairs who, after the truce, were no longer distracted by the need to serve in imperial armadas.1 Writing of the