Battle of Formentera (1529)

Barbarossa galley in France 1543.
Date1529
Location
Formentera
Result Algerian victory
Belligerents
Spain Spanish Empire Regency of Algiers
Commanders and leaders
Rodrigo Portuondo † Aydin Reis
Strength
8 galleys Unknown
Casualties and losses
7 galleys captured and remaining soldiers enslaved. 1,000 Muslim galley slaves freed. Unknown

The Battle of Formentara occurred on 28 October 1529 when an Ottoman fleet under Aydin Reis routed a small Spanish fleet of eight galleys off the island of Formentera near Ibiza.[1][2]

Habsburg emperor Charles V had sent a small Spanish fleet of eight galleys under the Spanish commander of the Castilla fleet, Rodrigo Portuondo, to eliminate Barbary ships from Algiers under Caccia Diavolo which were raiding the coast of Valencia and ferrying Moriscos from Spain to Algeria.[3]

Portuondo was killed in the battle, seven of his eight galleys were captured, and his soldiers were taken as slaves to the recently conquered city of Algiers,[2] and 1000 Muslim galley slaves has been liberated.[4]

Notes

  1. ^ Pillaging the empire: piracy in the Americas, 1500-1750 by Kris E. Lane p.15 [1]
  2. ^ a b Garnier, p.27
  3. ^ Garnier, p.26
  4. ^ Rogerson, Barnaby, The last crusaders: the hundred-year battle for the centre of the world, p. 285 [2]

References

38°42′N 1°27′E / 38.700°N 1.450°E / 38.700; 1.450

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