subject: About The Barbary [print this page] Barbary States Between the years 1500 and 1830, merchant ships sailing the Mediterranean Sea were always in danger of being attacked and captured by Barbary pirates. The Barbary countries were Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Tripoli, on the northern coast of Africa. They were called Barbary countries because most of the people living there were Berbers. Barbary pirates sailed out from the seaports of these countries and searched for defenseless ships that they could capture.
The Barbary pirates were believers in the Mohammedan religion and hated all Christians. The Christian men, women and children that they captured in these raids were sold as slaves, or-if they were rich-held for ransom. The powerful countries of Europe, which might have destroyed the Barbary pirates, were too busy fighting each other to destroy the pirates. Instead they paid the pirates a certain amount of money each year not to attack their ships. However, from time to time the pirates attacked even the ships of those countries that paid protection money. From 1801 to 1805 the United States was at war with the Barbary pirates of Tripoli.
The pirates were defeated by the American fleet and agreed to ask for no more money from the U.S. Government and not to harm American ships. While the United States was busy fighting England during the War of 1812, the Barbary pirates broke their promise and once more began to attack American ships in the Mediterranean Sea. In 1815, the United States Government sent a squadron of nine ships under Commodore Stephen Decatur to punish the pirates. Decatur quickly defeated the pirate fleet and sailed into the harbor of Algiers.
The dey, or ruler, of Algiers immediately surrendered and gave in to all of Decatur's demands. All American prisoners were released and the pirate cities of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli paid large sums of money to the United States for the harm they had done to American ships and citizens. They also agreed not to demand any more money from America. The next year a British fleet bombarded Algiers with its cannon until much of the city was destroyed, and in 1824 another British fleet bombarded it. It was not until 1830 that the piracy of the Barbary countries was ended forever. In that year France conquered Algiers and made all of Algeria a colony.
