Barbary pirates were pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, especially in the ports of Sale, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripolis, all of which belongs to the Ottoman Empire but were extremely independent. The pirates ambush European ships and conduct raids on European towns, mainly in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, but also in the British Isles, the Netherlands, and as far as Iceland. The main purpose of their attacks was to capture Christian slaves for the Ottoman slave trade as well as the general Muslim slavery market in North African and the Middle East.
In one of the most notable instance, Murat Reis, with corsairs from Algiers and armed troops of the Ottoman Empire, captured almost all the villagers of the little harbor village of Baltimore, Ireland, and took them away to a life of slavery in North Africa.
For the captives, they serve many different purpose. Some of them became galley slaves who row the ships' oars for their entire life, never to set foot on land again. The women spent long years as concubines in harems or within the walls of the sultan's palace.
On the other hand, a member of the Ottoman slave class could rise to high status. For example the famous janissaries, a elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops, bodyguards, and the first modern standing army in Europe, is not just a position that Ottoman slaves could reach but it also started as a group of captured young Christian boys who were forced to convert to Islam. In terms of politics, a majority of officials in the Ottoman government were bought slaves, raised free, and integral to the success of the Ottoman Empire from the 14th century to the 19th century.
More than 20,000 captives were said to have been imprisoned in Algeria alone. The rich are able to arrange ransoms for their release, while the poor are not so lucky.
Economically, the reason such action is very obvious, however the moral reason is not so firm. In 1785, when Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to London to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman, they asked him what right he had to take slaves this way. The envoy replied that...
- "(The) right (was) founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Koran that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise"
Although the European powers are strong enough to deal with the Barbary nations of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, they are constantly distracted by issues within the continent of Europe. Whenever two European powers went to war against each other, each side would try to convince the Barbary states to join them and conduct raids on their opponents' trade routes and coasts. This way, the Barbary states, pirates, and the slave trade survived under the protection of European powers who they had once raided.
Many of the European powers and other nations like The United States, prefer to pay tribute to the Barbary states to gain protection from attacks. In 1800, the amount payed by US to the Barbary states amount to 20% of the US federal government's annual expenditure.
By the end of 18th and the start of 19th century, the European powers and the US are tired of the presence of Barbary pirates and seek end the practice once and for all. This lead to the First and Second Barbary war, where President Thomas Jefferson, refusing to pay tribute or ransom to the Barbary states who attacked US merchant ships and captured sailors, decided to declare war on the Barbary states and send the newly build US navy to the Barbary states to bombard and invade the Barbary states along with other European powers. In the battle of Derna during the first Barbary war, the US marines and mercenaries took the city of Derna in a decisive victory and raised the Star-spangled banner on top of a defensive battery, it is the first time a American flag was flew over fortifications on the other side of the Atlantic.
The slave trade in the Barbary states ultimately ended when France conquered the region in 1830 and permanently abolished slavery in the area.
The most interesting thing is how the practice of the Barbary states and Barbary pirates survived for so long, especially since its military is extremely weak in comparison to the European powers, who easily defeated and subjugated the North African states by bombardment and invasion during the 18th and 19th century.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/barbary-wars
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Barbary-pirate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_pirates
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_Ottoman_Empire#Decline_and_suppression_of_Ottoman_slavery
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