The Expedition of Mostaganem occurred in 1558, when Spanish forces attempted to capture the city of

Mostaganem Mostaganem ( ber, Mustɣanem; ar, مستغانم) is a port city in and capital of Mostaganem province, in the northwest of Algeria. The city, founded in the 11th century lies on the Gulf of Arzew, Mediterranean Sea and is 72 km ENE of O ...

. The expedition was supposed to be a decisive step in the conquest of the Ottoman base of

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...

, but it ended in failure, and has been called a "disaster".''Cervantes in Algiers: a captive's tale'' by María Antonia Garcés p.25
/ref>

Background

The harbour of Mostaganem had been captured by the Spanish from the Muslims in 1506. The harbour became part of numerous Spanish possessions on the coast of the Maghreb, which had been captured since 1496:

Melilla Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located in north Africa. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was pa ...

(1496), Mers-el-Kebir (1505),

Oran Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...

(1509), Bougie (1510), Tripoli (1510),

Shershell Cherchell (Arabic: شرشال) is a town on Algeria's Mediterranean coast, west of Algiers. It is the seat of Cherchell District in Tipaza Province. Under the names Iol and Caesarea, it was formerly a Roman colony and the capital of the k ...

Dellys Dellys ( ar, دلّس, Berber: Delles) is a small Mediterranean town in northern Algeria's coastal Boumerdès Province, almost due north of Tizi-Ouzou and just east of the Sebaou River. It is the district seat of the daïra of Dellys. The town ...

Ténès Ténès ( ar, تنس; from Berber TNS 'camping') is a town in Algeria located around 200 kilometers west of the capital Algiers. , it has a population of 65,000 people. History Ténès was founded as a Phoenician port in or before the 8th cen ...

.''An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire'' p.107''ff''
/ref> In 1516, Mostaganem was seized by

Hayreddin Barbarossa Hayreddin Barbarossa ( ar, خير الدين بربروس, Khayr al-Din Barbarus, original name: Khiḍr; tr, Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa), also known as Hızır Hayrettin Pasha, and simply Hızır Reis (c. 1466/1478 – 4 July 1546), was an O ...

from his base of Algiers. He then strengthened its defences, and the city became a rival of Oran. From 1519, Barbarossa placed himself under the protection of the Ottomans, thereby transforming Mostaganem into an Ottoman dominion. Previous Spanish expeditions had taken place in 1543 and 1547, which failed as the Spanish forces were repulsed and then pursued in retreat by Turkish and tribal forces. The expedition of 1558 to retake Mostaganem from the Ottomans followed a string of Ottoman successes in the Mediterranean, especially with the

Siege of Tripoli The siege of Tripoli lasted from 1102 until July 12, 1109. It took place on the site of the present day Lebanese city of Tripoli, in the aftermath of the First Crusade. It led to the establishment of the fourth crusader state, the County of Tri ...

in 1551, and the evacuation of Al-Mahdiyeh by the Spaniards. Concurrently, the corsairs of Barbary were operating from their base in

Expedition

In the end, around 12,000 Spanish soldiers were taken prisoner.

Count Alcaudete Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New Yor ...

, Governor of

, died in the expedition. His son

Don Martín de Córdoba Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places * County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia * Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name * Don, Benin, a town in Benin * Don, Dang, a ...

, himself future Governor of Oran, was also captured in the disaster and would be imprisoned as a Christian slave in Algiers under the ''

beylerbey ''Beylerbey'' ( ota, بكلربكی, beylerbeyi, lit= bey of beys, meaning the 'commander of commanders' or 'lord of lords') was a high rank in the western Islamic world in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, from the Anatolian Selj ...

'' Hasan Pasha, until he was exchanged for the huge ransom of 23,000 ''

escudos The escudo ( Portuguese: 'shield') is a unit of currency historically used in Portugal and its colonies in South America, Asia, and Africa. It was originally worth 16 silver . The Cape Verdean escudo and the former Portuguese escudo (PTE), eac ...

''.''Cervantes in Algiers: a captive's tale'' by María Antonia Garcés p.49''ff''
/ref> The failure of the expedition of Mostaganem ended attempts at a grand alliance between Spain and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

against the common Ottoman enemy."the failure at Mostaganem, which brought the collapse of grandiose projects of alliance with Morocco" i
''MEDITERRANEAN AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN THE: AGE OF PHILIP II -2'' by Fernand Braudel p.855
/ref>

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:

1558 in the Ottoman Empire

1558 in Africa

Background

Expedition

See also

Notes