At one time the Mediterranean looked like it might become a
Muslim lake. Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453, and its
name was changed to Istanbul; by 1522 Egypt, Syria, and Rhodes
were under Turkish domination--later, even Vienna was
threatened. Muslim supremacy in the southern Mediterranean led
to the rise of ports such as Oran, Bougie (Bejaďa), and Algiers.
Bone (Annaba) in Algeria, a populous town manufacturing
earthenware, consumed a lot of beef and exported wool, butter,
and honey. Agricultural produce from the nearby plains flowed
into the great market of Algiers and then on to Bougie. Boats
from Oued el Harach, off Cape Matifou, transported wool, wheat,
and poultry to Marseilles, Valencia, and Barcelona. Only Melilla
and Ceuta, Spanish territory in North Africa and once important
presidios, today remind us of the economic and military threat
to Spain from this activity in North Africa. To counter the
threat as well as to provide defense against pirates (like ‘Uluj
‘Ali, the Bey of Algiers, who dr