Editing Barbary corsairs (section)

==History==
The Barbary corsairs were active from [[medieval times]] to the 1800s.

===Muslim Historical Narratives===
Both Europeans (e.g., the [[Dum Diversas]]) and Muslims considered themselves to be waging holy wars against each other during this era. European and American historical sources bluntly consider these operations to be a form of piracy and that their goal was mainly to seize ships to obtain spoils, money, and slaves. Muslim sources, however, sometimes refer to the "Islamic naval jihad"—casting the conflicts as part of a sacred mission of war under Allah, differing from the more familiar form of jihad only in being waged at sea.  Accounts of Andalusian Muslims being persecuted by the notoriously ruthless [[Spanish Inquisition]]—willingly abetted by the so-called [[Catholic Monarchs of Spain|"Catholic Monarchs"]], who (though inaugurating what would later become Spain's "[[Spanish Golden Age|Golden Age]]") were initially faced with the post-[[Reconquista]] necessity of binding their (hitherto-divided) territories together, and hence adopted a militantly Christian national identity<ref>{{Cite web |last=Weller |first=Thomas |date=11 September 2024 |title=The Spanish Century |url=https://www.ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/models-and-stereotypes/the-spanish-century |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527001128/https://www.ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/models-and-stereotypes/the-spanish-century |archive-date=27 May 2024 |website=Europäische Geschichte Online (EGO) / European History Online}}</ref>—provided more than enough justification, in Muslim eyes.<ref name="tdau">{{cite book |last1=Fareed |first1=Muhammad |title=تاريخ الدولة العلية العثمانية |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6150666 |access-date=28 July 2024 |language=en}}</ref> 

[[File:Captain walter croker horror stricken at algiers 1815.jpg|thumb|British captain witnessing the miseries of Christian slaves in Algiers, 1815]]

===The Middle Ages===
In 1198, the problem of Barbary piracy and slave-taking was so significant that the [[Trinitarians]], a religious order, was founded to collect ransoms and even to exchange themselves as a ransom for those captured and pressed into slavery in North Africa. In the 14th century, Tunisian corsairs became enough of a threat to provoke a [[Kingdom of France|Franco]]-[[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] attack on [[Mahdia]] in 1390 (also known as the "[[Barbary Crusade]]"). Moorish exiles of the [[Reconquista]] and [[Maghreb]] pirates added to the numbers, but it was not until the expansion of the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the arrival of the privateer and admiral [[Kemal Reis]] in 1487 that the Barbary corsairs became a true menace to shipping from European Christian nations.<ref>Pryor (1988), p. 192</ref>

===16th century===
[[File:Battle of Preveza (1538).jpg|thumb|left|[[Battle of Preveza]], 1538]]

From 1559, the North African cities of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, although nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, were autonomous military republics that chose their rulers and lived by war booty captured from the Spanish and Portuguese. There are several cases of [[Sephardic Jews]], including [[Sinan Reis]] and [[Samuel Pallache]], who upon [[Alhambra Decree|fleeing Iberia]] attacked the [[Spanish Empire]]'s shipping under the Ottoman flag.<ref name="kritzler59">{{cite book|title=Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean|pages=59–60|author=Kritzler, Edward|isbn=978-0-7679-1952-4|date=3 November 2009|publisher=Anchor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z3M6xn93xYEC&q=%E2%96%A0Neil+Grant+-+Barbarossa,+the+Pirate+King&pg=PT177|access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref><ref name="plaut">{{cite web |author=Plaut, Steven |authorlink=Steven Plaut |date=15 October 2008 |title=Putting the Oy Back into 'Ahoy' |url=http://www.jewishpress.com/printArticle.cfm?contentid=36634 |access-date=27 April 2010}} [http://www.jackwhite.net/iberia/caribbean.html][http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/55658.html][http://bechollashon.org/database/index.php?/article/2312] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110142636/http://bechollashon.org/database/index.php?%2Farticle%2F2312|date=10 November 2013}}</ref>

During the first period (1518–1587), the [[beylerbey]]s were admirals of the [[List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire|sultan]], commanding great fleets and conducting war operations for political ends. They were slave hunters, and their methods were ferocious. After 1587, the sole object of their successors was plundering, both on land and sea. The maritime operations were conducted by the captains, or ''reises'', who formed a class or even a corporation. [[Cruiser]]s were fitted out by investors and commanded by the ''reises''. 10% of the value of the prizes was paid to the [[pasha]] or his successors, who bore the titles of ''agha'' or ''[[dey]]'' or ''[[bey]]''.<ref name=EB1911>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Barbary Pirates}}</ref>
[[File:Genoise tower in corsica.jpg|thumb|The Barbary corsairs frequently attacked Corsica, resulting in many [[Genoese tower]]s being erected.]]

