""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The Barbary pirates, also sometimes called Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers that operated from North Africa, from the time of the Crusades until the early 19th century. Based in North African ports such as Tunis in Tunisia, Tripoli in Libya, Algiers in Algeria, Salé and other ports in Morocco, they primarily commandeered western European ships in the western Mediterranean Sea. Their stronghold was along the stretch of northern Africa known as the Barbary Coast (a medieval term for the Maghreb after its Berber inhabitants), but their predation was said to extend throughout the Mediterranean, south along West Africa's Atlantic seaboard, and into the North Atlantic as far north as Iceland. They often made raids, called Razzias, on European coastal towns to capture Christian slaves to sell at slave markets in places such as Algeria and Morocco.[1][2] According to Robert Davis, from the 16th to 19th century, pirates captured 1 million to 1.25 million Europeans as slaves. These slaves were captured mainly from seaside villages in Italy, Spain and Portugal, and from farther places like France or England, the Netherlands, Ireland and even Iceland and North America.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
""""
In 1798, Napoleon seized Malta en route to his campaign in Egypt. Requesting safe harbor to resupply his ships, he waited until his ships were safely in port, and then turned his guns on his hosts. The Knights of Malta were unable to defend themselves from this internal attack. After holding the Barbary Pirates in check for centuries, they were forced to leave their island stronghold. Napoleon's actions created a power vacuum in the Mediterranean which the pirates exploited.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
""""

Negotiations don't help.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
""""
In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman or (Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). Upon inquiring "concerning the ground of the pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury", the ambassador replied:

Quote:

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
""""

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
""""
With the recommissioning of the American navy in 1794 and the resulting increased firepower on the seas, it became more and more possible for America to say "no".

On Jefferson's inauguration as president in 1801, Yussif Karamanli, the Pasha (or Bashaw) of Tripoli, demanded $225,000 from the new administration. (In 1800, Federal revenues totaled a little over $10 million.) Putting his long-held beliefs into practice, Jefferson refused the demand. Consequently, in May 1801, the Pasha declared war on the United States, not through any formal written documents but by cutting down the flagstaff in front of the U.S. Consulate. Morocco, Algiers, and Tunis soon followed their ally in Tripoli.

In response, Jefferson sent a group of frigates to defend American interests in the Mediterranean, and informed Congress. Although Congress never voted on a formal declaration of war, they did authorize the President to instruct the commanders of armed vessels of the United States to seize all vessels and goods of the Pasha of Tripoli "and also to cause to be done all such other acts of precaution or hostility as the state of war will justify."

Quote:

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
""""
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise