Corsair

Corsair, pirate or privateer, particularly those who from the beginning of the 16th century to the first third of the 19th century were active along the Barbary Coast of North Africa, especially in the ports of Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis. They preyed upon shipping in the Mediterranean Sea and in the Atlantic Ocean, ravaging the coasts and seizing ships as far north as the British Isles and even Iceland. The immediate cause of the development of corsair fleets at the beginning of the 16th century was the final Christian defeat of the Muslims in Spain in 1492. The Muslims then fled to the north coast of Africa, where they established autonomous states or provinces as part of the Ottoman Empire. The Muslim rulers of the Barbary Coast were supported chiefly by the booty and slaves captured in pirate raids. The raids, which began as retaliation against Spain, expanded into piracy against the ships of all nations. Many attempts were made to stop piracy in the Mediterranean, including naval action by the United States against Tripoli between 1801 and 1805, known as the Tripolitan War, and against Algiers in 1815 under the American naval commander Stephen Decatur. His expeditions were the first serious attempts to put an end to the long-established power of the corsairs. They were followed by the successful bombardment of Algiers in 1816 by the British naval commander Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth. The corsairs were not totally suppressed, however, until the French occupied Algiers in 1830.