Economically, the substitution of Turkish for Byzantine rule was a benefit to the Greek industrial population, who were better protected against foreign competition than they had ever been. Customs duties were arranged by an ad valorem scale, under which the Italian merchants were taxed four and a half times as much as the native Christians, although these, in turn, paid more than the Moslem traders who were favored by the Ottoman government. The Greek parts of the Empire entered upon an era of prosperity such as had not been seen since before the Latin conquest of Constantinople. For example, a large colony of Greeks established themselves at Ancona, where, in 1549, they transacted business to the annual value of 500,000 ducats. Moreover, the persecution of the Moors and Jews of Spain brought much capital into Ottoman territory; soon there were numbered 30,000 Spanish Jews at Constantinople, and 15,000 to 20,000 at Salonica. On this commercial basis the national renascence of the Greek peoples was founded. The landed proprietors of their own race mostly became Moslems, while their scholars and literary men found a refuge in the Occident; but the traders made and kept a place for themselves. Hence there was created a new center in which the old ideals of an independent Greek nationality could grow.
The Slav peoples were much worse off than the Greek population, because over their provinces were scattered Turkish garrisons, and through them passed the roads used by the Sultan for the interminable expeditions into Hungary. They retained fewer traces of autonomous existence, and their clergy were more ignorant than the Greek. The higher ecclesiastical positions were never bestowed on Slavs, and their landed gentry mostly became Moslem. The Roumanians, who were more remotely situated, preserved, under the form of vassalage, a complete national organization. They paid a moderate tribute, and were obliged to furnish military contingents, but there were no Turks in their territory, and no mosques were built among them. Wallachia and Moldavia, in the time of Souliman, made more than one attempt to throw off Turkish rule, but both principalities were compelled to submit before the middle of the sixteenth century.
The Turkish conquest of North Africa begins, strictly speaking, with the resistance of the Moslem Berber tribes and princes to the extension of Spanish influence over the African Mediterranean coast towns. This was a primary object of Charles V, who was bent on following up, by his control of sea power, the expulsion of the Moors from Spain. After many vicissitudes, Kheir-ed-Din, who had a powerful rival supported by the Spaniards, became King of Algiers. He turned to ask help from the Sultan of Constantinople, Selim, and he offered, in return, to become his vassal and to incorporate his small kingdom as an integral part of the Ottoman Empire.
Selim sent to Kheir-ed-Din 2000 Janitschars, well realizing the importance of using Algiers to block the progress of Charles V in his North African ambitions. Four thousand men were also recruited in Anatolia to defend the Moslem cause. It was a critical time, when the Viceroy of Sicily (1519), at the head of an armada of forty ships, appeared off Algiers. The Spaniards were beaten off, and many of the ships were lost in a storm. An even greater success for Moslem arms was the conquest, ten years later, of the citadel of Peñon, which commanded the harbor of the city that had for long been in the hands of the Spaniards. The island on which it stood was, by instructions from Kheir-ed-Din, joined to the mainland, and so an impregnably fortified harbor was constructed, which turned Algiers into the lasting home of those Barbary pirates that were for so long the plague of the Mediterranean commerce.
In 1535, Tunis was captured by Charles V in person, that monarch’s great expedition of 400 ships and 30,000 men having proved too strong for Kheir-ed-Din, who had hurried to save the place with only 9000 men. At Algiers, the Emperor’s next objective, Kheir-ed-Din could not take part personally in the work of defense, since he was not kept in command of the Turkish fleet. The government of Algiers was turned over to Hassan Aka, no idle leader. The Christian Emperor’s armada was calculated to inspire terror; when it gathered at Spezzia, in August, 1541, it numbered 65 galleys and 451 transports, ready to embark the 29,000 troops, German, Italian, and Spanish, and the members of the Knights of Malta. In addition to the Emperor, who was in command, there were a large number of high officers of the various arms, and members of the nobility from Charles V’s wide domains.
To oppose this brilliant host, Hassan had only 800 Turks, 5000 Moors, some Moriscos from Spain, and a few renegades from the Island of Majorca. There were rumors of treachery on the part of Hassan, but when the actual attack was made, nothing was left undone by him to keep up an effective resistance. He was helped by a severe storm, which caused much damage to the fleet; many ships were driven ashore, where the crews were attacked and the cargoes seized. An attempt to attack one of the forts by which the city was defended failed; the imperial troops got near the walls, but no farther; even the heroism of the Knights of Malta failed to save the day. The Spanish admiral, Doria, insisted that the expedition should reimbark, as his ships could not hold their anchorage. No other attempt on such a scale was made to arrest the progress of the Turkish vassal powers in North Africa. Tripoli was conquered in 1556, and there was incessant warfare with the Sherif of Fez, and also with the Spaniards, who still continued to hold Oran.
After the death of Hassan, the Turkish Beglerbeg at Algiers was Euldj-Ali, the son of a Calabrian fisherman. He had given up his faith and become one of the most dreaded Corsairs in the Mediterranean. He promoted the revolt of the Spanish Moriscos, afterwards winning a great success at Tunis, where, in 1573, Don John of Austria had brought 27,000 men to defend the Spanish citadel in the harbor. Euldj gathered an overwhelming force, took Goletta, and massacred the Spanish garrison. By this decisive victory Tunis became the seat of a Turkish pashalik. His next step was to make the throne of Morocco dependent on the Sultan.
The government of these African provinces was strictly centralized; over the whole was a Beglerbeg, who transmitted to his subordinates the directions which he received from Stamboul. The military strength of the provinces was remarkable, notwithstanding the unimportant part played by the regular Turkish soldiers. In their place there were regiments of renegades, Kabyles, and mercenaries of many nationalities. The navy was made up of corsairs, organized in a kind of guild, whose members made a life business of hazardous expeditions on the sea for the purpose of plundering vessels or harrying coast towns. No effort was made to interfere with the local customs of the tribes in the interior. All that was asked by the Beglerbeg was free passage for military expeditions and the payment of a large tribute.
Turkish rule was maintained with a very small display of military power. The whole country was controlled by little more than 15,000 men, most of them in a small number of garrison towns. Scattered through the country were small divisions of soldiers, whose chief business was the collection of the tribute. For the purposes of local government there were artificial tribes made up of natives, placed under the authority of a sheik or religious personage. The government of Algiers gave these groups certain landed concessions, and they paid some small dues to the sheik. They were expected to support soldiers or travelers when these appeared in their territory. They lived in tents or huts along a highway and the principal group was called a konak. In addition there were the real tribes, of warlike temper, that had once been independent; they paid no tax on their land or herds, but they had the function of collecting the tribute from inferior tribes called raias. This recognized position was enough to secure their loyalty.
The Algerian corsairs became famous for their ravages in the narrow seas, for their ships were models for speed and lightness, and their crews worked under the strictest discipline. Each vessel carried soldiers, cannon, and artillerymen. The merchant vessels they seized were brought back to Algiers, where the passengers, crews, and cargoes were sold at auction. These undertakings proved most profitable to the captains, “Reis,” who built themselves a quarter of the town, where they lived in houses resembling fortresses, since their captives were kept in these buildings (bagni) until they could be sold. So was formed a Barbary aristocracy, which ended by winning its independence from Turkish rule. Among the corsairs were many renegades, especially Italians.