Piracy Along African Coast is Nothing New

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Its actually the oldest trick in the book. Piracy originated from Muslim nations along the northern Mediterranean coast and along the Persian gulf. In fact, Americans were captured and enslaved by Muslim pirates in 1785. In response, the United States, rather than fighting the pirates, paid ransom and tribute to the pirates, and in 1800, the amount was 20% of the entire US budget!

This 19th-century engraving depicts an Arab slave-trading caravan transporting black African slaves across the Sahara. The trans-Saharan slave trade developed in the 7th and 8th centuries as Muslim Arabs conquered most of North Africa. The trade grew significantly from the 10th to the 15th century and peaked in the mid-19th century.

When the North African states were asked by the United States Congressional Congress why they were treating American merchant ships with such hostility, they responded,

It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also, that the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy’s ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once.

Once the United States built their own Navy, they took matters into their own hands to end the tribute paid to Muslim pirates and slave traders.  The United States, the Constellation and the Constitution were some of the ships that killed pirates by the hundreds. And United States Marines, called leathernecks because they had high collars made of leather to ward off cutlass attacks by Babary Pirates, invaded Tripoli to kill the pirates.  A great history of the early days of Islamic terrorism on the seas is here.

Now that we are in this war on terror, we should once again face down and end piracy along the African coast.