The Corsairs of Salé: Morocco's Atlantic Piracy Hub

Before the Saadian sultans, before the Alaouites, there was Salé. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, this Moroccan port city became the most feared pirate haven on the Atlantic coast. Its corsairs — known as the Salé Rovers — were a mix of Morisco refugees expelled from Spain, renegade Europeans, and local Amazigh tribesmen. They raided ships from the Canaries to the English Channel, captured thousands of Christian captives, and turned Salé into a quasi-independent republic that even the sultans struggled to control. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into the world of the Salé corsairs: their famous 'round ships' and 'xebecs', the brutal slave markets where captured sailors awaited ransom, the diplomatic standoffs with England and France, and the strange career of Jan Janszoon, a Dutch renegade who became the city's grand admiral. They also trace how Salé's piracy shaped Morocco's relationship with Europe — and how it ultimately faded when the Alaouite sultans brought the coast under their control. It's a story of shifting loyalties, religious ambiguity, and a city that lived by the sword and the sea. #Salé #Corsairs #BarbaryPirates #Morocco #AtlanticHistory #Morisco #JanJanszoon #Renegades #Piracy #17thCentury #NorthAfrica #BarbaryCoast #MoulayIsmail #Alaouite #Saadian #MaritimeHistory #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo