Barbary Coast

The term Barbary Coast (also Barbary, Berbery or Berber Coast) was used by Europeans from the 16th century to the early 19th to refer to the coastal regions of North Africa, which were inhabited by Berber people. Today, this land is part of the modern nations of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.

A 17th-century map by the Dutch cartographer Jan Janssonius showing the Barbary Coast, here "Barbaria"

The English term "Barbary" (and its European varieties: Barbaria, Berbérie, etc.) could refer to all the Berber lands whether coastal or not, as seen in European geographical and political maps published during the 17th–20th centuries.[1]

The name derives from the Berber people of North Africa, from Greek Bàrbaroi (Ancient Greek: Βάρβαροι, literally meaning barbarians) and the Arabic Barbara (Classical Arabic: بَرْبَرَةٌ, meaning jabbering). In the Western world, the name commonly evoked the Barbary pirates and the Barbary slave traders based on that coast—who attacked ships and coastal settlements in the Mediterranean Sea and eastern North Atlantic Ocean, and captured and traded slaves or goods from Europe, the United States and sub-Saharan Africa. These actions finally provoked the Barbary Wars of the early 19th century.[2]

History
Ex-Voto of a naval battle between a Turkish ship from Algiers (front) and a ship of the Order of Malta under Langon, 1719

Barbary was not always a unified political entity. From the 16th century onwards, it was divided into the political entities of the Regency of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripolitania (Tripoli). Major rulers and petty monarchs during the times of the Barbary states' plundering parties included the Pasha or Dey of Algiers, the Bey of Tunis and the Bey of Tripoli.[3]

Before then, the territory was usually divided between Ifriqiya, Morocco, and a west-central Algerian state centered on Tlemcen or Tiaret. Powerful Berber dynasties such as the Almohads (12th century) and briefly thereafter the Hafsids, occasionally unified it for short periods. From a European perspective, Tripoli in modern-day Libya was considered its capital or chief city, though Marrakesh in Morocco was the largest and most important Berber city at the time. Some saw Algiers in Algeria or Tangiers in Morocco as the capital.

Purchase of Christian captives in the Barbary States

The first United States military land action overseas, executed by the U.S. Marines and Navy, was the Battle of Derna, Tripoli (a coastal town in modern eastern Libya) in April 1805. It formed part of an effort to destroy all of the Barbary pirates, to free American slaves in captivity, and to put an end to piracy acts between these warring tribes on the part of the Barbary states, which were themselves member states of the Ottoman Empire. The opening line of the Marines' Hymn refers to this action: "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli..." This was the first time the United States Marine Corps took part in offensive actions outside of the United States.

The modern word razzia is, via Italian and French, from Algerian Arabic ghaziya (غزية "raiding"), originally referring to slave raids conducted by Barbary pirates.

See also
  • Ottoman Algeria
  • Ottoman Tripolitania
  • Ottoman Tunisia
  • Tunisian navy (1705-1881)
  • Turkish Abductions
  • Republic of Salé
  • Sharifan Empire
  • Langue de Barbarie
  • Barbary duck

Footnotes
  1. Maps of Barbary Archived October 11, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Carver, Robert (25 April 2009). "Not so easy alliances: Two Faiths, One Banner: when Muslims marched with Christians across Europe's battlegrounds (book review)". The Tablet. p. 24. Archived from the original on 2017-06-20.
  3. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Barbary Pirates" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 383–384.

References
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