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{{short description|Coastal region of North Africa inhabited by Berber people}}
{{redirect|Barbary|other uses|Barbary (disambiguation)|and|Barbary Coast (disambiguation)}}
{{distinguish|Barbaria (region)}}

[[File:Atlas Van der Hagen-KW1049B13 057-BARBARIA.jpeg|thumb|400px|A 17th-century map by the Dutch cartographer [[Jan Janssonius]] showing the Barbary Coast, here "Barbaria"]]

The '''Barbary Coast''' (also '''Barbary''', '''Berbery''', or '''Berber Coast''') were the coastal regions of central and western [[North Africa]], more specifically, the [[Maghreb]] and the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] borderlands consisting of the regencies in [[Regency of Algiers|Algiers]], [[Beylik of Tunis|Tunis]], and [[Ottoman Tripolitania|Tripoli]], as well as the [[Alawi Sultanate|Sultanate of Morocco]] from the 16th to 19th centuries.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=European Review of History: Revue européenne d'histoire|volume=19|year=2012|issue=1|title='The general belief of the world': Barbary as genre and discourse in Mediterranean history|first=Lotfi|last=Ben Rejeb|page=15|doi=10.1080/13507486.2012.643607|s2cid=159990075}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Die "Seeräuberei der Barbareskenstaaten" im Lichte des europäischen und islamischen Völkerrechts|first=Almut|last=Hinz|journal=Verfassung und Recht in Übersee / Law and Politics in Africa, Asia and Latin America|jstor=43239304|volume=39|issue=1|year=2006|pages=46–65}}</ref><ref name="depstate">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/departmentofstat87212421291987unit/page/n213/mode/2up?view=theater|page=3|title=The Department of State bulletin|issue=87: 2124–2129|year=1939}}</ref> The term originates from an [[Endonym and exonym|exonym]] for the [[Berbers]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Barbary {{!}} historical region, Africa|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Barbary|access-date=2021-12-14|website=Britannica|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Murray|first=Hugh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gvpLAQAAMAAJ&dq=barbary+coast+berber&pg=PA5|title=The Encyclopædia of Geography: Comprising a Complete Description of the Earth, Physical, Statistical, Civil, and Political|date=1841|publisher=Lea and Blanchard|language=en}}</ref>

==Political diversity==
[[File:Ex Voto of a Naval Battle between a Turkish ship from Alger and a ship of the Order of Malta under Langon 1719.jpg|thumb|[[Ex-voto]] of a naval battle between a Turkish ship from [[Algiers]] (front) and a ship of the [[Order of Malta]] under [[Langon, Ille-et-Vilaine|Langon]], 1719]]

Barbary was not always a unified political entity. From the 16th century onward, it was divided into four political entities—from west to east—the [[Alawi Sultanate]], the [[Regency of Algiers]], the [[Ottoman Tunisia|Regency of Tunis]], and the [[Ottoman Tripolitania|Regency of Tripoli]]. Major rulers and petty monarchs during the times of the Barbary states' plundering parties included the [[List of rulers of Morocco|sultan of Morocco]], the [[List of governors and rulers of the Regency of Algiers|dey of Algiers]], [[List of beys of Tunis|bey of Tunis]], and [[pasha of Tripoli]], respectively.<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Barbary Pirates|volume=3|pages=383–384}}</ref>

==The slave trade==
[[File:Purchase of Christian captives from the Barbary States.jpg|thumb|Purchase of Christian captives in the Barbary states]]
The [[Barbary slave trade|slave trade]] was not just an economic lifeline to the Barbary States, but was often justified as a form of [[jihad]] against Christian states. Although mainly captives from sea piracy and coastal raiding around the Mediterranean,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Graf |first=Tobias P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OeYWDgAAQBAJ&dq=Algiers+35,000+slaves&pg=PA74 |title=The Sultan's Renegades: Christian-European Converts to Islam and the Making of the Ottoman Elite, 1575–1610 |date=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-879143-0 |pages=74 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Malcolm |first=Noel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9rCYCgAAQBAJ&dq=Algiers+35,000+slaves&pg=PA208 |title=Agents of Empire: Knights, Corsairs, Jesuits and Spies in the Sixteenth-century Mediterranean World |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-026278-5 |pages=208 |language=en}}</ref>
<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110725220038/http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/whtslav.htm "When Europeans Were Slaves: Research Suggests White Slavery Was Much More Common Than Previously Believed"], Ohio State University</ref> there were also Atlantic raids as far as [[Turkish Abductions|Iceland]].

