Against such influences the mild governors of North Africa were powerless. They had so long enjoyed peace and friendship with the Mediterranean States, that they were in no condition to enforce order with the strong hand. Their armies and fleets were insignificant, and their coasts were long to protect, and abounded with almost impregnable strongholds which they could not afford to garrison. Hence, when the Moors flocked over from Spain, the shores of Africa offered them a sure and accessible refuge, and the hospitable character of the Moslem’s religion forbade all thought of repelling the refugees. Still more, when the armed galleots of the Levant came crowding to Barbary, fired with the hope of rich gain, the ports were open, and the creeks afforded them shelter. A foothold once gained, the rest was easy.
It was to this land, lying ready to his use, that Captain Urūj Barbarossa came in the beginning of the sixteenth century.
FOOTNOTES:
[3] Le Comte de Mas-Latrie, Relations et commerce de l’Afrique Septentrionale avec les nations chrétiennes au moyen âge, 1886.
[4] Le Comte de Mas-Latrie, Relations et commerce de l’Afrique Septentrionale avec les nations chrétiennes au moyen âge, pp. 175-9.