In 1544, Hayreddin captured the island of [[Ischia]], taking 4,000 prisoners, and enslaved some 2,000–7,000 inhabitants of [[Lipari]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eACqCQAAQBAJ&q=Battle+of+A%C3%AFn-el-Turk&pg=PA453|title=Concise History of Islam|last1=Syed|first1=Muzaffar Husain|last2=Akhtar|first2=Syed Saud|last3=Usmani|first3=B. D.|date=14 September 2011|publisher=Vij Books India Pvt Ltd|isbn=9789382573470|language=en}}</ref><ref name=PLZ>{{cite book|title=King Henry the Eighth Volume 10 Part V Foreign Correspondence 1544-45 |first=State Papers |last=Her Majesty's Commission |year=1849 |place=London}}</ref> In 1551, [[Turgut Reis]] enslaved the entire population of the Maltese island of [[Gozo]], between 5,000 and 6,000, sending them to [[Ottoman Tripolitania]]. In 1554, corsairs under Turgut Reis sacked [[Vieste]], beheaded 5,000 of its inhabitants, and abducted another 6,000.<ref name=PTZ>{{cite book|title=Saggi di storia e letteratura, vol. II |first=Angelo |last=Mercati |year=1982 |place=Rome}}</ref>

===17th century===
[[File:Fathers of the Redemption.jpg|thumb|left|The work of the [[Mercedarians]] was in ransoming Christian slaves held in Muslim hands, ''Histoire de Barbarie et de ses Corsaires'', 1637]]
In the early years of the 17th century, the Barbary states attracted English pirates, many of whom had previously operated as privateers under [[Elizabeth I|Queen Elizabeth I]]. Still, they found themselves unwanted by her successor [[James VI and I|King James VI and I]]. Whereas in England, these pirates were reviled, in the Barbary states, they were respected and had access to safe markets to resupply and repair their ships. Many of these pirates converted to Islam.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fuchs |first=Barbara |date=2000 |title=Faithless Empires: Pirates, Renegadoes, and the English Nation |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30031906 |journal=[[ELH]] |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=45–69|doi=10.1353/elh.2000.0002 |jstor=30031906 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

A notable Christian action against the Barbary states occurred in 1607, when the [[Order of Saint Stephen|Knights of Saint Stephen]] (under [[Jacopo Inghirami]]) sacked [[Annaba|Bona]] in Algeria, killing 470 and taking 1,464 captives.<ref name="PPZ">{{cite book|title=War at Sea in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance |last=John B. Hattendorf and Richard W. Unger |year=2003 |place=Boydell Press}}</ref> This victory is commemorated by a series of frescoes painted by [[Bernardino Poccetti]] in the ''"Sala di Bona"'' of [[Palazzo Pitti]], [[Florence]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=715690&partId=1 |title=Curator's comments on a draft study by Bernardino Poccetti|publisher=The British Museum}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Pitti Florence, The Pitti Palace in Florence | website=Florence Holidays | url=https://www.florenceholidays.com/florence-vacation-museums-palazzo-pitti.html | access-date=2025-05-22}}</ref> In 1611, Spanish galleys from [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]], accompanied by the galleys of the [[Hospitaller Malta|Knights of Malta]], raided the [[Kerkennah Islands]] off the coast of [[Tunisia]] and took away almost 500 Muslim captives.<ref name="PKZ">{{cite book|title=Lords of the Sea: A History of the Barbary Corsairs |first=Alan |last=Jamieson |year=2012 |place=London}}</ref> Between 1568 and 1634, the Knights of Saint Stephen may have captured about 14,000 Muslims, with perhaps one-third taken in land raids and two-thirds taken on captured ships.<ref name="PKZ" />

