OTTOMAN CORSAIRS IN THE WESTERN ... - Bilkent University

supplies. They record the supply of cannons from the presidio of Oran, 86 ammunitions,
axe, ladder and bread from Malaga 87 , war equipments like sword, spear, lance and
muskets from Valencia 88 for the ill-fated expedition of Diego de Vera, an ex-lieutenant
of Pedro Navarro, 89 against Algiers in 1516. Moreover, their lack of control over the
hinterland made them remain isolated enclaves whose effectiveness was reduced, given
the fact that most of the North African shores remained at the hands of Muslims.
According to Braudel, it was even hard to find soldiers to send to these presidios due to
the supply problems. For this reason, soldiers were not informed of their destination
before their arrival. These presidios were places for exile. 90
As indicated earlier, these expeditions started at a time when the other powers of
the Mediterranean were busy with the possible repercussions of the Portuguese
appearance in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. Memluks and the Venetian Republic
diverted their attention to finding a solution with the Portuguese domination in the Red
Sea, while the Ottomans were also prompting this cooperation. Even though the
Ottomans did not discard the situation of the Muslims, their main concern was either the
Knights of St. John in Rhodes, or the alarming situation in the eastern frontier.
In 1509, according to Sandoval, Fernando considered personally leading his
troops to the North Africa. 91 However, it was impossible due to the war in Italy. Yet,
still such rumours would be spread in order to debase the morale of the enemy.
However, Jiménez insisted on such an expedition and Fernando had to authorize it.
86
Muzaffer Arıkan and Paulino Toledo, XIV. – XVI. Yüzyıllarda Türk-İspanyol İlişkileri ve Denizcilik
Tarihimizle İlgili İspanyol Belgeleri: Las Relaciones Turco-Españolas en los siglos XIV y XVI:
Documentos Españoles relativos a la historia naval Otomana (Ankara, 1995), pp. 148-9.
87
Arıkan and Toledo, pp. 150-1.
88
Arıkan and Toledo, p. 154.
89
Salvatore Bono, I Corsari Barbareschi (Torino, 1964), p. 17.
90 Braudel, II, p. 187.
91 Sandoval, I, p. 34.
38