The Expedition to Cherchell was a joint operation by Ahmad al-Kadi and Arudj Reis who marched on Cherchell with an army of 5,000 Kabyles and 800 Turks to depose its ruler who had founded a small independent sovereignty.
| Expedition to Cherchell | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kingdom of Kuku_of_Hayreddin_Barbarossa.svg){kind=small} Barbarossa brothers | Principality of Cherchell | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Oruç Reis Ahmad al-Kadi |
Kara Hassan  | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
|
5,000 Kabyles 800 Turks | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
In 1516 the locals of Algiers asked Arudj Reis to liberate them from the tribute payments set by the Spaniards.[1]
Arudj Reis set off with his ally, Ahmad al-Kadi and an army composed of 800 Turks and 5,000 Kabyle auxiliaries.[2][1] Instead of going straight to Algiers, they went to Cherchell where one of his Reis, Kara Hassan, had founded a small sovereignty.[3][1] Arudj Reis did not want to leave his flank defenceless, he seized the city, put its sovereign to death and left a garrison.[2][1]
Following the seizure of Cherchell, Arudj Reis and his ally Ahmad al-Kadi marched on Algiers and seized the city.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Gürkan, Emrah Safa. "Ottoman Corsairs in The Western Mediterranean and their Place in The Ottoman-Habsburg Rivalry (1505-1535)." PhD diss., Bilkent Universitesi (Turkey), 2005. p.52
- ^ a b de Grammont, Henri-Delmas. "Chapitre Deuxième-Les Barberousse et la fondation de l’Odjeac." Histoire du Maghreb (2002): 41-46.
- ^ Boyer, P. "Aruj.(Arūdj-Aroudj)." Encyclopédie berbère 6 (1989): 940-943.