Barbary Pirates: The Masters of the Mediterranean Slave Trade 1500–1830

The Barbary corsairs were some of the most feared pirates in history. From their bases in North Africa, they terrorized seafarers and inhabitants of the Mediterranean coast. They robbed valuable goods and abducted thousands of people to sell into slavery. The Barbary corsairs sailed as far as Newfoundland, Canada; played a crucial role in naval battles, such as the Battle of Lepanto in 1571; and fought alongside the Ottomans in amphibious operations such as the siege of Malta. Let’s get to know these dreaded sailors, delve into the intricacies of their daily operations, and explore how they became a formidable naval power.

Some must read mlitary history books:

Bibliography
Antony, Robert J., Pirates in the Age of Sail, New York 2007.
Bono, Salvatore, Pirates and Corsairs in the Mediterranean; Naval Warfare, Trade and Slavery from the 16th to the 19th Century, Stuttgart 2009.
Davis, Robert Charles, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast, and Italy, 1500-1800, London 2003.
Ressel, Magnus, Between slave coffers and Turkish passports. Northern Europe and the Barbarians in the Early Modern Period, Berlin/Boston 2012
Tinniswood, Adrian, Pirates of Barbary. Corsairs, Conquests and Captivity in 17th Century Mediterranean, New York 2010.

#history #documentary #education

[SandRhomanHistory]

Go to expressvpn.com/SandRhoman and find out how you can get 3 months of ExpressVPN free!

[jpelvis]

In spanish we have a say "no hay moros en la costa", which could be translated to "no moors at the coast", meaning we can proceed with a given situation, since there is nobody that could pose a threat around. It comes from the centuries where the mediterranean spanish coast was attacked by barbary pirates (the moors).

Nowadays it has been labelled as offensive, but that's another story.

[Smonserratm]

The "depopulation" of the coast was widespread in Mallorca. Many of their "coastal" towns were actually a few km inland and the harbour was almost a separate entity. That's why nowadays you see places like Sóller, Alcúdia, Andratx... separated into Sóller and Port de Sóller, Alcúdia and Port d'Alcúdia, etcetera.

[FlashPointHx]

Awesome video - People always think of the Caribbean when you imagine Pirates - but these guys had it down to a science. Loving this time period and how you brought it to life!

[emmiannon]

My favourite note about the Europeans dealings with the Corsairs was that the big nations (especially the british) wanted to pay their protection money and keep them active because it meant that the smaller nations who couldnt afford it would be forced out of their own trade.

[svenskenh]

You forgot to mention that USA had an ally in the war against the corsairs: Sweden! It was a combined fleet that defeated them.

[benitoharrycollmann]

To grasp the extent of the audacity of these pirates, one can read "The Travels of Reverend Olafur Egilsson." Which tells a story of a Barbary raid on Iceland in 1627, in which many Icelanders were captured with the express intent of selling them into slavery.

[liberatumtaiwanae]

Love from Taiwan. I never fully understood USA starting wars in S America and N.Africa back then, so this nice little intro helps me grasp the economic reality of the Napoleonic Era. My ancestors were gentry families who also dealt trade routes, and they suffered many losses due to piracy along Taiwan's coast. One thing in this great vid I hope could be improved, around 11m5s Letter of Marque was mentioned. If you introduced new terminology perhaps best to flash a line or two defining it according to its use of the time period in your narrative. Viewers not familiar with this era might be confused by a new term introduced out of no where.

[theawesomeman]

Cool fact, according to the US Navy's founding charter the purpose of the US Navy was to combat North African pirates.

[angelikalindenau]

They also raided Baltimore on the Southwestern Irish coast. There's a brilliant book on the history, The Stolen Village

[bigsarge]

Another incredible history documentary, thank you!

[WissHH-]

Ohhh yess! A sunday beer and a SandRhoman video! Life is good

Good video, it's an interesting topic that I've been waiting for since you talked about the Battle of Lepanto a couple of years ago. This video opens the possibility of new topics for future videos, for example: the system of conquests and establishment of Portuguese and Spanish African settlements in North Africa; the little-known Corsairs of Dunkirk; and Japanese and Chinese Piracy from the 16th to the 17th century.

On the other hand, there are a series of errors in the video that are worth clarifying:

_ There are several mistakes in the maps you use since Charles V is mentioned, for example at that time the Kingdom of Navarra no longer existed (it was conquered by Ferdinand the Catholic and then the French annexed the part that was on their side), the kingdom of Naples is mistakenly shown as a separate territory (since 1503 it has been part of Spain), the Holy Roman Empire did not have control over Northern Italy at that time (the Italian states had Imperial dignity, but they were independent entities like Savoy, Florence, Este, Mantua, etc.); Milan, the Netherlands and Franche-Comté were also part of Spain; Scotland's border extends further south than it should, not all the Greek islands were under Ottoman control, among others that I will not mention.

_ The reason why Spain and Portugal expanded into North Africa was actually a measure to limit piracy (something you don't mention in putting the territories under their control on the map).

_ The Spanish Naval Hegemony did not end in 1588, the fleet was quickly rebuilt (which is why there were several attempts at armadas until a peace was signed, which maintained good relations between the two kingdoms in the first decades of the 17th century) and supremacy It was not completely lost until the defeat against the Dutch in the 80 Years' War (the British did not dispute it until after their Civil War).

[sreardonatpfg]

People seem to forget the Islamic slave trade when they talk about slavery today. My girlfriend is Tunisian, and her family has A noble Pedegree. They still on their ancestral home. A fairly sizable castle not far from the coast, and in the basement of this castle is cages; large ones.

[shaketin]

Good video but, I wish you put more detail on the battles between America and the Barbary Coast. That’s usually the best thing about your channel is the detail to battles and fortifications.

[dzpower]

As I am from Algeria which was the central base of the Barbary corsairs, we need to know this was a response to Castilian aggression and an economic war response to Europeans who didn't want to make commerce trade with us, and it was the response to their economic war is, the pirates were not just North African, the Greek, British, Sicilian, Dutch they were doing the same thing in this time, and this is what Viking from north Europe they have due to European and al andalus,
And by the way, a lot of corsairs were European renegades who converted to Islam or North African Berber, not Turkish
North Africa has an alliance with the Ottoman Empire

[demilung]

Hey there, parther, if you though to scroll into the comment section to see some additions or insight - don't. This subject has triggered ideological detectors of several groups of people who think that turning the comment section into a cesspit of mismatched politics is a good way to approach 500 years old history.

[Alman]

the berbers had the barbershop game on lock.

[joanllinasbas]

Spain only trully lost its naval power status after the 1800s, after the Napoleonic Wars. After the Spanish armada of 1588 came the equally disastrous English armada, and the war ended in a costly draw between both countries

[Technobabylon]

One notable figure abducted by the Barbary corsairs was Miguel de Cervantes, the writer of Don Quixote