[[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]] was attacked similarly. In June 1631, Murat Reis, with corsairs from Algiers and armed troops of the Ottoman Empire, stormed ashore at the little harbor village of [[Baltimore, County Cork]]. They [[Sack of Baltimore|captured almost all the villagers]] and took them away to a life of slavery in North Africa.<ref name=EB1911/> The prisoners were destined for a variety of fates—some lived out their days chained to the oars as galley slaves. At the same time, women spent long years as [[concubines]] in harems or within the walls of the sultan's palace. Only two of these captives ever returned to Ireland.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ekin|first=Des|title=The Stolen Village – Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates|year=2006|publisher=OBrien|isbn=978-0-86278-955-8}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=May 2014}} [[England]] was also subject to pirate raids; in 1640, 60 men, women and children were enslaved by Algerian corsairs who raided [[Penzance]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=wUv3AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97 British Captives from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic], 1563-1760. Nabil Matar.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xqxoZvOJekQC&pg=PA188 Pirates of Barbary]. Adrian Tinniswood. Random House.</ref>

Another major figure was [[Ismail Ibn Sharif|Moulay Ismail]], the second ruler of the [['Alawi dynasty]] of Morocco. He was not a pirate himself, but encouraged and benefited from their operations, especially the slaves they captured and delivered.<ref>{{Cite web |title=war and social upheaval: the Barbary Pirates |url=https://histclo.com/essay/war/bp/bar-pir.html |access-date=16 March 2025 |website=histclo.com}}</ref>

More than 20,000 captives were said to be imprisoned in Algiers alone. The rich were often able to secure release through ransom, but the poor were condemned to slavery. Their masters would, on occasion, allow them to secure freedom by professing Islam. A long list might be given of people of good social position, not only Italians or Spaniards but German or English travelers in the south, who were captives for a time.<ref name=EB1911/>

In 1675, a [[Royal Navy]] squadron led by Sir [[John Narborough]] negotiated a lasting peace with Tunis and, after bombarding the city to induce compliance, with Tripoli.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A32172.0001.001/1:2?rgn=div1;view=fulltext |title=Articles of peace & commerce between ... Charles II ... and the ... Lords the Bashaw, Dey, Aga, Divan, and governours of the ... kingdom of Tripoli concluded by Sir John Narbrough ... the first day of May, 1676|date=6 August 1677 |publisher=University of Michigan}}</ref>

<gallery mode=packed>
File:A French Ship and Barbary Pirates (c 1615) by Aert Anthoniszoon.jpg|''A French Ship and Barbary Pirates'' by [[Aert Anthoniszoon|Aert Anthonisz]], {{circa|lk=no|1615}}
File:Théodore Gudin-Combat d'un vaisseau français et de deux galères barbaresques mg 5061.jpg|''Battle of a French ship of the line and two galleys of the Barbary corsairs''
File:Willem van de Velde de Jonge - Een actie van een Engels schip en schepen van de Barbarijse zeerovers.jpg|''An action between an English ship and vessels of the Barbary Corsairs''
File:Action Between the Dutch Fleet and Barbary Pirates RMG BHC0849.tiff|[[Lieve Pietersz Verschuier]], ''Dutch ships bomb Tripoli in a punitive expedition against the Barbary pirates'', {{circa|1670}}
</gallery>

==={{anchor|18th-19th centuries|Barbary Coast Wars|Barbary Wars}} 18th–19th centuries===
{{See also|First Barbary War|Second Barbary War}}
[[File:BainbridgeTribute.jpg|thumb|upright|Captain [[William Bainbridge]] paying tribute to the [[Dey]] of Algiers, c. 1800]]

Piracy was enough of a problem for some states to enter the redemption business. In Denmark: 
{{blockquote|At the beginning of the 18th century, money was collected systematically in all churches, and a so-called 'slave fund' (slavekasse) was established by the state in 1715. Funds were brought in through a compulsory insurance sum for seafarers. This institution ransomed 165 slaves between 1716 and 1736.<ref name="madsen">[http://complit.ku.dk/islamineuropeanliterature/workingpapers/dokument4/ Peter Madsen, "Danish slaves in Barbary"], ''Islam in European Literature Conference,'' Denmark {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141110054744/http://complit.ku.dk/islamineuropeanliterature/workingpapers/dokument4/ |date=November 10, 2014 }}</ref>}} 
{{blockquote|Between 1716 and 1754, 19 ships from Denmark-Norway were captured with 208 men; piracy was thus a serious problem for the Danish merchant fleet.<ref name="madsen"/>}}

