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Sayyida al-Hurra, an Unparalleled Moroccan Corsair Queen

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Sayyida al-Hurra bint Ali ibn Rashid al-Alami, was born in 1493 in Chefchaouen; a city founded by her father, Ali Ben Moussa Rachid, in 1471.

Her first name is not unanimously agreed upon, sometimes being reported as Fatima, sometimes Aïcha, but everyone referred to her by her nickname Sitt al-Hurra, meaning “The Free Lady”.

In Chefchaouen, then a fortified city-state, the young warrior was trained and educated by the greatest scientists of her time and in order to better face the Christian occupation, Sayyida al-Hurra would go on to marry Mohamed al-Mandari, the second governor of Tangier, which subsequently strengthened the alliance between their two families.

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Having benefited from extensive experience in foreign and judicial affairs from her husband, she succeeded him upon his death in 1529, and governed in Tetuan for nearly 30 years. It's during this reign that she would gain her iconic nickname of the free woman. It was also during this same period that she joined forces with Arudj Reïs Baba-Oruç, an Ottoman privateer feared by all.

Arudj Reïs (in Turkish: Oruç Reis).

This duo will indeed shake the seas. Sayyida al-Hurra, leader of a sizeable army, will for her part deploy perfect strategies to direct naval traffic and privateer businesses in the western part of the Mediterranean. Barbarossa, for his part, took care of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Their collaboration was more than sumptuous as these two privateers conducted numerous sea trips all while amassing a small fortune thanks to the ransom they were demanding from the Spanish and Portuguese in exchange for the release of prisoners; as anyone wishing to negotiate had to deal with the Corsair Queen herself. She earned the respect of Spanish Christians, and anyone who caught wind of her sailing the waters refrained from venturing there.

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In 1541, she married Ahmed al-Wattassi, former King of Morocco. She was so powerful and influential at the time that when the Wattasid Sultan of Morocco offered her a marriage alliance, she was able to impose her terms of arrangement on him.

Sultan Ahmad al-Wattassi was therefore persuaded to organize a wedding in Tetuan, with their marriage seemingly being purely diplomatic, as both continued to live in their respective capitals after that. This made Sayyida a queen residing in Tetuan, entrusted by her husband for relations with the Portuguese.

Sayyida al-Hurra, the Moroccan Corsair Queen, has left her mark on the history of the kingdom through her prestige and his achievements.

A series dedicated to her was broadcasted on 2M:

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