This day in history: United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna on this day in 1805 as part of the Barbary Wars. The US at the time was trying to establish trade routes across the Atlantic, but they were often met by Barbary pirates from Northern Africa. These Muslim pirates would take the crew and anyone else on board and enslave them, unless a ransom or a tribute could be paid.
This had been going on for a long time. "Slavery knew no bounds of color or creed. During one period, from 1500 to 1700, there were more white European slaves held captive on the Barbary Coast than slaves sent from West Africa to the Atlantic world, according to Gordon [referring to Stewart Gordon and his book Shackles of Iron: Slavery Beyond the Atlantic]." Rich Lowry
"It wasn't until 1815 that the naval victories won by Commodores William Bainbridge and Stephen Decatur led to treaties ending all tribute payments. After a decisive victory in Algiers, Decatur sailed to Tunis and Tripoli, where he reached similar agreements, gaining reparations and the releases of American and European slaves...Americans under James Madison finally put a stop to the centuries-old practice of Barbary kidnapping, theft, terror, and slavery. From this early international victory in the Barbary Wars, the U.S. embarked on its journey to become one of the world's greatest military and economic superpowers." Source
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