Barbary Entanglements: Realizing American Independence on the World Stage

How the United States’ confrontation with North African raiders established its legitimacy on the world stage

For the fledgling United States of America, the first major foray onto the international stage came off the North African coast in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. When Barbary corsairs preyed on American merchant ships, their young government and new navy were compelled to step in. Barbary Entanglements shows how interactions with the “Barbary states”—the independent empire of ...