Republic of Salé

The Republic of Salé, also known as the Bou Regreg Republic or the Republic of the Two Banks, was a corsair city-state at the mouth of the Bou Regreg River in Morocco during the seventeenth century. It was founded by Moors and Moriscos from Hornachos in western Spain. After the expulsion decrees of 1609, some 10,000 expelled Moriscos arrived, and the newcomers settled in the old medina of Rabat on the opposite bank. Brahim Vargas became governor in 1614, and the Dutch renegade Jan Janszoon, known as Murad Reis, served as grand admiral from 1624. In April 1627 the Hornacheros expelled the sultan's governor and proclaimed a republic modelled on the Italian city-states, governed by a diwan of twelve to fourteen notables who annually elected a governor and captain general. Its economy rested on piracy and the Barbary slave trade, with raids reaching Iceland in 1627 and Baltimore in Ireland in 1631. After 1640 the republic fell under the influence of the Dila'iya zawiya, and in June 1668 Sultan Moulay al-Rashid ended its independence.