LEGAL PIRACY
MUSLIM & CHRISTIAN PIRATES SUPPORTED BY STATES
In the Muslım world of Mediterranean, Pirates were used as a supporting military class during the reign of the Ottoman Empire. these were generally the corsairs and crews from the North African Ottoman provinces of Algiers & they were controling the trade & fear in the Mediterranean. The crew of the pirate ships were generally the most skilled seafarers. These adventurous pirates have generally been chosen from the ones who could speak a few European languages ​​as native speakers. The base of the seafarers in this group was the ports and shores of Algeria and their task was to attack the navies of enemy states like Spain & İtaly and keep them away from the ottoman continental shelf. As you will read below, the task during the centuries started to include the white slave trade. One of the most famous pirates, Turgut Reis and Barbaros Brothers, were the founding naval captains of the Ottoman Empire. with another point of wiew it can be said that Ottoman navy were consist of seafarer mercenaries which were semi-independent. The greatest naval captains raised in the Ottoman state came from piracy and were generally greek origined.
In fact, the greatest captains of the navies of various states came from the pirateship. Just as Ottomans, the other countries especially with a connection with the ocean like Spain, England, Netherland, Portugal etc. were generally tend to hire experienced and courage pirates instead of trying to educate and raise new sailors and mariners. There are many sailors who have achieved great success regardless of the state's navy. Turkish historians were named these pirates as the ''raiders on the sea''. these Pirate admirals had been given the authority by the Sultans to use initiative in choosing the enemy. As long as they pay the share of the Sultanate they were quite free on choosing the targets.
European monarchies as well, used the legalised piracy with the permission of the Kings in order to dominate the seas and to reach the richness of the east and west. The British and the Dutch invited the pirates who had previously fought against them as their enemies to their palaces & tasked them with reigning and maintaining peace in the sea in the name of the Kings . Thus, both pirates would be taken under control and the UK and the Netherlands would have benefit from the situation economically.
Francis Drake, Henry Morgan and William Captain Kidd, were the pirate captains who were sheltered by the Braitain's largest ports had the task for legal piracy for the state's benefits. When these pirates made a deal with the King, they swore their hands to the Bible or ax. The pirates who lived in harsh conditions and fear of being executed have enjoyed the harbor cities for many years by the piracy they did with the permission of the King.
As States took their share of the loot, their treasures were filled, and the Pirates reigned easily in the seas without worrying about hanging with oily rope. Thus, state piracy system was established. Later, when new continents were discovered, France, England and the Netherlands acquired great spoils by plundering the wealthy Spanish and portuguese ships which were carrying the treasures of the new conquered American continent. Their agent for that was Jean Fleury, a French pirate.
Muslim corsairs and crews from the North African Ottoman provinces of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and the independent Sultanate of Morocco were controling the trade & fear in the Mediterranean. They were capturing merchant ships and enslaving or ransoming their crews, in order to provide wealth and naval power to the Muslim rulers of these nations by paying their their shares, in exchange to permission to raid freely and not to be disturbed by navies.
The Roman Catholic Trinitarian Order had operated from France for centuries with the special mission of collecting and disbursing funds for the relief and ransom of prisoners of Mediterranean pirates. Approximately 1 and 1.25 million Europeans were thought to be captured by Muslim pirates of mediterranean and sold as slaves between the 16th and 19th centuries
The Muslim pirates mainly under control of Ottoman provinces on North Africa used to raid the coasts of Europe and capture any healthy man, woman or children they could get. Then they would drag them off to Algiers, where they would be sold as slaves.
The Ottoman Empire refused to stop this support to corsairs until the United States and Europe use united force against them. The US had to fight on the sea in 1801 and 1815. Ottoman Empire, in 1890, finally signed an agreement to stop taking white slaves
The Bombardment of Algiers took place on 27 August 1816 as an attempt by the naval forces ofBritain and the Netherlands to end the slavery practices in Algeria. An Anglo-Dutch fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Exmouth bombarded ships and the harbour defences of Algiers.
There was a continuing campaign by various European navies and the American navy to suppress the piracy against Europeans by the North African ptovinces of Ottomans and Moroccons. The specific aim of this expedition, however, was to free Christian slaves and to stop the practice of enslaving Europeans. To this end, it was partially successful, as Algiers freed around 3,000 slaves following the bombardment and signed a treaty against the slavery of Europeans. However, this practice did not end completely until the French conquest of Algeria.
