islamic-jihad-legacy-of-forced-conversion-imperialism-slavery

Islamic Slaverythe death of 7,600 Christians. He showed inclination toward freeing the slaves only if Britain offered himassistance in attacking the Spanish. He also demanded a supply of heavy weaponry, including fourteen brasspieces of ordnance and a proportion of powder and shot. He also asked for taking some of his damagedcannons to England for their repair. Harrison returned to London to discuss the terms with the King and PrivyCouncil. He returned to Salé with a reduced cache of weapons and the promise to assist in his attack of theSpanish. Sidi Mohammed released some 190 captives from his dungeons, although Harrison was expectingsome 2,000 of them. At length, he realized that a great many of them had died from plagues, while otherswere sold to the sultan or elsewhere in North Africa. 915John Harrison landed with the freed slaves in England in the summer of 1627. In his eight diplomaticvoyages to North Africa, he made repeated visits to the court of Sultan Moulay Abdalla Malek (r.1627–31),but failed to secure the release of British slaves held there. Sidi Mohammed also broke the truce after sometime as his men—dependent on slave-hunting for making a living—pressurized him on the ground that theBritish government gave them a smaller cache of weapons and was not forthcoming in attacking the Spanish.They executed a number of spectacular raids on British ships and soon they had captured 1,200 British sailors,including twenty-seven women.The British King ran out of patience. In 1637, he sent a fleet of six warships under the command ofCaptain William Rainsborough toward the corsair stronghold of Salé for bombarding it into rubbles. Hereached Salé after a month’s voyage, when the pirates had just made all their ships ready to go on the hunt tothe coast of England. The English fleet was surprised by the huge number of ships under their command. Thenew governor of Salé had ordered the corsairs ‘‘that they should go for the coasts of England… [and] fetchthe men, women and children out of their bed.’’ 916Having realized that a deadly and likely disastrous confrontation lie ahead, Rainsborough took stockof the situation in Salé and found out that there was a power-struggle between two groups. One was led bySidi Mohammed, another by a rebel named Abdallah ben Ali el-Kasri, who had seized control of a part of Saléand was holding 328 English captives. Instead of going on a likely disastrous offensive, Rainsboroughdecided to exploit the rivalry between the two warlords. He proposed to Sidi Mohammed to launch a jointattack against el-Kasri, hoping that this will enable him secure the release of all British captives and a peacetreaty with Sidi Mohammed. Sidi Mohammed, anxious of getting rid of el-Kasri, agreed to the proposal.Rainsborough showered el-Kasri’s stronghold with heavy bombardments, causing total carnage and killingmany. Rainsborough then directed his heavy cannon at the corsair ships belonging to el-Kasri, destroyingmany of them. Meanwhile Sidi Mohammed attacked the rebel stronghold with 20,000 soldiers, wreakinghavoc. After three weeks of intense bombardment, the rebels capitulated. They were forced to release theBritish captives. Rainsborough, having thus completely crushed the rebels and securing a solemn assurancefrom Sidi Mohammed that he would refrain from attacking the English vessels and villages, sailed back toEngland in the autumn of 1637 with 230 British slaves.Rainsborough received a hero’s welcome back to England. There was a widespread feeling that themenace of the Salé corsairs was over once and for all. This belief was reinforced by the signing of a treatywith Moroccan Sultan Mohammed esh-Sheikh es-Seghir (r. 1636–55); he agreed to prohibit and restrain allhis subjects from taking, buying or receiving British subjects to use as slaves or bondsmen. But the illusionwas soon over as the sultan threw away the treaty within a few months, because of the British government’sfailure to stop English merchants from trading with Moroccan rebels. The corsairs of Salé also resumed theirattacks. By 1643, a great many British ships were plundered and their crews enslaved. By the 1640s, some3,000 British citizens were in the hands of Barbary slave-hunters. 917In 1646, merchant Edmund Cason was sent to Algiers with a large sum of money to free the Britishslaves. He was able to locate 750 English captives, while many more were forced to turn Muslim (who were915. Ibid, p. 17–20916. Ibid, p. 22–23917. Ibid, p. 23–6258