Lords of the Sea
A History of the Barbary Corsairs
Published on 1. February 2012
Book
Hardback
272 pages
978-1-86189-907-1 (ISBN)
Description
Escalating piracy in the seas off Somalia has led commentators to designate the region the 'new Barbary'. But the seizures and killings made to date by Somali pirates cannot compare with the three centuries of terror unleashed on Europeans by corsairs in the Mediterranean and beyond. From 1500 to 1800, murderous Muslim pirates from North Africa's Barbary coast seized and enslaved more than a million Christians. Lords of the Sea gives us the full history of these pirates, first examining their dramatic impact as the violent seaborne vanguard of an expanding Ottoman empire in the early 1500s through to their break from Ottoman authority a century later.
Alan Jamieson explores how the corsairs of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli and other fortified coastal ports rose to the apogee of their powers, extending their activities from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, raiding as far as the British Isles and Iceland. Rescuing captive Christians touched everyone in a Western state, from ambassadors obliged to negotiate to rural communities directed by Sunday sermons to contribute to the fund required to buy back their enslaved countrymen and women. While corsair activities declined in the 18th century, it was only a series of naval wars prosecuted into the early years of the 19th by various European states as well as a determined USA that finally ended the menace, culminating in the French conquest of Algiers in 1830.
A welcome addition to nautical military history, Lords of the Sea is an engrossing tale of piracy, enslavement and the rise of the great powers.
Alan Jamieson explores how the corsairs of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli and other fortified coastal ports rose to the apogee of their powers, extending their activities from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, raiding as far as the British Isles and Iceland. Rescuing captive Christians touched everyone in a Western state, from ambassadors obliged to negotiate to rural communities directed by Sunday sermons to contribute to the fund required to buy back their enslaved countrymen and women. While corsair activities declined in the 18th century, it was only a series of naval wars prosecuted into the early years of the 19th by various European states as well as a determined USA that finally ended the menace, culminating in the French conquest of Algiers in 1830.
A welcome addition to nautical military history, Lords of the Sea is an engrossing tale of piracy, enslavement and the rise of the great powers.
Reviews / Votes
Jamieson provides a well-documented history of MuslimChristian confrontation on the high seas, of devastating defeats inflicted on the mighty Holy Roman Empire, and an aggressive enemy taking their raids far into the Atlantic ocean in the early 1600s (as far as Iceland) . . . a fine study of this neglected aspect of European warfare. * <i>Military History Monthly</i> * A detailed, synthetic account of the Barbary corsairs who rose from a minor Mediterranean nuisance to become a major maritime menace . . . a useful overview. * <i>The Historian</i> * This is [Jamiesons] third book written around the Mediterranean interface between Islam and the West and he, clearly, has a very good grasp of his subject . . . there is some good stuff here for those who wish to know about Mediterranean piracy and there are significant parallels with the present situation in the Indian Ocean. * <i>The Naval Review</i> * Allen Jamieson gives his readers a history lesson about the many nations, contiguous to the Mediterranean Sea, which fought maritime battles with each other for centuries over control of territory and wealth . . . comprehensive in its research, tightly written and scholarly with a vast amount of information packed into its 220 pages. * <i>The Northern Mariner</i> * well crafted . . . it has a very useful glossary of place name changes and a chronology and seeks to use the building blocks of a story with which we are already familiar in order to construct a new edifice which also shows the international political and cultural setting of the Early Modern World * <i>International Journal of Maritime History</i> * an invaluable study * <i>Pirates and Privateers</i> *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 138 mm
Width: 216 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-86189-907-1 (9781861899071)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2013
Reaktion Books
€29.99
Available for download
Person
Alan G. Jamieson is a researcher and writer based in Alberta, Canada. His books include the novel Crossroads of the Years (2008) and Lords of the Sea: A History of the Barbary Corsairs (Reaktion, 2012).