CHAPTER X 
THE REOCCUPATION OF NORTHERN AFRICA 
ALGERIA, ORAN, AND CONSTANTINE 
THE opening of the nineteenth century found all the com- 
mercial nations of the world paying tribute to the Bashaw of 
Tripoli, the Bey of Tunis, and the Dey of Algiers in order to 
secure the safety of their subjects and their trading vessels 
on the Mediterranean Sea. These Arab potentates, as well 
as the rulers of Morocco, Oran, and Constantine, had all 
secured a practical independence from Turkish domination, 
but governed territories of uncertain extent and limited 
natural resources. Morocco and Tunis possessed reigning 
families of importance, enjoying absolute power, but the 
heads of the others were feudal lords owing their power 
chiefly to the election and the support of tribal chieftains. 
The jurisdiction of all these rulers was very largely confined 
to the seaports and their immediate hinterland. The regions 
of the interior, composed of mountain ranges, high arid 
plateaus, deserts, and oases, were inhabited by wild and war- 
like tribes of Kabyles, Berbers, and Touaregs whose chief- 
tains paid tribute to and recognized the authority of the 
seaboard monarchs only when compelled to do so by a strong 
hand or a military demonstration. Only two of the capital 
cities — Fez in Morocco and Constantine — were in the in- 
terior. The others lay on the coast. And the boundaries 
between these little states were ill-defined; their administra- 
lion in every case inefficient and corrupt; their income un- 
certain, often dependent to a large degree upon the booty 
from the expeditions of their admirals — or Barbary pirates 
as they were known to Europe; their lands undeveloped or 
but poorly cultivated.