| Republic of Salé | ||||
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| Rabat-Salé, where the republic was located | ||||
| Capital | Salé | |||
| Language(s) | Arabic, Dutch, English, Spanish, French | |||
| Government | Corsair Republic | |||
| President | ||||
| - 1619-1627 | Jan Janszoon | |||
| History | ||||
| - Established | 1619 | |||
| - Disestablished | 1668 | |||
The Republic of Salé was an independent corsair city-state on the Moroccan coast. It was a major piratical port during its brief existence in the 17th century.
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The early history of this region is rich with Phoenician colonisation and Roman settlement at the ancient site of Chellah,[1][2] which was eventually overtaken by native Berber tribes.
The origins of the republic back to the year 1610, with the arrival of Moriscos from Hornachos (Extremadura, Spain), who settled Salé after expulsion of the Moriscos ordered by Philip III of Spain.
Cultural differences between the natives and the Morisco refugees, together with language differences, led to the rejection of the newcomers, so a group of about 3,000 hornacheros settled in a small settlement across the mouth of Bou Regreg, then known as Sala Al Jadida (New Salé), which then became the city of Rabat.
The strife between the two communities reached its climax in 1627, when the Moriscos proclaimed their independence from the Republic of Bou Regreg, founding the Republic of Salé, which was then recognized by some European kingdoms, eventually annexing Old Salé. The new Republic of Bou Regreg also included the Kasbah of Mehdya, known by the Moriscos as the Fortalesa.
The Republic became an active commercial centre which became a beam for other Andalusian refugees, all kinds of European, Jewish and Christian merchants. Mainly devoted to piracy in the area of the Strait of Gibraltar, harassing the coasts of Ceuta and Andalusia, often in collusion with the Ottoman Empire.
The Republic was ruled by a council or Diwan, whose members elected every year during the month of May a Governor and a Captain General of the Fortalesa. The first governor was called Brahim Vargas, the son of one of the first Morisco settlers. The administrative language of the Republic was Andalusian Spanish.
The port city of Salé was a walled city which acted as the chief port and commercial center of medieval Morocco. During the 16th century and into the seventeenth, it became home to many religious refugees from Spain, and attracted the attention of Barbary pirates. The gated harbor was extremely desirable to the pirates. It was a port of call for European traders, and home to many artists, intellectuals, and religious leaders.
In 1619, the infamous Salé Rovers, a dreaded band of Barbary pirates, declared Salé to be an independent republic free from the Sultan. They set up a government that consisted of 14 pirate leaders, and elected one as their President, who would also serve as the Grand Admiral of their navy. Their first President and Grand Admiral was Jan Janszoon, who led until 1627.[3]
In 1624, the Moroccan Sultan Zidan Abu Maali attempted to reclaim sovereignty of Salé by laying siege to it, but his efforts were eventually repelled. To obtain some satisfaction of sovereignty over the area, he appointed Salé's President as his acting Governor of the area, although it was only ceremonial.[4] The republic would pay the Sultan for his non-interference in their future affairs.[5]
The republic became very prosperous and wealthy because of their main sources of income—piracy and shipping. Plundered gold, silver, spices, silks, fabrics, slaves, and many other items of value were brought back to the city-state by the pirates after raids on European shipping vessels and towns. Janszoon was credited for the business growth in the republic because of his intelligence and courage. Between 1618-1626, it was estimated that the pirates operating out of the Bou Regreg corsair republics, which included Salé and Rabat, plundered 6,000 prisoners and £15 million worth of goods, which if based on 2% inflation starting in 1750, would be equivalent to over £2 billion today.[6][7]
In 1627, following a heated political situation, Janszoon left for Algiers, and Rabat and Salé merged to form the Republic of Bou Regreg. During this period much of the profit returned to the republic was eventually absorbed by the government, leading to its decline. In 1641, the zawiya of Dila, which controlled much of Morocco, imposed a religious hegemony over Salé and its parents republic.[8] By the early 1660s, the republic was embroiled in civil war with the zawiya, and eventually Sultan Al-Rashid of Morocco of the Alaouite dynasty, who still rule Morocco into the 21st century, would seize the republic by force, ending its independence.[6]. It indeed ended up being controlled by the Sultan of Morocco, after 1668, when Moulay al Rashid finally vanquished the Dilaites.[9]
The character Robinson Crusoe, in Daniel Defoe's novel by the same name, spends time in captivity of the local pirates and at last sails off to liberty from the mouth of the Salé river.[10]