Barbary Pirates crushed earlier

WI the US and European powers hadn't waited til 1815-30 to fully crush the Barbary Pirates as a power in the Med ? Could the Christian powers have tried to do so by as early as say 1600, and with what wider effects ?
 
WI the US and European powers hadn't waited til 1815-30 to fully crush the Barbary Pirates as a power in the Med ? Could the Christian powers have tried to do so by as early as say 1600, and with what wider effects ?

The Barbary pirates weren't really pirates - they were actually just coastal states that collected tolls on passing ships, as they always had. After the Napoleonic Wars, it was collectively decided that wasn't cool anymore, so people started to get hostile about it.

In 1600 North Africa was a more integral part of the Ottoman Empire, so smashing them would have been an enormous undertaking, and maybe not achievable - or at least not without enormous cost to the Mediterranean powers to the detriment of other pursuits.
 
Their definitions of "toll" and "passing ship" were rather liberal.

Not really. By the 19th c most countries had treaties with the Barbary states wherein in exchange for tribute, their ships were unmolested. We were protected by Britain's treaties until we declared independence, and we couldn't afford the protection money. Also, the Barbary States were probably overreaching, having been spoiled by the Napoleonic Wars and the opportunites created.
 
The Barbary pirates weren't really pirates - they were actually just coastal states that collected tolls on passing ships, as they always had. After the Napoleonic Wars, it was collectively decided that wasn't cool anymore, so people started to get hostile about it.

In 1600 North Africa was a more integral part of the Ottoman Empire, so smashing them would have been an enormous undertaking, and maybe not achievable - or at least not without enormous cost to the Mediterranean powers to the detriment of other pursuits.

Question:

Say in a different scenario, and the Ottomans were able to exert ideal control over the area later down the line, would they have cracked down on it?

I mean, if the Barbary states remain an integral part of the Ottoman Empire, I doubt the Sublime Porte could have their citizens sailing around attacking and demanding tribute.

16th century, barbary pirates are par for the course for the Ottomans since everyone else employs privateers. But if they could exert good control on the area going into the 19th century, would the Ottomans crack down on it themselves?

I think I've repeated myself more than twice:p
 
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