The sack of Madeira occurred in 1617 when Algerian pirates known as Barbary Corsairs sacked the Island and took 1,200 inhabitants as slaves.[1][2] The attack occurred during the height of slavery on the Barbary coast. Madeira was at that time a part of the Iberian Union headed by the Monarchy of Spain.
| Sack of Madeira | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Slaves captured by Barbary pirates | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Portuguese Empire |
 Regency of Algiers | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown |
8 vessels[1] 800 men[1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1,200 enslaved | Unknown | ||||||
The Algerians had established a base on the islands of Cape Verde from which they operated against ships in the Atlantic.[3]
In 1617 the Algerians arrived in Madeira with 8 vessels and 800 men.[1] They plundered the island and enslaved 1,200 inhabitants.[3] During the sack, the Algerians burned the island's archives and sacked much, including church bells.[4][5] It is also said that they had emptied the island of Porto Santo in the Madeira archipelago enslaving 663 inhabitants.[6] In 1649 the French historian Pierre Dan described the 1617 invasion of Madeira:
"For having left Algiers on the fifteenth of July, with a squadron of eight well-armed vessels, they descended on the Island of Madeira, which depends on the Crown of Spain. When they approached, with eight hundred Turks whom they put to the ground, they ravaged the whole island, pillaged the ornaments and jewels of the Churches; took away the bells, and made slaves twelve hundred people, men, women, and children, whom they took to Algiers. As they were a league away, they discharged all the artillery of their ships as a sign of rejoicing; so that by this signal, those of the City, informed of their return, came to see them arrive".[7]
The activity of the Algerian pirates only seemed to increase later sacking Baltimore in Ireland as well as the famous raid in Iceland.[3]
References
edit- ^ a b c d White Women Captives in North Africa: Narratives of Enslavement, 1735-1830 K. Bekkaoui Springer,
- ^ The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II: Volume II Fernand Braudel University of California Press,
- ^ a b c The Verneys: Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-Century England Adrian Tinniswood Random House,
- ^ Brown's Madeira, Canary Islands, and Azores: A Practical and Complete Guide for the Use of Tourists and Invalids A. Samler Brown Simpkins, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent,
- ^ War and Society in the Seventh Century Sir George Norman Clark CUP Archive
- ^ The Corsairs’ Longest Voyage: The Turkish Raid in Iceland 1627 Þorsteinn Helgason BRILL,
- ^ Dan, Pierre (1649). Histoire de Barbarie, et de ses corsaires: Des royavmes, et des villes d'Alger, de Tvnis, de Salé, & de Tripoly. Divisée en six livres. Ov il est traitté de levr govvernement, de leurs mœurs, de leurs cruautez, de leurs brigandages, de leurs sortileges, & de plusieurs autres particularitez remarquables. Ensemble des grandes miseres et des crvels tourmens qu'endurent les Chrestiens captifs parmy ces infideles (in French). Chez P. Rocolet.