Arab Cutlasses of the Pirate Coast

[gp]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Fantastic entry gp!!!
Absolutely, the so called Sallee Rovers were the forerunners of the Barbary Pirates, though Im not sure if they melded into the Barbary category or not.
This is amazing artwork and adds so much to the context here.
These activities were prevalent along these coastal areas of North Africa and which seem often to have extended much further to other coasts.

It is interesting that European renegades often joined the ranks of these 'rovers' and that circumstance prevailed into the 'Barbary' period as well.

formally the Sallee pirates reported to the Ottoman Empire, but had some independence. This was more or less centrally controlled from Tunis and Algiers.
Later the Sallee pirates took on a special status. But many Dutch renegades were found in both places.


It is interesting to see that the Dutch VOC was a prominent arms dealer at that time. Along the entire coast you will see cannons in the kasbahs with the VOC sign and city name; From Tangier, via Sallee, Safi and El Jadidah (Mazagan)..
pics :
CUTLASS BARBARY PIRATE SHORT SWORD 1650
and a Barbary Corsar AD 1500-1800 Torquay Museum

and most interesting:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6749