[4][5] The republic traces its origins back to the beginning of the 17th century, with the arrival of approximately 3,000 wealthy Moriscos from Hornachos in Extremadura, who anticipated the 1609 expulsion edicts ordered by Philip III of Spain.

[7] Cultural and language differences between the native Salétin people and the Morisco refugees led the newcomers to settle in the old medina of Rabat, on the opposite bank of the Bou Regreg.

[8][4] In 1614 Brahim Vargas [ar] became the first governor of the Republic of Salé,[9] a famous corsair who made the old medina of Rabat rich and prosperous by engaging in piracy and trade with Spain and other countries bordering the Mediterranean, for which he had a powerful fleet of galleons (feared by many at the time).

[15] They proclaimed a republic, in the image of medieval Italian city-states like Venice or Genoa,[16] ruled by a council or Diwan, a sort of government cabinet formed by 12 to 14 notable people whose members annually elected a Governor and a Captain General of the Fortalesa during the month of May.

In it they proposed, "because of the great love they have for Spain, since they have longed for it since they left," to hand over the city with the following conditions:[19] Let them return to Hornachos, taking charge of compensating the neighbors who had replaced them.

"Before departure they will strip the Jewish quarter, which is very rich, waiting for the time when the Cafilas and the Jews from Flanders come with very interested ships, and they will hand everything over to Your Majesty; and the other estates of Dutch and French merchants, which are usually of consideration".

With them they traveled the seas, approaching mainly Spanish ships, giving 10% of their loot (both riches and captives) to the Saadians, before they successfully rebelled against the authority of the Emperor of Morocco.

[23] In 1625 the Salé Rovers carried off captives from Plymouth in England;[24][25] in 1626 five ships were seized off the coast of Wales;[24][25] in 1627 they reached Iceland and sacked the city of Reykjavik[24][26] and raided the fishing village of Grindavík, in what is known as the Turkish Abductions.

[25] In the Newfoundland banks the Salétin fleet captured more than 40 fishing vessels in the space of two years, and in 1624 a dozen or so ships from Salé appeared on the coasts off Acadia or Nova Scotia.

[35] The anarchist writer Peter Lamborn Wilson devotes to the Republic of Salé a major part of his 1995 book Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs & European Renegadoes.

[36] In Wilson's view, such pirate enclaves as Salé were early forms of autonomous proto-anarchist societies in that they operated beyond the reach of governments and embraced unrestricted political freedom.