Arudj Barberousse
The Kingdom of Kuku was founded around the year 1515 by Sidi Ahmed ou el Khadi. Sidi Ahmed was a leader in a holy war against the Spaniards who had just recently captured Bejaia. The Barbarossa brothers who had just taken Algiers and later on defended it by inflicting a heavy defeat on the Spanish in the Algiers Expedition (1516) intended to further establish themselves in the central Maghreb. Sidi Ahmed and Oruç Reis were allies, however after he had died in battle in Tlemcen Sidi Ahmed ended his alliance with the Barbarossa brothers and established himself in the heart of the Zouaoua country.