Pirates of the Mediterranean

    Arnold Buckley
One does not usually associate religious warfare with pirates but much of the case can be said through the various Barbary coast battles and conflicts that waged from the 16 th to 18 th centuries Adrian Tinniswood wrote a book chronicling these battles and various coastal conquests and diplomacy that waged between states of Europe and Islamic corsairs who held religious Islamic fundamentalist as acrimoniously as many Middle Easterners hold this view today. I in fact, I never really knew much of the religious connotations that sometimes piracy played on the world's stage throughout history. The book "Pirates Of Barbary" look at the various top European pirates that set sail and sought refuge working in a multicultural crew and various pirate industrial complexes in North Africa. This ultimely lead to sea faring  innovation in England and enables it to develop the strongest navies that was important to battle these often Turkish backed pirates that disturbed her majesty's s shipping economy. The piracy attacks from the Pashas of Algiers and Tunisia became so bad England had to venture out and fight a series of battles to destroy yet he pirates and their bases of operation. In many cases it proved cheaper just to buy the pirates off than send costly expeditions to wage battle. The book also has a detailed account of what life could be like for a captured Christian turned into a slave on the Mediterranean coast as what was done often on both sides of the sea with captured combatants and raids of villagers. Pretty much many folks converted back and forth back in this era and slavery was often justified because of the persons opposing religious viewpoint. This is a pirate book but it is focused primary on battles between England and the Turkish allied Algerian bases and their piracy on European commerce helped pace the way for eventual French expansion and you heard no peep from other European powers when Algeria was eventually taken over and the pashas had has much power as the rural peasant in the countryside of North Africa. A good refrence to some mior conflicts off the barbary coast back in the day. This day of age as piracy returns and set to thrive again someday with coming economic collapse of Europe and the world and desperate people take to the seas again to make a livelihood aside from fishing. Pirates are always cool regardless to space,time,nor seas of this planet and this is a definitive read for hose into pirates.

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