Regency of Algiers

The Regency of Algiers (Arabic: دولة الجزائر, romanized: Dawlat al-Jaza'ir) was an autonomous eyalet of the Ottoman Empire in what was known as the Barbary coast of North Africa from 1516 to 1830. It was an early modern tributary state founded by the corsair brothers Oruç and Hayreddin Barbarossa, ruled first by viceroys, which later became a sovereign military republic. The Regency was infamous for its Barbary corsairs, making it a formidable pirate base for maritime Holy war and plunder against Christian powers. It was also the strongest Barbary state. Situated between the Regency of Tunis in the east, the Sharifian Sultanate of Morocco and Spanish Oran (until 1791) in the west, the Regency originally extended its borders from the Mellegue river in the east to Moulouya river in the west and from Collo to Ouargla, with nominal authority over the Tuat and In Salah to the south. At the end of the Regency, it extended to the present eastern and western borders of Algeria.

The sixteenth century witnessed the clash between the Spanish and Ottoman empires in the Mediterranean and the rise of the Algerian regency in North Africa. When the war between the two empires ended in the early 17th century, Algiers refused to recognize peace. So France, England and the United Kingdom of the Netherlands were embarrassed as their merchant ships and goods were captured and their subjects enslaved. The sultan could not force his vassals to cease their attacks. European powers then had to deal directly with the regency after a century of negotiations and wild sea operations, but by then the pirates had expanded across the Atlantic and the Barbary slave trade reached its apex in Algiers. Meanwhile, its growing autonomy culminated in the Janissary coup in 1659, with rulers emerging and being elected locally.

After successive wars with France, Maghrebi states and Spain in 18th century, linked to the consolidation of territorial sovereignty, diplomatic relations with European states and the regency's attempt to better fit into Mediterranean trade, Algerian privateering, also known as the "Corso", experienced serious bursts with the contraction exchanges during the European wars of the French Revolution and Empire, when Algerian merchant ships were excluded from European ports. This caused the Barbary wars in which the balance between the two shores of the Mediterranean maintaining the permanence of the corso, broke at the beginning of the 19th century. European states acted together in the Anglo-Dutch expedition in 1816 under Lord Exmouth, marking a decisive turning point and practically putting an end to the corso. Internally, central authority weakened due to economical difficulties due to the decline of the corso, this would prompt violent tribal revolts, led mainly by maraboutic orders such as the Darqawis and Tijanis.

France took advantage of this situation to intervene, and invaded in 1830, leading to the French conquest of Algeria and eventually French colonial rule until 1962.