Until the [[American Declaration of Independence]] in 1776, [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] treaties with the [[Northwest Africa|North African]] states protected American ships from the [[Barbary Coast|Barbary]] corsairs. During the [[American Revolutionary War]], the Corsairs attacked American merchant vessels in the Mediterranean. However, on 20 December 1777, Sultan [[Mohammed III of Morocco]] issued a declaration recognizing America as an independent country, and stating that American merchant ships could enjoy safe passage into the Mediterranean and along the coast.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sApvBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA613 | title=The Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Early American Republic, 1783–1812: A Political, Social, and Military History &#91;3 volumes&#93;: A Political, Social, and Military History| isbn=9781598841572| last1=Tucker| first1=Spencer C.| date=11 June 2014| publisher=Abc-Clio}}</ref> The relations were formalized with the [[Moroccan–American Treaty of Friendship]] signed in 1786, which stands as the U.S.'s oldest non-broken friendship [[treaty]]<ref>Roberts, Priscilla H. and Richard S. Roberts, ''Thomas Barclay (1728–1793): Consul in France, Diplomat in Barbary'', Lehigh University Press, 2008, pp. 206–223.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/s/d/rm/rls/perfrpt/2002/html/18995.htm |title=Milestones of American Diplomacy, Interesting Historical Notes, and Department of State History|access-date=17 December 2007 |work=U.S. Department of State }}</ref> with a foreign power.

[[File:Sm Bombardment of Algiers, August 1816-Luny.jpg|thumb|left|''Bombardment of Algiers by Lord Exmouth in August 1816'', [[Thomas Luny]]]]

The Barbary threat led directly to the United States founding the [[United States Navy]] in March 1794. While the United States did secure peace treaties with the Barbary states, it was obliged to pay tribute for protection from attack. The burden was substantial: from 1795, the annual tribute paid to the [[Regency of Algiers]] amounted to 20% of [[Federal government of the United States|United States federal government]]'s annual expenditures.<ref name="David Brion Davis, Steven Mintz">{{cite book|author=David Brion Davis, Steven Mintz|title=The Boisterous Sea of Liberty A Documentary History of America from Discovery through the Civil War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eGFMCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA222|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-511669-4|pages=222}}</ref>

In 1798, an islet near [[Sardinia]] was attacked by the [[Beylik of Tunis|Tunisians]], and more than 900 inhabitants were taken away as slaves.<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=5q9zcB3JS40C&pg=PA45 Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500–1800]''. Robert Davis (2004). p.45. {{ISBN|1-4039-4551-9}}.</ref>

[[File:Bombardementd alger-1830.jpg|thumb|French bombardment of Algiers by Admiral [[Dupperé]], 13 June 1830]]
The Barbary states had difficulty securing uniform compliance with a total prohibition of slave-raiding, as this had been traditionally of central importance to the North African economy. Slavers continued to take captives by preying on less well-protected peoples. Algiers subsequently renewed its slave-raiding, though on a smaller scale. Europeans at the [[Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818)|Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle]] in 1818 discussed possible retaliation. In 1824, a British fleet under Admiral Sir [[Harry Burrard Neale]] bombarded Algiers.{{Citation needed |date=August 2022}} Corsair activity based in Algiers did not entirely cease until France [[French Algeria#French conquest of Algeria|conquered the state in 1830]].<ref name=EB1911/>

The [[Treaty of Larache]] was a treaty between [[Sweden-Norway]], [[Denmark]], and Sultan [[Abd al-Rahman of Morocco]] as a result of the [[Moroccan expedition]] of 1843–1845. The expedition was conducted by the combined navies of Sweden-Norway and Denmark to pressure the Moroccan sultanate into agreeing to the reversal of several old unfair treaties and to put a halt to the annual payment of tribute to Morocco in exchange for safe passage through the Mediterranean.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://opil.ouplaw.com/display/10.1093/law:oht/law-oht-98-CTS-125.regGroup.1/law-oht-98-CTS-125 |title=Convention between Denmark and Morocco respecting Tribute, signed at Larache, 5 April 1845|website= Oxford public international law}}</ref> The final [[Bombardment of Salé (1851)|bombardment of a Moroccan city]] in retribution for piracy occurred in 1851 at [[Salé]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|year=2010|title='Abd ar-Rasham|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.|location=Chicago, Illinois|url=https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia2009ency/page/17|last=|first=|editor-last=|editor-first=|editor-link=|edition=15th|volume=I: A-Ak - Bayes|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia2009ency/page/17 17]|isbn=978-1-59339-837-8|authorlink=|url-access=registration}}</ref>