Along the southern coast of the Mediterranean, in that part which is now called Barbary or Northern Africa, where Morocco, Algeria, Tunis and Tripoli lie, the galleys of Phoenician traders roved in these early times, exploring the rivers.
Following these traders came Carthaginian warriors who founded colonies upon this coast. Among these communities was the famous city of Carthage, that in time brought forth the mighty leader Hannibal.
Then came the Romans, who conquered the Carthaginians and turned their cities to ruins. Thus the entire territory became Roman African colonies.
Over six centuries after the birth of Christ, the Saracens began to invade this region. Their wars continued until by the eighth century all Roman authority was swept away, and Mohammedan rule was established throughout the country.
"RED-BEARD"
Born of my reading and thinking about Mediterranean pirates, through my dreams went a pageant of cruel corsairs and pitiable captives. There was the corsair chief Uruj Barbarossa, who, hearing on his native island of Lesbos of the rich galleons that passed through the Mediterranean, entered the Sea in 1504 with a fleet of robber galleys and made an alliance with the ruler of Tunis whereby that port became the center for his thieving. This Barbarossa, or Red-Beard, was a pirate of the heroic order. On one of his first voyages out of Tunis he fell in with two galleys belonging to Pope Julius II, bearing rich merchandise from Genoa. These galleys were far bigger than his two galleots, yet Red-Beard attacked so fiercely that he overcame the foremost galley. As the second galley came up without having seen the outcome of the battle, he arrayed his sailors in the clothes of the Christian captives and, taking the second galley by surprise, captured her too. His victories made Europe tremble. Emperor Charles V of Spain in 1516 sent ten thousand veterans to Barbary to end Red-Beard's career. Barbarossa's army of fifteen hundred men was surprised by the Spaniards in crossing a river. Having crossed, he turned back on hearing the cries of his men and died fighting gallantly in their midst.
Next through my fancy passed Kheyr-ed-din, Red-Beard's brother. Having slain Red-Beard, the Spaniards could have driven the corsairs out of Africa, but instead of waging further war, the army returned to Spain. Kheyr-ed-din then assumed command of the sea rovers, and with a fleet of one hundred and fifty galleys and brigantines engaged an Allied Christian fleet of one hundred and forty-six galleons under Admiral Andrea Doria. The battle amounted only to a skirmish, for Andrea Doria, although his vessels were manned by sixty thousand men—forces far greater than that of the infidels—retired when the Moslems had captured seven of his galleys.
GALLANT DON JOHN
Next in the pageant passed the great corsairs of the battle of Lepanto, where the Turks, then at the height of their glory, suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the brilliant young emperor, Don John of Austria.
The Moslems, before this historic date of October 7, 1571, were threatening to overwhelm Europe. They desired to make the rich island of Cyprus one of their stepping-stones to the mainland. Venice, who owned the island, resisted the claims of the infidels. The Moslems thereupon threatened to conquer Venice herself. That city's fleet was too small to cope with the great navy of the Turks. Philip II of Spain, appealed to by Pope Pius V, went to her aid. The Holy League to protect Christendom against the infidels was formed.