The Capture of Algiers in 1516 was accomplished by the Ottoman brothers Aruj and Kheireddin Barbarossa against Sālim al-Tūmī, the ruler of the city of Algiers.

Background

In 1510, the Spaniards had established themselves on a small island in front of Algiers, and forced the local ruler Sālim al-Tūmī (Selim-bin-Teumi) to accept their presence through a treaty and pay tribute.''International Dictionary of Historic Places: Middle East and Africa'' Trudy Ring p.5

/ref> Fortifications were built on the islet, and a garrison of 200 men was established. Sālim al-Tūmī had to go to Spain to take an oath of obedience to Ferdinand II of Aragon, Ferdinand of Aragon.

Capture of Algiers

In 1516, the

amir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...

of Algiers, Sālim al-Tūmī, invited the corsair brothers Aruj and Kheireddin to expel the Spaniards. Aruj, with the help of Ottoman troops, came to Algiers, ordered the assassination of Sālim, because Salim was conspiring with the Spaniards against the pirates and Arudj. The

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

have done a huge triumph to Arudj. He then seized the town. Spanish expeditions were sent to take over the city, first in 1516 under Don Diego de Vera, and then in 1519 under Don Ugo de Moncada, but both expeditions ended in failure. Kheireddin succeeded Aruj after the latter was killed in battle against the Spaniards at the Fall of Tlemcen (1518), as well as inheriting his nickname "Barbarossa". The capture of Algiers in 1516 had been made possible with the support of the Ottoman Sultan

Selim I Selim I ( ota, سليم الأول; tr, I. Selim; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute ( tr, links=no, Yavuz Sultan Selim), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite las ...

. This support was discontinued with Sultan Selim's death in 1520, causing Barbarossa to lose the city to a local kabyle chieftain in 1524,''E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936'' by Martijn Theodoor Houtsma p.25

/ref> and to retreat to his fief of

Djidjelli Jijel ( ar, جيجل), the classical Igilgili, is the capital of Jijel Province in north-eastern Algeria. It is flanked by the Mediterranean Sea in the region of Corniche Jijelienne and had a population of 131,513 in 2008. Jijel is the adminis ...

.Garnier, p.20

References

{{coord missing, Algeria Algiers Algiers Algiers History of Algiers Algiers Suleiman the Magnificent Spanish Africa 1516 in the Ottoman Empire 1516 in Africa 16th century in Algiers