Barbary states monetized Mediterranean piracy through ransom and annual tributes.

Evidence

Barbary regencies ruled present-day Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia, from which they prowled the Mediterranean, seizing European merchant ships. The Christian crew members became captives until their rulers paid a hefty ransom or until the captive converted to Islam. Barbary ships also sent bands of armed pirates to kidnap people from the coasts of Southern Europe. To protect their ships from piracy and their crews from enslavement, European rulers entered into treaties that required an annual tribute to the Barbary Regencies. The tributes became a substantial source of income, such that nothing short of a war would stop the piracy. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 506

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to early American naval history and the founding of the US Navy/Marine Corps hymn’s ‘shores of Tripoli’.