"The exploits of Joder Pasha" Topic

The Conquest of the Songhai Empire

"With the help of firearms, Europeans opened the 16th Century with conquest and the establishment of large colonial empires in the Americas and Asia. But at least one North African country also used this new technology for a daring enterprise. Before the conquest of Mexico most of the gold from which coins were minted in the Mediterranean came from the western Sudan. There, on the bend of the Niger, stretched the mighty kingdom of the Songhai. The Songhai had looted the kingdom of Mali, expulsed the Tuareg from Timbuktu, and occasionally even controlled the southern Moroccan salt mines. After a long resistance they converted to Islam around 1500, and their kings made Timbuktu a rich trading city. The caravans brought primarily salt and textiles from Morocco, and transported back in exchange slaves, gold and ivory. Morocco benefitted well in this trade. But the lucrative business declined rapidly after the Portuguese founded their first forts on the African west coast and usurped the trade for themselves. Soon the regions around these forts became famous as the Gold Coast, the Ivory Coast and the Slave Coast.

Morocco wanted to gain control of these sources of wealth for herself, but the road through the Sahara to Timbuktu was too far for an army large enough to conquer the Songhai Empire. Everything changed however with the introduction of new weapon technology, and on October 16, 1590, a small but well equipped army left Marrakech in the south. It consisted of 1,000 renegades, 1,000 Andalusians, 500 cavalry and 70 Christians from the prisons of the Sultan, all equipped with arquebuses. The Moroccans themselves provided only 1,500 lancers. The baggage train consisted of thousands of camels and horses, which carried, in addition to food and water, small cannons, 100 tons of gun powder, and lead. The vast majority of the army was therfore made up of former Christian Europeans. One could speculate that the Sultan wished to spare his own troops in this suicidal mission and therefore sent foreigners. But a Spanish eyewitness reports that the leader of the expedition demanded 200 Christians from the King, "because the Arabs wouldn't undertake military campaigns without renegades or Christians." But the Sultan only provided this small number because he regarded his Christian prisoners as too valuable to waste on a foreign campaign. There is no doubt that the Europeans experienced in handling the new arquebuses formed the elite of the Moroccan army.

But where did they come from, these warlike renegades, Spaniards and other Christian prisoners? From the scarce sources available there is little to learn about them, but there are still some hints concerning their origin. The Andalusians were mostly so called "Moriscos", as they were descendants of Spanish Moslems who had fled to Morocco years earlier to escape the persecutions of the Spanish Inquisition. The renegades were former Christian captives, who had converted to Islam, and since they were used here as an elite force it could be largely assumed that not a few of them were former soldiers. In the campaigns of the Habsburgs against Tripoli and Algiers, many of their Spanish, Italian and German mercenaries had repeatedly fallen into the hands of their enemies. Some were bought off, others led a miserable existence as galley slaves, but many "took the turban", as it was known when someone converted to Islam. There were also deserters who sometimes fled in considerable numbers from the Spanish presidios on the coast, having received neither pay nor food for long periods, and sometimes because of threatened disciplinary punishment. Also it seems that some Andalusians always were ready to try their luck in Morocco, when the Sultan paid well…"

Full article here.
link

Interesting for a different wargaming on that Century.

Amicalement
Armand

Umm….

Schpell Czech ??!

What did Pasha ever do to you?

I wondered to. But it is very historical apparently. From the article linked to above/

The leader of the mercenary army was a small blue-eyed Andalusian renegade who was called "Djuder Pasha" (sometimes "Judar") after his favorite expression "joder" (equivalent in Spanish to the American "f-word"), his name signified therefore " Pasha"

And I see that not even a name of a real person can escape the all-seeing of the English only censor program.

Wow!

Well Pasha me

Well I'll be Pasha'd!

LOL, Veteran Cosmic Rocker, You sir have invented a new cuss word 8-D. 5till interesting stuff, what about the look of this band of misfits perhaps a uniformed unit or two or motley arabic style of turbans and fezz? White and bright clothing? Any idea all? Cheers

Hey, let's hold it up here with the Pasha-bombs…

Wow, you never know what you'll find here sometimes.

Eric

Interesting article.

So now the name Pasha will have a certain meaning on TMP…

Rick

Apparently the bleep-o-matic does not monitor the subject line.

Reminds me of Jonesy's Sudan Tale from Dad's Army about the Old ar!

So "joder" passes the censor? I am shocked and appalled.

This is an outrage!!!! Lol…

It's funny because there's a jerk in the local arts community named Pasha. I've said, " Pasha!" many times.

Hey, he got noticed, and got traffic. So… success.

Glad you enjoyed the article boys!. (smile).
Joder!.

Amicalement
Armand

You realise we have a new word. To play with. We could spread it through the English speaking world.

Yoda the Joder

《snicker》

So if you get mad at someone, you might say "joder you!"

That might not work in Lancaster County, PA.

Yoder is a popular family name with the Amish.

Of course, calling out "Hey, you a Yoder?", now takes on a completely new meaning…

Eric