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NATIVE CULTURE

That Time the US Paid a $642,500 Ransom to Pirates

PBS Origins | October 23, 2024



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Did you know that the U.S.โ€™ first foreign-fought war was withโ€ฆpirates? After the U.S. declared independence, the Barbary pirates began capturing Americans in the Mediterranean and holding them for ransom. At one point, Congress agreed to pay them a huge portion of their federal budget. In this episode of Rogue History, we uncover the truth behind the pirates that nearly snuffed out the U.S. economy.

Some images are sourced from ยฉ LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduzโ€“Vienna:
โ€œAdmiral of the Turkish ships, of the Algerian piratesโ€ and โ€œCaptain of an Algerian pirate shipโ€ from a series of depictions from Algeria by Andreas Matthรคus Wolfgang

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Rogue History
Shaking off the barnacles from this wildly popular storytelling canon, this Pirates historical series is an enlightening voyage that unravels historical myths, unearths lost narratives, and discovers fresh perspectives. This is the pirate history you were never told.

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Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:26 These Pirates Existed for Hundreds of Years
00:50 U.S. Government Paid Ransom for Captives
01:20 Who Were the Barbary Pirates?
01:38 Meaning of โ€œBarbaryโ€
02:28 Hayreddin Hizir Reis/ Barbarossa
03:03 Selim I Recognized the Value of These Pirates
03:35 A Famous Captive of the Barbary Pirates
04:27 An Ambitious New Nation Challenges Them
05:44 Contradictory Attitudes Towards Enslavement
06:13 The First Barbary Pirate War
06:25 โ€œThe Shores of Tripoliโ€
06:50 The Second Barbary Pirate War
07:25 The End of Their Reign
07:46 Were The Barbary Wars Really Religious Conflicts?

Correction:
01:31 This region was called โ€˜The Maghrebโ€™ by settlers of Arab and Ottoman origin, and โ€˜Tamazghaโ€™ by indigenous people.

Written by PBS Origins

Comments

This post currently has 34 comments.

  1. @benzzc3626

    October 23, 2024 at 11:02 am

    In public school many years ago, the N. African/Muslim slave trade was glossed over for reasons I can only speculate about. We were led to believe American sailors were simply "shanghaied"–pressed into naval service for the Barbary pirates–and no mention of slave raids on European communities (causing inland flight from the coasts) was mentioned.

  2. @hacksaw5044

    October 23, 2024 at 11:02 am

    Just to clarify, the Amazigh meaning free people is a made up thing which surfaced in the 70s following a political movement backed by french intelligence in north Africa. The true meaning of it can be traced back to Ibn khaldun , where he asked a tribe in nowadays Morocco about their origins and they answered: we are the sons of Mazir son of Canaan. The r turned to gh because that's how the french pronounce it .

  3. @rickintexas1584

    October 23, 2024 at 11:02 am

    When Jefferson was negotiating the freedom of the US soldiers and merchant marines, the leader of Algeria informed him that Islam granted them permission to take infidels (non Muslims) as slaves. That is why Jefferson bought many Qurans and gave them to members of Congress, so they could study Islam. So there was definitely a religious portion to the Barbary slave trade.

  4. @ayzac6277

    October 23, 2024 at 11:02 am

    Wow itโ€™s crazy to think that the Ottoman/Turkish pirates ๐Ÿดโ€โ˜ ๏ธ has accomplished that. & Itโ€™s also crazy to think that back in the Ottoman Empire Turkish barbar pirates did hijack warships, trade slaves, tortured slaves & that ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท is the only nation that made ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ to pay tribute to the Ottoman Turks & why because ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ was taxed by a Turkish ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท sailor Hasan Pasha & the Barbary war leader was Turkish origin that made these bad things to happen & made Americans suffer. & Turks are the reason that ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ lost Alaska so ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท was a strong world leader back then & no wonder because Ottoman Empire was a United States Of ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท.

    Greetings From ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท No Hatred Only Peace โœŒ๏ธ

  5. @RainFall2112

    October 23, 2024 at 11:02 am

    This is why Jefferson invaded Muslim territories. Islam is and has never been about protecting individual liberty. Just like Hamas today, they had to get their butt kicked to stop this behavior.

  6. @jacobbrahim5785

    October 23, 2024 at 11:02 am

    โ€ู„ู‚ุฏ ู†ุณูŠุช ุงู„ุญุงุฏุซ ุงู„ูˆุฒูŠุฑ ุงู„ุฃู…ุฑูŠูƒูŠ ุฃู† ูŠุทู„ุจ ู…ู† ุงู„ุญุงูƒู… ุงู„ุฌุฒุงุฆุฑูŠ ุฃู† ูŠุณู„ู… ุนู„ู‰ ูŠุฏ ุญุงูƒู… ุงู„ุฌุฒุงูŠุฑ ู„ูƒูŠ ูŠุจุฑู… ู…ุนุงู‡ุฏุฉ ุณู„ุงู… ุจูŠู† ุงู„ุฌุฒุงุฆุฑ ูˆุฃู…ุฑูŠูƒุง ู„ูƒู† ุฑูุถ ุงู„ุญุงูƒู… ุงู„ุฌุฒุงุฆุฑูŠ ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜Š๐Ÿ˜Š

  7. @Americaone1

    October 23, 2024 at 11:02 am

    Jefferson did not want to pay ransom,when he became president he went to war against the Barbary Pirates which eventually led to their demise ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ

  8. @aminezitouni8427

    October 23, 2024 at 11:02 am

    I'm an Algerian from Irish descendents, my first old grandmother was an Irish from Baltimore originally she was treated as a princess in our clan "Ben yaala" and she got married and having a lot of children, Stop telling lies on things you don't know. They weren't pirates or turk as Europeans says they were a Muslim mudjahid or sea privetiers noting that since 1492 they were rescuing the Muslims and Jewish people from the masacers of the catholics"inquisition" in Andalusia or Spain. Note that they weren't forcing people to convert to Islam as they were the first power in the world at that time. Belive me that there is a lot of hidden history as European use to transmit fake things on Muslims…the true reason behind this attack was that the English "which invaded Baltimore" had broken an agreement with Algerian "khilafa sultan " government and then they faced the backlash.. Maybe you don't know that those you call them pirates and barberies were the firstly discovering the new lands US nowadays.

  9. @kwd3109

    October 23, 2024 at 11:02 am

    In the comments I see a lot of puffed up Algerians boasting about blackmailing the US when we were a new nation and our military was small. But try that today and things will turn out very differently for you, very differently indeed.

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