Corso - History Lab https://historylab.es Fri, 20 May 2022 07:37:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://historylab.es/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-icono-historylab-32x32.jpg Corso - History Lab https://historylab.es 32 32 Plan of the Peñón Vélez de la Gomera square https://historylab.es/plan-of-the-penon-velez-de-la-gomera-square/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=plan-of-the-penon-velez-de-la-gomera-square Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:25 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/plano-de-la-plaza-del-penon-velez-de-la-gomera/ Cartography of the Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera in 1790

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]]> The Vélez de Gomera rock was one of Spain’s coastal defence enclaves during the modern era. The policy of North African conquest promoted by the Catholic Monarchs was redirected by Ferdinand the Catholic, who sought to create defence rings to protect his peninsular and Italian possessions. To this end, coastal towns with ports were subdued in order to put an end to the North African corsairs. The arrival of Barbarossa and the Ottomans in North Africa meant the emergence of Algeria as a potential maritime enemy. In 1554, the Algerian beylerbey Salah Raiss restored the Sultan of Fez, who in return had to cede the Rock to the Algerians. From then on, an arraez named Yahia Raiss was stationed there and harassed the coasts of the mainland until, for unknown reasons, he abandoned the place. The Sa’adi sultans’ fear of the nearby Algerian/Ottoman presence was decisive in Muhammad Asheikh, Sultan of Marrakesh, handing over the Rock to the Spanish in exchange for protection. This handover took effect ten years later, and it has remained under Spanish sovereignty until now. Since then, it has been used as a defensive enclave against Berber raids.

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]]> Corsican Patent granted by Charles III https://historylab.es/corsican-patent-granted-by-charles-iii/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=corsican-patent-granted-by-charles-iii Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:19 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/patente-de-corso-concedida-por-carlos-iii/ Privateering patent granted by Charles III, which is part of a set of several patents he granted around 1771. The upper part shows the side view of a ship which, together with the border headed by the Royal Arms, serves as ornamentation for these patents. The patent was engraved by Hipólito Recarte.

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]]> The privateering patent was a document issued by the authorities of a territory to the owners of a ship, giving them permission to attack ships or populations of enemy nations. In this way the owner, who had to have significant economic power to be able to arm a ship, became part of the navy of the issuing country or city. Privateer’s patents were widely used in the Modern Age when nations could not afford their own navies or when they were not large enough. Privateering was, therefore, a legal activity regulated by the Spanish authorities, which was organised on the basis of successive Royal Ordinances. Thanks to privateering, many private individuals made it their way of life, many others amassed fortunes and others carved out a career in the Royal Navy that would otherwise have been more difficult. During the modern period, privateers, always under the obligatory “privateering patent”, acted as a war fleet at the service of the Crown, and were also essential as coastguards, since, in certain territories, such as the Peninsula, it was materially impossible to have a Royal Navy squadron that could protect so many nautical miles of coastline, or that could guard all the maritime routes. The privateer would take advantage of all this, as he would obtain part of the booty, as would the Crown of Spain, which, without investing money, had a war fleet, also obtaining part of the booty.

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