1627 Corsair raids on Iceland

[corsair91]

1627 Corsair raids on Iceland

In the summer of 1627, Barbary Corsairs from North Africa
made two separate raids on Iceland

There were actually two separate Corsair raids on Iceland during the summer of 1627.
The first involved Corsairs from Sale (on the Atlantic coast of Morocco) who arrived on June 20th, and spent over a week pillaging south west Iceland, and notably Grindavik.

The second was made by Corsairs from Algeria who arrived on July 5th, and spent ten days plundering the eastern fiords before arriving at Heimaey.

Between them, the two raids killed dozens of Icelanders, and captured nearly 500 citizens who were taken to Africa to be sold as slaves.


The Grindavik Pirate Raids of 1627
https://devongeography.wordpress.com/2023/07/14/the-grindavik-pirate-raids-of-1627/

raid by Corsairs from Sale (in Morocco) on Grindavik,
a small town on the south coast of the country.

The Corsairs from Sale were led by Dutchman Jan Janszoon van Haarlem, whose Muslim name was Murad Reis.


The Pirate Raid on Heimaey, 1627
https://devongeography.wordpress.com/2023/04/19/the-pirate-raid-on-heimaey-1627/

a raid on the local population made by Barbary Corsairs in 1627.



https://jddavies.com/2017/02/20/the-barbary-corsair-raid-on-iceland-1627/



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland

In the summer of 1627, Barbary Pirates committed the events known locally as the Turkish Abductions, in which hundreds of residents were taken into slavery in North Africa and dozens killed; this was the only invasion in Icelandic history to have casualties.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Abductions

The 1627 raid was not the first one.
In 1607, both Iceland and the Faroe Islands were subjected to a slave raid by the Barbary pirates, who abducted hundreds of people for the slave markets of North Africa

[corsair91]

In 1627, Salé’s corsairs attacked a British island and used it as a base for raiding expeditions

https://en.yabiladi.com/articles/details/78983/1627-sale-s-corsairs-attacked-british.html

In 1627, corsairs from the Republic of Salé raided a British island called Lundy. Led by Dutch renegade Jan Janszoon, Moroccan pirates used the island as a base for raiding expeditions.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lundy

In 1627 a group known as the Salé Rovers, from the Republic of Salé (now Salé in Morocco) occupied Lundy for five years.

These Barbary Pirates, under the command of a Dutch renegade named Jan Janszoon, flew a Moorish flag over the island.

Slaving raids were made embarking from Lundy by the Barbary Pirates, and captured Europeans were held on Lundy before being sent to Salee and Algiers to be sold as slaves.

From 1628 to 1634, in addition to the Barbary Pirates, the island was plagued by privateers of French, Basque, English and Spanish origin targeting the lucrative shipping routes passing through the Bristol Channel.

In the 1660s and as late as the 1700s, the island still fell prey to
French privateers.