Moor Pirates |best| (99% DELUXE)

Using fast, oar-powered galleys, they would slip out of North African ports and ambush Italian, Spanish, French, and English merchant ships. But they didn't stop at the water. They famously raided coastal villages in Sicily, Spain, and even Ireland.

For decades, Europe and the fledgling United States paid tribute (bribes) to the Barbary states to leave their ships alone. By 1800, the US was paying nearly 20% of its annual federal budget to Algiers, Tripoli, Tunis, and Morocco.

Historians estimate that between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were enslaved by the Barbary pirates between 1500 and 1800. That’s roughly the same number of Africans shipped to the United States during the same period. Perhaps the most colorful character in this history is an Englishman who "went native." Jack Ward was a failed privateer for Queen Elizabeth who fled to Tunis in the 1600s. He converted to Islam, changed his name to Yusuf Reis, and became the most feared corsair admiral in the Mediterranean. moor pirates

Here is the real story of the Sultans of the Sea. The "Golden Age" of the Moorish pirates ran roughly from the 16th to the 19th century. Unlike the disorganized, rebellious crews of the Caribbean, the Barbary Corsairs were state-sponsored. They operated out of the major ports of the "Barbary Coast": Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and the famous pirate republic of Salé (in modern-day Morocco).

Their leaders were not ragged drunks; they were admirals. The most famous of them, the Barbarossa brothers (Aruj and Hayreddin), were actually Ottoman Turkish privateers who turned Algiers into a military powerhouse. They didn’t just steal treasure; they stole people . We often discuss the transatlantic slave trade, but the Barbary slave trade ran concurrently and is less discussed in Western curricula. The Moor pirates were masters of razzia (raid). Using fast, oar-powered galleys, they would slip out

carrying away over 100 villagers into slavery. Entire towns on the English coast paid "protection money" to the Pasha of Algias to avoid being kidnapped.

Thomas Jefferson had had enough. When the Pasha of Tripoli declared war on the US by chopping down the flagpole at the American consulate, Jefferson sent the US Marines. For decades, Europe and the fledgling United States

To be clear, "Moor" is a broad, somewhat outdated term. Historically, Europeans used it to describe the Muslim, Berber, and Arab peoples of North Africa and Spain. But the pirates we’re discussing today—often called the —were a terrifying and sophisticated naval force that held the Mediterranean and even the Atlantic hostage.