Barbary pirates
Encyclopedia : B : BA : BAR : Barbary pirates
Though at least a proportion of them are better described as privateers, the Barbary pirates were pirates that operated out of Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, Salè and ports in Morocco, preying on shipping in the western Mediterranean Sea from the time of the Crusades as well as on ships on their way to Asia around Africa until the early 19th century. Their stronghold was along the stretch of northern Africa known as the Barbary Coast (a medieval term for the Maghreb after its Berber inhabitants), although their predation was said to extend as far north as Iceland, and south along West Africa's Atlantic seaboard. As well as preying on shipping, raids were often made on European coastal towns. The pirates were responsible for capturing large numbers of Christian slaves from Western Europe, who were sold in slave markets in places such as Morocco.
Perhaps the best-known was Barbarossa (meaning red beard) the nickname of Khair ad Din, who after having been invited to defend the city of Algiers from the Spaniards killed its ruler and seized it in 1510, making it into a major base for privateering, as well as a regent for the sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
Some of them were renegades or Moriscos. Their usual ship was the galley with slaves or prisoners at the oars. Two examples of these renegades are Süleyman Reis "De Veenboer" who became admiral of the Algerian corsair fleet in 1617, and his quartermaster Murad Reis, born Jan Janszoon van Haarlem. Both worked for the notorious corsair (privateer) Simon the Dancer, who owned a palace. These pirates were all originally Dutch. The Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter unsuccessfully tried to end their piracy.
Raids by Barbary pirates on Western Europe did not cease until 1816, when a Royal Navy raid, assisted by six Dutch vessels, destroyed the port of Algiers and its fleet of Barbary ships.
Barbary pirates in the North Atlantic
Unknown to most English historians, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and possibly Greenland, were among the targets of the Barbary Pirates, confirmed from as early as the 16th century.[[Citing sources citation needed]] The Barbary Pirates were referred to locally as "The Turks" ("Turk" is used as a derogatory term by older people in the Faroe Islands).[[Citing sources citation needed]]
Faroe Islands. The capital of the Faroe Islands, Tórshavn, still has a fort (named Skansin) overlooking its harbour. The fort was built around 1580 to protect the harbour from piracy. It was enlarged again the 16- and 1700s, and was by the time of the Napoleonic Wars one of the largest harbour forts in Europe. Used to house British troops during World War 2, today it is a tourist attraction.
During the 1500s, a local folk hero named Mogens Heinesøn, who was a mercenary, pirate hunter, and some say pirate, succeeded for a time in clearing the waters of most Barbary (and Scottish, English, and Dutch) pirates. He is buried today in Ørslev Monastery in Denmark.
Legends of pirates, including "Turkish" pirates, play a big part in local history. They are a common theme in literature and art. It is sometimes claimed that all islanders have at least a little bit of "Turkish" blood in them, and members of certain families still have a distinct Middle Eastern appearance.
Galicia. Although Barbary pirates attacks were more common in south and east Spain and the Balearic Islands, they also attacked the northwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula. In 1617, the African corsairs launched their major attack in the region when they destroyed and sacked Bouzas, Cangas and the churches of Moaña and Darbo. Another attempt on Vigo was defeated by the city's garrison.
Iceland. An assault is recorded in 1627 by Algerian pirates on various communities of the south coast, most famously on the Vestmannaeyjar islands. Although the number of people killed and enslaved numbered only in the dozens, the events were a considerable shock to the inhabitants and remembered to this day as "The Turkish Assault". Biographies and accounts of the lives of the enslaved Icelanders in Algiers shed some light on the events and experiences of the victims, some of which returned to Iceland or even went on to become pirates themselves.
Greenland. In the 1750 diaries of Niels Egede, son of the Greenlands farer Hans Egede, are told of Inuit Shamanist tales regarding the extinction of the Norse population of Greenland in the 1500s. According to the tales, a group of three pirate ships attacked the Norse settlement near Uunartoq island. The defenders prevailed and captured one of the ships, but two got away, and the next year a whole fleet of ships returned. The Norse evacuated the area in their ships, and the Inuit took in a number of women and children who were left behind. When the Norse refugees never returned, the women and children were eventually absorbed into the Inuit community.
Since none of the other North Atlantic pirate groups (e.g. Basque or English) operated in bigger groups, some historians speculate that the pirates of the tale must have been Barbary Pirates, but this remains unconfirmed.
Barbary pirates and the U.S. Navy
When the U.S. became a country it had little in the way of a navy to protect its merchant ships, so in 1784, Congress appropriated $60,000 as tribute to the Barbary states. But continued attacks prompted the building of the United States Navy, including one of America's most famous ships, the USS Philadelphia, leading to a series of wars along the North African coast, starting in 1801. It was not until 1815 that naval victories ended tribute payments by the U.S., although some European nations continued annual payments until the 1830s.The United States Marine Corps actions in these wars led to the line, "to the shores of Tripoli" in the opening of the Marine Hymn.
Barbary pirates in literature
Barbary pirates appear in a number of famous novels, including Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, The Sea Hawk by Rafael Sabatini, The Algerine Captive by Royall Tyler, Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian, the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson and "White Gold : The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and Islam's One Million White Slaves" by Giles Milton.
Miguel de Cervantes was captive in the bagnio of Algiers, and reflected his experience in some of his books, including Don Quixote.
See also
Further reading
- London, Joshua E.[Victory in Tripoli: How America's War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation]New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005.
References
A History of Pirates by Angus KonstamLeiner, Frederick C. The End of Barbary Terror: America's 1815 War against the Pirates of North Africa. Oxford University Press, 2006
Lambert, Frank. The Barbary Wars: American Independence in the Atlantic World. Hill & Wang, 2005
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.