By Ashley Winnor

This project walks through the history and origins of piracy in Spain and Morocco in relation the expulsion of the Jewish and Muslim populations from the Iberian Peninsula. These groups lived in harmony for many centuries but with rising tensions and increasing divisions, mass migrations of people began from one place to another. These migrations led to people having no place to go and finding no place where they fit in, and thus a rise in population of the pirate cities ensued. In these cities, anyone was welcome, regardless of religion, ethnicity, wealth, or enslavement status.  Though this is a rather glamorized period of history, some truth remains in the intersection of communities bringing strength to a city and allowing it to flourish and grow.

 Beginning in Toledo with Ferdinand and Isabella, we learn about the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and the reasoning behind this expulsion as well as the ulterior motives that could have been at play. Then swiftly moving to Granada to witness the fall of the last Muslim kingdom in 1492 and following the monarchy till 1609 when the Expulsion of the Moriscos banishes the remaining Muslim population from Spain. Then turning to the resulting piracy, we move to Marrakech and learn about Al-Mansur and his work in the slave trade and how he used European artisans, both freemen and slaves, to build a modern city with armaments worthy of competing on the world stage. Diving deeper into the history of piracy in Morocco, we move to the Republic of Sale to learn about its formation as a Pirate republic and how it rose and fell over not so many years. We end our journey in Essaouira to learn about the slave trade that existed both within and outside of the law in Morocco till just a few hundred years ago. This discussion shows both the romanticized and realistic depictions of piracy and aims to give an accurate depiction of the period.