WI: West African pirates in medieval Europe

Suppose a West African kingdom on developed seafaring technology capable of traversing the Maghreb and into Western Europe in the early 10th century AD. The ships in question resemble large trimarans with a large, long Carthaginian-style hull that has multiple oars and sails for propulsion.

Due to the invention of these ships, the West African pirates set sail to search for power, glory and wealth other than going fishing with these ships - they venture northwards in search for it. Arriving at a small fishing village in southern Ireland, they raid the village for loot and spoils.

The following years, these Cartagines (term for West African pirates) continued their raids on Western Europe, devastating Iberia, France, Britain, Ireland, Italy and Germany.

What would be the effects of West African pirate raids on Europe?
 
Well, one problem is that even the largest West African empires (Ghana, Songhay) were landlocked, or, at least, did not bother with a having a fleet, until the Mali Empire. Even if the pirates come from a fragmented region without political organization (as pre-Christian Scandinavia), there has to be some sort of interest that drives them into constant piracy for a significant amount of time. Why would they be interested in going as far as England, for example?

You mentioned the 10th Century, but it was already one of the most turbulent periods of Europe, with Arab piracy rampant in the Mediterranean, the Vikings in the North Sea and the Magyars in the mainland. I believe that a wave of African pirates wouldn't do any good, but it really couldn't go much worse, especially considering how far away their initial base of operations is.

Once the feudal structures become more consolidated, and regional rulers get the means and the interest of establishing fortifications in coastal areas, the threat of piracy diminishes, as we saw with the Vikings and the Arabs. The Norsemen after Alfred the Great created the burh-system became much less dangerous (excepting those from the Danelaw, which was already well established by then), the same in Ireland, while in the Mediterranean, the Arabs were curbed by the revival of Byzantine maritime power during the Macedonian dynasty and by the loss of their advanced bases in Provence, Salerno and Sicily. Unless these West African pirates establish a solid beachhead in Iberia or France, I doubt they would be more than a low-level threat, as the Barbary Pirates were for centuries, but unable to pose any existential threat to the European states.

Also, why would they be named Cartagines?? Carthage is in modern Tunisia. These pirates would be likely confounded with Berbers or even Nubians (considering the relative geographical ignorance of the standard medieval European individual), or recognized as a distinct people (possibly Ghana)
 
Well, one problem is that even the largest West African empires (Ghana, Songhay) were landlocked, or, at least, did not bother with a having a fleet, until the Mali Empire. Even if the pirates come from a fragmented region without political organization (as pre-Christian Scandinavia), there has to be some sort of interest that drives them into constant piracy for a significant amount of time. Why would they be interested in going as far as England, for example?

The Cartagines in TTL want to find glory, power and wealth because they come from what is known as the region of Senegambia and parts of Nigeria. The combination of unsuitable farmlands, freshwater shortages and warring between kingdoms and chiefdoms causes them to head northwards beyond the Maghreb and into Northwestern Europe. Additionally, other than gold, the Cartagines searched for a metal known as iron because in Sub-Saharan Africa, it was difficult to produce iron in a mass-scale and it could be only used for ornaments and weapons.

Unless these West African pirates establish a solid beachhead in Iberia or France, I doubt they would be more than a low-level threat, as the Barbary Pirates were for centuries, but unable to pose any existential threat to the European states.

In the TTL, they did establish solid beachheads at the Maghreb, Gibraltar, Western Sahara and southern Spain. They used it as resupply and jumping points whenever they travel from West Africa heading to Europe.

Also, why would they be named Cartagines?? Carthage is in modern Tunisia. These pirates would be likely confounded with Berbers or even Nubians (considering the relative geographical ignorance of the standard medieval European individual), or recognized as a distinct people (possibly Ghana)

The Europeans were unfamiliar with the strange, alien looks of the West African pirates. Their ships reminded of the Carthaginian ships from the ancient histories of Rome and their language and appearance reminded of the Carthaginians. That and the combination of relative geographical ignorance of Western and Subsaharan Africa causes it to be conflated.
 
The Europeans were unfamiliar with the strange, alien looks of the West African pirates.
Probably not the ones whose vocabularies would lead them to call strangers Cartagines, though.
There's a non-zero chance that they would be lumped in with the Moors.
Or be called some derivation of what the Moors called the people to the south of them, since that
would be what they would be known to be.

their language and appearance reminded of the Carthaginians.
In which ways?
The Carthaginians were, from what I recall, descended from the Phoenicians and no amount of assimilating
with the pre-existing population of the area where Carthage was located would make them look more
West African than North African.
Punic was a Semitic language.

Also, how did these Cartagines establish solid beachheads in the Emirate/Caliphate of Cordoba?
(I'm not quite sure of who was in charge of Maghreb at the time and how much, and so am unsure
of how handwaveable they are.)

Furthermore, distance. While it is true that Dakar and Oslo are at not too different distances from
Gibraltar, one can’t help noticing that the bits the Vikings raided and devastated are along the route.
(And that they knew there was glory and riches to be found in that direction.)

Not to mention that western Europe at the time was already being devastated by Vikings, Magyars and North African pirates.
I'm not sure adding one more lot would change all that much, apart from the knock-on effect on the latter, who are not
only found between the Cartagines and western Europe, but in some cases were based in the very places where you
said the Cartagines were to establish solid beachheads.
 
Their ships reminded of the Carthaginian ships
Now that I think about it even more, why would trimarans remind anybody of Punic-period Carthaginian
and which ways were they different from their Roman and Hellenistic contemporaries. A quick googling
(starting with trireme) seems to use the same terms for all of them and imply similar designs.
 
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