The Ottoman Eastern Mediterranean was the scene of intense piracy.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/Sultans-Admiral-Barbarossa-Ernle-Bradford/dp/B00ARK1Z6G|title=Sultan's Admiral. the Life of Barbarossa|last=Bradford|first=Ernle|date=1968|publisher=Harcourt Brace World|edition=First}}</ref> As late as the 18th century, piracy continued to be a "consistent threat to maritime traffic in the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]]".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ginio|first=Eyal|date=2001|title=Piracy and Redemption in the Aegean Sea during the First Half of the Eighteenth Century.|url=https://www.academia.edu/3084432|journal=Turcica|language=en|volume=33|pages=135–147|quote=consistent threat to maritime traffic in the Aegean|doi=10.2143/TURC.33.0.484}}</ref> Slaving came to an end in the early years in the 1830s after the [[French conquest of Algeria]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ellis |first=Chris |title=Research Guides: Battle Studies, Country Studies, & Staff Rides: Barbary Wars & the Battle of Tripoli |url=https://grc-usmcu.libguides.com/battle-studies/barbary-wars |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=grc-usmcu.libguides.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sessions |first=Jennifer E. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt20fw60j |title=By Sword and Plow: France and the Conquest of Algeria |date=2011 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-5652-7 |edition=1 |doi=10.7591/j.ctt20fw60j}}</ref>

==Naval capabilities==
In 1625, the pirate fleet of Algiers, by far the largest, numbered 100 ships of various sizes, carrying 8,000 to 10,000 men. The [[Barbary corsair|corsair]] industry alone accounted for 25 percent of the workforce of the city, not counting other activities of the port. The [[Corsairs of Algiers|fleet]] only averaged 25 ships in the 1680s, but these were larger vessels than had been used since the 1620s, so the fleet still employed some 7,000 men. In addition, 2,500 men manned the pirate fleet of Tripoli, 3,000 in [[Tunisian navy (1705–1881)|Tunis]], and several thousand more in the various minor pirate bases such as [[Annaba|Bona]], Susa, [[Bizerta]], and [[Republic of Salé|Salé]]. The corsairs were not solely natives of the cities where they were based; while many were Arabs and Berbers, there were also Turks, Greeks, Albanians, Syrians, and renegade Italians, especially Corsicans, among their number.<Ref>Gregory Hanlon. "The Twilight Of A Military Tradition: Italian Aristocrats And European Conflicts, 1560-1800." Routledge: 1997. Pages 27–28.</ref>

==Conflict with Western powers==
===Spain===
When the [[fall of Granada]] completed the [[Reconquista]] in Iberia, [[Ferdinand II of Aragon|Ferdinand II]] launched [[Spanish relations with the Barbary Coast|campaigns]] to curb Barbary piracy, taking North African cities including [[Melilla]],<ref>[https://arrecaballo.es/edad-moderna/el-imperio-espanol/guerra-en-el-norte-de-africa/ Guerra en el norte de África]</ref> and [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] installed his vassal [[Muley Hacen]] in Tunis,<ref>[http://studylib.es/doc/5013081/2.1.--crueldades-del-rey-muley-has%C3%A1n-de-t%C3%BAnez--acercamiento CORSARIOS O REYES. De la saga de los Barbarroja a Miguel de Cervantes.]</ref> though much of the Mediterranean remained under Ottoman influence until the [[Battle of Lepanto]] in 1571. In the 17th century, Barbary pirates, now including expelled [[Morisco]]s adopted European naval tactics most notably in the [[Republic of Salé]] whose 'Moriscos' exploited their familiarity with Spanish shores to raid the [[Spanish Levante]] in the 17th century. From 1617 onward, pirate raids targeted the northwest of Spain ([[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]]), prompting the formation of a Spanish fleet around 1621 to defend against Barbary corsairs and the Dutch, albeit with limited success.<ref>[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14701847.2018.1438072 After Lepanto: Turkish and Barbary corsairs on the coasts of Galicia in the seventeenth century]</ref>

===United States===
The United States fought the [[Barbary Wars]] from 1801 to 1805 with some of the Barbary states<ref>{{Cite web |last=U.S. Department of State. |date=November 2, 2024 |title=Barbary Wars |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/barbary-wars |website=U.S. Department of State, Office Of The Historian}}</ref> which led up to the [[Battle of Derna (1805)|Battle of Derna]], the first overseas military land action of the [[United States]] and the inspiration for the opening line of the ''[[Marines' Hymn]]'' "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli...".<ref>[https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/forgotten-wars-19th-century/barbary-war-1801-1805/marines-derna.html U.S. Marines attacked Derna, Tripoli], [[Naval History and Heritage Command]]</ref> The [[Second Barbary War]] ended with an agreement that American ships had free passage without the need to pay tribute.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Second Barbary War: The Algerine War |url=https://clements.umich.edu/exhibit/barbary-wars/second-barbary-war/ |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=UM Clements Library |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|Barbary Coast}}
* {{Commonscatinline|Barbary Coast}}

{{Pirates}}
{{Regions of the world}}
{{Barbary Corsairs}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Barbary Coast| ]]
[[Category:Barbary Wars]]
[[Category:Berber history]]
[[Category:Coasts of Africa]]
[[Category:Regency of Algiers]]
[[Category:History of North Africa]]