Sayyida al-Hurra – ‘Pirate Queen of Morocco’
She wasn’t called Sayyida al-Hurra at birth. It was a title she would earn, based on her fearlessness and fierce intelligence: ‘Lady who is free and independent’. But it was thanks to her badass pirating, that she would forever be known as the ‘Pirate Queen of Morocco’.
Our future legendary pirate was born in 1485 in Andalusia, Spain, into a wealthy Muslim family. Some sources claim her birth name was Aisha, which means ‘lively woman’. It certainly seems to have fit her personality! Bright and curious, Aisha excelled in languages, including Castilian and Portuguese, as well as theology and mathematics. But when she was seven years old, all Muslims were driven from Spain by Catholic rulers Ferdinand and Isabella. Aisha and her family became refugees.
For the rest of her life, her actions would be fueled by a bone-deep need for revenge. Aisha built a new life in Morocco and at 25, she married the governor of a town called Tétouan, a major seaport. Deeply impressed by her wits and diplomatic skills, he soon made her co-regent. Together, they turned Téoutan into bustling metropolis. After her husband passed away in 1515, Aisha officially became ‘Sayyida al-Hurra’ and came up with a brilliant plan. Tétouan had been a base for piracy before, why not make it one again? This way, she could enrich her beloved city while finally getting her revenge. A win-win situation!
She reached out to the Algiers-based pirate king Oruç Reis, aka Barbarossa (‘Redbeard’). A fearsome figure with a silver prosthetic arm, he was nonetheless much loved for having helped transport Muslim refugees from Spain to North Africa. With his blessing and advice, Sayyida started ravaging Portuguese and Spanish fleets and soon became so feared and hated that the Portuguese, according to one historian, “prayed for God to allow them to see her hanged from a ship’s mast.” One royal diplomat described her as ‘a very aggressive and bad-tempered woman about everything.’ Which makes me think that if she were alive now, Trump would definitely call her a ‘nasty woman’. She would take it as a compliment.
For over 25 years, Sayyida ruled Tétouan on her own. When sultan Ahmed al-Wattasi proposed marriage to her, she said yes, under the condition that the wedding would take place in Tétouan. Besotted, he agreed. It was the only time in Moroccan history that a sultan married outside the capital. Now, she was also literally a Pirate Queen. Did she really care? I don’t think so. Sayidda would live till the ripe old age of 75 and gather many more titles and accolades. But she knew: an independent woman can never truly be labelled.
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