Aruch and Hayreddin, two famous corsairs in the sixteenth century, sons of a potter in the Isle of Lesbos. Having taken to piracy, they carried on their depredations with such success, that they soon became possessed of twelve galleys besides smaller vessels. Of this fleet Aruch, the elder brother, called Barbarossa from the redness of his beard, was admiral, and Hayreddin the second in command. They called themselves the "friends of the sea," and the "enemies of all who sailed upon it;" and their names became terrible from the straits of the Dardanelles to those of Gibraltar. They acquired territorial power in 1516, in consequence of an unwise application made to them by Eutemi, ruler of Algiers, for assistance against the Spaniards. Aruch, leaving his brother to command the fleet, carried 5000 men to Algiers, where he was hailed as a deliverer; but having secretly murdered the prince he had come to aid, he caused himself to be proclaimed king.

To this usurpation he added the conquest of Tremecen, when his exploits and piracies induced the Emperor Charles V. to furnish the Marquis de Comares, governor of Oran, with troops to put him down; and in the contest which ensued he was defeated and killed near Tremecen, A.D. 1518. His brother, Hayreddin, known also by the name of Barbarossa, assumed the sceptre at Algiers with the same abilities, and with better fortune; for the Spaniards being too much employed in Europe to give him any disturbance, he regulated the interior police of his kingdom with great prudence, carried on his naval operations with vigour, and extended his conquests on the continent of Africa. He put his dominions under the protection of the Grand Signor, Saleiman the Magnificent, and obtained the command of the Turkish fleet. With so powerful a protector he acquired the kingdom of Tunis, in a manner similar to that by which his brother obtained Algiers. See Algiers.