Ottoman Algeria in Western Diplomatic History with ... - Bibliothèque

Conclusion
In the western world, the Muslim corsairs in general, and those of
Algiers particularly, were decried as the cruel scourge of Christendom. For
centuries, redemptionists, travelers, and all sorts of adventurers painted horrible
pictures about depredations of the ‘Barbary pirates’ who allegedly captured and
submitted their victims to the most barbaric treatments. Their terrifying tales
depicted den of thieves filled with gold, precious stones, and silks; all provided
from the loot of honest merchant ships or from the sale of helpless Christian
captives. This theme was taken up and amplified by their leadership who found
in it an opportunity to attain political and religious ends.
Indeed, the scenario was not totally fictional. Over the centuries
thousands of Europeans, and later few Americans, had been imprisoned and
enslaved at Algiers; however, many elements were missing from the picture.
The first element was that the ‘Barbary pirates’ were not pirates, who by
definition were stateless and faithless outlaws, but they were Muslim corsairs,
just like Christian corsairs and privateers, who defended the interests of their
sovereigns; and all that was sanctioned by the laws of nations. The second
missing element was that Algerian corsairing emerged in the first place as
retaliation to the Spanish Reconquista and conquest to defend home and faith
against crusading enemies. As so often in history, one set of ‘terrorizing’ acts
was a direct response to another which was actually much greater; corsairing
therefore was a retaliatory act of war. A third element which was often skipped
by westerners is that while living conditions of Christian captives at Algiers
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